Look up Beth or beth in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word Beth may refer to:

Letter

• Beth (letter), the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Aramaic, and Phoenician
  • Beth numbers, a sequence of infinite cardinal numbers named for the Hebrew letter
  • The Hebrew word for "house", often used in the name of synagogues and schools (e.g. Beth Israel)

Given name

Beth is a popular female name in English; it is usually a nickname for:

• Elizabeth (given name)
• Bethany (given name)
• Bethan

People

• Beth (singer) (b. 1981), Spanish singer
• Beth Allen (b. 1984), New Zealand actress
• Beth Amsel, American folk singer
• Beth Anders (b. 1951), American field hockey player and coach
• Beth Anderson (b. 1950), American composer
• Beth Anderson, American singer
• Beth Bauer (b. 1980), American professional golfer
• Beth Beglin (b. 1957), American field hockey player
• Beth Behrs (b. 1985), American actress
• Beth Barr (b. 1971), American swimmer
• Beth Bonner (1952–1998), American long-distance runner
• BethAnn Bonner (b. 1982), American actress
• Beth Botsford (b. 1981), American swimmer
• Beth Broderick (b. 1959), American actress
• Beth Buchanan (b. 1952), Australian actress
• Beth Cahill (b. 1963), American television actress
• Beth Carvalho (b. 1946), Brazilian singer and composer
• Beth Chapman (b. 1962), American politician
• Beth Chatto (b. 1923), British garden designer
• Beth Chamberlin (b. 1963), American actress
• Beth Clayton, American opera singer
• Beth Cordingly (b. 1977), English actress
• Beth Courtney (b. 1945), CEO/president of Louisiana Public Broadcasting
• Beth Couture (b. 1962), American women's basketball coach
• Beth Daniel (b. 1956), American golfer
• Beth Denisch (b. 1958), American composer
• Beth Ditto (b. 1981), American singer-songwriter
• Beth Dunkenberger, American women's basketball coach
• Beth Edmonds (b. 1950), American politician
• Beth Ehlers (b. 1968), American politician
• Beth Fowler (b. 1940), American actress and singer
• Beth Gaines (b. 1959), American politician
• Beth Grant (b. 1949), American actress
• Beth Gibbons (b. 1965), English singer-songwriter
• Beth Goddard (b. 1969), British actress
• Beth Goobie (b. 1959), Canadian poet and writer
• Beth Gylys (b. 1964), American poet and professor of English and Creative Writing
• Beth Hart (b. 1972), American singer
• Beth Heiden (b. 1959), American athlete
• Beth Henley (b. 1952), American actress
• Beth Herr (b. 1964), American tennis player
• Beth Holloway (b. 1961), American speech pathologist
• Beth Howland (b. 1941), American actress
• Beth Iskiw (b. 1979), Canadian curler
• Beth Jeans Houghton, English singer-songwriter
• Beth Johnson, Canadian politician
• Beth Karas, American television reporter
• Beth Kerttula, American politician
• Beth Kephart, American author
• Beth Kingston (b. 1986), English actress
• Beth Kobliner, American journalist
• Beth Krom, American politician
• Beth Krommes (b. 1956), American illustrator
• Beth Krush (1918–2009), American illustrator
• Beth Landau (b. 1950), American filmmaker
• Beth Lapides, American entertainer
• Beth Leavel (b. 1955), American stage actress
• Beth Levin (b. 1950), American classical pianist
• Beth Levine (1914-2006), American fashion designer
• Beth Liebling (born 1967), American musician
• Beth Lisick, American writer
• Beth Littleford (b. 1968), American actress
• Beth Wood (b. 1954), U.S. state auditor

Fictional characters

• Beth Bailey
• Beth Brennan
• Beth Clement
• Beth Green
• Beth Hunter
• Beth Jordache
• Beth March, fictional character in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women

Surname

• Evert Willem Beth (1908–1964), Dutch philosopher and logician

Other

• "Beth" (song), by the band Kiss

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

Aloe Blacc
Blacc at Festival Mundial in Tilburg on June 19, 2011
Background information
Birth name	Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III
Born	January 8, 1979
Origin	Orange County, California, United States
Genres	Soul, R&B, jazz, hip hop
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Stones Throw Records, Goontrax
Associated acts	Emanon, Exile, Lena Meyer-Landrut, Sherif
Website	Aloe Blacc.com

Aloe Blacc (born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III; January 7, 1979^[1][2]) is an American soul singer, rapper and musician. He is married to Australian rapper Maya Jupiter.

