Name	DJ Kool
Background	solo_singer
Birth place	Washington, D.C., United States
Birth name	John W. Bowman, Jr.
Instrument	Vocalist
Genre	Hip hop, go-go, R&B;, funk rap
Occupation	DJ, rapper, singer
Years active	1982–present
Label	CLR Records (1984-1997)American Recordings/Warner Bros. Records (1992-1998)
Associated acts	Rare Essence, Will Smith, Mýa
Website	}}

John W. Bowman, Jr., better known by his stage name DJ Kool is a rapper who, in the late 1990s, produced several popular rap singles. Born in 1959 in Washington, D.C., his influence from his years of working the go-go and rap circuits became apparent in his music. During the early- to mid-1980s, Kool worked as a warm-up DJ for Rare Essence, until he was picked up by CLR Records.

In 1996, he recorded his most successful track, "Let Me Clear My Throat," which was released on American Recordings. The track peaked at #8 in the UK Singles Chart in March 1997. The song prominently featured a sample of "The 900 Number" by DJ Mark the 45 King, (that song featured a sample from Marva Whitney's "Unwind Yourself", repeated over a breakbeat for six minutes). The song also began by sampling "Hollywood Swinging" by Kool and the Gang. The song is a recognizable dance floor-filler, and the track remains popular . DJ Kool was featured on Mýa's 2006 single "Ayo!" from her 2008 album ''Liberation''. He was also featured on two tracks on Will Smith's 2005 album ''Lost and Found''.

On November 21, 2009, he performed at halftime of a Denver Nuggets basketball game.

Discography

Albums

''The Music Ain't Loud Enuff'' (1990)

''20 Minute Workout'' (1992)

''Let Me Clear My Throat'' (1996)

Singles

"Let Me Clear My Throat" (1996)

Guest Appearances

"Be A Man" by "Macho Man" Randy Savage (2003)

"Let's Get Dirty (I Can't Get in da Club)" by Redman (2001)

References

External links

Official Website

Yahoo Biography

Musicmatch guide

Fansite

DJ Kool Video interview with Money Train & Thenkman

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:American DJs Category:Hip hop DJs Category:Musicians from Washington, D.C. Category:Go-go musicians

de:DJ Kool it:DJ Kool pl:DJ Kool

Name	Biz Markie
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Marcel Theo Hall
Alias	The Diabolical Biz Markie, The Markie Kidd
Born	April 8, 1964 (age 47)
Origin	Long Island, New York
Genre	Hip Hop, Comedy music
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, Actor, Producer
Years active	1983–present
Label	Cold Chillin'/Warner Bros. RecordsTommy Boy Entertainment
Associated acts	Juice Crew, Beastie Boys, Digital Underground
Website	bizmarkiespace.com }}

Marcel Theo Hall (born April 8, 1964, Harlem, New York) better known by his stage name, Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, comedian, singer, reality television personality, and commercial spokesperson. He is best known for his single "Just a Friend", an American Top 10 hit in 1989. In 2008, "Just a Friend" made #100 on VH1's list of the 100 greatest hip hop songs of all time.

Markie has been called "the Clown Prince of Hip Hop."

Life and career

Biz Markie's career began on Long Island, New York in the early 1980s, where he established his reputation for beat-boxing and rapping. MC Shan and Roxanne Shante were part of Marley Marl's Cold Chillin' Records, and Biz beatboxed on Shante's underground hit "Def Fresh Crew" (1986). This lent credibility to his recording career and put Cold Chillin' on the map. In the same year, Biz Markie's debut single, "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz", was released on Prism Records. He released his debut album, ''Goin' Off'', which attracted a fair amount of attention, largely due to the lead single, "Make the Music With Your Mouth, Biz". The album also featured the underground hit singles "Nobody Beats The Biz", "The Vapors" and "Pickin' Boogers".

