Look up soon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Soon may refer to:

Music[link]

• "Soon" (1927 song), a song written by George and Ira Gershwin, from the musical Strike Up the Band
• Soon (album), a 1993 album by Tanya Tucker
  • "Soon" (Tanya Tucker song), the title track
• Soon (EP), a 1997 EP by Far
• Soon (musical), a 1971 rock opera by Joseph M. Kookolis and Scott Fagan
• "Soon", a song by Dexys Midnight Runners from BBC Radio One Live in Concert
• "Soon", a song by LeAnn Rimes from I Need You
• "Soon", a song by My Bloody Valentine from Glider
• "Soon", a song by Yes from their suite The Gates of Delirium
• "Soon", a song written by Rodgers and Hart, from the 1935 film Mississippi
• "Soon", a song from the 1964 musical Bajour

People with the surname[link]

• Sun (surname) or Soon, a transliteration of a common Chinese surname
• Lyndel Soon (born 1978), Malaysian pageant contestant and actress
• Willie Soon (born 1966), American astrophysicist

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Neil Diamond
Neil Diamond, 2007
Background information
Birth name	Neil Leslie Diamond
Born	(1941-01-24) January 24, 1941 (age 71)
Origin	New York City, United States
Genres	Rock, pop, folk, country, soft rock
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	1958–present
Labels	Bang, Uni, MCA, Columbia
Website	neildiamond.com

Neil Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades from the 1960s until the present.

As of 2001, Diamond had sold over 115 million records worldwide including 48 million in the United States alone.^[1][2] He is considered to be the third most successful adult contemporary artist ever on the Billboard chart behind Barbra Streisand and Elton John.^[1] His songs have been covered internationally by many performers from various musical genres.

Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Additionally, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 and in 2011 was an honoree at the Kennedy Center Honors. He has eight number one hit singles with "Cracklin Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Desiree", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "Love on the Rocks", "America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight".

Diamond continues to record and release new material and maintains an extensive touring schedule as well.

Early life and career[link]

Neil Diamond was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family descended from Russian and Polish immigrants. His father, Akeeba Diamond, was a dry-goods merchant. Diamond grew up in several homes in Brooklyn, attending Abraham Lincoln High School.^[3][4]

At Lincoln, the school from which he received his high school diploma, he was a member of the fencing team. He later attended NYU on a fencing scholarship, specializing in saber, and was a member of the 1960 NCAA men's championship team; into his adult life he maintained his swordsmanship skills and continued to warm up with fencing exercises before his concerts.^{[citation needed]} In a live interview with TV talk show host Larry King, Diamond explained his decision to study medicine by pointing out:

I actually wanted to be a laboratory biologist. I wanted to study. And I really wanted to find a cure for cancer. My grandmother had died of cancer. And I was always very good at the sciences. And I thought I would go and try and discover the cure for cancer.

However, during his senior year in NYU, a music publishing company made him an offer he could not refuse: an offer to write songs for $50 a week. This started him on the road to stardom.

1960s[link]

Diamond's first recording contract was billed as "Neil and Jack", an Everly Brothers–type duo comprising Diamond and high school friend Jack Packer *(Jack Parker). They recorded two unsuccessful singles, "You Are My Love At Last" b/w "What Will I Do" and "I'm Afraid" b/w "Till You've Tried Love", both released in 1962. Later in 1962, Diamond signed with the Columbia Records label as a solo performer. Columbia Records released the single "At Night" b/w "Clown Town" in July, 1963. Billboard gave an excellent review to "Clown Town" in their July 13, 1963, issue, predicting it would be a hit. Despite a tour of radio stations, the single failed to make the music charts. Furthermore, sales and Top 40 airplay were disappointing, and Columbia dropped Diamond from the label shortly there after. Diamond was back to writing songs on an upright piano above the Birdland Club in New York City.

Diamond spent his early career as a songwriter in the Brill Building. His first success as a songwriter came in November, 1965, with "Sunday and Me", a Top 20 hit for Jay and the Americans on the Billboard Charts. Greater success as a writer followed with "I'm a Believer", "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You", "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)", and "Love to Love", all by The Monkees. There is a popular misconception that Diamond wrote and composed these songs specifically for the made-for-TV quartet. In reality, Diamond had written and recorded these songs for himself, but the cover versions were released before his own.^[5] The unintended, but happy, consequence was that Diamond began to gain fame not only as a singer and performer, but also as a songwriter. "I'm a Believer" was the Popular Music Song of the Year in 1966. Other notable artists who recorded early Diamond songs were Elvis Presley, who interpreted "Sweet Caroline" as well as "And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind"; Mark Lindsay, former lead singer for Paul Revere & the Raiders, who covered "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind"; the English hard-rock band Deep Purple, which interpreted "Kentucky Woman"; Lulu, who covered "The Boat That I Row", and Cliff Richard, who released versions of "I'll Come Running", "Solitary Man", "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon", "I Got The Feelin' (Oh No No)", and "Just Another Guy".