[edit] Early career and Shine Through (1995–2009)

Blacc was born in Orange County, California to Panamanian parents.^[3] He began his music career in 1995 as a rapper in the hip hop duo Emanon with producer Exile.

By the late 1990s, Blacc was part of the duo Emanon and joined the group Lootpack on tour in Europe. The duo released six albums. This led to Blacc working with the French Jazz group Jazz Liberatorz. He released an album at the end of the 1990s.^[4]

In 2003, Blacc signed with Stones Throw Records and began a solo career. On July 11, 2006, he released his first LP album, Shine Through, on CD, vinyl record and online (on the Stones Throw website).

He then toured across Europe and the U.S. with Emanon, while working on his second solo album.

In 2009, Blacc collaborated with the Japanese hip hop producer Cradle. They called themselves Bee.

[edit] Mainstream success and Good Things (2010–present)

In 2010, Blacc released his second album, Good Things, on Stones Throw records. The album was produced by Jeff Dynamite and Leon Michels for Truth & Soul Productions.

Blacc was signed by Matthew Larkin for the charity album Red Hot + Rio 2, a follow-up to the 1996 Red Hot + Rio. Proceeds from the sales were donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues. In 2011, Kenneth Bager used Aloe Blacc on "The Sound of Swing, Pt. 2 (Oh Na Na)" co-written by Thomas Troelsen.^[5]

In summer 2011, Blacc performed on the main stages at major festivals such as Glastonbury and The Falls Festival in Australia with his primary touring band The Grand Scheme. "I Need a Dollar" is the opening title track on the HBO series, How To Make It In America.

Television appearances[link]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

With Emanon[link]

With Cradle[link]

• Bee – Open Your Mind (2009)

With The Grand Scheme[link]

• "Dark End Of The Street" from the Carhartt: Dark End Of The Street Compilation (2010)
• "Green Lights Grand Scheme Remix" from the UK Sony/Epic Single Release (2011)

With Joel Van Dijk[link]

• "I Got The Blues" Rolling Stones Cover - Mojo: Sticky Soul Fingers Compilation (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aloe Blacc

• Aloe Blacc
• Aloe Blacc at Stones Throw Records
• RBMA Radio On Demand – Melbourne Marvels – Aloe Blacc (Stones Throw)
• Short Film on Aloe Blacc
• NPR interview from October 2010
• (fr) Interview with Aloe Blacc on Soulrnb.com
• NPR interview from February 2011
• Aloe Blacc – Radio 1Xtra Live Lounge

Calvin Harris
Background information
Birth name	Adam Richard Wiles
Born	(1984-01-17) 17 January 1984 (age 28) Dumfries, Scotland
Genres	Electropop, electro house, nu-disco, synthpop, Eurodance
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, DJ
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, synthesizer
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Fly Eye, Columbia, Ministry of Sound, Ultra
Website	www.calvinharris.co.uk

Adam Richard Wiles^[1] (born 17 January 1984)^[2], better known by his stage name Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer. His gold-selling debut album, I Created Disco, was released in 2007 and contained the top ten singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls". His second studio album, Ready for the Weekend (2009), reached number one in the UK Album Chart and includes the chart-topper "I'm Not Alone", the UK top five hit "Ready for the Weekend", and the singles "Flashback" and "You Used to Hold Me".

A remix album titled L.E.D. Festival was released in July 2010 as a free album in the August issue of Mixmag. Harris is currently working on his third studio album—due for release in 2012—which has produced the singles "Awooga", "Bounce", "Feel So Close", and "Let's Go". He has written and produced records for other recording artists including Kylie Minogue, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Dizzee Rascal, Rihanna (on the international chart topper "We Found Love"),^[3] and Kesha.^[4]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Harris was born in Dumfries, Scotland. He states that his childhood hero was football star Steve McManaman,^[5] but because he could not play [the game] nor have McManaman's 'curly hair', music was the next best option for a career.^[6] He was first attracted to electronic music in his teens and was recording bedroom demos by 1999.^[7] According to an interview with News of the World, all the while he created music, he started becoming an antisocial person, which affected his personality.^[8] His earliest success was when he was 21: the songs "Da Bongos" and "Brighter Days" were released as a 12" club single and CD-EP by the Prima Facie label in early 2002 under the name Stouffer.^[9] He released one song in 2004, "Let Me Know", with artist Ayah Marar. The song appears on The Unabombers' Electric Soul 2.