''I Need a Haircut'' sales were already low when Markie was served a lawsuit by Gilbert O'Sullivan, who claimed that the album's ''Alone Again'' featured an unauthorized sample from his hit "Alone Again (Naturally)". O'Sullivan's claim was upheld in a landmark ruling, ''Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records, Inc.'', that altered the landscape of hip-hop, finding that all samples must be cleared with the original artist before being used. In accordance with the ruling, Warner Bros., the parent company of Cold Chillin', had to pull ''I Need a Haircut'' from circulation, and all companies had to clear samples with the samples' creators before releasing the records. This development reflected the increasing popularity of hip-hop and the financial stakes over which releases were set. Biz responded in 1993 with the mischievously titled ''All Samples Cleared!'', but his career had been hurt by the publicity emanating from the lawsuit, and the record suffered accordingly. For the remainder of the decade, he occasionally made television appearances, including guest appearances on ''In Living Color'' (including as Damian "Foosball" Franklin in the recurring sketch "The Dirty dicks" and as Marlon Cain in "Ed Bacon: Guidance Counselor") and in a 1996 freestyle rap commercial on MTV2. He also made numerous guest appearances with the Beastie Boys, "Check Your Head" (1992), "Ill Communication" (1994), "Hello Nasty" (1998), and their anthology ''The Sounds of Science'' (1999). He also rapped on the song "Schizo Jam", on Don Byron's 1998 release, "Nu Blaxploitation" (Blue Note/Capitol) and worked with Canibus on the first track on the Office Space soundtrack (1999). He also rapped on the track "So Fresh" alongside Slick Rick on Will Smith's 1999 album "Willennium".

In 1996, he appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America is Dying Slowly, alongside Wu-Tang Clan, Coolio, and Fat Joe, among others. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as a masterpiece by The Source magazine.

In 1997 he appeared on the Rolling Stones' song Anybody Seen My Baby? on their album Bridges to Babylon. His part was shortened on some radio versions.

In 2002, he appeared as an alien in ''Men in Black II'' with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, essentially playing an alien parody of himself, whose native language sounded exactly like beatboxing. Between 2002 and 2003 he appeared in episode 5 of the TV series Fastlane playing himself as a nightclub DJ. In 2003 he appeared in the international television series titled Kung Faux performing a series of voice over characters featured in a variety of episodes. In 2004, his song ''The Vapors'' appeared on the soundtrack of Rockstar's popular videogame ''Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas'' which featured an old school hip hop radio station, Playback FM. In 2005, Biz detoured from his recording duties to appear on the first season of the television show ''Celebrity Fit Club'' which challenged celebrities to lose weight by a combination of diet and exercise. Biz Markie lost more weight than anybody else in the competition. That year, he was also in an episode of ''The Andy Milonakis Show''.

Biz Markie was a cast member on Nick Cannon's ''Wild 'n Out'', seasons 1 and 3. Biz also does the beatboxing segment, ''Biz's Beat of the Day'' on the Nick Jr. show ''Yo Gabba Gabba!''.

Biz Markie began 2008 opening for Chris Rock's "No Apologies" tour. Biz Markie's act includes spinning records ranging from old school hip hop to Lynyrd Skynyrd and then performing "Just a Friend". Biz Markie's playlist includes the following: "Children's Story" by Slick Rick, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Holiday" by Madonna, "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!, "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock, "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow and "Robot Rock" by Daft Punk.

In December 2009, Biz Markie appeared in a RadioShack commercial, repeating the line: "Oh Snap! Guess what I saw!" from his song "Just A Friend". That same year saw his debut with Andy Milonakis in television commercials for the commercial Internet service, Tune Up.

In 2010, Biz Markie appeared on VH1's ''100 Greatest Artists of All Time'', providing commentary throughout the series. Biz Markie himself was not included on the list. On November 9, 2010, Biz appeared on The Aquabats! new EP, Radio Down! in the title track. On November 11, 2010, Biz sat in with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and performed "Just a Friend" with actor Jeff Goldblum.

Biz Markie also appeared in the Adventure Time season two episode Slow Love, which aired on November 15, 2010.

Discography

Studio albums

1988: ''Goin' Off''

1989: ''The Biz Never Sleeps''

1991: ''I Need a Haircut''

1993: ''All Samples Cleared!''

2003: ''Weekend Warrior''

Compilations

1994: ''Biz's Baddest Beats''

1996: ''Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks''

1998: ''On the Turntable''

2000: ''On the Turntable 2''

2002: ''Greatest Hits''

2006: ''Make the Music with Your Mouth, Biz''

2009: ''Ultimate Diabolical''

2009: "Yo Gabba Gabba Music is Awesome!"

2010: ''The Aquabats Radio Down!