In 1966 Diamond signed a deal with Bert Berns's Bang Records, then a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. His first release on that label, "Solitary Man", became his first hit. Prior to the release of "Solitary Man", Diamond had considered using a stage name; he came up with two possibilities, "Noah Kaminsky" and "Eice Charry".^[6] But when asked by Bang Records which name he should use, Noah, Eice, or Neil, he thought of his grandmother, who died prior to the release of "Solitary Man". Thus he told Bang, "...go with Neil Diamond and I'll figure it out later". Diamond later followed with "Cherry, Cherry", "Kentucky Woman", "Thank the Lord for the Night Time", "Do It", and others. Diamond's Bang recordings were produced by legendary Brill Building songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, both of whom can be heard singing background on many of the tracks.

His first concerts saw him as a "special guest" of, or opening for, everyone from Herman's Hermits to, on one occasion, The Who, which he confirmed on an installment of VH1's documentary series program Behind The Music.

Diamond began to feel restricted by Bang Records, wanting to record more ambitious, introspective music. Finding a loophole in his contract, Diamond tried to sign with a new label, but the result was a series of lawsuits that coincided with a dip in his professional success. Diamond eventually triumphed in court, and secured ownership of his Bang-era master recordings in 1977.

1970s[link]

After Diamond had signed a deal with MCA Records, whose label at the time was Uni (after MCA's parent company, Universal Pictures), he moved to Los Angeles in 1970. His sound mellowed, with such songs as "Sweet Caroline", a US hit in 1969, "Holly Holy", "'Cracklin' Rosie" and "Song Sung Blue", the last two reaching No. 1 on the Hot 100. "Sweet Caroline" was Diamond's first major hit after his slump. Diamond admitted in 2007 that he had written "Sweet Caroline" for Caroline Kennedy after seeing her on the cover of Life in an equestrian riding outfit.^[7] It took him just one hour, in a Memphis hotel, to write and compose it. The 1971 release "I Am...I Said" was a Top 5 hit in both the US and UK, and was his most intensely personal effort to date, taking upwards of four months to complete.^[8]

In 1972, Diamond played 10 sold-out concerts at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. The August 24 performance was recorded and released as the live double album Hot August Night (the title being the opening words of Diamond's song "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show"). That fall, he appeared over 20 consecutive nights at the Winter Garden Theater in New York City; the small (approximately 1,600-seat) Broadway venue provided an intimate concert setting not common at the time. Reportedly, every performance was a sellout.

Hot August Night demonstrates Diamond's skills as a performer and showman, as he reinvigorated his back catalogue of hits with new energy. Many consider it his best work; critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls Hot August Night "the ultimate Neil Diamond record ... [which] shows Diamond the icon in full glory".^[9]

The album has become a classic. It was remastered in 2000 with three additional selections: "Walk on Water", "Kentucky Woman" and "Stones". In Australia, the album spent a remarkable 29 weeks at No. 1; in 2006, it was voted #16 in a poll of favourite albums of all time in Australia.^[10] Also, Diamond's final concert of his 1976 Australian Tour (The "Thank You Australia" Concert) was broadcast to 36 television outlets nationwide on March 6.^{[citation needed]} It also set a record for the largest attendance at the Sydney Sports Ground.^{[citation needed]} The 1977 concert Love At The Greek, a return to the Greek Theatre, includes a version of "Song Sung Blue" with duets with Helen Reddy and Henry Winkler, a.k.a. Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli of Happy Days.

In 1973, Diamond hopped labels again, returning to the Columbia Records for a lucrative million-dollar-advance-per-album contract.^[11][1] His first project, released as a solo album, was the soundtrack to Hall Bartlett's film version of Jonathan Livingston Seagull. The film received hostile reviews and did poorly at the box office. The album grossed more than the film did. Richard Bach, author of the best-selling source story, disowned the film. Both Bach and Diamond sued the film's producer.^[1] Diamond felt the film butchered his score. Despite the shortcomings of the film, the soundtrack was a success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart. Diamond would also garner a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score and a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture.^[11] From there, Diamond would often include a Jonathan Livingston Seagull suite in his live performances, as he did in his 1977 "Love at The Greek" concert. In 1974, Diamond released the album Serenade, from which "Longfellow Serenade" and "I've Been This Way Before" were issued as singles. The latter had been intended for the Jonathan Livingston Seagull score, but was completed too late for inclusion.

In 1976, he released Beautiful Noise, produced by Robbie Robertson of The Band. On Thanksgiving night, 1976, Diamond made an appearance at The Band's farewell concert, The Last Waltz, performing "Dry Your Eyes", which he had written with Robertson, and which had appeared on Beautiful Noise. He also joined the rest of the performers onstage at the end in a rendition of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released".

In 1977, Diamond released I'm Glad You're Here With Me Tonight, including "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", for which he composed the music and collaborated with Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman on lyrics. Barbra Streisand covered the song on her Songbird album, and later, a Diamond-Streisand duet, spurred by the success of radio mash-ups, was recorded. That version hit No. 1 in 1978, his third song to top the Hot 100. His last 1970s album was September Morn, which included a new version of "I'm a Believer". It and "Red Red Wine" are his best-known original songs made more famous by other artists.

In February 1979, the uptempo "Forever in Blue Jeans", co-written with his guitarist, Richard Bennett, was released as a single from You Don't Bring Me Flowers, Diamond's album from the previous year.

