Name	Pop punk
Bgcolor	crimson
Color	white
Stylistic origins	Punk rock, pop, power pop, new wave, garage rock
Cultural origins	mid-1970s United States, United Kingdom, Canada and other countries
Instruments	Vocals - Electric guitar - Bass - drums - Occasional use of other instruments (such as keyboards)
Popularity	Various degrees of commercial success since the late 1970s; massive international commercial success in the 1990s and 2000s
Other topics	List of pop punk bands- New wave - Post-punk - Skate punk - Ska punk - Alternative rock - Melodic hardcore

Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars. About.com has described contemporary pop punk bands as having "a radio friendly sheen to their music, but still maintaining much of the speed and attitude of classic punk rock".

It is not clear when the term pop punk was first used, but pop-influenced punk rock had been around since the mid- to late-1970s. An early use of the term pop punk appeared in a 1977 New York Times article, "Cabaret: Tom Petty's Pop Punk Rock Evokes Sounds of 60's". In the mid-1990s, the California pop punk bands Green Day and The Offspring, who were later followed by Blink-182, would all achieve worldwide commercial success. From the mid-1990s onwards, some bands associated with the genre have been described as "happy punk", "faux-punk", "mall punk", "pseudo-punk" or "bubblegum punk".

History

Origins (1974-1989)

Protopunk and power pop bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s helped lay the groundwork for the pop punk sound, which emerged at the onset of punk rock around 1974 with the Ramones. The Ramones' loud and fast melodic minimalism differentiated them from other bands in New York City's budding art rock scene, but pop punk was not considered a separate subgenre until later. Several UK bands of the late 1970s also played what can be considered pop punk. The music of the Buzzcocks, Generation X, 999, The Jam, The Rezillos, The Lurkers, The Undertones, The Shapes and Toy Dolls featured catchy melodies, as well as lyrics that sometimes dealt with relatively light themes such as teenage romance. The US band Bad Religion, who started in 1979, were another band that helped lay the groundwork for contemporary pop punk. Many mod revival bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s also displayed pop punk leanings.

By 1981, hardcore punk had emerged in the United States, with louder, faster music than punk bands. Vocal harmony, melodic instrumentation and 4/4 drumming were replaced with shouting, discordant instrumentation, and experimental rhythms. A few bands, such as Descendents, Screeching Weasel, and The Vandals, began to combine hardcore with pop music to create a new, faster pop punk sound, sometimes referred to as popcore or skatecore. Their positive yet sarcastic approach began to separate them from the more serious hardcore scene. In the 1980s, the term pop punk was used in publications such as Maximum RocknRoll to describe bands similar to Social Distortion, Agent Orange and TSOL.

Independent pop punk (1990-1993)

- live in concert]] Pop punk in the United States underwent a resurgence in the early- to mid-1990s, although the genre was not commercially viable at that time. Many pop punk bands retained a do it yourself (DIY) approach to their music, and a number of independent record labels emerged during that period, often run by band members who wanted to release their own music and that of their friends. The independent labels SST/Cruz Records, Lookout! Records, Fat Wreck Chords and Epitaph Records were about to achieve mainstream success.

Popular acceptance (1994-1997)

In February 1994, Green Day released Dookie, the band's first album on a major record label, after starting out on the independent Lookout! Records. The first single, "Longview", instantly became a hit on MTV and modern rock stations across North America and the United Kingdom. Following the success of their first single, Green Day released "Basket Case", which became an even bigger hit. Other hits from the album included "When I Come Around", "Welcome to Paradise" and "She". Dookie sold 10 million copies in the United States and 20 million copies worldwide. Green Day performed at Woodstock '94 and on Saturday Night Live, and appeared on the covers of Spin and Rolling Stone magazines. They won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

Soon after the release of Dookie, The Offspring released the album Smash on the independent label Epitaph Records. The first single, "Come Out and Play", had a pop punk sound that differed from their earlier work, and it became popular first on radio and later on MTV. Other singles, "Self Esteem" and "Gotta Get Away", sold well. The album sold over 14 million copies worldwide, setting a record for most albums sold on an independent label. By the end of the year, Dookie and Smash had sold millions of copies. The commercial success of these two albums attracted major label interest in punk, particularly Epitaph bands from Southern California, with Bad Religion, NOFX and Rancid reportedly being offered lucrative contracts. Also during this period, Face to Face released their breakthrough album Big Choice, featuring their only top 40 hit "Disconnected", which also became popular on the Los Angeles radio station KROQ.

In the early- to mid-1990s, ska punk achieved commercial success in the United States and several other countries. Some ska punk music — by bands such as Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger, Sublime and Less Than Jake — shared many characteristics with pop punk.

By 1997, pop punk's audience had expanded significantly. Green Day's song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", from their album Nimrod, brought pop punk to new levels of mainstream acceptance. The song was used in one of the final episodes of Seinfeld in 1998. Blink 182's song "Dammit (Growing Up)" rose to the top of the charts, and their major label debut album Dude Ranch went on to sell 1.5 million copies.

Continued mainstream ascent (1998-2002)

In 1998, The Offspring released the album Americana, which went platinum many times over, and produced hit singles such as "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)", "Why Don't You Get a Job?" and "The Kids Aren't Alright". In 1999, Blink-182 released Enema of the State, which sold over 15 million copies worldwide. The album had three hit singles, including the #1 single "All the Small Things" and the #2 singles "What's My Age Again?" and "Adam's Song". Also in 1999, Lit released their second album, A Place in the Sun, which peaked at #31 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the single "My Own Worst Enemy", which spent 11 weeks at #1 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart.

In 2000, The Offspring released their next album Conspiracy of One on Napster before they released it on Columbia Records, sacrificing album sales so their fans could hear their music for free. In 2001, Sum 41 released their major label debut All Killer No Filler, which went multi-platinum and included the hit singles "Fat Lip", "In Too Deep" and "Motivation", all of which were featured prominently on TRL and modern rock charts. Also that year, Blink-182's album Take Off Your Pants and Jacket debuted at #1 on the Billboard album charts and sold over four million copies in the United States. The album included the modern rock and TRL hits "The Rock Show", "First Date" and "Stay Together for the Kids".

In 2002, Good Charlotte released their second album, The Young and the Hopeless, which went triple platinum. Also in 2002, Simple Plan released their debut album No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls and Face to Face released How to Ruin Everything, which would be their final album before disbanding two years later. Also that year, Blink-182 co-headlined one of the biggest concert tours in pop punk history, the Pop Disaster Tour with Green Day. In summer 2002, New Found Glory released their third album, Sticks and Stones, which experienced a fair amount of mainstream success with singles such as "My Friends Over You" and "Head on Collision". Sum 41 released their third album, Does This Look Infected, in 2002, giving them a harder sound with the singles "Still Waiting", "Over My Head (Better Off Dead)" and "The Hell Song".

Contemporary mainstream pop punk (2003-present)

In 2003, The Ataris released their breakthrough album So Long, Astoria, which included their first top 40 hit, a cover of "The Boys of Summer". Also in 2003, Blink-182 released a self-titled album, which garnered the band several hits, such as "Feeling This" and "I Miss You". Also released during this period were Rancid's Indestructible (featuring the hit single "Fall Back Down"), Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue (featuring the hit singles "Ocean Avenue", "Way Away" and "Only One"), and The Offspring's Splinter, which spawned another number one US hit for the band "Hit That".

