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A title card for a Walt Disney Donald Duck cartoon with an "in Technicolor" credit. Many 1930s and 1940s American cartoon shorts were produced in Technicolor.

Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.^[1] It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952. Technicolor became known and celebrated for its saturated levels of color, and was used most commonly for filming musicals such as The Wizard of Oz and Singin' in the Rain, costume pictures such as The Adventures of Robin Hood and Joan of Arc, and animated films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Fantasia. However, it was also used for less spectacular dramas and comedies, and sometimes even a Film noir such as Leave Her to Heaven or Niagara was filmed in Technicolor.

"Technicolor" is the trademark for a series of color motion picture processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc.), now a division of Technicolor SA. The Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation was founded in Boston in 1914 (incorporated in Maine in 1915) by Herbert Kalmus, Daniel Frost Comstock, and W. Burton Wescott.^[2] The "Tech" in the company's name was inspired by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Kalmus received his undergraduate degree and was later an instructor.^[3] Technicolor, Inc. was chartered in Delaware in 1921.^[4][5]

Name usage[link]

The term "Technicolor" historically has been used to describe four concepts:

• Technicolor process or format: the several image origination systems used in film production, which culminated in the "three-strip" process. (1917–1954)
• Technicolor IB printing ("IB" abbreviates "imbibition", a dye-transfer operation): a process for making color motion picture prints that allows the use of dyes which are more stable and permanent than those created in chromogenic color prints. Originally used for printing from color separation negatives photographed on black-and-white film in a Technicolor camera, it was later applied to making prints from negatives photographed on standard color film in an ordinary camera. (1928–2002, with differing gaps of availability post-1974 depending on lab)
• Technicolor labs: a collection of film laboratories across the world owned and run by Technicolor for post-production services including developing, printing, and transferring films in all major developing processes, as well as Technicolor's proprietary ones. Films using these labs thus retain a "Color by Technicolor" credit even though no Technicolor format or printing have been offered recently. (1922–present)
• Technicolor: an umbrella company encompassing all the above as well as other ancillary services. (1914–present)

History[link]

Two-color Technicolor[link]

Process 1[link]

Technicolor originally existed in a two-color (red and green) system. In Process 1 (1916), a prism beam-splitter behind the camera lens exposed two consecutive frames of a single strip of black-and-white negative film simultaneously, one behind a red filter, the other behind a green filter. Because two frames were being exposed at the same time, the film had to be photographed and projected at twice the normal speed. Exhibition required a special projector with two apertures (one with a red filter and the other with a green filter), two lenses, and an adjustable prism that aligned the two images on the screen.^[6] The results were first demonstrated to members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in New York on February 21, 1917.^[7] Technicolor itself produced the only movie made in Process 1, The Gulf Between, which had a limited tour of Eastern cities, beginning with Boston and New York in September 1917, primarily to interest motion picture producers and exhibitors in color. The near-constant need for a technician to adjust the projection alignment doomed this additive color process. Only a few frames of The Gulf Between, showing star Grace Darmond, are known to exist today.

Frame from the Technicolor picture The Toll of the Sea (1922)

Process 2[link]

Convinced that there was no future in additive color processes, Kalmus focused his attention on subtractive color processes. This culminated in what would eventually be known as Process 2 (1922) (sometimes confusingly called "two-strip"^[8]). As before, the special Technicolor camera used a beam-splitter that simultaneously exposed two frames of a single strip of black-and-white film, one behind a green filter and one behind a red filter.^[9]

The difference was that the two-component negative was now used to produce a subtractive color print. Because the colors were physically present in the print, no special projection equipment was required and the correct registration of the two images did not depend on the skill of the projectionist.

The frames exposed behind the green filter were printed on one strip of black-and-white film, and the frames exposed behind the red filter were printed on another strip. After development, each strip was toned to a color complementary to that of the filter—red for the green-filtered images, green for the red-filtered. Unlike tinting, which adds a uniform veil of color to the entire image, toning chemically replaces the black-and-white silver image with transparent coloring matter, so that the highlights remain clear (or nearly so), dark areas are strongly colored, and intermediate tones are colored proportionally. The two strips, made of film stocks thinner than regular film, were then cemented together base to base to create a projection print. The Toll of the Sea debuted on November 26, 1922 as the first general release film to use Technicolor.

Frame enlargement of a Technicolor segment from The Phantom of the Opera (1925). The film was one of the earliest uses of the process on interior sets, and demonstrated its versatility.

The second all-color feature in this process, Wanderer of the Wasteland, was released in 1924. Process 2 was also used for color sequences in such major motion pictures as The Ten Commandments (1923), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), and Ben-Hur (1925). Douglas Fairbanks' The Black Pirate (1926), became the fourth feature to be filmed entirely in Technicolor.

Although successful commercially, Process 2 was plagued with technical problems. Because the images on the two sides of the print were not in the same plane, both could not be perfectly focused at the same time. The significance of this problem depended on the depth of field of the projection optics. Much more serious was a problem with cupping. Films in general tended to become somewhat cupped after repeated use. Every time a film was projected, each frame in turn was heated by the intense light in the projection gate, causing it to bulge slightly. After it had passed through the gate, it cooled and the bulge subsided, but not quite completely. It was found that the cemented prints were not only very prone to cupping, but that the direction of cupping would suddenly and randomly change from back to front or vice versa, so that even the most attentive projectionist could not prevent the image from temporarily popping out of focus whenever the direction changed. Technicolor had to supply new prints so the cupped ones could be shipped to their Boston laboratory for flattening, after which they could be put back into service, at least for a while. The unusual thickness of the film and the presence of image layers on both surfaces made the prints especially vulnerable to scratching, and because the scratches were vividly colored they were very obtrusive. Splicing a Process 2 print without special attention to its unusual laminated construction was apt to result in a bad splice that would fail as it passed through the projector. Even before these problems became apparent, Technicolor regarded this cemented print approach as a stopgap and was already at work developing an improved process.^[10]

Process 3[link]

Based on the same dye-transfer technique first applied to motion pictures in 1916 by Max Handschiegl, Technicolor Process 3 (1928) was developed to eliminate the projection print made of double-cemented prints in favor of a print created by dye imbibition. The Technicolor camera for Process 3 was identical to that for Process 2, simultaneously photographing two consecutive frames of a black-and-white film behind red and green filters.

In the lab, every other frame of the camera negative was printed onto one strip of specially prepared gelatin film (or "matrix") to create a red record, and the remaining frames were printed onto a second strip of blank film to create a green record. On exposure to UV light, the gelatin hardened. Areas not exposed to light were washed away by the developer leaving a relief image created by the hardened gelatin. The two matrix films were then soaked in dye baths of their complementary colors. The strip containing the red record was dyed green and the green record strip was dyed red. The thicker the gelatin on each frame, the more dye it absorbed.

During the final printing, the matrices were placed in contact with a blank, emulsified strip of film (known as the "blank") and the dye was transferred from the matrices to the new print. A mordant made from deacetylated Chitin was applied to the blank before printing, which kept the dye from migrating.

As this dye-transfer process was introduced around the same time as sound-on-film, the emulsion on the blank was adapted to a black-and-white film stock where the soundtrack and frame line were printed in black and white first, and then the dye-layer was added.