According to Cotton Incorporated, "Neil Diamond might have been right when he named his 1979 #1 hit 'Forever in Blue Jeans': 81% of women are planning their next jeans purchase to be some shade of blue." The song has been used to promote the sale of blue jeans, most notably via Will Ferrell, impersonating Diamond singing, for The Gap. Ironically, Diamond himself had performed in radio ads for H.I.S. brand jeans in the 1960s, more than a decade before he and Bennett jointly wrote and composed, and he originated, the selection.

1980s[link]

A planned film version of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" to star Diamond and Streisand fell through when Diamond instead starred in a 1980 remake of the Al Jolson classic, The Jazz Singer, opposite Laurence Olivier and Lucie Arnaz. Though the movie was not a hit, the soundtrack spawned three Top 10 singles, "Love on the Rocks", "Hello Again" and "America". For his role in the film, Diamond became the first-ever winner of a Worst Actor Razzie Award, even though he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for the same role.

Another Top 10 selection, "Heartlight", was inspired by the blockbuster 1982 movie E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Though the film's title character is never mentioned in the lyrics, Universal Pictures, which had released E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and was the parent company of the Uni Records label, by then referred to as the MCA Records label, for which Diamond had recorded for years, briefly threatened legal action against both Diamond and Columbia Records.

Diamond's record sales slumped somewhat in the 1980s and 1990s, his last single to make the Billboard's Pop Singles chart coming in 1986. However, his concert tours continued to be big draws. Billboard Magazine ranked Diamond as the most profitable solo performer of 1986.^[12] In January 1987, Diamond sang the national anthem at the Super Bowl. His "America" became the theme song for the Michael Dukakis 1988 presidential campaign. That same year, UB40's reggae interpretation of Diamond's ballad Red Red Wine would top the Billboard's Pop Singles chart and, like the Monkees' version of "I'm a Believer", become better known than Diamond's original version.

1990s to present[link]

During the 1990s Diamond would produce six studio albums. He would cover many classics from the movies and from famous Brill Building-era songwriters. He also released two Christmas albums, the first peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard's Album chart. Keeping his songwriting skills honed, Diamond also recorded two albums of mostly new material during this period. In 1992, he performed for President George H.W. Bush's final Christmas in Washington NBC special. In 1993, Diamond opened the Mark of the Quad Cities (now the iWireless Center) with two shows on May 27 and 28 to a crowd of 27,000-plus.

The 1990s and 2000s saw a resurgence in Diamond's popularity. "Sweet Caroline" became a popular sing-along at sporting events, starting with Boston College football and basketball games. Most notably it is the theme song for Red Sox Nation, the fans of the Boston Red Sox, although Diamond noted that he has been a lifelong fan of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers.^[13] The song is also played during the 8th inning of every New York Mets home game and at Washington Nationals home games. The New York Rangers have also adapted it as their own, and play it when they are winning at the end of the 3rd period. The Pitt Panthers football team also plays it after the third quarter of all home games, with the crowd cheering, "Let's go Pitt". The Carolina Panthers play it at the end of each home game when they win. Urge Overkill recorded a version of Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" for Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, released in 1994. In 2000, Johnny Cash recorded the album Solitary Man, which included that Diamond classic. Smash Mouth covered Diamond's "I'm a Believer" for their 2001 self-titled album. In the 2001 comedy film Saving Silverman, the main characters play in a Neil Diamond cover band, and Diamond made an extended cameo appearance as himself. During this period, Will Ferrell did a recurring Diamond impersonation on Saturday Night Live, with Diamond himself appearing alongside Ferrell on Ferrell's final show as a "Not Ready For Prime Time Player" in May 2002. "America" was used in promotional ads for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The Finnish band HIM covered "Solitary Man" on their album, And Love Said No: The Greatest Hits.

Diamond has always had a somewhat polarizing effect, best exemplified by the 1991 film What About Bob? There the protagonist posits, "There are two types of people in the world: those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't." The character of Bob attributes the failure of his marriage to his fiancee's fondness for Diamond. Another example of this love/hate relationship: the Becker episode "It had to be Ew"^[14] is largely devoted to ridiculing Diamond and his fans.

Diamond continues to tour and record. 12 Songs, produced by Rick Rubin, was released on November 8, 2005, in two editions: a standard 12-song release, and a special edition with two bonus tracks, including one featuring backing vocals by Brian Wilson. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard chart, and has received generally positive reviews; Earliwine describes the album as "inarguably Neil Diamond's best set of songs in a long, long time".^[15] 12 Songs also became noteworthy as one of the last albums to be pressed and released by Sony BMG with the infamous Extended Copy Protection software embedded in the disc. (See the 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal.)

On December 31, 2005 Diamond appeared on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2006.

In 2007, Diamond was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame.^[16]

In December 2007, a 2008 UK tour was announced, calling at Manchester on June 7 and 8, Birmingham on June 10 and 11, and London on June 21, 23 and 24. A month later, further UK dates were added, including Hampden Park in Glasgow on the 5th of June, Rose Bowl, Southampton on the 17th of June, and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on the 19th of June.