New Found Glory released Catalyst in 2004, which included the hit "All Downhill from Here". Although some songs on the album expanded on the band's hardcore punk influences, other songs added synthesizers and keyboards. In October 2004, Sum 41 released the album Chuck, which mixed pop punk with several other genres, including thrash metal, alternative rock and hardcore. The album's first single, "We're All to Blame", reached #10 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts, and the single "Pieces" topped the charts in Canada. Good Charlotte realesed the album The Chronicles of Life and Death. Also that year, Simple Plan released their second album Still Not Getting Any.... The first single, "Welcome to My Life", reached #1 on the Canadian Singles Chart and the Spanish Singles Chart, as well as reaching #11 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart. Green Day released the rock opera album American Idiot in September 2004. The singles "American Idiot", "Jesus of Suburbia", "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", "Holiday" and "Wake Me Up When September Ends" received international airplay and MTV video rotation, and topped charts worldwide.

In 2005, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker of Blink-182 formed +44, and in 2006 the band released its first album, When Your Heart Stops Beating. In January 2008, Face to Face reunited and embarked on their first tour together since 2004 later that year. In 2007 Sum 41 realesed the album Underclass Hero, reached #1 on the Top Canadian Albums. In June 2008, The Offspring released the album Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace, featuring their most successful single "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid", which topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks charts for 11 weeks, making it the longest consecutive run for any Offspring single at #1. The accession of pop punk band All Time Low in the late 2000's is also noteworthy, gaining a vast amount of support with their albums So Wrong, It's Right (2007) and Nothing Personal (2010), on which Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus contributed. In December 2009, the band won the Best Pop Punk Band at the Top In Rock Awards. In February 2009, Pop punk legends Blink-182 reunited onstage for the first time since 2005, at the 51st Grammy Awards, announcing their reformation as a band. They would tour the United States that summer, and they announced the recording of a new album due in 2011. In 2009, pop punk superstars Green Day released their album 21st Century Breakdown, another rock opera, and though not as critically acclaimed as American Idiot, it has still sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide. To show the further extent of the mainstream popularity of the pop punk scene, Blink-182 member Mark Hoppus would become the host of his own television show on Fuse TV, on which he gives his opinion on contemporary music. The show is called A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus.

See also

List of pop punk bands

Footnotes

External links

The Mod Pop Punk Archives - includes information about early pop punk bands

Punk pop - article about pop punk music

The Buzzcocks, Founders of Pop Punk - article about the Buzzcock's role in developing pop punk genre

Pop Punk Radio - Free Pop Punk Radio from SKY.FM

* Category:Punk genres Category:Pop music genres Category:Fusion music genres * Category:1990s in music Category:2000s in music

Name	Justin Bieber
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Justin Drew Bieber
Born	March 01, 1994
Origin	Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, percussion,
Genre	Pop, R&B; ( , born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian pop-R&B; singer. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who happened to come across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. His first full studio release, My World 2.0, was released on March 23, 2010 and has since received similar success; it debuted at number one and within the top ten of several countries and was certified platinum in the United States. It was preceded by the worldwide top-ten single, "Baby," in January 2010.
Name	Bieber, Justin
Short description	Canadian singer
Date of birth	March 1, 1994
Place of birth	Stratford, Ontario, Canada

Category:1994 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Canadian child singers Category:Canadian dance musicians Category:Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States Category:Canadian Internet personalities Category:Canadian male singers Category:Canadian pop singers Category:Canadian rhythm and blues singers Category:Hip hop singers Category:Island Records artists Category:Musicians from Atlanta, Georgia Category:Musicians from Ontario Category:People from Stratford, Ontario Category:Canadian people of German descent

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), better known by her stage name Katy Perry, is an American pop musician. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents; Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her freshman year of high school, she began to pursue a career in music. As Katy Hudson, she released a self-titled gospel album in 2001, which due to the closing of her record label, was deemed unsuccessful. She later recorded an album with production team The Matrix and completed the majority of a solo album from 2004–5; neither of which were released.

After signing with Capitol Music Group in 2007, her fourth record label in seven years, she adopted the stage name Katy Perry and released her first Internet single "Ur So Gay" that November, which garnered public attention; but failed to chart. She rose to fame with the release of her second single "I Kissed a Girl" in 2008, which went on to top international charts. Perry's first mainstream studio album One of the Boys followed later that year and subsequently, became the thirty-third best selling album worldwide of 2008. It was accredited platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, while "I Kissed a Girl" and her second single "Hot n Cold" both received multi-platinum certifications. Her sophomore studio album Teenage Dream was released in August 2010 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. The album included hit singles "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream" and "Firework", all of which topped the charts on the Billboard Hot 100 and worldwide.

Perry was credited as a guest judge on the seventh series of the British television show The X Factor; has released a fragrance called "Purr"; and will appear in the upcoming 2011-film The Smurfs. Perry had a long relationship with Travie McCoy; she married Russell Brand on October 23, 2010.

Biography

1984–2006: Early life and career beginnings

Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, California on October 25, 1984 to Mary (née Perry), an evangelist who grew up in Southern California and had "a tempestuous first marriage in Zimbabwe", She has an older sister and younger brother. Perry's maternal aunt and uncle were screenwriter Eleanor Perry and director Frank Perry, through whom she is also related to Charles M. Schwab, the founder of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

Perry was incorporated into her parents' ministry She grew up listening to gospel music, was not allowed to listen to what her mother called "secular music", and attended Christian schools and camps. She took her GED after her freshman year at Dos Pueblos High School and decided to leave school in the pursuit of a career in music. Her sister practiced with cassette tapes, while Perry took the tapes herself when her sister was not around. She rehearsed the songs and performed them in front of her parents, who suggested she take vocal coaching. She grabbed the opportunity and began taking lessons at the age of nine and continued until she was sixteen. She later enrolled in at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and studied Italian opera for a short period of time. In Nashville, Perry started recording demos and was taught by country music veterans on how to craft songs and play guitar. Performing as Katy Hudson, she released the self-titled Gospel-rock album in 2001. The album was due for release in 2005,

Perry signed to Columbia Records in 2004. However, the label was not amenable with her vision, not putting her in the "driver's seat". She made a cameo appearance in Carbon Leaf's video, "Learn to Fly".

2007–09: One of the Boys and MTV Unplugged

Before being dropped by Columbia, its then publicity executive Angelica Cob-Baehler recommended Perry to Capitol A&R; Chris Anokute while at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Keen to hear more, Anokute was sent a DVD, featuring a video of "Simple", and a three-song demo. It was after hearing the demo of "Waking Up in Vegas" that Anokute became convinced of Perry's star talent. He showed the demo to his boss Jason Flom, then head of Capitol Music Group, telling him, "I've found the next Avril Lavigne meets Alanis Morissette." Flom proved to be less enthusiastic, however; he wasn't convinced the demos were good enough and was wary about an artist that had already been dropped by two major labels. Anokute refused to give up and eventually his persistence together with that of new Virgin employee, Cob-Baehler, paid off. Perry was signed to Capitol Music in early 2007.