The first feature made entirely in the Technicolor Process 3 was The Viking (1928), which had a synchronized score and sound effects. Redskin (1929), with a synchronized score, and The Mysterious Island (1929), a part-talkie, were photographed almost entirely in this process also but included some sequences in black and white. The following talkies were made entirely – or almost entirely – in Technicolor Process 3: On with the Show! (1929) (the first all-talking color feature), Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), The Show of Shows (1929), Sally (1929), The Vagabond King (1930), Follow Thru (1930), Golden Dawn (1930), Hold Everything (1930), The Rogue Song (1930), Song of the Flame (1930), Song of the West (1930), The Life of the Party (1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Mamba (1930), Whoopee! (1930), King of Jazz (1930), Under a Texas Moon (1930), Bright Lights (1930), Viennese Nights (1930), Woman Hungry (1931), Kiss Me Again (1931) and Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931). In addition, scores of features were released with Technicolor sequences. Numerous short subjects were also photographed in Technicolor Process 3, including the first color sound cartoons by producers such as Ub Iwerks and Walter Lantz. Song of the Flame became the first color movie to use a widescreen process (using a system known as Vitascope, which used 65mm film).

In 1931, an improvement of Technicolor Process 3 was developed which removed grain from the Technicolor film, resulting in more vivid and vibrant colors.^[11] This process was first used on a Radio Picture entitled: The Runaround (1931). The new process not only improved the color but also removed specks (that looked like bugs) from the screen, which had previously blurred outlines and lowered visibility. This new improvement along with a reduction in cost (from 8.85 cents to 7 cents per foot) led to a new color revival.^[12] Warner Brothers took the lead once again by producing three features (out of an announced plan for six features): Manhattan Parade (1932), Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). Radio Pictures followed by announcing plans to make four more features in the new process.^[13] Only one of these, Fanny Foley Herself (1931), was actually produced. Although Paramount Pictures announced plans to make eight features and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer promised two color features, these never materialized.^[14] This may have been the result of the lukewarm reception to these new color pictures by the public. Two independently produced features were also made with this improved Technicolor process: Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1934) and Kliou the Tiger (1935).

Very few of the original camera negatives of movies made in Technicolor Process 2 or 3 survive. In the late 1940s, most were discarded from storage at Technicolor in a space-clearing move, after the studios declined to reclaim the materials. Original Technicolor prints that survived into the 1950s were often used to make black-and-white prints for television and simply discarded thereafter. This explains why so many early color films exist today solely in black and white.

Warner Bros., which had vaulted from a minor exhibitor to a major studio by its introduction of the talkies, incorporated Technicolor's printing to enhance their films. Other producers followed Warner Bros.' example by making features in color, with either Technicolor or one of its competitors, such as Brewster Color and Multicolor (later Cinecolor).

Consequently, the introduction of color did not increase the number of audiences to the point where it was economical. This, and the Great Depression severely strained movie studios' finances, and spelled the end of Technicolor's first financial success.

[edit] Three-strip Technicolor

Process 4: Development and introduction[link]

As early as 1924, Technicolor envisioned a full-color process, and by 1929, the company was actively developing such a process. Hollywood made so much use of Technicolor in 1929 and 1930, that many believed the feature film industry would soon be turning out color films exclusively. By 1931, the Great Depression took its toll on the movie industry, and they began to cut back on expenses. The production of color films had decreased dramatically by 1932, when Burton Wescott and Joseph A. Ball completed work on a new three-color movie camera. Technicolor could now promise studios a full range of colors, as opposed to the limited red-green spectrum of previous films. The light passing through the camera lens was split into two beam paths by a prism block. Green light was recorded through a green filter on panchromatic film, while the other half of the light passed through a magenta filter and was recorded on bipack film stock with two strips running base to base. On this stock, the front film was sensitized to blue light only, backed by a red gelatin layer which acted as a light filter to the panchromatic film behind it. This process accurately reproduced the full color spectrum when optically printed using a dye-transfer process in cyan, magenta and yellow.

Kalmus convinced Walt Disney to shoot one of his Silly Symphony cartoons Flowers and Trees (1932) in Process 4, the new "three-strip" process. Seeing the potential in full-color Technicolor, Walt Disney negotiated an exclusive contract for the use of the process, continuing to September 1935 (when other studios could start producing cartoons in the process, but were barred from releasing them until 1936).^[15][16][17] Competitors such as the Fleischer Studios and the Ub Iwerks studio were shut out – they had to settle for either the two-color Technicolor systems or use a competing process such as Cinecolor.

Flowers and Trees was a success with audiences and critics alike, and won the first Academy Award for Animated Short Film. All subsequent Silly Symphonies from 1933 on were shot with the three-strip process. One 1933 Silly Symphony, Three Little Pigs, engendered such a positive audience response that it overshadowed the feature films with which it was shown. Hollywood was buzzing about color film again. According to Fortune magazine, "Merian C. Cooper, producer for RKO Radio Pictures and director of King Kong (1933), saw one of the Silly Symphonies and said he never wanted to make a black-and-white picture again."

Although Disney's first 60 or so Technicolor cartoons used the three-strip camera, an improved "successive exposure" process was adopted circa 1937 mainly for cartoon work: the camera would contain one strip of black-and-white negative film, and each animation cel would be photographed three times, on three sequential frames, behind alternating red, green, and blue filters (the so-called "Technicolor Color Wheel", then an option of the Acme, Producers Service and Photo-Sonics animation cameras).^[18] Three separate dye transfer printing matrices would be created from the red, green, and blue records in their respective complementary colors, cyan, magenta and yellow.

Successive Exposure was also employed in Disney's "True Life Adventure" live-action series, wherein the 16mm Kodachrome Commercial principal photography element was first duplicated onto a 35mm fine-grain SE negative element in one pass of the 16mm element, thereby reducing wear on the relatively small 16mm element and also eliminating registration errors between colors. The live-action SE negative thereafter entered other Technicolor processes and were incorporated with SE animation and three-strip studio live-action, as required, thereby producing the combined result.

Shooting Technicolor footage, 1932–1955[link]

Three-strip Technicolor camera from the 1930s

Technicolor's advantage over most early natural-color processes was that it was a subtractive synthesis rather than an additive one. Technicolor prints could run on any projector; unlike other additive processes, it could represent colors clearly without any special projection equipment or techniques. More importantly, Technicolor held the best balance between a quality image and speed of printing, compared to other subtractive systems of the time.

The Technicolor Process 4 used colored filters, a beam splitter made from a thinly coated mirror inside a split-cube prism, and three strips of black-and-white film (hence the "three-strip" designation). The beam splitter allowed ⅓ of the light to shine through a green filter onto one strip of film, capturing the green part of the image. The other ⅔ was reflected sideways by the mirror and passed through a magenta filter, to remove any green (which would have been redundant). The diverted non-green light exposed a pair of film strips spooled together; one which captured only blues, itself a filter, and another which picked up whatever was left (the red part of the image). The "blue" strip could act as a filter because it was a special type of film known as orthochromatic, which is designed to absorb some light frequencies and not others. The "green" and "red" strips were both of the broad-spectrum, panchromatic type.

To print the film, each colored strip had a print struck from it onto a light sensitive piece of gelatin film. When processed, "dark" portions of the film hardened, and light areas were washed away. The gelatin film strip was then soaked with a dye complementary to the color recorded by the film: cyan for red, magenta for green, and yellow for blue (see also: CMYK color model for a technical discussion of color printing).