In 2008, Diamond gave filmmaker Greg Kohs permission to use his songs in a documentary. Kohs, a director from Philadelphia, had met a popular Milwaukee, Wisconsin, duo, Lightning & Thunder, composed of Mike Sardina, who did a Neil Diamond impersonation, and his wife Claire. Kohs followed them for eight years and produced the film Song Sung Blue, but needed permission to use Diamond's songs. The movie was sent to the singer in January 2008, at the recommendation of Eddie Vedder, a supporter of the film and of the duo. Although Sardina had died in 2006, Diamond invited his widow and her family to be his front-row guests at his show in Milwaukee, where he told them he was moved by the film.^[17]

On March 19, 2008, it was announced on the TV show American Idol that Diamond would be a guest mentor to the remaining Idol contestants who would be singing Diamond songs for the broadcasts of April 29 and 30, 2008. On April 8, 2008, Diamond made a surprise announcement in a big-screen broadcast at Fenway Park, that he would be appearing there "live in concert" on August 23, 2008, as part of his world tour. The announcement, which marked the first official confirmation of any 2008 concert dates in the US, came during the traditional eighth-inning sing-along of his "Sweet Caroline", which has become an anthem for Boston fans.

On April 28, 2008, Diamond appeared on the roof of the Jimmy Kimmel building to sing "Sweet Caroline" after Kimmel was jokingly arrested trying to sing the song. This was followed on April 30, 2008, by an appearance on American Idol when he sang "Pretty Amazing Grace" from his album Home Before Dark.^[18] On May 2, 2008, Sirius Satellite Radio started Neil Diamond Radio.

Diamond performing at The Roundhouse, London on October 30, 2010

Home Before Dark was released May 6, 2008. On May 15, 2008, the Billboard Hot 200 listed the album at No. 1.^[19] This marked the first chart-topping album of Diamond's storied career. On May 18, 2008, "Home Before Dark" also entered the UK charts at No. 1, his second British No. 1 album, after hitting the summit in 1992 with a compilation album. His 2008 tour was the most successful of any of his previous tours since 1966.

On August 25, 2008, Diamond performed at Ohio State University while suffering from laryngitis. The result disappointed him as well as his fans and on August 26 he offered refunds to anyone who applied by September 5.^[20]

Diamond was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year on February 6, 2009, two nights prior to the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.

According to posts on Diamond's Twitter page, he is currently^[when?] working on a new album, his third with Rick Rubin. He says he plans to play electric guitar on the album, a first for him. In 2009, Diamond stated that he prefers Gibson and Martin acoustic guitars and confirmed that recently he had been playing Gibson electric guitars.^[21]

Long-loved in Boston, Diamond was invited to sing at the July 4 holiday celebration.

Through his Diamond Music Company, Diamond now belongs to that small group of performers whose names are listed as copyright owners on their recordings.

In August 2008, Diamond allowed cameras to record his entire four-night run at New York's Madison Square Garden and released it in the United States on August 14, 2009, on DVD, one year to the day of the first concert. 'Hot August Night/NYC' debuted at No. 2 on the charts and is exclusively available at Wal-Mart and has sold out at many locations all over the country. Also on the same day the DVD was released, CBS (the former parent of his label, Columbia Records) aired an edited version of the DVD, which won the ratings hour with 13 million viewers. The next day, the sales of the DVD surged and prompted Sony to order more copies to meet the high demand.

On October 13, 2009, he released A Cherry Cherry Christmas, his third album of holiday music.

On September 28, 2010, Diamond was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

On November 2, 2010, he released the album 'Dreams', a collection of 14 interpretations of his favorite songs by other artists from the rock era.

On December 14, 2010, it was leaked by numerous sites that Diamond had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, along with Alice Cooper, Darlene Love, Dr. John, and Tom Waits. The induction ceremony will be March 14, 2011 at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City.

On December 20, 2010, Diamond made an appearance on NBC's 'The Sing-Off', performing "Ain't No Sunshine" along with Committed and Street Corner Symphony, two A Cappella groups featured on the show. On May 27, 2011, he appeared on Irish Television in a live recording in front of a celebrity audience.

In December 2011, he appeared at the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors gala to accept the honor.

On November 24, 2011, he appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, riding on a replica Mt. Rushmore float singing a shorten versions of "America" and "Sweet Caroline" to promote tourism for the state of South Dakota.

"The Very Best of Neil Diamond", a compilation CD of Diamond's 23 studio recordings from the Bang, UNI/MCA, & Columbia catalogs was released on December 6, 2011 on the Sony Legacy label.

Personal life[link]

Neil Diamond has been married three times. In 1963 he married his high school sweetheart, school teacher Jaye Posner; they had two daughters, Marjorie and Elyn, before they separated in 1967^[22] and divorced in 1969.^[23] Diamond then married Marcia Murphey, a production assistant; they also had two children, both sons, Jesse and Micah. Diamond's second marriage ended in 1994^[23] or 1995^[22] (sources differ).