She went on the next step of promoting the album, undertaking a two-month tour of radio stations. The album's official lead single, "I Kissed a Girl", was released on May 6, 2008. Perry's A&R;, Chris Anokute, told HitQuarters how, despite being himself convinced it was a "career record", the song and its controversial theme met with strong resistance at the label, "People said, 'This is never going to get played on the radio. How do we sell this? How’s this going to be played in the bible belt?'" On June 12, 2008, Perry appeared as herself on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless,

One of the Boys was released on June 17, 2008 to mixed critical reviews. The album has reached number nine on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Perry released her second single, "Hot n Cold", which became her second top three single in dozens of countries around the world, including the United States where it reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, Perry was nominated in five categories at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Video, but lost to Britney Spears. She won Best New Act at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards, which she co-hosted, and Best International Female Artist at the 2009 BRIT Awards. On February 9, 2009, both "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold" were certified three-time platinum by Recording Industry Association of America for individual digital sales of over three million.

The Matrix's self-titled debut album, which features Perry, was later released via the team's label, Let's Hear It, during Perry's solo tour. When the release date was scheduled, "I Kissed a Girl" had been charting well. Matrix member Lauren Christy spoke to Perry about the decision, but she wanted to hold the release until the fourth single of One of the Boys had been dispatched. Despite their communication, The Matrix was released on January 27, 2009, via iTunes Store. In December 2008, Perry apologized to British singer Lily Allen for remarks in which she called herself a "skinnier version" of her, saying she meant it as a joke. Allen retaliated and told a British radio station that she "happen[ed] to know for a fact that she [Perry] was an American version" of her because their record company needed "to find something controversial and 'kooky'" like her.

On May 16, 2009, Perry performed at the opening ceremony of the annual Life Ball in Vienna, Austria. In June 2009, lawyers acting for Katy Perry opposed the recent trademark of Australian fashion designer Katie Perry who uses her own name to market loungewear. Some media outlets reported this as a lawsuit, which Katy Perry has denied on her blog. Katie Perry the designer reports on her blog that at a hearing with IP Australia on July 10, 2009, the singer's lawyers withdrew their opposition to the trademark. During the summer of 2009 Perry filmed a cameo appearance for Get Him to the Greek; her scene, in which she kisses her future fiancé Russell Brand was cut, and does not appear in the final film. Discussing the issue with MTV, Perry hypothesized there may have been some fear that seeing the two make out would have taken viewers out of the experience. In 2009, Perry was featured on two singles: a remix of Colorado-based band 3OH!3's song "Starstrukk" in August (the idea for the collaboration came after Perry's tour that featured 3OH!3 as the supporting act). The song was released over iTunes on September 8, 2009; and "If We Ever Meet Again", the fourth single off Timbaland's album Shock Value II in December. In October 2009, MTV Unplugged revealed that Perry was one of the artists to perform for them, and that she would be releasing a live album of the performance, including two new tracks, "Brick by Brick" and Fountains of Wayne cover "Hackensack". The album was released on November 17, and includes both a CD and a DVD.

2010–present: Teenage Dream

Perry appeared as a guest judge alongside Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh during the Dublin audition stage of the seventh series of the British television show The X Factor on June 28, 2010 (later televised on August 28). She was one of the many celebrities chosen to fulfil the role of judge whilst Dannii Minogue was on maternity leave. She later returned to the show on October 17 to perform "Firework". Perry's second mainstream studio album was titled Teenage Dream and was released in August 2010. The first single from the album was titled "California Gurls". The single peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the fastest rising single from a Capitol Records artist since Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe" in 1967. The cover art for Teenage Dream is a painting by Will Cotton in which depicts Perry lying naked on clouds of cotton candy; resembling the shots of Perry in the video for "California Gurls". The booklet of the physical edition of the album, in keeping with the theme of cotton candy, has a cotton candy scent. The album's second single "Teenage Dream" was released in July 2010. "Firework" is the album's third single.

Katy Perry appeared at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010. She was nominated for two awards and presented the award of "Best Male Video" with Nicki Minaj to Eminem. On September 14, she returned to her old high school, Dos Pueblos High School, where she performed a short set for the school's students. Perry performed "Hot n Cold" with Elmo from Sesame Street, which was originally to appear on the forty-first-season premiere of the educational children's program on September 27, 2010. However, four days before the scheduled airing, Sesame Workshop announced, "In light of the feedback we've received on the Katy Perry music video ... we have decided we will not air the segment on the television broadcast of Sesame Street, which is aimed at preschoolers. Katy Perry fans will still be able to view the video on YouTube." The main reason was that parents complained about what appeared to be a great amount of cleavage shown by her dress. Perry shot the video for Firework in Budapest in September 2010. An open casting call drew an unprecedented 38,000 applicants. She proceeded to perform at a concert in Budapest on October 1, her first concert in Central and Eastern EuropePerry has announced her own fragrance to be released in autumn of this year, named "Purr". It will come in a cat-shaped bottle, and will be available through Nordstrom stores.

Musical style and themes

Perry has a contralto vocal range. Among Perry's musical influences are Alanis Morissette, pop rockers Cyndi Lauper, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett, Shirley Manson, and Freddie Mercury, Perry expects to record more pop songs for her next album.

Perry is artistically involved in her projects, especially in the writing process. Since she could play guitar, she would start writing songs at home and present it to her producers. Perry is mostly inspired by specific moments of her life. She said it is easy for her to write songs about heartbreak. The songs have been respectively labeled as being homophobic and promoting homosexuality, as well as "lez ploitational".

Public image

Perry is known for her unconventional style of dress. Her fashion has caught the attention of designers, who were giving her nearly as much attention as fans of her music. The picture was defended as only an effort to give Perry a "sexy, harder edge". She has appeared in FHM Magazine's 100 Sexiest Women poll twice, ranking at #23 in 2009 and #37 in 2010.

Personal life

Perry dated Gym Class Heroes frontman Travie McCoy, whom she met in a recording studio in New York, on and off for several years. After more than a year of friendship and casual dating, they became serious with their relationship right before they embarked on the 2008 Warped Tour. Perry and McCoy broke up in December 2008. The two began dating again in early 2009 and broke up again a few months later. Perry first met British comedian Russell Brand in the summer of 2008 when Perry filmed a cameo for Brand's film Get Him to the Greek. Perry and Brand began dating after meeting again in September 2009 at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Brand, as host, remarked, "Katy Perry didn't win an award and she's staying at the same hotel as me, so she's gonna need a shoulder to cry on. So in a way, I'm the real winner tonight." The couple became engaged in December 2009 when Brand proposed to Perry while vacationing in India. In a July 2010 YouTube interview, Perry said Brand would be a "perfect" father. Perry has stated that she plans to take dual British citizenship when she marries Brand. "One of the first things I'll do is apply for dual citizenship. I'm not too sure if I have to take a test as I've not had time to look into it. But England is like my second home". Perry and Brand married on October 23, 2010 near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan, India, the same location where Brand had proposed. They were married in a traditional Hindu ceremony.