Singles

{|class="wikitable" !rowspan="2"|Year !rowspan="2"|Song !colspan="3"|Chart positions !rowspan="2"|Album |- !width="40"|U.S. Hot 100 !width="40"|U.S. R&B; !width="40"|U.S. Rap |- |align="center" rowspan="1"|1987 |align="left"|"Make the Music with Your Mouth" |align="center"|— |align="center"|84 |align="center"|— |align="left" rowspan="2"|''Goin' Off'' |- |align="center" rowspan="1"|1988 |align="left"|"Vapors" |align="center"|— |align="center"|37 |align="center"|— |- |align="center" rowspan="1"|1989 |align="left"|"Just a Friend" |align="center"|9 |align="center"|22 |align="center"|5 |align="left" rowspan="1"|''The Biz Never Sleeps'' |- |align="center" rowspan="1"|1991 |align="left"|"What Comes Around Goes Around" |align="center"|— |align="center"|84 |align="center"|4 |align="left" rowspan="1"|''I Need a Haircut'' |- |align="center" rowspan="1"|1993 |align="left"|"Let Me Turn You On" |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|7 |align="left" rowspan="2"|''All Samples Cleared!'' |- |align="center" rowspan="1"|1993 |align="left"|"Young Girl Bluez" |align="center"|— |align="center"|— |align="center"|4 |- |}

References

External links

Biz Markie Official Website

In-depth Biz Markie Interview

VH-1 Biography

Category:1964 births Category:African American rappers Category:People from Brooklyn Category:Living people Category:American hip hop record producers Category:Rappers from New York City Category:People from Manhattan Category:Celebrity Fit Club participants Category:Cold Chillin' Records artists Category:Tommy Boy Entertainment artists

de:Biz Markie es:Biz Markie fr:Biz Markie id:Biz Markie it:Biz Markie ja:ビズ・マーキー no:Biz Markie pl:Biz Markie pt:Biz Markie simple:Biz Markie

Name	D.J. Kool Herc
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Clive Campbell
Born	April 16, 1955Kingston, Jamaica
Origin	Kingston,Jamaica
Genre	Hip hop
Years active	1967–present }}

Clive Campbell (born April 16, 1955), also known as Kool Herc, DJ Kool Herc and Kool DJ Herc, is a Jamaican-born DJ who is credited with originating hip hop music, in The Bronx, New York City. His playing of hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown was an alternative both to the violent gang culture of the Bronx and to the nascent popularity of disco in the 1970s. In response to the reactions of his dancers, Campbell began to isolate the instrumental portion of the record which emphasized the drum beat—the "break"—and switch from one break to another to yet another.

Using the same two turntable set-up of disco DJs, Campbell's style led to the use of two copies of the same record to elongate the break. This breakbeat DJing, using hard funk, rock, and records with Latin percussion, formed the basis of hip hop music. Campbell's announcements and exhortations to dancers helped lead to the syncopated, rhymed spoken accompaniment now known as rapping. He called his dancers "break-boys" and "break-girls", or simply b-boys and b-girls. Campbell's DJ style was quickly taken up by figures such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Unlike them, he never made the move into commercially recorded hip hop in its earliest years.

Biography

1520 Sedgwick Avenue

Clive Campbell was the first of six children born to Keith and Nettie Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica. While growing up, he saw and heard the sound systems of neighborhood parties called dancehalls, and the accompanying speech of their DJs, known as toasting. He moved to the Bronx, New York in November 1967. The creation of the Cross Bronx Expressway by Robert Moses (completed 1963, with further construction continuing through to 1972) had uprooted thousands in the Bronx, displaced communities, and led to "white flight" due to lowered property values in its wake. Many landlords resorted to arson in order to recoup money through insurance policies. A violent new street gang youth culture emerged there around 1968, and had spread with increasing lawlessness across large parts of the Bronx by 1973.

Campbell attended the Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School in the Bronx, where his height, frame, and demeanor on the basketball court prompted the other kids to nickname him "Hercules". He began running with a graffiti crew called the Ex-Vandals, taking the name Kool Herc. Herc recalls persuading his father to buy him a copy of "Sex Machine" by James Brown, a record that not a lot of people had, and one which they would come to him to hear. He and his sister, Cindy, began hosting back-to-school parties in the recreation room of their building, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. Herc's first soundsystem consisted of two turntables and a guitar amplifier, on which he played records like James Brown's "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose", The Jimmy Castor Bunch's "It's Just Begun" and Booker T & the MG's' "Melting Pot". With Bronx clubs afflicted with the menacing presence of street gangs, uptown DJs catering to an older disco crowd with different aspirations, and commercial radio also catering to a demographic distinct from kids in the Bronx, Herc's parties had a ready-made audience.