On September 7, 2011, the same day he learned he was to be a Kennedy Center Honoree, Diamond announced his engagement to 41-year-old Katie McNeil in a message on Twitter. McNeil is Diamond's manager and was the producer on the documentary Neil Diamond: Hot August Nights NYC. ^[24] On April 21, 2012, Diamond married McNeil in front of family and close friends in Los Angeles, California.^[25]

Diamond was in a relationship with Australian Rae Farley that ended sometime before mid-2008. The two met in Brisbane, Australia, in 1996, and as of 2008 ran his merchandising operation. The album Home Before Dark was written during Farley's struggles with severe chronic back pain, surgery and ongoing recovery. Diamond said, "She had back surgery and it wasn't going well. She was in extreme pain for a year and the surgery did not really work. If anything, it made it worse. And I never left her side. I was within 20ft of her for the entire year that I took writing this album."^[26]

In 1979 Diamond collapsed on stage in San Francisco and was taken to hospital where he endured a twelve hour operation to remove what turned out to be a tumor on his spine. ^[27] He said he had been losing feeling in his right leg "for a number of years but ignored it". When he collapsed, he had no strength in either leg.^[27] He underwent a long rehabilitation process just prior to beginning principal photography for his 1980 film The Jazz Singer.^[26] He was so convinced he was going to die, he even wrote farewell letters to his friends. ^[27]

As of 2008, Diamond still suffered from chronic, and often severe, back pain.^[26]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Neil Diamond

• Official website
• Neil Diamond's Band's Official Site

Maher Zain ماهر زين
Background information
Born	(1981-03-16) March 16, 1981 (age 31) Tripoli, Lebanon
Origin	Sweden
Genres	R&B, Soul music, Pop music, World music, Acoustic music, Nasheed
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician, composer, music producer
Instruments	Guitar, piano, keyboard, percussion, synthesizers
Years active	2009–present
Labels	Awakening Records Sony Music
Associated acts	Irfan Makki Mesut Kurtis

Maher Zain (Arabic: ماهر زين‎ ; born March 16, 1981 in Tripoli, Lebanon) is a Muslim Swedish R&B singer, songwriter and music producer of Lebanese origin. His debut album Thank You Allah, an internationally successful album with strong Muslim religious influences, was released in 2009. He released his follow-up album Forgive Me on April 2, 2012.

Career[link]

Beginnings[link]

Maher Zain and his family moved to Sweden when he was eight years old. He completed his schooling there gaining a Bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering. After university he entered the music industry in Sweden and linked up with RedOne, the Moroccan-born Swedish producer.^[1]

When RedOne moved to New York in 2006 Maher Zain followed soon after to continue his music industry career in the USA producing for artists such as Kat DeLuna.^[2] On a visit home to Sweden he became engaged once more with his Islamic faith and decided to move away from a career as a music producer to become a singer/songwriter of contemporary R&B music with a strong Muslim religious influence.^[3]

[edit] Breakthrough success and Thank You Allah

In January 2009, Maher Zain began working on an album with Awakening Records. His debut album was Thank You Allah, with 13 songs and two bonus tracks was released on 1 November 2009 with percussion versions and French versions of some tracks released shortly afterwards.^[4]

Zain and Awakening Records successfully used new media such as Facebook, YouTube^[5] and iTunes to promote tracks from the album.^[6][7] In early 2010 his music very quickly gathered a huge online following in Arabic speaking and Islamic countries as well as among young Muslims in western countries.^[8] By the end of 2010 he was the most Googled celebrity in Malaysia for that year.^[7] Malaysia is also the country where he has had the most commercial success. The album Thank You Allah received 8 Platinum awards from Warner Music Malaysia as the highest selling album of 2010.^[9] In 2011, Thank You Allah earned a double platinum award from Sony Music Indonesia.^[1]

Zain sings mainly in English but has released some of his most popular songs in other languages. The song "Insha Allah", for example, is now available in English, French, Arabic, Turkish, Malay and Indonesian versions. Another song, “Allahi Allah Kiya Karo” (“Continuously Saying Allah”), is sung in Urdu and features the Pakistan born Canadian singer Irfan Makki.^[6]

In March 2011, Maher Zain released "Freedom",^[6] a song inspired by the events and the actions of the people taking part in the Arab Spring. In July 2011 he featured on the cover of the UK Muslim lifestyle magazine Emel.^[10]

Zain was featured on Irfan Makki's track "I Believe" from his debut studio album of the same name.^[11] He was also featured on Mesut Kurtis' album, Beloved, in the track named "Never Forget".^{[citation needed]}

Awards[link]

• In January 2010, Maher Zain won Best Religious Song for 'Ya Nabi Salam Alayka', on Nujoom FM, a major Middle East mainstream music station, beating other prominent singers including Hussein Al-Jismi, Mohammed Mounir and Sami Yusuf.^[12]

• Maher Zain was chosen as a Muslim Star of 2011 in a competition organized by Onislam.net.^[13]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

• 2010: "Insha Allah"

Videography[link]

• 2009: "Palestine Will Be Free"
• 2010: "Insha Allah"
• 2010: "The Chosen One"
• 2011: "Freedom"
• 2011: "Ya Nabi Salam Alayka"
• 2011: "For the Rest of My Life"
• 2012: "Number One For Me"
• 2012: "So Soon"

