1. REDIRECTThe Joint

Roy Hargrove
Roy Hargrove at the North Sea, Rotterdam Photo: Bob Travis
Background information
Birth name	Roy Anthony Hargrove
Born	(1969-10-16) October 16, 1969 (age 42)
Origin	Waco, Texas, United States
Genres	Latin jazz Mainstream jazz Post bop Hard bop M-Base Soul
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Trumpet, flugelhorn
Years active	1987–present
Labels	Verve Records, Emarcy Records, RCA Novus
Associated acts	Crisol, D'Angelo, The RH Factor, Johnny Griffin, Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, David "Fathead" Newman, Joshua Redman, Stanley Turrentine

Roy Anthony Hargrove (born October 16, 1969) is an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music, in 1997, and in 2002. Hargrove has played primarily with jazz musicians with stellar careers, from Wynton Marsalis to Herbie Hancock.

Hargrove is the bandleader of the progressive group the RH Factor, which combines elements of jazz, funk, hip-hop, soul, and gospel music. Its members include Chalmers "Spanky" Alford, Pino Palladino, James Poyser, Jonathan Batiste and Bernard Wright.

Biography[link]

Hargrove was born October 16, 1969 in Waco, Texas, to parents who early in his childhood discovered his musical potential,^[1] and with lessons on the trumpet, was discovered as a potential jazz talent when trumpet player Wynton Marsalis visited his high school, Dallas's Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. One of his influences was saxophone player David "Fathead" Newman, who performed in Ray Charles' Band at Hargrove's junior high school.

Hargrove spent one year (1988–1989) studying at Boston's Berklee College of Music, but could more often be found in New York City jam sessions, and finally transferred to the New School, in New York. His first recording there was with the saxophonist Bobby Watson. Shortly afterwards he made a recording with Superblue featuring Watson, Mulgrew Miller, and Kenny Washington. In 1990 he released his first solo album, Diamond in the Rough, on the Novus/RCA label, along with four other albums.

Roy Hargrove at Aalener Jazzfest 2008

Between April 1991 and February 1993 Hargrove frequently joined the Arnold Strickland Trio at the French bistro restaurant Cuckoo's in NYC's Upper East Side. Several recordings of this time period reveal Roy at what is considered as his most provocative.^{[citation needed]}

In 1993 he was commissioned by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and wrote The Love Suite: In Mahogany. Hargrove won a Grammy Award in 1998 for the album Habana with the Afro-Cuban band he founded, "Crisol".^[1]

Hargrove moved on, recording Family in 1995, and then, experimenting with other musicians, as part of a trio, the album Parker's Mood, in 1995 with bassist Christian McBride and Stephen Scott on keyboards.

In 1994, still with Verve, he took the opportunity to record with some of the major jazz musicians on With the Tenors of Our Time, including Joe Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Johnny Griffin, Joshua Redman, and Branford Marsalis.

Hargrove moved toward a jazz sound with a lot of groove and funk in it, performing and recording with nu soul singer D'Angelo, resulting in Voodoo in 2000.

In 2002, he collaborated with D'Angelo and other soul artists, Macy Gray, The Soultronics, and Nile Rodgers, on two tracks for Red Hot & Riot, a compilation CD in tribute to the music of afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti.

He acted as sideman for jazz pianist Shirley Horn, rapper Common, on the album Like Water for Chocolate in 2002, and the following year, singer Erykah Badu, Worldwide Underground. Nowadays he fronts a big band aptly named the "Roy Hargrove Big Band".

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• 1989: Diamond in the Rough (Novus)
• 1990: Public Eye (Novus)
• 1991: Tokyo Sessions (Novus)
• 1992: The Vibe (Novus)
• 1993: Of Kindred Souls (Live) (Novus)
• 1994: With the Tenors of Our Time – The Roy Hargrove Quintet (Verve)
• 1994: Approaching Standards (Jive/Novus)
• 1995: Family (Verve)
• 1995: Parker's Mood – with Christian McBride (bass), and Stephen Scott (piano) (Verve)
• 1997: Habana – Crisol (Verve)
• 2000: Moment to Moment (Verve)
• 2003: Hard Groove – The RH Factor (Verve)
• 2004: Strength – The RH Factor (Verve)
• 2006: Distractions – The RH Factor (Verve)
• 2006: Nothing Serious – The Roy Hargrove Quintet (Verve)
• 2008: Earfood – The Roy Hargrove Quintet (Emarcy)
• 2009: Emergence – The Roy Hargrove Big Band (Emarcy)