The break

At these parties in the recreation room at Sedgwick Avenue, DJ Kool Herc developed the style that was the blueprint for hip hop music. Herc used two copies of the same record to focus on a short, heavily percussive, part in it: the "break". Since this part of the record was the one the dancers liked best, Herc isolated and prolonged it. As one record reached the end of the break, he cued the other record back to the beginning of the break, thereby extending a relatively small part of a record into a "five-minute loop of fury". This innovation had its roots in what he called "The Merry-Go-Round"—a switching from break to break done at the height of the party. Herc told ''The New York Times'' he first introduced the Merry-Go-Round into his sets in 1972. The earliest known Merry-Go-Round involved playing James Brown's "Give It Up or Turnit A Loose" (with its refrain, "Now clap your hands! Stomp your feet!"), then switching from its break into the break from "Bongo Rock" by The Incredible Bongo Band, and from "Bongo Rock"'s break into that of "The Mexican" by the English rock band Babe Ruth. Kool Herc also contributed to developing the rhyming style of hip hop by punctua with slang phrases from the DJ's microphone: "Rock on, my mellow!" "B-boys, b-girls, are you ready?" "This is the joint!" "To the beat, y'all!" "You don't stop!" For his contributions Herc is called a "founding father of hip hop," a "nascent cultural hero," and an integral part of the beginnings of hip hop by ''Time''.

On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc was a Disc Jockey and Emcee at a party in the recreation room at Sedgwick Avenue. Specifically, DJ Kool Herc:

B-boys and b-girls

The "b-boys" and "b-girls" were the dancers to Herc's breaks, who were described as "breaking". The obvious connection is to the breakbeat, but Herc has noted that "breaking" was also street slang of the time meaning "getting excited", "acting energetically" or "causing a disturbance". Herc's terms "b-boy", "b-girl" and "breaking" became part of the lexicon of hip hop culture even before that culture itself had a name. Early Kool Herc b-boy and later DJ innovator Grandmixer DXT describes the early evolution thus: " ... [E]verybody would form a circle and the B-boys would go into the center. At first the dance was simple: touch your toes, hop, kick out your leg. Then some guy went down, spun around on all fours. Everybody said wow and went home to try to come up with something better." This was the form the media in the early eighties called "breakdance"; the same form the dance critic of the ''New York Times'' in 1991 declared "an art as demanding and inventive as mainstream dance forms like ballet and jazz." Since the overall emerging culture was yet to be named, its followers were likely to identify as "b-boys" over and above the specific connection to dance, a usage that persisted in following years.

Move to the streets

With the mystique of his graffiti name, his physical stature, and the reputation of his small parties, Herc had become somewhat of a folk hero in the Bronx. Herc began to play at the nearby Twilight Zone club, the Havelo club, the Executive Playhouse club, the PAL on 183rd Street, and high schools such as Dodge High School and Taft High School. Rapping duties were delegated to Coke La Rock. Herc's collective, known as The Herculoids, was further augmented by Clark Kent and dancers The Nigger Twins. Herc also took his soundsystem (the herculords) —now upgraded to one of legendary volume—to the streets and parks of the Bronx. Nelson George recalls a schoolyard party:

The sun hadn't gone down yet, and kids were just hanging out, waiting for something to happen. Van pulls up, a bunch of guys come out with a table, crates of records. They unscrew the base of the light pole, take their equipment, attach it to that, get the electricity – Boom! We got a concert right here in the schoolyard and it's this guy Kool Herc. And he's just standing with the turntable, and the guys were studying his hands. There are people dancing, but there's as many people standing, just watching what he's doing. That was my first introduction to in-the-street, hip hop DJing.