[edit] 2006–08: I Created Disco

Harris performing in 2008

Harris signed contracts with EMI (publishing) and Sony BMG (recording) in 2006 after he had been discovered by Tommie Sunshine on the social networking website MySpace and his music was released on Sunshine's label Xylophone Jones Recordings previous to his album on Sony BMG.^[10] Harris had recently moved back from London to his hometown of Dumfries because he was unable to find a job.^[11] Later in 2006, Harris produced a remix of All Saints' hit single "Rock Steady".

Harris' first album, I Created Disco, was released in June 2007. The album contains uptempo electroclash songs that were influenced by music from the 1980s. To promote I Created Disco, Harris embarked on a tour of the UK, supporting Faithless and Groove Armada.^[12][13] I Created Disco has been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of 100,000 copies in the UK, where it reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart.

The first single, "Vegas", was issued on limited edition vinyl; the first wide-release single from the album was "Acceptable in the 80s", a tribute to the style and culture of the decade. The song reached the top ten on the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the chart for fifteen weeks.^[14] "The Girls", the album's third single, peaked at number three in the UK, although the fourth release, "Merrymaking at My Place", reached only number forty-three. The fifth and final single, "Colours", was featured in television advertisements for DFS sofas and Kia Motors. In October 2008, Harris was featured on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix with a two-hour set.

[edit] 2008–10: Ready for the Weekend

In April 2008, Harris stated that the only existing copy of his upcoming album work was lost when his was misplaced during the baggage handling problems at the opening of London Heathrow Terminal 5.^[15] Harris later admitted that this was a lie as the album was not in his luggage at all, and that he hoped that what he said would buy him some more time to finish recording the LP.^[16] The album, Ready for the Weekend, was released in August 2009 in the United Kingdom^[17] and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, eventually being certified gold by the BPI for selling 100,000 copies. The first single, "I'm Not Alone", released in April 2009, debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number one and was shortlisted for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize. The follow-up single, "Ready for the Weekend" (featuring singer Mary Pearce), went to number three. Other tracks included on the album are "Worst Day" featuring Izza Kizza^[18] and "Yeah Yeah Yeah La La La", which was used in a Coca-Cola advertisement.^[19]

Harris toured around the UK, Ireland, France, the Netherlands and the United States promoting the album. In June 2009, Harris appeared at the Summertime Ball at the Emirates Stadium, and in August, he made an appearance on the first Soccer AM show of the season. Harris performed at Wembley Stadium in October 2009 as part of the pre-game entertainment for the NFL International Series game between the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The third single from Ready for the Weekend, "Flashback", reached the top twenty in the UK, and the fourth, "You Used to Hold Me", entered the top forty. During promotion of the album, Harris hosted a series of videos on YouTube titled JAM TV, in which musicians such as Florence Welch, Goldie and Katy Perry tried to open pots of jam.^[20] In 2010, Harris received a BRIT Award nomination for British Male.

On 14 November, Harris invaded the stage of The X Factor during a performance by John & Edward, holding a pineapple on his head and bending over to point at his buttocks. He was subsequently evicted from the studio by the security team and told not to return to have his say on the ITV2 programme The Xtra Factor—in which he was to have been a "Celebrity Guest". He later apologised on Twitter, saying he was a fan of the boys, "At the end of the day, I had a pineapple on my head. Sorry if I caused anyone embarrassment. PS, I love Jedward (sic)".^[21] The same week, Harris spoke to The Chris Moyles Show and revealed that he had been "inspired to make a mockery of the show", as well as stating that "If you look at music it's a frightening stranglehold that Simon Cowell has got over the entire music chart in the UK at the moment."^[22] On the same day, John and Edward's "mentor" Louis Walsh, appearing on The Paul O'Grady Show, accused Harris of trying to "cash in" on John & Edward's fame, and claimed to not know who he was.^[23]

2010–present: Third album and touring[link]

Harris performing in Australia

Harris played at the 2010 Big Day Out, a music festival which takes place in several major cities in Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. In May 2010, he performed at Evolution Festival, UK in Newcastle upon Tyne, Quayside, and in July he played at Nottingham Splendour and headlined at the Stockton International Riverside Festival in Stockton-on-Tees. In July 2010, Harris released a mix, titled L.E.D. Festival (short for L.E.D. Festival Presents... Calvin Harris). It was available for one month as a free covermount CD in Mixmag.