A single clear strip of black-and-white film with the soundtrack and frame lines printed in advance was first treated with a mordant solution and then brought into contact with each of the three dye-loaded printing strips in turn, building up the complete color image. Each dye was absorbed, or imbibed, by the gelatin coating on the receiving strip rather than simply deposited onto its surface, hence the term "dye imbibition". Strictly speaking, this is a mechanical printing process, very loosely comparable to offset printing or lithography, and not a photographic one, as the actual printing does not involve a chemical change caused by exposure to light.

In the early days of the process, the un-exposed blank receiver film would be pre-exposed with a 50% black-and-white image derived from the green strip, the so-called Key, or K, record. This process was used largely to cover up fine edges in the picture where colors would mix unrealistically (also known as fringing). This additional black increased the contrast of the final print and concealed any fringing. However, overall colorfulness was compromised as a result. In 1944, Technicolor had improved the process to make up for these shortcomings and the K record was, therefore, eliminated.

Convincing Hollywood[link]

The studios were willing to adopt three-color Technicolor for live-action feature production, if it could be proved viable. Shooting three-strip Technicolor required very bright lighting, as the film had an extremely slow speed of ASA 5. That, and the bulk of the cameras and a lack of experience with three-color cinematography made for skepticism in the studio board rooms.

Fortune magazine's October 1934 article stressed that Technicolor, as a corporation, was rather remarkable in that it kept its investors quite happy despite the fact that it had only been in profit twice in all of the years of its existence, during the early boom at the turn of the decade. A well-managed company, half of whose stock was controlled by a clique loyal to Kalmus, Technicolor never had to cede any control to its bankers or unfriendly stockholders. In the mid-'30s, all the major studios except MGM were in the financial doldrums, and a color process that truly reproduced the visual spectrum was seen as a possible shot-in-the-arm for the ailing industry.

In November 1933, Technicolor's Herbert Kalmus and RKO announced plans to produce three-strip Technicolor films in 1934, beginning with Ann Harding starring in a projected film The World Outside.^[19]

Live-action use of three-strip Technicolor was first seen in a musical number of the MGM feature The Cat and the Fiddle, released February 16, 1934. On July 1, MGM released Hollywood Party with a Technicolor cartoon sequence "Hot Choc-late Soldiers" produced by Walt Disney. On July 28 of that year, Warner Brothers released Service With a Smile, followed by Good Morning, Eve! on August 5, both being comedy short films starring Leon Errol and filmed in three-strip Technicolor. Pioneer Pictures, a movie company formed by Technicolor investors, produced the film usually credited as the first live-action short film shot in the three-strip process, La Cucaracha released August 31, 1934. La Cucaracha is a two-reel musical comedy that cost $65,000, approximately four times what an equivalent black-and-white two-reeler would cost. Released by RKO, the short was a success in introducing the new Technicolor as a viable medium for live-action films. The three-strip process also was used in some short sequences filmed for several movies made during 1934, including the final sequences of The House of Rothschild (20th Century Pictures/United Artists) with George Arliss and Kid Millions (Samuel Goldwyn Studios) with Eddie Cantor.

Pioneer/RKO's Becky Sharp (1935) became the first feature film photographed entirely in three-strip Technicolor. Initially, three-strip Technicolor was only used indoors. In 1936, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine became the first production to have outdoor sequences, with impressive results. The spectacular success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which was released in December 1937 and became the top-grossing film of 1938, attracted the attention of the studios.

Limitations and difficulties[link]

One major drawback of Technicolor's three-strip process was that it required a special, bulky, and very heavy Technicolor camera. Film studios could not purchase Technicolor cameras, only rent them for their productions, complete with camera technicians and a "color supervisor" to ensure sets, costumes and makeup didn't push beyond the limitations of the system. Often on many early productions, the supervisor was Natalie Kalmus, ex-wife of Herbert Kalmus and part owner of the company. Directors had great difficulty with her; Vincente Minnelli said, "I couldn't do anything right in Mrs. Kalmus's eyes."^[20]

The process of splitting the image reduced the amount of light reaching the film stock. Since the film speed of the stocks used were fairly slow, early Technicolor productions required a greater amount of lighting than a black-and-white production. It is reported that temperatures on the film set of The Wizard of Oz from the hot studio lights frequently exceeded 100 °F (38 °C), and some of the more heavily costumed characters required a large water intake. Some actors and actresses claimed to have suffered permanent eye damage from the high levels of illumination.^[21]

Because of the added lighting and triple amount of film necessary, Technicolor demanded high film budgets.

The introduction of Eastmancolor and decline[link]

This section includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2010)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, an example of Technicolor filming in 1950s Hollywood.

Color films that recorded the three primary colors in three emulsion layers on one strip of film had been introduced in the mid-1930s by Eastman Kodak in the United States (Kodachrome for 16mm home movies in 1935, then for 8mm home movies and 35mm slides in 1936) and Agfa in Germany (Agfacolor Neu for both home movies and slides later in 1936). Technicolor introduced Monopack, a single-strip color reversal film (a 35 mm version of Kodachrome Commercial) in 1941 for use on location where the bulky three-strip camera was impractical, but the higher grain of the image made it unsuitable for studio work.

Eastman Kodak introduced its first 35 mm color motion picture negative film in 1950. The first commercial feature film to use Eastmancolor was the National Film Board of Canada documentary Royal Journey, released in December 1951.^[22][23] In 1952, an improved version suitable for Hollywood production was introduced.^[24] This allowed Technicolor prints to be struck from a single camera negative exposed in a standard camera. Foxfire (1955), filmed in 1954 by Universal, starring Jane Russell and Jeff Chandler, was the last American-made feature photographed with a Technicolor three-strip camera.

In 1952, Eastman Kodak introduced a high-quality color print film, allowing studios to produce prints through standard photographic processes as opposed to having to send them to Technicolor for the expensive dye imbibition process. That same year, the Technicolor lab adapted its dye transfer process to derive matrices and imbibition prints directly from Eastmancolor negatives, as well as other stocks such as Ansco and DuPont color stocks.

Technicolor unveiled their stereoscopic camera for 3-D films in March 1953. The rig used two three-strip cameras, running a total of six strips of film at once (three for the left eye and three for the right).^[25] Only two films were shot with this camera set-up: Flight to Tangier (1953) and the Martin and Lewis comedy Money From Home (1954). A similar, but different system had been used by a different company, using two three-strip cameras side-by-side for a British short called Royal River.

In 1954, Technicolor made reduction dye transfer prints of the large format VistaVision negative. Their process was also adapted for use with Todd-AO, Ultra Panavision 70 and Technirama formats. All of them were an improvement over the three-strip negatives since the negative print-downs generated sharper and finer grain dye transfer copies.

By the late 1960s, the dye-transfer process eventually fell out of favor in the United States as being too expensive and too slow in turning out prints. With the growing number of screens in the US, the standard run of 200-250 prints increased. And while dye-transfer printing yielded superior color printing, the number of high speed prints that could be struck in labs all over the country outweighed the fewer, slower number of prints that could only be had in Technicolor's labs. The last American film released before Technicolor closed their dye plant was The Godfather, Part II (1974).

In 1975, the US dye transfer plant was closed and Technicolor became an Eastman-only processor. In 1977, the final dye-transfer printer left in Rome was used by Dario Argento to make prints for his horror film Suspiria.^[26] In 1980, the Italian Technicolor plant ceased printing dye transfer.