Discography

Katy Hudson (2001)

One of the Boys (2008)

Teenage Dream (2010)

Tours

Hello Katy Tour (2009)

California Dreams Tour (2011)

Filmography

Television

{| class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Title !Role !class="unsortable"|Notes |- |2008 | |Herself |Episode 8914 |- |2008 |Wildfire |Herself |"" (Season 4, episode 8) |- |2010 | American Idol |Guest judge |"Season 9, episode 5" |- |2010 |The X Factor |Guest judge |"Series 7, episode 2" |- |2010 |Sesame Street | Herself | Online special (deleted from televised episode) |- |2010 | The Simpsons | Herself | 1 episode, "The Fight Before Christmas" |- |2011 | How I Met Your Mother | Zoey's cousin | 1 episode, "Oh Honey" |}

Films

{| class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Title !Role ! class="unsortable"|Notes |- |2011 | |Smurfette |Voice |- |2011 | |TBA |Cameo |- |}

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from California Category:American bloggers Category:American Christians Category:American contraltos Category:American dance musicians Category:American female guitarists Category:American female pop singers Category:American film actors Category:American musicians of German descent Category:American people of Portuguese descent Category:American pop rock singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American voice actors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Capitol Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Female rock singers Category:Musicians from California Category:People from Santa Barbara, California Category:The X Factor judges

Name	Jay Sean
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Kamaljit Singh Jhooti
Alias	Jay Sean
Born	March 26, 1981Harlesden, Brent, London, England
Instrument	Guitar, piano
Genre	Pop, R&B;, hip hop, bhangra
Occupation	Singer–songwriter, rapper, beatboxer, record producer, arranger
Years active	2003–present
Label	Relentless, Virgin, 2Point9, Jayded, Cash Money, Universal Republic, Island
Associated acts	Birdman, Craig David, Drake, Kevin Rudolf, Lil Jon, Lil Wayne, Sean Paul, Sway, Thara, Keisha Buchanan
Url

Kamaljit Singh Jhooti (; born 26 March 1981), better known by his stage name Jay Sean, is a British singer-songwriter, rapper, beatboxer and record producer. He debuted in the Asian underground scene as a member of the Rishi Rich Project with "Dance with You", which reached #12 on the UK Singles Chart in 2003. This led to him being signed to Virgin Records and having two UK top 10 hits as a solo artist in 2004: "Eyes On You" at #6 and "Stolen" at #4. They were included in his critically-acclaimed debut album Me Against Myself which, though only moderately successful in the UK, sold more than two million copies across Asia and remains his most successful album to date.

He eventually left Virgin in 2006 and founded his own independent label, Jayded Records. After a gap of nearly four years, he returned in 2008 with "Ride It", which reached #11 in the UK and topped the charts in several Eastern European countries, including Romania where it was one of the best-selling singles of the year. It was followed by hits such as "Maybe", which reached #7 on the Japan Hot 100, and "Tonight". They were included in his second album, My Own Way, which became his most successful album on the UK Albums Chart, reaching #6, and topped the UK R&B; Chart.

Since the end of 2008, has he been signed to Cash Money Records. In 2009, his American debut single "Down" topped the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first solo artist of South Asian origin and first UK urban act to top the Hot 100. It was the seventh-best selling song of 2009, having sold more than three million digital copies in the United States, and six million copies worldwide, It was soon followed by another hit, "Do You Remember", which has sold more than a million copies in the US, and entered the top ten on the Hot 100, making him the first male act since Chingy in 2003 to "simultaneously appear in the Hot 100 top 10 with his first two charting singles." They were included in his American-debut album All or Nothing, which debuted at #37 on the US Billboard 200 and reached #11 on the Japan Oricon Albums Chart. and was ranked #35 in Billboard's Hot 100 Artists of 2009.

Life and career

1981–2002: Early life and career beginnings

Jay Sean was born as Kamaljeet Singh Jhooti in Harlesden, Northwest London to Sharan and Bindi Jhooti, Punjabi Sikh immigrants. His year of birth is uncertain, with different sources giving dates ranging from 1979 to 1983. He was raised in Southall, and displayed musical talent at an early age. At age 11, he and his cousin Pritpal Rupra formed a hip hop duo named "Compulsive Disorder". His stage name at the time was MC "Nicky J", with the "J" being derived from the first letter of his last name "Jhooti". He eventually came to be known by the nickname "Jay" among his friends. He finished his GCSEs as a "straight-A student" and then completed his A Levels with an A grade in Biology and B grades in Mathematics and Chemistry. He later enrolled in Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry at Queen Mary, University of London, to study Medicine before he dropped out in 2003 to pursue a singing career. For his music career, he chose the stage name Jay Sean; "Jay" was the nickname his friends knew him as (derived from his previous stage name "Nicky J"), while "Sean" is derived from "Shaan"—a nickname he was called at home by his grandmother—which means "shining star" or "pride" in Punjabi.

2003–06: Me Against Myself with Relentless Records

After Sean's track "One Minute" fell into the hands of producer Rishi Rich, the Rishi Rich Project was formed (consisting of Rich, Sean and Juggy D) in 2003. Their first taste of UK chart success was the Asian underground song, "Dance with You (Nachna Tere Naal)", which became a Top 20 hit, peaking at #12. This led to Sean signing a £1m deal with Virgin Records, under their label Relentless Records. His third single, "Stolen," peaked at #4, with Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu making an appearance in the video. His debut album, Me Against Myself, was released in 2004 and received much critical praise and acclaim. Sean was referred to as an "Asian sensation" and was praised for his experimental, creative fusion of contemporary R&B;, British hip hop and Indian music.

Despite initially failing to reach the top 20 on the UK Albums Chart (where it peaked at #29), the album gradually managed to sell 100,000 copies in the UK and went on to become a substantial hit in India, selling over two million copies there. He made a brief appearance in the 2005 Bollywood film Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, providing the song "Dil Mera (My Heart)" to the soundtrack, based on "One Night" from his own debut album. Beyond India, the album sold over 300,000 copies across other parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, His performance of tracks from Me Against Myself on MTV Asia (alongside the Rishi Rich Project) had a television audience as large as 165 million viewers. It helped establish Sean as a major recognized artist across Asia and among the worldwide Desi diaspora, and remains his most successful album to date. With his debut album, Sean was influential in popularizing Indian-R&B; fusion sounds in Asian underground and Indian pop music. In February 2006, after several delays of his second album, he left Virgin Records.

2007–09: My Own Way and All or Nothing

After parting ways with Virgin Records, Jay Sean continued to work on his second album, which was initially named after the title track "Deal With It," but the song ended up being given to Corbin Bleu. Sean's background vocals remain on Bleu's version of the track. The song "Deal With It" earned Sean a BMI Songwriter Award and later inspired the 2009 single "Juliette" by South Korean band Shinee.

Jay Sean returned in late 2007 with the new single "Ride It", which was the first single from his second album My Own Way. It was to be the first album released as a joint-venture between his own label Jayded and 2Point9 Records. The video for "Ride It", released in early 2008, featured Jay Sean with a new style after being out of the limelight for nearly three and a half years. My Own Way debuted at #6 in the official UK Albums Chart and generated two more UK top 20 singles, "Ride It" and "Maybe". On the back of this Jay received two MOBO Award nominations, for Best UK Male (alongside Dizzee Rascal, Taio Cruz, Wiley and Sway) and Best R'n'B/Soul (alongside Usher, Estelle, Ne-Yo and Chris Brown). "Ride It" was successful in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia, Turkey and Romania, where it became one of the three best-selling singles of the year. "Maybe" was his most successful single in Japan, where it reached #7 on the Japan Hot 100 Singles.

Touch Magazine in the U.K. described him as "the U.K.'s answer to Ne-Yo," while The Independent called him "...an urban legend in the making." In August 2008, Jay Sean co-hosted London radio station Choice FM's Breakfast show a week in which he only performed previously unheard tracks, including a song whose title was left to the listeners to decide. The unknown track was later confirmed to be called "Tonight" and is included in My Own Way: Deluxe Edition. Jay Sean was confirmed for the third series of Celebrity Scissorhands in October 2008 but he withdrew before the show was aired for unclear reasons.