Impact on artists

A young Grandmaster Flash, to whom Kool Herc was, in his words, "a hero", began DJing in Herc's style in 1975. By 1976, it was possible for Flash, and his MCs The Furious Five, to play to a packed Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. Venue owners were often nervous of unruly young crowds, however, and soon sent hip hop back to the clubs, community centers and high school gymnasiums of the Bronx. Afrika Bambaataa first heard Kool Herc in 1973. Bambaataa, at that time a general in the notorious Black Spades gang of the Bronx, obtained his own soundsystem in 1975 and began to DJ in Herc's style, converting his followers to the non-violent Zulu Nation in the process. Kool Herc began using The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" as a break in 1975. It became a firm b-boy favorite—"the Bronx national anthem"—and is still in use in hip hop today. Steven Hager wrote of this period:

For over five years the Bronx had lived in constant terror of street gangs. Suddenly, in 1975, they disappeared almost as quickly as they had arrived. This happened because something better came along to replace the gangs. That something was eventually called hip-hop.

In 1979, record company executive Sylvia Robinson assembled a group she called The Sugarhill Gang and recorded "Rapper's Delight". The hit song ushered in the era of commercially released hip hop. By that year's end, Grandmaster Flash was recording for Enjoy Records. In 1980, Afrika Bambaataa began recording for Winley. By this time, DJ Kool Herc's star had faded. Grandmaster Flash suggests that Herc may not have kept pace with developments in techniques of cueing (lining up a record to play at a certain place on it). There were also developments in cutting (switching from one record to another) and scratching (moving the record by hand to and fro under the stylus for percussive effect) in the late seventies. Herc himself explains his retreat from the scene by referencing two events: an incident at the Executive Playhouse where he was stabbed while attempting to intercede in a fight, which took him out of action, and which he suggests made people wary of attending events hosted by him subsequent to it; and the burning down of one of the venues at which he used to DJ. In 1980, Herc had stopped DJing and was working in a record shop in South Bronx.

Later years

thumb|right|Herc spins records in the [[Hunts Point, Bronx|Hunts Point section of the Bronx at a February 28, 2009 event addressing the "West Indian Roots of Hip-Hop."]]Kool Herc appeared in Hollywood's motion picture take on hip hop, ''Beat Street'' (Orion, 1984), as himself. Some time in the mid-1980s, his father died, and he became addicted to crack cocaine. "I couldn’t cope, so I started medicating", he says of this period. In 1994 he appeared on Terminator X & the Godfathers of Threatt's album, '' Super Bad''. In 2005, he wrote the foreword to Jeff Chang's book on hip hop, ''Can't Stop Won't Stop''. In 2006, he became involved in getting Hip Hop commemorated at Smithsonian Institution museums.

Since 2007 he has become involved in a campaign to prevent 1520 Sedgwick Avenue being sold to developers and moved out of its Mitchell-Lama affordable housing scheme. In the Summer of 2007, New York state officials declared 1520 Sedgwick Avenue the "birthplace of hip-hop", and made it eligible for national and state registers. The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development ruled against the proposed sale in February 2008, on the grounds that "the proposed purchase price is inconsistent with the use of property as a Mitchell-Lama affordable housing development". It is the first time they have so ruled in such a case.

Serious illness

According to a DJ Premier fan blog, The Source's website and other sites, DJ Kool Herc had fallen gravely ill in early 2011. "Friends of DJ Kool Herc say he ... lacks health insurance," per another report. He had surgery for kidney stones, with a stent placed to relieve the pressure. He needs followup surgery but St. Barnabas Hospital, the site that performed the previous surgery, has requested that he put down a deposit prior to the next surgery, because he has missed several followup visits. The hospital stated it would not turn away uninsured patients in the emergency room. Herc's sister Cindy Campbell says that they have requested disclosure of the total sum required but the hospital has not yet given it to them. DJ Kool Herc and his family have set up an official website on which he describes his medical issue and the larger goal of establishing the DJ Kool Herc Fund to pioneer long term health care solutions.

Notes

References

Chang, Jeff. ''Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation''. St. Martin's Press, New York: 2005. ISBN 978-0-312-42579-1

Cross, Brian. ''It's Not About A Salary...Rap, Race and Resistance in Los Angeles''. New York: Verso, 1993. ISBN 978-0-86091-620-8

Hager, Steven, "Afrika Bambaataa's Hip-Hop", Village Voice, September 21, 1982. Reprinted in ''And It Don't Stop! The Best American Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years''. Cepeda, Raquel (ed.). New York: Faber and Faber, Inc., 2004. ISBN 978-0-571-21159-3

Ogg, Alex, with Upshall, David. ''The Hip Hop Years'', London: Macmillan, 1999 ISBN 978-0-7522-1780-2