Featured in

• 2011: "I Believe" (Irfan Makki feat. Maher Zain) (in Irfan Makki's album I Believe)
• 2011: "Never Forget" (Mesut Kurtis feat. Maher Zain) (in Mesut Kurtis' album Beloved)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Maher Zain Facebook
• Maher Zain on IslamicLyrics.net
• Awakening Music
• Last.fm: Maher Zain page

Brenda Fassie
Brenda Fassie sculpture
Background information
Born	(1964-11-03)November 3, 1964
Origin	Langa, Cape Town, South Africa
Died	May 9, 2004(2004-05-09) (aged 39)
Genres	Pop

Brenda Fassie (3 November 1964 – 9 May 2004^[1]) was a South African pop singer. She was known for her "outrageousness"^[2] and widely considered^[who?] a voice for disenfranchised blacks during apartheid. She was affectionately known as the Queen of African Pop and her nickname among fans was Mabrr.

Biography[link]

Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town,^[3] as the youngest of nine children. She was named after the American singer Brenda Lee.^[3] Her father died when she was two, and with the help of her mother, a pianist,^{[citation needed]} she started earning money by singing for tourists.^[3]

In 1981, at the age of 16, she left Cape Town for Soweto, Johannesburg, to seek her fortune as a singer. Fassie first joined the group Joy and later became the lead singer for the township pop group Brenda And The Big Dudes. She had a son, Bongani, in 1985 by a fellow Big Dudes musician. She married ex-convict Nhlanhla Mbambo in 1989 but divorced in 1991. Around this time she became addicted to cocaine and her career suffered.

With very outspoken views and frequent visits to the poorer townships of Johannesburg, as well as songs about life in the townships, she enjoyed tremendous popularity. Known best for her songs "Weekend Special" and "Too Late for Mama", she was dubbed "The Madonna of the Townships" by Time in 2001.

In 1995 she was discovered in a hotel with the body of her lesbian lover, Poppie Sihlahla, who had died of an apparent overdose.^[3] Fassie underwent rehabilitation and got her career back on track.^[3] However, she still had drug problems and returned to drug rehabilitation clinics^[3] about 30 times in her life.

From 1996 she released several solo albums such as Now Is The Time, Memeza (1997, the best-selling album in South Africa in 1998^[3]) and Nomakanjani?. Most of her albums became multi-platinum sellers in South Africa.

Her family, including her long term partner, were at her side when she succumbed to a cardiac arrest in 2004.

Death[link]

On the morning of 26 April 2004, Fassie collapsed at her home in Buccleuch and was admitted into the Sunninghill hospital in Johannesburg. The press were told that she had suffered cardiac arrest but later reported that she had slipped into a coma brought on by an asthma attack. The post-mortem report revealed that she had taken an overdose of cocaine in the night of her collapse, and this was the cause of her coma. She stopped breathing and suffered brain damage from lack of oxygen. Fassie was visited in the hospital by Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, and Thabo Mbeki, and her condition was front-page news in South African papers.^[3][4] She died aged 39 on 9 May 2004 in hospital without returning to consciousness after her life support machines were turned off. According to the South African Sunday Times and the managers of her music company, the post-mortem report also showed that she was HIV-positive. Her manager, Peter Snyman, denied this aspect of the report.

Recognition[link]

She was voted 17th in the Top 100 Great South Africans.

Her son Bongani 'Bongz' Fassie performed on the soundtrack to the 2005 Academy Award-winning movie Tsotsi. He dedicated his song "I'm So Sorry" to his mother.

In March 2006 a life-size bronze sculpture of Fassie by artist Angus Taylor was installed outside the Bassline music venue in Johannesburg.^[5]

Selected discography[link]

Most of Fassie's records were issued by the EMI-owned CCP Records, which released an estimated 15 albums by the artist.

• 1989: Brenda
• 1990: Black President
• 1994: Brenda Fassie
• 1995: Mama
• 1996: Now Is Time
• 1997: Memeza
• 1997: Paparazzi
• 2000: Thola Amadlozi
• 2001: Brenda The Greatest Hits
• 2003: Mali
• 2003: The Remix Collection
• 2004: Gimme Some Volume

She also made contributions to Mandoza's album Tornado (2002), Miriam Makeba's album Sangoma (1988), and Harry Belafonte's 1988 anti-apartheid album Paradise in Gazankulu, and sang Yizo, Yizo to the soundtrack for Yizo, Yizo (2004).

References[link]

• Afropop! An Illustrated Guide to Contemporary African Music by Sean Barlow & Banning Eyre. (Book Sales August 1995) ISBN 0-7858-0443-9, ISBN 978-0-7858-0443-7

Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann in concert on October 15, 2005.
Background information
Born	(1960-09-08) September 8, 1960 (age 51)
Origin	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Genres	Rock, folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, bass guitar, hi-hat
Years active	1982–present
Labels	SuperEgo
Associated acts	'Til Tuesday
Website	www.aimeemann.com

Aimee Mann (born September 8, 1960)^[1] is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist and bassist.^[2]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, graduated from Open High School (Richmond, Virginia) in 1978^[3] and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes.^{[citation needed]} The band released the EP Bark Along with the Young Snakes in 1982, and a compilation album was issued in 2004.