Harris appeared at the tenth birthday of Our:House in Auckland, New Zealand, in November 2010, alongside Afrojack,^[24] and performed an hour-long DJ set at Australia's Steresonic Festival alongside Tiesto, Carl Cox, Afrojack and Major Lazer in November/December 2010, in several major Australian cities including Sydney and Melbourne. In 2011, he toured with Rihanna in Australia, Poland and the UK as a support act on her Loud Tour; Rihanna was quoted to say that "Calvin is the perfect fit for the Loud tour. He is going to bring something unique and fun for the fans."^[25] Harris headlined the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2011 party.

During March and April 2011, Harris was scheduled to be an opening act/DJ for Katy Perry on the UK leg of her California Dreams Tour, but he withdrew from the tour shortly before his first date, citing production issues and difficulties with Perry's management in his apology to her fans.^[26] Perry publicly criticised Harris via her Twitter feed, stating that the tour's other support acts had expressed no problems with their production arrangements,^[27] but Harris later said "it's all fine" between them and that he would still like to work with her in the future.^[28]

Harris headlined Limelite at Metropolis Fremantle (Western Australia) in March 2011 in celebration of the event's fourth birthday, where he played small samples of his new track, "Awooga", which was subsequently uploaded onto YouTube via his channel, icreateddisco.^[29] Following "Awooga", Harris released the single "Bounce", a collaboration with Kelis that debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart in June 2011. Another single, "Feel So Close", was released in August 2011 and also reached number two, as did the third single, "Let's Go" featuring Ne-Yo (released in April 2012), commissioned for a Pepsi Max advertising campaign. "Feel So Close" became Harris's first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 in America, peaking at number twelve. These singles precede Harris's third studio album, which will be released in 2012;^[30] he has said of the LP, "I'm going for pretty epic-sounding dance records. I guess the whole sound has just moved on in terms of production as I've got a new studio and some new gear to make the sounds I wasn't able to make before."^[31] Singer/rapper Example announced via Twitter that he will be featured on Harris's next single, "We'll Be Coming Back".^{[citation needed]}

Harris performed at the 2011 Jingle Bell Ball concert, and has been announced as one of the headline acts at a number of Southern Hemisphere 2011/2012 new year music festivals, including Shore Thing and Field Day^[32] in Sydney, as well as Rhythm and Vines in New Zealand.^[33]

Productions and songwriting[link]

In 2007, Harris caught the attention of pop singer Kylie Minogue after his recordings had been passed on to her by another record producer.^[12] This led to him co-writing and producing two songs on her 2007 album X—"Heart Beat Rock" and "In My Arms", the latter a top ten hit in the UK. Harris said that working with Minogue was "surreal, but fun" although he admitted to Mixmag in 2007 to "needing a few drinks before meeting her". Harris returned to work with Minogue on her album Aphrodite (2010), co-producing the track "Too Much".

In 2008, Harris collaborated with rapper Dizzee Rascal on his single "Dance wiv Me", producing the track and singing the hook. The single reached number one in the UK and has been certified platinum by the BPI, selling 300,000 copies. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Popjustice £20 Music Prize and, in 2009, received a BRIT Award nomination for British Single and an Ivor Novello Award nomination for Best Contemporary Song. In 2009, he produced Dizzee Rascal's next single entitled "Holiday", which also reached number one. He was supposed to make an appearance in its music video, but objected to dancing along in some scenes, wearing a certain shirt for the video and not wearing his "fly eye" glasses.^[1] Also in 2009, Harris made a guest appearance on Tiësto's song "Century" on the Dutch producer's album Kaleidoscope.^[34] Harris produced a track for English singer/rapper Example for his second album Won't Go Quietly (2010), "Time Machine", and mixed The Ting Tings' UK top forty single "Hands", having previously remixed the band's singles "Great DJ" (2008) and "We Walk" (2009).