The British line was shut down in 1978 and sold to Beijing Film and Video Lab in China. A great many films from China and Hong Kong were made in the Technicolor dye transfer process, including Zhang Yimou's Ju Dou and even one American film, Space Avenger (1989, director: Richard W. Haines). The Beijing line was shut down in 1993 for a number of reasons, including inferior processing.

Reintroduction of the dye transfer process[link]

In 1997, Technicolor reintroduced the dye transfer process to general film production. A refined version of the printing process of the 1960s and 1970s, it was used on a limited basis in the restorations of films such as The Wizard of Oz, Rear Window, Funny Girl, and Apocalypse Now Redux.

After its reintroduction, the dye transfer process was used in several big-budget, modern Hollywood productions. These included Bulworth, Pearl Harbor, and Toy Story. The distinct "look" this process achieves, often sought after by filmmakers looking to re-create the period of time at which Technicolor was at its most prominent, is difficult to obtain through conventional, high-speed printing methods and is one explanation for the enduring demand and credibility of the process.^{[citation needed]}

The dye-transfer process was discontinued by Technicolor in 2002 after the purchase of the company by Thompson which in 2010 changed its name to Technicolor SA.

Dye transfer Technicolor in archival work[link]

By the late 1990s the dye transfer process still had its advantages in the film archival community. Because the dye transfer process used stable acid dyes, Technicolor prints are considered of archival quality. A Technicolor print from the dye transfer era will retain its original colors virtually unchanged for decades with proper storage, whereas prints printed on Eastmancolor stocks produced prior to 1983 may suffer color fading after exposure to ultraviolet light and hot, humid conditions as a result of less stable photochemical dyes. Fading on some prints is so rapid that in many cases, after as little as five to ten years, only the magenta record is perceivable on the film.

An article^[27] on the restoration of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope claimed that a rare dye-transfer print of the movie, made for director George Lucas at the British Technicolor lab during its initial run, had been used as a color reference for the restoration. The article claimed that conventional color prints of the movie had all degraded over the years to the extent that no two had the same color balance. However, because of the variation in color balance per print, dye-transfer prints are used in the professional restoration world as only a rough guideline.

Furthermore, three-strip camera negatives are all on silver-based black-and-white stock, which have stayed unaltered over the course of time with proper handling. This has become of importance in recent years with the large market for films transferred to video formats for home viewing. The best color quality control for video transfer by far is achieved by optically printing from Technicolor negatives, or by recombining the negative through digital means and printing, onto low-contrast stock.

One problem that has resulted from Technicolor negatives is the rate of shrinkage from one strip to another. Because three-Strip negatives are shot on three rolls, they are subject to different rates of shrinkage depending on storage conditions. Today, digital technology allows for a precise re-alignment of the negatives by resizing shrunken negatives digitally to correspond with the other negatives. The G, or Green, record is usually taken as the reference as it is the record with the highest resolution. It is also a record with the correct "wind" (emulsion position with respect to the camera's lens). Shrinkage and re-alignment (resizing) are non-issues with Successive Exposure (single-roll RGB) Technicolor camera negatives. This issue could have been eliminated, for three-strip titles, had the preservation elements (fine-grain positives) been Successive Exposure, but this would have required the preservation elements to be 3,000 feet or 6,000 feet whereas three-strip composited camera and preservation elements are 1,000 feet or 2,000 feet.

One issue that modern reproduction has had to contend with is that the contrast of the three film strips is not the same. This gives the effect on technicolor prints that (for example) fades cause the color balance of the image to change as the image is faded. Transfer to digital media has attempted to correct the differing color balances and is largely successful. However, a few odd artifacts remain such that saturated parts of the image may show a false color. Where the image of a flame is included in shot, it will rarely be of the expected orange/yellow color often being depicted as green.

Technicolor today[link]

The Technicolor company remained a highly successful film processing firm and later became involved in video and audio duplication (CD, VHS and DVD manufacturing) and digital video processes. MacAndrews & Forbes acquired Technicolor, Inc. in 1982 for $100 million,^[28] then sold it in 1988 to the British firm Carlton Communications PLC for $780 million.^[29] Technicolor, Inc. acquired the film processing company Consolidated Film Industries in 2000.^[30] Since 2001, Technicolor has been part of the French-headquartered electronics and media conglomerate Thomson.^[31] The name of Thomson group was changed to “Technicolor” as of February 1, 2010, re-branding the entire company after its American film technology subsidiary.^[32]

The visual aesthetic of dye transfer Technicolor continues to be used in Hollywood, usually in films set in the mid-20th century. Parts of The Aviator, the 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, were digitally manipulated to imitate color processes that were available during the periods each scene takes place. The two-color look of the film is incorrectly cited^{[citation needed]} as looking like Technicolor's two-color systems, and is in fact a facsimile of Hughes' own color system, Multicolor. The "three-strip" Technicolor look begins after the newsreel footage of Hughes making the first flight around the world.

See also[link]

• List of film formats
• List of color film systems
• Imbibition
• List of early color feature films

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Fred E. Basten, Glorious Technicolor: The Movies' Magic Rainbow. Easton Studio Press, 2005. ISBN 0-9647065-0-4
• Adrian Cornwell-Clyne, Colour Cinematography. London Champman & Hall, 1951.
• Richard W. Haines, Technicolor Movies: The History of Dye Transfer Printing. McFarland & Company, 2003. ISBN 0-7864-1809-5
• John Waner, Hollywood's Conversion of All Production to Color, Tobey Publishing, 2000.
• Herbert T. Kalmus with Elenaore King Kalmus, Mr. Technicolor: The Fascinating Story of the Genius Who Invented Technicolor and Forever Changed the History of Cinema", MagicImage Filmbooks, 1993. ISBN 1-882127-31-5

External links[link]

Look up technicolor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Technicolor official site
• Kulturblog: Technicolor, An Explanation
• Technicolor History at the American WideScreen Museum
• Technicolor Corporate Website
• Database of 3-strip Technicolor Films

Donny Osmond
Background information
Birth name	Donald Clark Osmond
Born	(1957-12-09) December 9, 1957 (age 54)
Origin	Ogden, Utah, U.S.
Genres	Vocal, pop, rock, R&B, bubblegum, blue-eyed soul, comedy, musical theatre
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, musician, actor, television host, dancer, radio personality, author
Years active	1961–present
Labels	Universal
Associated acts	Marie Osmond, The Osmonds, Dweezil Zappa
Website	Official website

Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long running variety program, The Andy Williams Show. Donny went solo in the early 1970s covering such hits as "Go Away Little Girl" and "Puppy Love".

For over thirty-five years, he and younger sister Marie have gained fame as Donny & Marie, partly due to the success of their 1976–79 self-titled variety series, which aired on ABC. The duo also did a 1998–2000 talk show and have been headlining in Las Vegas since 2008. Between a highly successful teen career in the 1970s, and his rebirth in the 1990s, Osmond's career was stymied during the 1980s by what some have perceived as his "boy scout" image. Osmond stated on the May 1, 2009 Larry King Live show that longtime friend Michael Jackson suggested he change his name to boost his image. Osmond's agent even suggested that spreading false rumors about drug arrest charges might recharge his career. Osmond felt such allegations would have familial ramifications, and couldn't reconcile how lying to create a nefarious drug image could be explained to his children, nieces and nephews. In 1989, Osmond had two big-selling recordings, the first of which, "Soldier of Love", was initially credited to a "mystery artist" by some radio stations.