Shapiro, Peter. ''Rough Guide to Hip-Hop'', 2nd. ed., London: Rough Guides, 2005 ISBN 978-1-84353-263-7

Toop, David. ''Rap Attack'', 3rd. ed., London: Serpent's Tail, 2000 ISBN 978-1-85242-627-9

External links

Official Website of DJ Kool Herc

A biography of DJ Kool Herc at OldSchoolHipHop.com

Lengthy Kool Herc bio @ hiphop.sh

Category:1955 births Category:American people of Jamaican descent Category:Hip hop DJs Category:Jamaican hip hop musicians Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York City Category:People from the Bronx

als:Kool DJ Herc ar:كول هيرك da:DJ Kool Herc de:Kool DJ Herc es:DJ Kool Herc fr:Kool Herc it:DJ Kool Herc nl:DJ Kool Herc ja:クール・ハーク no:DJ Kool Herc pl:Kool Herc pt:Kool Herc ru:Кул Герк fi:DJ Kool Herc sv:Kool DJ Herc

name	Chuck Brown
background	solo_singer
birth date	August 28, 1936
origin	Washington, D.C.
instrument	Guitar
genre	Funk, go-go
occupation	Singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, guitarist
years active	1960s–present
website	windmeupchuck.com
notable instruments	Gibson ES-335 (blonde) }}

Chuck Brown (born August 22, 1936) is a guitarist and singer who is affectionately called "The Godfather of Go-go". Go-go is a subgenre of funk music developed in and around Washington, D.C. in the mid- and late 1970s. While its musical classification, influences, and origins are debated, Brown is regarded as the fundamental force behind the creation of go-go music.

Brown's musical career began in the 1960s playing guitar with Jerry Butler and The Earls of Rhythm, joining Los Latinos in 1965. He still performs music today and is commonly known in the Washington, DC area. Brown's early hits include "I Need Some Money" and "Bustin' Loose". "Bustin' Loose" has been adopted by the Washington Nationals baseball team as its home run celebration song, and was interpolated by Nelly for his 2002 number one hit "Hot in Herre." Brown also recorded go-go covers of early jazz and blues songs, such as "Go-Go Swing" Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing If Ain't Got That Swing", "Moody's Mood for Love", Johnny Mercer's "Midnight Sun", Louis Jordan's "Run Joe", and T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday".

He has influenced other go-go bands such as Big G and The Backyard Band, Rare Essence, Experience Unlimited (EU), Little Benny and the Masters, and Trouble Funk.

The song "Ashley's Roachclip" from the Soul Searchers' 1974 album ''Salt of the Earth'' contains a famous drum break, sampled countless times in various other tracks.

In the mid-1990s, he performed the theme music of Fox's sitcom ''The Sinbad Show'' which later aired on ''The Family Channel'' and ''Disney Channel''.

Brown is considered a local legend in Washington, D.C., and has appeared in television advertisements for the ''Washington Post'' and other area companies. The D.C. Lottery's "Rolling Cash 5" ad campaign features Chuck Brown singing his 2007 song "The Party Roll" in front of various D.C. city landmarks such as Ben's Chili Bowl.

Brown resides in Waldorf, Maryland. His son, Nekos, was a defensive end/linebacker for the Virginia Tech football team. While his son was in college, Brown scheduled concerts and other appearances around the Hokies home schedule to ensure that he would never miss a game, and became a fixture at Lane Stadium. Following the Virginia Tech massacre, Brown was "absolutely devastated" by the tragedy, and cried every day for two weeks. In shows that followed, Brown would pause for a moment in prayer for the victims and their families before beginning his performance, and dedicated several shows to their memory.

Brown was the subject of the cover article in ''The Washington Post Magazine'' on October 4, 2009, entitled ''Chuck Brown's Long'' ''Dance''. He received his first Grammy Award nomination in 2010 for Best R&B; Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for "Love" (with Jill Scott and Marcus Miller), from the album ''We Got This''.

Since the early 1970s, Brown has exclusively played a blonde Gibson ES-335, which is affectionately referred to as his "Blondie."

Chuck Brown will be honored by the National Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, September 4, 2011, at 8pm as the NSO pays tribute to Legends of Washington Music Labor Day concert - honoring the music of Chuck Brown, Duke Ellington and John Philip Sousa - with a FREE concert on the West Lawn of the Capitol. Chuck Brown and his band will also perform.