In 1983, she co-founded with Berklee classmate and boyfriend Michael Hausman the new wave band 'Til Tuesday, which achieved success in 1985 with its first album, Voices Carry. The title song is said to be inspired by Hausman and Mann's breakup.^[2] The video became an MTV staple, winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. Mann was featured on the Rush song "Time Stand Still" (from Hold Your Fire, 1987) which hit #3 on the American rock charts and became a minor UK hit, singing backup vocals and appearing in the music video.^[2] Her laughter is also heard at the start of "Force Ten," from the same album. With Mann playing an increasingly important role in songwriting, 'Til Tuesday released two more albums, Welcome Home and Everything's Different Now. Shortly after the release of Welcome Home, Mann told a writer for Nine-O-One Network Magazine that she was much more pleased with it than "Voices Carry", primarily because she felt it made more of a personal statement about her life.^[4] On their final tour, musician Jon Brion joined the band, which broke up in 1990 when Mann left to start her solo career.^[2]

Around the time of the first album's release, Mann began a romantic relationship with Jules Shear;^{[citation needed]} they broke up before the final 'Til Tuesday album, which contained the song "J For Jules." Professional relationships from the band would continue: Hausman later became Mann's manager, and Brion produced her first two solo albums, along with the Magnolia soundtrack.

Early solo career[link]

In 1993, Mann released Whatever, her first solo album. Promotion suffered due to the collapse of her label, Imago. The album sold modestly and met with critical praise, paving the way for her next release, 1995's I'm with Stupid, through Geffen Records.^[5] Again, reviews were positive, but sales were weak.

Mann met songwriter Michael Penn in the course of work on I'm with Stupid, and the two began dating. They were married in December 1997.

Mann recorded Bachelor No. 2, but Geffen saw no hit singles in the material and ordered her back to the studio. The album languished while Mann and the label fought.^[2]

In 1997 Mann recorded "Nobody Does It Better" on the album Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project.

Meanwhile, Mann became friends with film director Paul Thomas Anderson. This developed as her husband, Michael Penn, and Brion composed the soundtrack for Anderson's movie Hard Eight. Mann gained greater public recognition in 1999 — indeed, more than for anything else since "Voices Carry" — when she contributed eight songs to the soundtrack of Anderson's Magnolia, including the Academy Award and Grammy-nominated song, "Save Me". Anderson deliberately worked from Mann's lyrics to create the film's characters and situations. Mann soon became sought-after as a soundtrack contributor.^[who?] Her song "Amateur" appeared prominently in the 1998 movie Sliding Doors.

Independence[link]

Disillusioned with both the ineffectual promotion and artistic meddling by her record label, an experience documented in songs such as "Calling It Quits" and "Nothing Is Good Enough", she struck out on her own and founded SuperEgo Records in 1999. Mann self-released Bachelor No. 2 in 2000, having negotiated a contract release from David Geffen, and though initially only sold at concerts and via her website, the album became successful, allowing her to secure retail distribution through SuperEgo. The album, which included some songs from Magnolia and new material, was widely admired and Mann's "more indie than indie" success was carefully noted by other musicians.

Mann, Penn, Brion, Fiona Apple, Grant Lee Phillips of Grant Lee Buffalo, and other musicians had by this time developed a subculture around the Largo nightclub in L.A. Penn and Mann formed a concept called Acoustic Vaudeville to recreate it on tour in California and eventually on an irregular, ongoing national tour. The Acoustic Vaudeville shows intermix music and stand-up comedy; among the comedians joining them for individual shows were Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, and David Cross.

[edit] Lost in Space: 2002–2004

Mann continued her solo career with Lost in Space (2002), a somewhat more somber album in the same vein as Bachelor No. 2, featuring art by Seth. In 2003 her website released the Lost in Space Special Edition, which featured a second disc containing six live recordings (including a version of Coldplay's "The Scientist"), as well two B-sides and two previously unreleased songs. In November 2004, Live at St. Ann's Warehouse, a live album and DVD recorded at a series of June 2004 shows in Brooklyn, came out; the two discs were sold packaged together in either a CD jewel case or a DVD case. Mann and her band also played two songs from Lost in Space in an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[edit] The Forgotten Arm and One More Drifter in the Snow: 2005–2006

Mann described her next album, The Forgotten Arm (2005), as a concept album set in the 1970s about two lovers who meet at the Virginia State Fair and go on the run. The Joe Henry-produced album, which was recorded mostly live with few overdubs, was released May 3, 2005. The album's illustrations and title reflect Mann's interest in boxing, having trained with the boxing trainer Freddie Roach.^[6] In 2006, Mann received her one Grammy Award to date for "Best Recording Package" for art direction work related to The Forgotten Arm (shared with Gail Marowitz). The album title derives from a boxing move in which one arm is used to hit the opponent, causing him to "forget" about the other arm, which is then used to deliver a harsher blow. The album received weaker reviews overall, with critics impressed at the totality but unimpressed with any individual songs.

Mann also released an EP for Christmas in 2005 as a cover single of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" for sale through her website and iTunes. It also included "Christmastime", the 1996 duet she recorded with Penn for the Hard Eight soundtrack, and a cover of "The Christmas Song". The iTunes version replaced "Christmastime" with a cover of Joni Mitchell's "River" and "Clean Up for Christmas" from The Forgotten Arm.