Starting in July 1992, Osmond played Joseph at the Elgin Theatre's Toronto production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The musical then toured North America until 1998. Creator Andrew Lloyd Webber, impressed by Osmond's talents and the show's successful six year run, chose him for the 1999 film version.

In 2009, Osmond won the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars.

Early life[link]

Osmond was born in Ogden, Utah, the seventh son of Olive May Osmond (née Davis) and George Virl Osmond. He is the brother of Alan, Jay, Jimmy, Merrill, Wayne, Marie, Tom, and Virl Osmond. Alan, Jay, Merrill, Wayne, and Donny were members of the popular singing group The Osmonds (also known as The Osmond Brothers, which later included tracks with youngest brother Jimmy as well). Donny was raised as a Mormon in Utah along with his siblings. Osmond later traced his family ancestry back to Merthyr Tydfil in Wales; his journey was documented in a BBC Wales program, Donny Osmond Coming Home.^[1] On the BBC's The One Show a plaque was unveiled in the town commemorating 'the ancestors of Donny Osmond'.

Music career[link]

Teen idol: 1971–1978[link]

The father of Andy Williams saw the Osmond Brothers (Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay) perform on a Disneyland televised special as a barbershop quartet. In short order, the group was invited to audition for The Andy Williams Show. They soon became regulars on the show and gained popularity quickly. Donny made his debut on the show at the age of 5 singing "You Are My Sunshine". The brothers continued to perform on the show throughout the 1960s along with a few visits from their sister Marie. In the early 1970s, the Osmonds, via recording and virtually constant touring, sold over 80 million records in a single 12-month period, making the most successful, and fatigued, of the early Seventies touring groups.

Donny became a teen idol in the early 1970s as a solo singer, while continuing to sing with his older brothers. He, Bobby Sherman, and David Cassidy were the biggest "Cover Boy" pop stars for Tiger Beat magazine in the early 1970s.^[2] He had his first solo hit with "Sweet and Innocent", which peaked at No. 7 in the U.S. in 1971. His solo songs "Go Away Little Girl" (1971) (#1 in the U.S.), "Puppy Love" (U.S. #3), and "Hey Girl/I Knew You When" (U.S. #9) (1972) vaulted him into international fame. The fame was further advanced by his appearance on the Here's Lucy show, where he sang "Too Young" to Lucille Ball's niece, played by Eve Plumb, and sang with Lucie Arnaz ("I'll Never Fall in Love Again").

Comeback: 1989–1990[link]

In the 1980s, Osmond re-invented himself as a solo vocal artist and abandoned the earlier television show image crafted to appeal to young viewers. He made an unlikely appearance as one of several celebrities and unknowns auditioning to sing for guitarist Jeff Beck in the video for Beck's 1985 single "Ambitious", followed in 1986 by an equally unlikely cameo in the animated Luis Cardenas music video "Runaway".^[3] He spent several years as a performer, before hiring the services of music and entertainment guru Steven Machat, who got Osmond together with Peter Gabriel to see whether Machat and Gabriel could turn the TV Osmond's image into a contemporary young pop act. They succeeded with the hit song Soldier of Love, returning Osmond to the US charts in 1989 with the Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 song "Soldier of Love" and its top twenty follow-up "Sacred Emotion". The campaign to market "Soldier Of Love" received considerable airplay with the singer being presented as a "mystery artist", before his identity was later revealed.^[4] Launching an extensive tour in support of the Eyes Don't Lie record, he enlisted Earth Wind & Fire and Kenny Loggins guitarist Dick Smith along with keyboardist Marc Jackson.

Donny was often reluctant to perform his earliest songs, in particular "Go Away Little Girl", but was convinced to sing the song live for KLOS-FM's Mark & Brian Christmas Show on December 21, 1990.

Current music career: 1991–2010[link]

Osmond was the guest vocalist on Dweezil Zappa's star-studded version of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" which appeared on Zappa's 1991 album Confessions. The song also included guitar solos from Zakk Wylde, Steve Lukather, Warren DeMartini, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tim Pierce. Osmond sang "No One Has To Be Alone", but the song was heard at the end of the film The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water. He also sang "I'll Make a Man Out of You" for Disney's Mulan^[5]

In the 2000s, he released a Christmas album, an album of his favorite Broadway songs, and a compilation of popular love songs. In 2004, he returned to the UK Top 10 for the first time as a solo artist since 1973, with the George Benson-sampling "Breeze On By", co-written with former teen idol Gary Barlow, from the 1990s UK boy band Take That, reaching number 8.

In early 2011 he is scheduled to record a new album with legendary producer Todd Rundgren.

Donny & Marie in Las Vegas[link]

Following Marie's stint on Dancing with the Stars in 2007, the pair teamed up for a limited engagement in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Las Vegas. Beginning September 2008, Donny and Marie began playing the 750-seat showroom at the Flamingo Hotel. "Donny & Marie" is a 90-minute show. The singing siblings are backed by eight dancers and a nine piece band. Donny and Marie sing together at the beginning and end of the show, and have solo segments in between.

Film, radio and television[link]

Hosting[link]

Donny & Marie[link]

In the mid 1970s, he and Marie co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show for a week, and were later offered a show of their own, The Donny & Marie Show, a television variety series which aired on ABC between 1976 and 1979.

Donny and Marie also co-hosted a talk show together 20 years later. Though ratings were high^{[citation needed]} and they were nominated for an award^{[citation needed]} as best talk show, the series was canceled. In a 1999 episode featuring Jefferson Starship promoting their album Windows of Heaven, the hosts performed a rendition of "Volunteers" live with the band.

Other hosting opportunities[link]

Osmond went on to host Pyramid, a syndicated version of the Dick Clark-hosted television game show that ran two seasons in the US from 2002–2004, and a British version of Pyramid on Challenge in 2007.

Osmond returned to ABC as host of The Great American Dream Vote, a prime-time reality/game show that debuted in March 2007. After earning lackluster ratings in its first two episodes, the program was cancelled.^[6]

Osmond hosted the British version of the game show Identity on BBC Two during the daytime.

On April 11, 2008, Osmond also hosted the 2008 Miss USA pageant along with his sister Marie from Las Vegas.

Osmond appeared on Entertainment Tonight as a commentator covering the ABC show Dancing with the Stars during his sister Marie's run as a contestant on the 5th season of the American version of the popular show in Fall of 2007. He was seen at week 7 of the competition in tears in the audience watching Marie do a rumba after his and Marie's father died.

Radio[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2012)

In January 2010 it was announced that Osmond would host his own syndicated radio show in a deal with McVay Syndication and Citadel Media. Versions of The Donny Osmond Show now air across America, Canada, Australia and the UK.

The show is already rating No. 1 in numerous markets and is currently one of the fastest growing radio propositions.

The UK edition of the show is co-produced by London-based radio production & syndication company Blue Revolution. Through this partnership the first UK network to carry The Donny Osmond Show is Celador-owned The Breeze, which has outlets in Portsmouth, Southampton, Isle of Wight, Winchester, Bridgwater & West Somerset, Bristol, Bath and Warminster. As of January 2012, The Donny Osmond Show is no longer broadcasting on The Breeze.