Discography

1972: ''We the People''

1974: ''Salt of the Earth''

1979: ''Bustin' Loose''

1980: ''Funk Express''

1984: ''We Need Some Money''

1986: ''Go Go Swing Live'' [Future Sounds Production]

1987: ''Any Other Way to Go?''

1987: ''Live '87 - D.C. Bumpin' Y'all'' [live; double album]

1989: ''Trust Me: Live Pa Tape, Vol. 2 '' [Future Records & Tapes]

1990: ''Wind Me up Chuck, Vol. 3'' [Raw Venture Records & Tapes]

1991: ''90's Goin' Hard''

1993: ''This Is a Journey into Time'' [live]

1995: ''Hah Man''

1995: ''The Other Side'' - with Eva Cassidy (recorded in 1992 and released in 1995)

1997: ''Live Pa Tape''

1998: ''Timeless''

1999: ''The Spirit of Christmas''

2001: ''Your Game...Live at the 9:30 Club''

2002: ''Put Your Hands Up!''

2005: ''Best of Chuck Brown'' (remastered)

2007: ''We are About The Business'' (Raw Venture Records)

2010: ''We Got This'' (Raw Venture Records)

See also

Anthony Harley

References

External links

Official website

Chuck Brown's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project

Photo Gallery of Chuck Brown & his band at the 9:30 Club, Washington DC

"Chuck Brown: Go-Go Godfather's Gumbo", ''All Things Considered'', 10 May 2006

"Wind me up, Chuck", Jeff Chang, San Francisco Bay Guardian, June 2001

"Chuck Brown," Nick Baily, Global Rhythm, August 2007

"Still Soulful, Still Swinging, Still Ready to Bust Loose," Jon Pareles, The New York Times, April 21, 2007

on Chuck Brown's influence

"Chuck Brown's Long Dance," Robin Rose Parker, The Washington Post Magazine, October 4, 2009

Category:1934 births Category:Living people Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners Category:Musicians from Washington, D.C. Category:Go-go musicians

name	Iris Chacón
birth date	March 07, 1950
birth place	Puerto Rico
height	5'5"
birthname	Iris Chacón
occupation	singerdancerentertainer
years active	1970s - present
notable role	host, Iris Chacon Show, 1972-1985 }}

Iris Chacón (born March 7, 1950 in Puerto Rico) is a dancer, singer, and entertainer. She enjoys great popularity in Puerto Rico (where she had a weekly variety show for more than a decade) and in other Latin American countries, as well as such US locales as New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.

Career

Chacon has been known by various nicknames, such as "La Bomba de Puerto Rico" (The Puerto Rican Bombshell), and "La Vedette de America" (America's Showgirl). During her heyday in the 1970s and early 1980s, she toured most of Latin America, the USA, Europe and Japan. She also starred in two movies and many telenovelas, such as ''Yo Se Que Mentia''.

Amalie Oil commercial

In 1982, a television commercial she did for Amalie Oil's automobile engine coolant products became one of the most famous television commercials in Puerto Rico's history. The publicity surrounding the commercial landed her in a front page article in the Wall Street Journal in June 1983 entitled ''A Onetime Choirgirl Rules as Sex Goddess On Puerto Rican TV''. The ad employed a play on words between the English word coolant and Spanish culon which means large derrière.

Mid-1980s to present

From 1984 through the early 1990s, Iris Chacón appeared on such American TV shows as "America Onstage", "The Merv Griffin Show", "Geraldo Rivera Show, and "David Letterman"." Letterman described her as the Dolly Parton and Loni Anderson of Puerto Rico and joked about proposing to her. Merv Griffin said of her that "she was the answer to 'Where's the beef?'", a reference to the Wendy's commercial of that time period. However, by 1984, Chacón reached her peak, and not being able to reach an "Anglo" market, ended her show in Puerto Rico by mid-1985 at the age of 35. Her show aired in syndication until the end of the 1980s.

External links

Coolant Commercial on You Tube

Official website

Iris Chacon group on Facebook

on [Twitter]

on [Yahoo Groups]

[YouTube Channel]

Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Puerto Rican female singers Category:Puerto Rican film actors Category:Puerto Rican soap opera actors Category:Puerto Rican television personalities

es:Iris Chacón