On 15 October 2008 during the MOBO Awards, Jay Sean announced that he had signed with the American hip-hop oriented record label Cash Money Records distributed via Universal Republic Records making him the first male British Asian singer to sign with an American label. His American-debut single was "Down" featuring American rapper and label mate Lil Wayne. It topped the Billboard Hot 100, replacing Black Eyed Peas. This makes him the first British artist to top the Hot 100 since Freddie Mercury of Queen in 1980, and the first solo artist of Asian descent to do so. "Down" has sold more than six million copies worldwide, and three million digital copies in the US, In addition, "Down" has received a large airplay of two billion listener impressions on radio worldwide. In November 2009, Sean's next single from his album, "Do You Remember", was released and featured Jamaican dancehall superstar Sean Paul plus US Southern crunk rapper Lil Jon. It entered the Hot 100 top ten on the week of 9 January 2009, After the award, he was in America for the first time since signing with Cash Money, he announced through a interview with MTV IGGY that he was recording five new songs for his album, then titled My Own Way (U.S. edition), one of which was his American-debut single with Lil Wayne, later titled "Down". Sean discussed a collaboration with Akon at the 2009 Grammy Awards, in addition to recording a song with Nadine Coyle and told viewers that the album will be released in third quarter of 2009. The album title was later changed to All or Nothing, and featured brand new songs and some of the songs from My Own Way. Despite success with two singles from the album, the album itself only debuted at #37 on the US Billboard 200. It was his lowest-charting entry on the UK Albums Chart, debuting there at #62. Despite this, it has become his highest-charting album in Japan, reaching #11 on the Oricon Albums Chart.

Sean was featured on a song called "Written on Her" alongside Birdman for the CEO’s project, released on 23 June 2009 on iTunes. This song was played during an interview on Westwood Radio 1 with Birdman and Jay Sean. Jay Sean has featured on Skepta's single "Lush" released on 10 June 2009 on iTunes. On 2 February 2010, Kevin Rudolf's single "I Made It (Cash Money Heroes)", featured Jay Sean alongside Birdman and Lil Wayne, was released. In early December 2009, it was confirmed that he has collaborated with Justin Timberlake and Esmée Denters on a song, "Love Dealer". There have been talks of collaborations with other American artists such as Ashley Tisdale, Taylor Swift, Nicole Scherzinger, Rihanna, Usher, and Jay-Z & Beyoncé.

Jay Sean was in early September 2009 nominated for the 30 Under 30 award. At the 2009 UK Urban Music Awards, he won the Best Collaboration award for "Down" alongside Lil Wayne. In early December 2009, he was ranked #35 in Billboard's Hot 100 Artists of the year. Sean's performance "had the entire crowd – parents and children, teens and twenty-somethings – dancing."

2010–present: Freeze Time

Early in May, Usher was asked about what he thought of the Stateside success of British R&B; artists like Jay Sean and Taio Cruz. "Sustaining longevity is all about time. They have a lot to prove." Usher said. While Sean could have responded aggressively to the comments, he went a different route. "He's been in the game for, what, 17 years? I completely agree with what he says. Longevity trumps everything. America has only heard one album." "I'm so new to America. I've got so much more to show them, so much more to give them." Sean said.

Jay Sean has confirmed he is working on a new album, with a tentative release date of 2 November 2010. He has stated that he has completed roughly 75 percent of the album and that guests so far include Lil Wayne, Pitbull, Nicki Minaj and Mary J. Blige. Other possible collaboration for the album include Akon, Rihanna and Drake. "2012 (It Ain't the End)" was released to U.S. radio stations and as a digital download to iTunes on 3 August 2010, as the lead single of the album. The video leaked on 14 August 2010, but Jay Sean confirmed that the leaked version of the video wasn't the final version. The final version of the video premiered on 24 August 2010. In October 2010, it was announced that the album got pushed back to 22 February 2011.

Sean will be part of the Summerbeatz tour held in Australia alongside, Flo Rida, Soulja Boy and Travie McCoy in November 2010.

Community work

Jay Sean is known for community work. He has worked with BBC Blast doing Q&A;'s on tour events in an effort to "give something back". He has supported the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) in the charity event Partnership Walk and Run by performing in Regent's Park in 2004 and 2009.

In 2009, Sean performed in Justin Timberlake's charity concert to raise funds for the Shriners Hospital for Children, alongside artists such as MC Zani, Taylor Swift and Alicia Keys. It became one of the highest-earning charity events of the year, raising more than $9 million.

Awards and nominations

Discography

Me Against Myself (2004)

My Own Way (2008)

All or Nothing (2009)

Freeze Time (2011)

Filmography

Kyaa Kool Hai Hum (2005), himself

References

External links

Category:Cash Money Records artists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Old Latymerians Category:English male singers Category:English pop singers Category:English rhythm and blues singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English rappers Category:English record producers Category:Beatboxers Category:Musicians from London Category:English Sikhs Category:Bhangra Category:People from Hounslow Category:People from Southall Category:Punjabi people Category:Punjabi-language singers

Name	Taylor Swift
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Birth date	December 13, 1989Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, United States
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, ukulele
Genre	Country pop, pop, teen pop, country
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, actress
Years active	2006–present
Label	Big Machine
Notable instruments	Custom-built Taylor acoustic guitars
Url
Associated acts	Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American country pop Fearless topped the Billboard 200 for 11 non-consecutive weeks; no album has spent more time at No. 1 since 2000. Swift was named Artist of the Year by Billboard Magazine in 2009. Swift released her third album Speak Now on October 25, 2010 which sold 1,047,000 copies in its first week.

In 2008, her albums sold a combined four million copies, making her the best-selling musician of the year in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Forbes ranked Swift 2009's 69th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $18 million and 2010's 12th-most powerful celebrity with earnings of $45 million. Swift was ranked the 38th Best Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard. In January 2010 Nielsen SoundScan listed Swift as the most commercially successful country (or country/pop crossover) artist in music history with over 28 million digital tracks sold. , she has sold over 16 million albums worldwide.

Early life

Swift was born on December 13, 1989, the only daughter of Andrea Gardner (née Finlay), a homemaker, and Scott Kingsley Swift, a stockbroker. She was born and raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Her maternal grandmother, Majorie Finlay, was an opera singer. Swift has a younger brother, Austin.

When she was in fourth grade, she won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem entitled "Monster In My Closet". When Swift was 10, a computer repairman showed her how to play three chords on a guitar, sparking her interest in learning the instrument. Afterwards, she wrote her first song, "Lucky You". She began writing songs regularly and used it as an outlet to help her with her pain from not fitting in at school. She was a victim of bullying, and often wrote songs to express her emotions. Swift also started performing at karaoke contests, festivals, and fairs around her hometown. When she was 12, she devoted an entire summer to writing a 350-page novel, which remains unpublished. Her first major show was a well-received performance at the Bloomsburg Fair. Swift attended Hendersonville High School but was subsequently homeschooled for her junior and senior years. In 2008, she earned her high-school diploma.