Smooth Radio is now carrying The Donny Osmond Show, the show is broadcast 20.00 – Midnight on Sunday evenings.

Music[link]

Osmond's name was used in the lyrics of Alice Coopers song "Department of Youth" near the end. Cooper asks the kids doing the background vocals "who gave them the power", where the kids reply "Donny Osmond".

Musical theatre[link]

His first foray into Broadway musical theatre was the lead role in a revival of the 1904 George M. Cohan show Little Johnny Jones. Osmond replaced another former teen idol, David Cassidy, who left the show while it was on its pre-Broadway tour.^[7] After 29 previews and only 1 performance, the show closed on March 21, 1982.^[8]

Osmond found success in musical theatre through much of the 1990s when he starred in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for over 2,000 performances. During his performances for the musical, he suffered from Social Anxiety Disorder, which caused him to feel light-headed and extremely nervous during his performances.^[9] In 1997, Osmond left his starring role in the tour to participate with his family in the cast of the Hill Cumorah Pageant.^[10][11]

He returned to Broadway on September 19, 2006, in the role of Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. He was scheduled to perform for nine weeks but due to popular demand he extended his run through December 24. Liz Smith of the New York Post wrote "I am here to tell you he is charmingly campy, good-looking and grand as the villain "Gaston", patterned after our old friend Elvis and noting "Donny is divine". On July 29, 2007, Osmond played Gaston again for the final performance of Beauty and the Beast.^[12]

Donny and his sister Marie recently starred in a new holiday production called Donny & Marie – A Broadway Christmas, which was originally scheduled to play on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre from December 9–19, 2010. The show was then extended till December 30, 2010 and again till January 2, 2011.^[13][14][15] Donny & Marie-Christmas in Chicago is scheduled to play the Ford Center/Oriental Theatre in Chicago, Illinois from December 6, 2011 – December 24, 2011. It will be similar to the 2010 Broadway shows.

Film[link]

In the animated television series Johnny Bravo, Osmond voiced himself as a recurring character. He has also done guest spots on numerous other television shows such as Friends, Diagnosis: Murder, and Hannah Montana. He also appeared in a Pepsi Twist commercial during the Super Bowl with his sister, Marie, and Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. In 1982, he co-starred with Priscilla Barnes and Joan Collins in the television movie The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch for Aaron Spelling.

In 1998, Donny Osmond was chosen to be the singing voice of Shang in Walt Disney's Mulan. He sang "I'll Make a Man Out of You".

Also in 1999, he starred in the movie version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber's request who said, "to me there is no better selection". In addition to playing the role of Joseph.

Osmond remarked in an interview recently that with his movie appearance on College Road Trip and upcoming appearances on two Disney Channel shows that he would coming about full circle since he and his family were discovered by Walt Disney.

Osmond appears in the music video of "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "White & Nerdy". The song is a parody of Chamillionaire's "Ridin'"; Osmond's role is analogous to that of Krayzie Bone's role in the original video. Yankovic asked Osmond to appear because "if you have to have a white and nerdy icon in your video, like who else do you go for?"^[16]

Dancing with the Stars[link]

Osmond and professional Kym Johnson were paired for the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars; he participated in the show to prove he was a better dancer than his sister. It was very difficult for him to manage to get to rehearsals and host his show in Las Vegas with sister Marie. For the first week, the two were assigned to dance a Foxtrot and a 30-second Salsa. His Foxtrot was said to be "too theatrical" and was scored 20/30 from the judges. He however managed to maintain a good score when his Salsa scored 10 points and was safe that week. He danced a Jive the following week which was guest judged by Baz Luhrman. He scored 25 and was scored 2nd place, called first to be safe. That following week he danced a Rumba and scored 21.

After his comments, he "attacked" openly homosexual judge Bruno Tonioli, first kissing him, before embracing him and tipping him back in a mock-passionate move after Bruno called Donny's dance "a bit airy fairy". The following week introduced 4 new dances including the Charleston which he danced and scored 24. That following week, the two danced an Argentine Tango which scored 29/30, the highest scored dance to date until it was beaten by then leader topping scorer and future runner-up Mýa and her 70s-themed Samba. He had also received that week's encore.

Following that week, Osmond and Johnson danced a train-station themed Jitterbug and was scored a 24. He then danced a Mambo against all couples and was eliminated 6th receiving 7 points for a total of 31/40. The following week, he danced a Quickstep which he quotes "was one of the worst moments of my life" and scored 24 and a Team Tango along with Joanna Krupa and Kelly Osbourne and received 28/30 and the encore.

In the 8th week of competition, Osmond was required to dance a Ballroom and decade-themed Latin dance. His Ballroom Viennese Waltz received 26 but his 1980s themed Paso Doble received 24 being quoted by judge Len Goodman as "the most scariest, bizarre Paso Doble we've ever seen" being awarded last place on the judges' leaderboard for the first time. Following that week, he danced a Tango and got advice from past runner-up Gilles Marini. He got tangled in Johnson's dress and received 21 and saying the cause was that "I saw Marie". He then danced a samba to a song originally recorded by his brothers and himself called "One Bad Apple", receiving 26 and a Jitterbug scored 27. He once again was scored last place.

For the finals week, he danced a Cha-Cha-Cha (27), a Megamix dance alongside Mya and Kelly Osbourne (28), the only perfect-scoring Freestyle (30) and a repeat of his Argentine Tango (30) and won the competition. As he accepted his trophy, he hugged fellow finalist Mya and grabbed his wife, Debbie on stage.

Other projects[link]

Donny and Marie were part of a Pepsi Twist commercial in 2006 with the Osbourne family. Osmond appeared in the North American version commercial for the PlayStation 2 video game Buzz! the Mega Quiz.

In 2007 Donny took part in the BBC Wales programme Coming Home about his partial Welsh family history.

Donny and Marie began a six month run as the new headlining act at the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas, on September 9, 2008. On October 27, 2008, the Flamingo announced that Donny and Marie's contract had been extended until October 2010. Then on July 30, 2009, Donny & Marie made an announcement on NBC's Today Show that they had again extended their contract to go until October 2012.

On December 15, 2009, he appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show, along with his sister, Marie, being interviewed by the Channel 4 resident dinner lady, Susan.

Image struggle[link]

Osmond states that he has had a tremendous public image struggle since Donny & Marie ended in 1979.^[17] He has been described as 'unhip',^[18] as a 'boy scout', and has been the butt of innumerable jokes, including appearing in the video "White & Nerdy" at the request of his friend, Yankovic, since he was 'the whitest guy [he] could think of'. His image has seemed such a liability that one professional publicist even suggested that Osmond purposefully get arrested for drug possession in order to change his image.^[19] In March 2010, Osmond criticized Lady Gaga and Beyoncé for using profanity and sex in their Telephone video.^[20]

Personal life[link]

Osmond married Debra Glenn (born in Billings, Montana on February 26, 1959) on May 8, 1978, in the Salt Lake Temple at age 20. Together they have five sons: Donald Clark Osmond, Jr. (b. July 31, 1979), Jeremy James Osmond (b. June 8, 1981), Brandon Michael Osmond (b. January 29, 1985), Christopher Glenn Osmond (b. December 12, 1990), and Joshua Davis Osmond (b. February 16, 1998).^[21]