Mann's independence from the industry led to more overt political stances. She joined Artists Against Piracy, a group formed to act against the illegal downloading and file sharing of copyrighted music from the Internet. Mann, Penn and Hausman took their experience with SuperEgo to found the independent music collective United Musicians, which is based on the principle that every artist should be able to retain copyright ownership of the work he or she has created, in contrast to normal music industry contracts.

In July 2006, Mann announced that she would be releasing One More Drifter in the Snow, a full-length Christmas album. The album featured primarily covers of Christmas standards, as well as a new version of Christmastime and an original song, called "Calling On Mary", written by Mann and bassist Paul Bryan, who produced the record. It was released on October 31 in the US, and late November 2006 in the UK. An updated version of the CD was released in 2008 incorporating the Joni Mitchell song "River".

2007–present[link]

On July 31, 2007 the soundtrack for the motion picture Arctic Tale was released, featuring two new Mann songs, "The Great Beyond" and "At the Edge of the World".

July 2007 also saw the premiere of the music video for a song entitled "31 Today" (which featured comedienne Morgan Murphy alongside Mann and Bobcat Goldthwait as director) on YouTube.^[7] The song appears on Mann's seventh studio album, @#%&*! Smilers, released on June 3, 2008 featuring cover and inside art by Gary Taxali which was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Art Package (art directed/designed by Gail Marowitz). The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at Number 32 (one of Mann's highest positions to date), and on the Top Independent Albums chart at Number 2.^[8] @#%&*! Smilers was met with mostly praise, with Billboard stating that it "pops with color, something that gives it an immediacy that's rare for an artist known for songs that subtly worm their way into the subconscious... Smilers grabs a listener, never making him or her work at learning the record, as there are both big pop hooks and a rich sonic sheen."^[9]

Mann joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.^[10][11][12] She was also an inaugural member of the IMAs in 2002.^[13] In a September 2009 interview with Los Angeles blog LA Snark, Mann mentioned that she was beginning work on a musical based on her album The Forgotten Arm.^[14]

Mann's song "Wise Up" is being used for the organ donor campaign in Ontario, Canada and can be seen on the video within their site beadonor.ca

On her 2010 fall tour, Aimee talked about "The Forgotten Arm" musical, including playing four new songs written specifically for it: "You've Got To Be Willing To Hurt The One You Love", "Conflicted", "Easy to Die", and "Eiffel Tower". Two of these songs feature a new character from the musical, a boxing trainer named Ollie. In 2011, Aimee stated that the musical was put on hold indefinitely, due to similarities to The Fighter. However, she did post on her Facebook page that she has just finished recording a new album on December 2, 2011. On Episode 273 of WTF with Marc Maron, James Mercer of the The Shins stated that he had recorded a duet with Mann, which he expected to appear on her forthcoming album.

She can be heard contributing vocals on the song "Two Horses" in Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie.

Discography[link]

• 1993 – Whatever
• 1995 – I'm with Stupid
• 2000 – Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo
• 2002 – Lost in Space
• 2005 – The Forgotten Arm
• 2006 – One More Drifter in the Snow
• 2008 – @#%&*! Smilers

Acting[link]

• Mann played the role of a German nihilist who sacrificed her green nail polished little right toe in the movie The Big Lebowski (1998).
• Mann and her band appear as themselves in the 2002 Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Sleeper", performing the songs "This Is How It Goes" and "Pavlov's Bell" at The Bronze. She has one line in the episode: "Man, I hate playing vampire towns." "Pavlov's Bell" also appears on the Buffy soundtrack album Radio Sunnydale.
• She and her band also play themselves in a 2002 episode of The West Wing, "College Kids", performing a cover of James Taylor's "Shed a Little Light" at a Rock the Vote concert.
• In 2006, Mann guest-starred as herself on an episode of Love Monkey, "The One Who Got Away".
• On March 26, 2008, Mann appeared as herself in the Comedy Central series Lewis Black's Root of All Evil. She took the position that musicians don't need marijuana in a comedic interview conducted by comedian Paul F. Tompkins.
• Mann played herself as a cleaning woman (with the rationale that the music industry has become unprofitable) on the Independent Film Channel show Portlandia; the episode aired February 4, 2011.

Personal life[link]

Mann met fellow singer-songwriter Michael Penn in the late 1980s and with comparable songwriting styles and record-industry woes to share, they struck up a friendship during the recording of I'm with Stupid (to which Penn contributed vocals), which blossomed into romance and their marriage in 1997.^[5] Penn is the brother of actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn. Aimee has a sister.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aimee Mann

• Official site
• Aimee Mann's discography at Discogs
• Aimee Mann at Rolling Stone
• Aimee Mann Live Interview/Performance on KCMP (2005)
• Aimee Mann Live Interview/Performance on KCMP (2008)
• Aimee Mann at NPR Music
• Aimee Mann on IMDB
• Aimee Mann's Off-The-Wall Christmas Concert on NPR.prg
• Aimee Mann Live at St. Ann's Warehouse (Performs "The Moth") at Apple.com HD Video Gallery