Swift's greatest musical influence is Shania Twain. Her other influences include LeAnn Rimes, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, and her grandmother. Although her grandmother was a professional opera singer, Swift's tastes always leaned more toward country music. In her younger years, she developed a love for Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton. She also credits the Dixie Chicks for demonstrating the impact you can make by "stretching boundaries".

Music career

2000–05: Musical beginnings

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected.

After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention. Swift started writing songs and playing 12-string guitar when she was 12. Swift began to regularly visit Nashville and wrote songs with local songwriters. By the time she was 14, her family decided to move to an outlying Nashville suburb.

When Swift was 15, she rejected RCA Records because the company wanted to keep her on an artist development deal. After performing at Nashville's songwriters' venue, The Bluebird Café, she caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, who signed her to his newly formed record label, Big Machine Records. At age 14, she became the youngest staff songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.

guitar in June 2006. Swift continues to perform with custom-made Taylor guitars.]]

2006–08: Taylor Swift

Swift released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching #6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart. Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006. Debuting high on the Billboard 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and #5 on the Billboard 200. Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks. The only other country artists this decade to achieve the number-one sales position for 20 weeks or more are The Dixie Chicks and Carrie Underwood.

The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards. Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006. On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift has been an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill on their Soul2Soul 2007 tour. She has opened in the past for George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts as well.

The second single from the Taylor Swift album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to #13 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.

Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at #1 on the Country charts, peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and rose to #24 on the Billboard Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, , which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse. Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at #3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008.

HQ in 2007.]]

"Should've Said No" became Swift's second #1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and #9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at #2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart. In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.

2008–09: Fearless and MTV VMA incident

Swift's latest studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart. Its sales of 592,304 were the highest debut of any country artist in 2008. This is also the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall behind Lil Wayne, AC/DC and Coldplay. Its lead single "Love Story" became a hit on both the country and pop charts. During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally. This gives Swift the best online start for any country album in history. It also makes Swift the fourth biggest week for a digital album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking them in 2004. Through its eighth week of release, Fearless has sold more than 338,467 downloads, making it the bestselling country album in digital history. In second place is Swift's debut Taylor Swift with sales of 236,046 downloads as of April 18, 2009.

In its debut week, seven songs in total on Fearless were charted on Billboard Hot 100, tying Swift with Miley Cyrus for the most by a female artist in a single week. With "White Horse" charted at #13, this gave Swift her sixth top 20 debut of 2008, a calendar year record for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Of the 13 tracks on Fearless, 11 have already spent time on the Hot 100. The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics.

The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. The Fearless album includes the "Love Story" music video which is based on Romeo and Juliet. The song has reached #2 on iTunes Store Top Downloaded Songs and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Fifteen weeks after being added to pop radio, "Love Story" also became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart.

The second single from Fearless, "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. The music video for the song premiered on CMT on February 7, 2009. Though it missed the #1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the #1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week. "Forever & Always", another song from the album, was based on Swift's relationship with singer Joe Jonas.

She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart.

Swift is Billboard's Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008. Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008. Fearless and Taylor Swift took the #1 and #2 slots on 2008 Year-End Canadian Country Albums Chart. Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008.

in Prince Edward Island, Canada.]] In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months. The tour kicked off April 23 in Evansville, Indiana. In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live. On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards.

As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history. Since the release of Swift's second album, Fearless, she has released one new song "Crazier" for the of the feature film . At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless.

Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM Album of the Year award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, and the worldwide crossover success of her #1 single "Love Story". The Academy also cited Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience. As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads, as well as three Gold Mobile Ringtones.

On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless. The students sent over 19,000 text messages to Verizon during a roughly one month long contest. Swift played for about an hour during the school's field day, an annual day-long recess with games and activities. On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.

This was her first VMA performance, where she became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award. During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me," singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West. He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech. When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech.

Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed). and even by President Barack Obama in an "off the record" comment. He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of The Jay Leno Show. She said West had not spoken to her following the incident.

On the chart week of November 14, 2009, Swift set a record for the most songs on the Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist at the same time with eight singles from the re-release of her 2008 album Fearless namely five debut new songs in the top 30: "Jump Then Fall" at #10, "Untouchable" at #19, "The Other Side of the Door" at #22, "Superstar" at #27 and "Come in With the Rain" at #30 and three already-charted songs that were released as singles—"You Belong with Me" (#14), "Forever & Always" which re-entered the chart at #34, and "Fifteen" (#46).

In addition, the song "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls which features Swift, debuted at #80 in the same issue. This gives Swift six debuts in one week, the biggest number of debuts by any female artist of all time. It also lifts the number of her simultaneously-charting songs to nine, setting another record for the biggest number of charting songs by the same female artist in the same week. When "Fifteen" reached #38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009, Swift became the female artist with the most Top 40 singles this decade, surpassing Beyoncé. "Fifteen" became Swift's twentieth Top 40 single overall. "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at #40 and #25 respectively. The two songs are her 21st and 22nd Top 40 singles.

Fearless was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the #1 and #2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart (all genres), with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story," respectively. She also topped the all format 2009 Top 10 Artist Airplay chart with over 1.29 million song detections, and the Top 10 Artist Internet Streams chart with more than 46 million song plays.

2010–present: Speak Now

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the film Valentine's Day, in which she made her feature-film acting debut. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 2, becoming her sixth Top 10 and 23rd Top 40 single on that chart. According to Nielsen SoundScan, with sales of "Today Was a Fairytale" more than 325,000 in its first week, Swift has broken the record for first-week download sales by a female artist. The song also debuted at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making it Swift's first number one hit in Canada.

In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana.

In mid-July 2010, Billboard revealed that Swift's new album is called Speak Now. It was released on October 25, 2010. She has written the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer. On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from the album, "Mine," was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak.

Taylor Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010.

Songwriting style

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary." For example, the song "Forever & Always" was inspired by her relationship with Joe Jonas, while the song "Hey Stephen" was written about a boy who she toured with in the past. She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to." She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on Saturday Night Live; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them."

The autobiographical nature of her songs has led some fans to research the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans." The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".

Other work

Acting

In 2008, Swift made her acting debut in Brad Paisley's music video "Online". In that same year Swift filmed a documentary for MTV entitled MTV's Once Upon a Prom and a documentary with Def Leppard for CMT entitled CMT Crossroads, which premiered on November 7, 2008. Swift collaborated with the Jonas Brothers in their 3D Concert Film, . The film was released on February 27, 2009 in North America and brought in $12.7 million on its opening weekend. Swift made her primetime television acting debut on CBS's "Turn, Turn, Turn" as Haley Jones on March 5, 2009 in the U.S. and Canada. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers. Swift made a cameo appearance in Kellie Pickler's music video "Best Days of Your Life". Swift also appeared in credited as "woman singing in the barn". The film was released on April 10, 2009 in North America. The television show Dateline NBC showcased an hour on Swift on May 31, 2009. The episode titled Dateline NBC: On Tour With Taylor Swift included scenes from her tour bus, concert footage, and rehearsals. Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live. In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut as Felicia in the film Valentine's Day. For this role she won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout.

Cover model and recognition

Swift has been featured on the cover of a number of magazines. She has been a cover girl for Blender, for which she was one of two country artists during the magazine’s fifteen year run to be a cover subject. She was included in People's annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists. Additionally, she was named number fifty-seven on Maxim's sexiest women of 2008, and number thirty-one on the 2010 list. CosmoGirl voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year". Swift was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change". She was nominated as a candidate for Times "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting. People magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.