Osmond became a grandfather on August 21, 2005, when his second son Jeremy and daughter-in-law Melisa (married 2002) had a son, Dylan James Osmond. His granddaughter Emery Anne was born on February 25, 2008. Osmond's third son Brandon married Shelby Hansen in 2008. Their son, Daxton Michael was born on June 18, 2010. Donny's eldest son, Donald Jr married Jessica Nelson on October 1, 2010, in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Like the rest of his family, he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In retrospect, he has written, "It would have been nice to be able to have served a regular full-time mission, but when I was of that age, my career was such that everyone, including my parents and the leaders of the church, thought that I could do a lot of good in the world by continuing being in the public eye, by living an exemplary life and sharing my beliefs in every way that I could".^[22] He continues sharing his beliefs in an extensive letters-and-comments portion of his website.^[23]

In the aftermath of Proposition 8 in California, which received large Mormon support, Osmond stated that he opposes same-sex marriage but that he condemns homophobia. He believes that homosexual and lesbian Mormons should be accepted in the church if they remain celibate.^[24]

He stated on his website:

We all determine for ourselves what is right and what is not right for our own lives and how we live God's commandments. I am not a judge and I will never judge anyone for the decisions they make unless they are causing harm to another individual. I love my friends, including my homosexual friends. We are all God's children. It is their choice, not mine on how they conduct their lives and choose to live the commandments according to the dictates of their own conscience.^[25]

Osmond's two older brothers are deaf and his nephew is hard of hearing. He has talked about the experience of growing up with his brothers and their use of sign language when performing together:

"My oldest brother was born 85 percent deaf and the next was born worse with almost total deafness. My parents were told by everyone, doctors included, to stop having kids. Thank God, they at least went as far as seven! Anyhow, they decided they were not going to treat my brothers differently [or lower their expectations.] My brothers talk and communicate verbally. They also sign and do have that down quite well. As a matter of fact, we used sign language when we were performing together as a group. There's this one number we did on the Donny and Marie Show, it was amazing—even when we were taping it. It was a huge production number and my brothers learned the routine. Obviously they couldn't really hear the music, but they could feel the beat and they'd watch us out of the corner of their eyes to make sure they were still in tempo."^[26]

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Donny Osmond

• Donny Osmond on Sunday
• Donny Osmond at the Internet Movie Database
• Donny Osmond at the Internet Broadway Database
• Interview on Reel.com
• Donny Osmond Interview on Fox News Radio
• Donny and marie osmond tickets
• Donny Osmond in I Dreamed A Dream: The Susan Boyle Story
• Osmondheaven Popular Fan Site

Paloma Faith
Faith performing in November 2010
Background information
Birth name	Paloma Faith Blomfield
Born	(1985-07-21) 21 July 1985 (age 26)[1][2] Hackney, London, UK
Genres	Soul, pop, jazz
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Epic Records, RCA Records
Website	palomafaith.com

Paloma Faith (born Paloma Faith Blomfield; 21 July 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. In 2009, she released her debut single "Stone Cold Sober" and her debut album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, which was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Her album stayed within the top 40 album charts for over forty weeks. The album spawned five singles: "Stone Cold Sober", "New York", title track "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?", "Upside Down" and "Smoke & Mirrors". Faith also recorded the theme song to the 2010 British film 4.3.2.1 and appeared on the charity record "I Put a Spell on You". Faith made her feature film debut in the 2007 remake of St Trinian's. She has since appeared in two more feature films, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and Dread. In March 2010, Faith revealed that she was working on a second album. Almost two years later, Faith announced that her second album would be called Fall to Grace and that it would be released on 28 May 2012. The album was preceded by the single "Picking Up the Pieces", which became Faith's highest charting single to date.

Early life[link]

Faith was born in Hackney, London to a Spanish father and an English mother who split up when Faith was two years old.^[1] Faith was raised by her mother in Stoke Newington.^[3] As a child, Faith was encouraged to dance by her mother and she took weekly ballet classes in Dalston.^[1] After completing her A-Levels, Faith went on to study for a degree in contemporary dance at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance,^[4] which Faith describes as "the worst experience of [her] life".^[1] Faith then went on to study for an MA in theatre directing at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design,^[5] funding her studies by working various part-time jobs, which included; a sales assistant at Agent Provocateur, a singer in a burlesque cabaret, a life model and a magician's assistant.^[3][5]

Music career[link]

2007–08: Career beginnings[link]

Faith's first foray into music began when she mimicked famous soul and jazz singers including Etta James and Billie Holiday, whom she admired and cites as influences for her own work.^[3][6] Faith met her managers Jamie Binns and Christian Wåhlberg of Lateral Management in 2007.^[7] Binns had been tipped off by the producer Peanut, a client who had recently worked with Faith in his studio and been suitably impressed.^[8] He met up with Faith shortly afterwards and was "completely blown away", later saying: "I wasn't sure what this girl was going to do – she was an actress and a singer – but there was just something about her in that artistic realness that when I came out of the meeting I called Christian and said, 'We have to do something with this girl!'"^[8] Although Faith had been looking for a manager, she was still wary about entering into a formal agreement with Binns and Wåhlberg. She instead wanted to build their relationship before any contracts were signed. The managers spent six months to a year helping Faith with the A&R process, setting up sessions, and guiding and advising her before Faith was officially signed to Lateral Management.^[8]

During her time at college, Faith worked in a pub where the manager asked her to front his band, which they later called 'Paloma and the Penetrators'.^[1] During a performance with the band at a cabaret show, Faith was scouted by an A&R man from Epic Records, who invited Faith to sing for the manager of the label.^[1] Twenty minutes into the audition, Faith asked the manager to turn his phone off and when he refused, she walked out.^[1] Epic A&R Joanna Charrington told HitQuarters "When she played a showcase for us it was clear that she was a star but the material was a bit generic. She didn't have the hit songs."^[7] Not being one hundred percent convinced the label executives decided to wait. During this time Charrington regularly checked Faith's MySpace page "to see if she had something that had a special direction or sound."^[7] After several months her attention was eventually piqued by "Broken Doll", which she thought was a well-crafted song with a "fantastic chorus and brilliant lyrics."^[7] Charrington told Epic managing director Nick Raphael "I think we should get this girl back in. She sounds like she is getting it now. We can help her get the songs."^[7] Faith revealed in an interview that the manager called her and offered her a contract saying he had seen many acts since and none had been as memorable as her.^[1] Faith turned down an opportunity to join Amy Winehouse's band and she began to write and perform her own songs.^[9]

Faith's first recognised work was the song "It's Christmas (And I Hate You)", which she recorded as a duet with singer-songwriter, Josh Weller in 2008.^[10] Faith's music is influenced by soul and jazz and her singing style has been compared favourably to those of Amy Winehouse and Duffy.^[11][12]

[edit] 2009–10: Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?