In 2011, Harris featured on LMFAO's album Sorry for Party Rocking, appearing on the track "Reminds Me of You" which is based on Harris's own song "Awooga". Harris produced Tinchy Stryder's second single, "Off the Record" from his fourth studio album, Full Tank. The track had its première on 15 September 2011, and was released in the UK on 6 November 2011. Following a stint as her support act on the Australian leg of her tour, Harris produced "We Found Love" and "Where Have You Been" for Barbadian singer Rihanna. The former is the lead single from her sixth studio album, Talk That Talk, and was premiered in September 2011. It has reached number one in countries such as the UK and the United States, becoming Harris's first charting appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. He co-wrote and co-produced the bonus track "One Life" for R&B singer Mary J. Blige's album My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act 1) (2011).

In mid April 2012, Billboard published an article on their website claiming that Harris had contributed several tracks to Kesha's upcoming album Spandex on the Distant Horizon, with their specific recording date being left unknown.^[35] Calvin Harris worked with American pop band Scissor Sisters on the single "Only the Horses" from their fourth studio album, Magic Hour. He wrote and produced Cheryl Cole's comeback single "Call My Name", the lead single from her upcoming third album A Million Lights.^[36]. It was also revealed that Calvin is to collaborate with singer/rapper Example again on his upcoming album titled 'Coming Back'.

Failed collaborations[link]

In 2007, Harris contributed the song "Off & On" to Róisín Murphy's album Overpowered, but it was cut from the album; Harris later gave the song to Sophie Ellis-Bextor to record for her 2011 album Make a Scene. He said that Murphy was "a bit mental", "crazy" and a "twat" to reject the songs,^[37] though subsequently apologized in person to Murphy "for throwing my toys out of the pram because I said things that weren't very nice. She said: 'That's all right, we all say silly things sometimes.'"^[38] Harris also produced a remix of Dragonette's debut single "I Get Around" that was rejected by the band, whom he said "weren't very nice to me [...] they said, 'by the way, it's s—t', and then asked me to change everything about it. I told them I couldn't because I was on a bus and that they could basically F--- OFF. That's where we left it."^[37]

In 2007, Kelis discussed plans to work with Harris on her fifth studio album, Flesh Tone (2010), saying that he was "very creative and exciting [...] very, very talented". Although she said they were "looking at doing something together" for the album,^[39] this did not materialise; Harris did, however, produce a remix of Flesh Tone's second single, "4th of July (Fireworks)" and later collaborated with her on his 2011 single "Bounce".

Harris has said that in early 2008, he turned down the opportunity to work with American singer Lady Gaga before the release of her top-selling debut album, The Fame. He recalled: "When Lady Gaga first came out, her name rang a bell, so I checked my emails—and it turns out that on 1 January 2008, I got an email asking to work with her. I thought, 'Lady Gaga, what sort of name is that?' So I replied saying, 'Nah, I’m not into that.' Fast forward a year and she's the biggest thing. But I don't regret turning her down as I didn't think the song I heard then was that good."^[40] In a later interview, Harris stated he considers Gaga to be a "good artist".^[41]

American singer Katy Perry expressed an interest in working with Harris in 2009,^[42] and at one point they had pencilled recording sessions for her second album, Teenage Dream (2010),^[43] but no material was released. Harris worked with boyband JLS on songs for their second album, Outta This World (2010), but none of his work appeared on the released LP.^[44] The third single from that album, "Eyes Wide Shut", was said to copy heavily from Harris's own single "I'm Not Alone", but Harris said that it "wasn't [JLS's] fault and had nothing to do with them".^[45]

Concert tours[link]

• Groove Armada: Soundboy Rock tour (2007)
• Faithless: To All New Arrivals tour (2007)
• Ready for the Weekend tour (2009–2010)
• Deadmau5 & Skrillex: 'Unhooked' tour (2010)
• Rihanna: Loud Tour (2011)

Discography[link]

• I Created Disco (2007)
• Ready for the Weekend (2009)
• Third coming album (2012)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Calvin Harris

• Official website
• Calvin Harris at Ultra Records