Merchandise

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008. Taylor Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008. Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months. However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line." In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest. Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed.

Philanthropy

]] On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators. She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes.

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly". Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign. Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert, reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross. Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org. On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with. Taylor Swift has donated a pair of her shoes - a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole - to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer.

In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.

Personal life

In 2008, Swift was in a relationship with pop singer Joe Jonas which ended in November of that year. Swift indicated that her heartbreak song, "Forever & Always", on her album Fearless was inspired by Jonas. The song "Back To December" off her album Speak Now, which Swift has described as an apology song, has been widely speculated to be dedicated to Lautner.

Filmography

Discography

Taylor Swift (2006)

Fearless (2008)

Speak Now (2010)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Category:1989 births Category:Living people Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American child singers Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Big Machine Records artists Category:English-language singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:People from Berks County, Pennsylvania Category:Ukulele players Category:American Christians

Name	Jordan Pundik
Landscape	yes
Background	solo_singer
Alias	Chugga Chugga
Born	October 12, 1979
Origin	Pompano Beach, Florida, US
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	rock, pop punk, punk revival, melodic hardcore
Occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter
Years active	1997–present
Associated acts	New Found Glory, The International Superheroes of Hardcore
Url	http://www.newfoundglory.com

Jordan Izaak Pundik (born October 12, 1979 in Pompano Beach, Florida) is an American musician and songwriter.

Pundik is a founding member and the frontman of rock band New Found Glory, for whom he sings lead vocals and contributes lyrics. He is also the guitarist in the band's side-project, the International Superheroes of Hardcore where he is known under the pseudonym of "Chugga Chugga".

Biography

Jordan Pundik was born in Englewood, New Jersey to Carlos and Maureen Pundik. His family moved to Pompano Beach, Florida when he was 3 years old. He has a brother named Daniel and a sister named Edra.

Musical career

The origins of the band New Found Glory date back to the summer of 1997 when Pundik met Stephen Klein at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and the pair began writing music together. Pundik later stated the band name was created whilst he and Klein were working in Red Lobster together. Pundik says, "We came up with A New Found Glory, we wrote it on a napkin. I think we pulled some of it from "A Newfound Interest in Massachusetts" by the Get Up Kids". They recruited friend Ian Grushka on bass, who they had previously played with in a band named "Inner City Kids". The band practiced in Grushka's garage, and later invited Joe "Taco Joe" Moreno to play drums. Shortly thereafter, Chad Gilbert (lead guitar), former vocalist of Shai Hulud, joined to complete the quintet.

Discography

with New Found Glory

1997: It's All About The Girls (EP)

1999: Nothing Gold Can Stay

2000: From the Screen to Your Stereo (EP)

2000: New Found Glory

2002: Sticks and Stones

2004: Catalyst

2006: Coming Home

2007: From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II

2008: Hits

2008: Tip of the Iceberg (EP)

2009: Not Without a Fight

with International Superheroes of Hardcore

2008: ''Takin' it Ova!

2008: ''HPxHC (EP)

Record Labels

;with New Found Glory

Fiddler Records (1997)

Eulogy Records (1999)

Drive-Thru Records/Geffen Records (2000–2007)

Bridge 9 Records (2008 – present)

Epitaph Records (2009 – present)

References

Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:People from Florida Category:Musicians from Florida Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American Jews Category:American musicians Category:American rock singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American lyricists Category:American rock guitarists

Name	Hayley Williams
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Hayley Nichole Williams
Born	December 27, 1988 Meridian, Mississippi, US
Genre	Alternative rock, emo, pop punk
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, piano, drums
Occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter
Years active	2004–present
Label	Fueled by Ramen, Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Paramore

Hayley Nichole Williams (born December 27, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter and the lead vocalist of the band Paramore.

Life and career

In 2002, at the age of 13, Williams moved from her hometown, Meridian, Mississippi, to Franklin, Tennessee, where she met fellow band members Josh Farro and Zac Farro in school. Shortly after arriving, she began taking vocal lessons with Brett Manning. While still in school, she tried out for a local funk cover band called The Factory where she met Jeremy Davis.

Williams was discovered in 2003 by managers Dave Steunebrink and Richard Williams who signed the 14-year-old to a production deal. According to former manager Jeff Hanson in an interview with HitQuarters, at the time she was writing pop songs with top songwriters in Nashville. Williams was introduced to Atlantic Records A&R; Tom Storms through Richard's attorneys Jim Zumwalt and Kent Marcus, and then signed to the label by Jason Flom. The label's original plan for their new artist was to make her a solo pop artist but Williams objected to this, saying that she wanted to be part of a band and play alternative music. Atlantic decided to go along with her wishes and she then formed Paramore with Jeremy Davis and Josh and Zach Farro.

In the 2007 Kerrang! Readers' Poll she finished second to Evanescence's Amy Lee in the "Sexiest Female" category, going on to win the first place spot for "Sexiest Female" a year later in the 2008 poll, and again in the 2009 poll. She also appears as a playable character in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour.

Williams wrote and recorded the song "Teenagers", which was featured in the soundtrack for the film Jennifer's Body. After the release of "Teenagers", Williams stated that she had no plans to establish herself as a solo artist. In 2010, she appeared on the tracks "Airplanes" and "Airplanes (Part II)" from alternative rapper B.o.B's debut album, . "Airplanes", later released as a single, peaked within the top ten in nineteen countries, including number one peak positions in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Hayley has also went onto stage during different intervals and sets of the Reading Festival 2010, and performed several songs with British pop band You Me At Six, including the band's latest hit single "Stay With Me". The band's frontman Josh Franceschi has reportedly expressed a keen interest in collaborating with Hayley after the stage performance. It hasn't been confirmed yet though, if the band is recording their third yet-to-be-untitled with Hayley.

Paramore

Paramore was created in Franklin, Tennessee in 2004, with Hayley Williams (lead vocals/keyboards) alongside Josh Farro (lead guitar/backing vocals), Jeremy Davis (bass guitar) and Zac Farro (drums). Prior to forming Paramore, the other members of what was soon to be Paramore had been "edgy about the whole female thing" of having Williams as singer, but as they were good friends she began writing with them and eventually became a member. The band has released three studio albums, All We Know Is Falling, Riot!, and Brand New Eyes as well as two live albums and three EPs. In June 2009, the band welcomed Taylor York (rhythm guitar) as an official member, although he had already been playing as a touring member with the band since 2007.

Personal life

Williams is currently dating New Found Glory guitarist Chad Gilbert.

Discography

Featured singles

Featured appearances

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Category:Paramore members Category:2010s singers Category:2000s singers Category:Hip hop singers Category:Pop punk singers Category:Female rock singers Category:American female pop singers Category:American pop rock singers Category:American punk rock singers Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American rock pianists Category:Musicians from Mississippi Category:People from Meridian, Mississippi Category:1988 births Category:Living people

Name	Ethan Luck
Background	solo_singer
Born	October 16, 1978Long Beach, California, U.S.
Instruments	Guitar, Bass, Drums, Lap Steel, Vocals
Genre	Metalcore, punk rock, hard rock, ska, alternative metal, pop-punk, Christian rock
Occupation	Musician, Producer, Engineer
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Tooth and Nail Solid State Records
Associated acts	Demon HunterThe OC Supertones John Davis Relient K Guerilla Rodeo
Url	http://ethanluck.com http://www.demonhunter.net

Ethan John Luck (born October 16, 1978 in Long Beach, California) is a guitarist, photographer, and drummer who has played in many bands, most prominently, the ska band The O.C. Supertones.