Faith released her debut single, "Stone Cold Sober", in mid-2009 and it reached Number 17 on the UK Singles Chart.^[13] Faith's second single, "New York" was released in September 2009.^[14] The song made its peak position in early October, peaking at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.^[15] Faith then released her debut album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, on 28 September 2009.^[16] Faith wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album in the UK, Sweden and America and recorded it entirely in London.^[17] It debuted at number 14 on the UK Albums Chart and later peaked at number 9, it remained in the chart for sixteen weeks.^[18] The album became BBC Radio 2's 'Album of the Week' from the 19 September 2009.^[16] In the same year, Faith appeared as a guest vocalist on Basement Jaxx's Scars album and on American hip-hop artist MF Doom's album, Born Like This.^[19][20] Faith released her third single, the album's title track, "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?" on 21 December 2009.^[21] The song did not perform as well as Faith's previous singles and failed to reach the top twenty. It peaked at number 64 in January 2010.^[22] In March 2010, Faith released her fourth single, "Upside Down", which peaked at Number 55 in the UK. To promote the album, Faith went on her first tour, featuring dates in the UK, Germany and France.^[23]

Faith performing at the 2010 Lovebox Festival

On 4 November 2009, Faith announced her first headlining tour of the UK and Ireland starting on 17 March 2010.^[5][24] The Times described the tour as being "full of theatrical artifice, but based on the rock-solid foundation of [Faith]'s sensational singing voice and a personality that sparkled like a rough diamond".^[25] Faith performed a live set for the BBC's Radio 2 Introduces... and gave an interview to the station's host, Dermot O'Leary.^[26] Faith also appeared on current events programme This Week discussing her views on the British education system with Michael Portillo. During this month she also appeared as a guest on Never Mind the Buzzcocks,^[27] performed the song "Upside Down" on The Hollyoaks Music Show, and performed her single "New York" on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. She also appeared on the BBC's Later with Jools Holland, recorded on 13 October 2009, and his live Hootenanny on 31 December 2009. Faith performed at numerous festivals throughout that summer, including T4 on the Beach. "Stone Cold Sober" was used as the backing track for a Rimmel commercial starring Lily Cole and the B-side, "I Just Wait", was used in a UK television alcohol awareness advert.^[5][28] Samsung's Corby mobile phone TV commercial featured Faith's "Technicolour" song. Faith became involved in an album artwork competition with BBC Blast in November 2009, in which teenagers won the chance to work alongside leading artists, photographers and music industry professionals to create new publicity artwork for the singer.^[29]

During an interview with Mayer Nissim of Digital Spy in March 2010, Faith revealed that she was working on a second album.^[30], and that if she continued to make losses for her record label they would drop her.^[30] Faith's manager subsequently refuted any suggestion that her contract with the label was under threat, saying that, on the contrary, debut album UK sales of 500,000 without a hit single is an impressive foundation for a long-term career, and Sony are "smart enough" to recognise that and are 110% behind her.^[8] Faith, along with Adam Deacon and Bashy, recorded the theme song to the 2010 British film 4.3.2.1. The track, titled "Keep Moving", was released on 28 May 2010.^[31] In the same month, Faith performed at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival with the The Guy Barker Orchestra. The performance was broadcast on BBC Radio 2.^[32] In June 2010, it was announced that Faith would re-release an updated version of "New York" featuring rapper Ghostface Killah.^[33] The single was released on 1 August 2010.^[33] Faith released a live EP album following an appearance at the 2010 iTunes Festival. The album charted at number 11 on the iTunes top 200 albums.^[34] Faith revealed in a September interview that she would be releasing her new single "Smoke & Mirrors" in October 2010.^[35] The track was the final single from her debut album and its video was uploaded to YouTube.^[35] It peaked at Number 140 on the UK Singles Chart.^[36]

[edit] 2011–present: Fall to Grace

In January 2011, Faith was nominated for "British Female Solo Artist" at the 2011 BRIT Awards.^[37] At the ceremony, Faith performed "Forget You" alongside Cee Lo Green.^[38] Faith appears on the charity single "Hard Times" alongside Plan B and Elton John.^[39] She also recorded the song "Desire" with Graham Coxon and Bill Ryder-Jones for a Converse campaign.^[40] During an interview with Popjustice, Faith revealed her second album would contain more "agony and suffering."^[41] The singer also hoped the album would be done with one producer as she wanted a "solid piece of work."^[41] She explained "I love the beautiful side of things like that Tom Waitsy, Rufus Wainwrighty, Ed Harcourt sort of stuff, and in contrast I like all the OutKast production, Gnarls Barkley and 'Beggin' and all that sort of sound. Contemporary but with a nod to the past. But you never know. You might just meet someone and something else would make sense."^[41] In July 2011, Faith revealed her frustrations about releasing the follow up to Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?. She did not know when the album was going to be completed and said the process was slow.^[42] She told Kristy Kelly of Digital Spy, "The album's not finished yet and I'm not sure when it will be. If I had my way it would be out tomorrow, but there are so many other people involved that nothing happens quickly."^[42] Faith also admitted being signed to a major record label made her feel under pressure to be instantly successful.^[42] On 7 February 2012, a writer for the Gloucestershire Echo reported Faith had been named as Artist in Residence for the 2012 Cheltenham Jazz Festival.^[43]

On 29 February 2012, Faith revealed her second album would be called Fall to Grace and that it would be released by RCA Records on 28 May 2012.^[44][45] Faith enlisted record producer Nellee Hooper and co-producer Jake Gosling to work with her on the project.^[45][46] Hooper told a writer for NME that he had not really heard of Faith as he was living in Los Angeles when her first album was released. He said Sony and RCA Records contacted him and suggested he meet her.^[46] Of Fall to Grace, Faith said "The new album has taken on a very cinematic mood. I am very excited to introduce my new sound into the world. Working with Nellee Hooper (Björk, Madonna) has been really inspirational."^[44] Faith told Dom Gourlay of Contactmusic.com that Fall to Grace is a personal record about a period of her life. Faith wrote and recorded the album in London.^[46][47] Fall to Grace was be preceded by the single "Picking Up the Pieces" on 20 May.^[44] It debuted at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, making it Faith's highest charting single to date.^[48][49] On 4 April 2012, Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy reported Faith had joined The Voice UK as one of four guest mentors.^[50] Faith worked with coach Danny O'Donoghue during the battle rounds phase of the competition.^[50] She also performed "Picking Up the Pieces" during the fourth results show.^[51] To promote Fall to Grace, Faith performed "Just Be", a track from the album, on Later... with Jools Holland.^[52]

Acting career[link]

In 2006, Faith made her primetime television acting debut in the series Mayo. The following year she appeared in an episode of the BBC police drama HolbyBlue and made her feature film acting debut as Andrea in St Trinian's.^[28][53] In 2009, Faith appeared in Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as Sally, the girlfriend of the Devil (played by Tom Waits).^[28] She also appeared in horror film Dread as Clara Thornhill.^[5] Faith revealed that she was able to attend film auditions during promotion for her debut album, in the hope that she would land a role once all of her album commitments were over.^[6] In August 2010, Faith appeared in Channel 4's series Coming Up.^[54] She also appears in the short film, A Nice Touch with Dougray Scott.^[55] Faith became attached to appear in Wayne Holloway's untitled punk movie in 2012.^[56] Faith will make an appearance as cabaret performer, Georgia, in the BBC drama adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's Blandings.^[40][57] She auditioned for the role and stated "I don't think they even knew I was an actress. I went to an audition and they said that they liked my interpretation of the character and I said, 'I'm just being myself'."^[58]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? (2009)^[59]
• Fall to Grace (2012)

Singles

• "Stone Cold Sober" (2009)
• "New York" (2009)
• "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?" (2009)
• "Upside Down" (2010)
• "New York" (feat. Ghostface Killah) (2010)
• "Smoke & Mirrors" (2010)
• "Picking Up the Pieces" (2012)

Filmography[link]

References[link]