Luck is currently the drummer of rock band Relient K. He is also the cousin of Matt Wignall of Havalina. Luck has also made a part time career as a studio musician working with such people as Aaron Sprinkle, Mark Lee Townsend, Joe Marlet, Neill King, Bill Stevenson, etc. He has played on records for Kutless, Roper, Nikki Clan, Relient K and Last Tuesday, to name a few. Ethan endorses Washburn Guitars and can been seen with them live and in Demon Hunter videos. On drums, he endorses Battlefield Drums, Meinl Cymbals and Vic Firth Sticks.

Luck and fellow The O.C. Supertones alum Daniel Spencer ran Rebel Waltz Recording Co., a recording studio based out of Franklin, TN. Artists that recorded there included Flatfoot 56, August Burns Red, The Send, The Lonely Hearts and many others. The two also had a punk band called My Red Hot Nightmare that was short lived in Nashville. Ethan continues his love of recording and recently engineered/produced Supertones singer Matt Morginsky for his first solo record.

It was announced on February 12, 2008, that Ethan would be the new drummer for pop punk band Relient K. The band made the announcement on their website and in the same day, Luck announced it on his personal website. He also posted a letter to Demon Hunter fans about his future in the band. The letter can be found here.

In August 2009, it was learned that Ethan, along with Don Clark, had both decided to depart as guitarists from Demon Hunter. Ethan and Don's schedule's with Relient K and Invisible Creature, respectively, made it hard to keep up with Demon Hunter and their other projects both.

Bands

Current Bands

Relient K (Drums) 2008–Present

John Davis (Superdrag) (Guitar/Bass) 2005–Present (Live Guitarist/Bassist)

Former Bands

Saved (Before the band's name changed to the OC Supertones) (Guitar) 1993-1994

Pax (before the band was renamed PAX217) (Guitar) 1994-1996

Project 86 (Bass) 1996

The Dingees (Drums) 1996-1998

Value Pac (Drums) 1998-2000

The O.C. Supertones (Guitar) 2000-2005

Grand Incredible (Guitar/Drums) 2001

Guerilla Rodeo (Guitar) 2003

My Red Hot Nightmare (Lead Vocals/Guitar) 2005-2007

Demon Hunter (Lead Guitar) 2005-2009

Has Filled In With

The Lonely Hearts (Lead Guitar/Lap Steel)

Relient K On Spring 07 Tour (Lap Steel)

Ginger Sling (Drums/Guitar)

Bleach (Drums)

PAX217 (Drums)

Jon Foreman (Lapsteel)

Paramore (Drums)

Studio Work

Mojo & The Info (Matt Morginsky) - Doctorate in Cold Rockin' It - Drums, Engineer, Mixer (2008)

Stephanie Smith - Not Afraid - Drums, Guitar, Bass & Music Written on Selected Tracks - Gotee Records (2008)

Relient K - Let it Snow, Baby... Let it Reindeer - Lap Steel/"Country" Guitar - Gotee Records (2007)

Demon Hunter - Storm the Gates of Hell - Engineered Guitar/Bass - Solid State Records (2007)

MXPX - Secret Weapon - Engineered John Davis' guest vocals/Organ on "Sad Sad Song", Engineered Horns On "Punk Rock Celebrity" - Tooth & Nail Records (2007)

Ruth - Secondhand Dreaming - Engineered John Davis guest vocals/Pedal Steel on "From Here To New York" Tooth & Nail Records (2007)

Phil Joel - Deliberate Kids - Lap Steel on "Wise Man Rock" (2007)

Chasing Victory - Fiends (album) - Pre-Production Engineer - Mono Vs Stereo (2007)

Flatfoot 56 - Jungle of the Midwest Sea - Producer/Engineer/Mixer - Flicker Records (2007)

Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago - Moon Drums on "Deathbed" - Capitol Records (2007)

The Send - Cosmos - Pre Production Engineer on "Begin" (2006)

Kutless - Hearts of the Innocent - Music written for "Shut Me Out" and "The Legacy" w/ Aaron Sprinkle and Kutless - BEC Recordings (2006)

Fair - The Best Worst-Case Scenario - Produced/Engineered John Davis' guest vocals/Pedal Steel - Tooth and Nail Records (2006)

My Red Hot Nightmare - A Tribute To Superdrag - Producer/Vocals/Guitar - Double D Records (2006)

My Red Hot Nightmare - My Other Band, Vol. 1 - Producer/Vocals/Guitar/Bass - Mono Vs Stereo (2006)

Last Tuesday - Become What You Believe - Producer/Engineered/Additional Guitar - Mono Vs Stereo (2006)

John Davis - Arigato! - Pre Production Engineer (2006)

Nikki Clan - Nikki Clan - Guitar/Bass - Sony Mexico (2006)

Kutless - Strong Tower - Guitar - BEC Recordings (2005)

Last Tuesday - Resolve - Guitar Solo on "It's Not Too Late" - Mono Vs Stereo (2005)

What I Like About You - TV Show Cues - Guitar - Warner Bros. Records (2005)

Roper - Brace Yourself for the Mediocre - Guitar/ Music Written on Selected Tracks - Five Minute Walk (2004)

Cherry Red - The Record - Drums - Lionheart Records (2004)

Value Pac - Incognito - Lead Guitar - Four Door Entertainment (2000)

Discography

Relient K Let it Snow, Baby... Let it Reindeer - Drums (2008 re-release tracks only) - Gotee Records (2007/2008) The Bird and the Bee Sides - Drums/Vocals - Gotee Records(2008) Forget and Not Slow Down- Drums/Vocals -Gotee Records(2009)

Demon Hunter Storm the Gates of Hell - Lead Guitar - Solid State Records (2007) The Triptych - Lead Guitar - Solid State Records (2005) My Red Hot Nightmare A Tribute To Superdrag - Vocals/Guitar - Double D Records (2006) My Other Band, Vol. 1 - Vocals/Guitar/Bass - Mono Vs Stereo (2006) The O.C. Supertones Unite - Guitar - BEC Recordings (2005) Revenge of the O.C. Supertones - Guitar/Bass - BEC Recordings (2004) Veggie Rocks! Compilation - Guitar/Vocals on "I Can Be Your Friend" - Forefront Records (2004) Hi-Fi Revival - Guitar - Tooth And Nail Records (2002) Happy Christmas Volume 3 - Guitar- "Heaven's Got A Baby" - BEC Recordings (2001) Live! Volume One - Guitar - Tooth And Nail Records (2001) Loud and Clear - Guitar - BEC Recordings (2000) Guerilla Rodeo Ride, Rope and Destroy - Guitar - Ministry Of Defense (2004) Grand Incredible GIgantic - Guitar/Drums - BEC Recordings (2002) The Dingees Happy Christmas volume 1 - Drums on "We Three Kings" - BEC Recordings (1998) Armageddon Massive - Drums - BEC Recordings (1998)

References

External links

Ethan Luck's personal site

My Red Hot Nightmare

Category:Living people Category:American Christians Category:American musicians Category:American bass guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:Performers of Christian music Category:1978 births Category:People from Long Beach, California Category:American vegans