As sideman[link]

• 1988: with Superblue: Superblue (Blue Note Records)^[2]
• 1993: with Bob Thiele Collective: Lion Hearted
• 1995: with Shirley Horn: The Main Ingredient (Verve)
• 1995: with Christian McBride: Gettin' To It
• 1995: with Jimmy Smith: Damn!
• 1996: with Jimmy Smith: Angel Eyes
• 2000: with Erykah Badu: Mama's Gun
• 2000: with D'Angelo: Voodoo
• 2000: with Common: Like Water for Chocolate
• 2001: with Roy Haynes: Birds of a Feather: A Tribute to Charlie Parker
• 2002: with Herbie Hancock and Michael Brecker: Directions in Music: Live At Massey Hall (Verve)
• 2003: with Erykah Badu: Worldwide Underground
• 2003: with Shirley Horn: May the Music Never End (Verve)
• 2006: with John Mayer: Continuum
• 2008: with John Beasley: Letter to Herbie
• 2010: with Angelique Kidjo: Samba Pa Ti on album Õÿö
• 2011: with Cyrille Aimée: Cyrille Aimée & Friends (Live at Smalls)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roy Hargrove

• Jazz Trumpet Solos featuring Roy Hargrove
• All About Jazz album review
• Verve Records featured music and Biography
• Vibe Magazine Review of Roy Hargrove's Hard Groove
• Emarcy Records Biography of Roy Hargrove

Jimmy Preston (b 18 August 1913, Chester, Pennsylvania – d December 1984, Philadelphia, PA) was an R&B bandleader, alto saxophonist and singer who made an important contribution to early rock and roll.

His first R&B hit was with "Hucklebuck Daddy", but his main claim to fame was to record, as Jimmy Preston and His Prestonians, the original version of "Rock the Joint" for Gotham Records in Philadelphia in 1949. The sax breaks on "Rock the Joint" were the work of tenor player Danny Turner (1920-1995). “Rock The Joint” was re-recorded by Bill Haley and the Saddlemen in 1952.

In 1950 tenor saxophone player Benny Golson and pianist Billy Gaines were added to new line-up and recorded songs like "Early Morning Blues" and "Hayride". [1] Preston moved to Derby Records and had a final R&B hit with a cover of Louis Prima’s “Oh Babe”. He gave up playing music in 1952 without realizing that he would later be identified as one of the founders of rock and roll.

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this article if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (July 2007)

Bill Haley
Bill Haley on television in 1955.
Background information
Birth name	William John Clifton Haley
Also known as	Jack Haley, Johnny Clifton
Born	(1925-07-06)July 6, 1925 Highland Park, Michigan, United States
Died	February 9, 1981(1981-02-09) (aged 55) Harlingen, Texas, United States
Genres	Rock and roll, country, rockabilly
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, bandleader
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, slap bass
Years active	1946–1980
Labels	Cowboy, Atlantic, Keystone, Center, Holiday, Essex, Decca, Warner Bros. Records, Orfeón, Dimsa, Newtown, Guest Star, Logo, APT, Gone, United Artists, Roulette, Sonet, Buddah, Antic, Arzee
Associated acts	Bill Haley & His Comets, The Down Homers

William John Clifton "Bill" Haley ( /ˈheɪliː/; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets (inspired by Halley's Comet) and million selling hits such as, "Rock Around the Clock", "See You Later Aligator", and "Shake Rattle and Roll". He has sold over 100 million records worldwide.^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Bill Haley was born in Highland Park, Michigan as William John Clifton Haley. Because of the effects of the Great Depression on the Detroit area, his father moved the family to Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, near the town of Chester, when Bill was seven years old. Haley's father William Albert Haley was from Kentucky and played the banjo and mandolin, his mother Maude Green originally from Ulverston in England was a technically accomplished keyboardist with classical training.^[2] Haley told the story that when he made a simulated guitar out of cardboard, his parents bought him a real one.^[3]

The anonymous sleeve notes accompanying the 1956 Decca album "Rock Around The Clock" describe Haley's early life and career thus: "Bill got his first professional job at the age of 13, playing and entertaining at an auction for the fee of $1 a night. Very soon after this he formed a group of equally enthusiastic youngsters and managed to get quite a few local bookings for his band."

The sleeve notes continue: "When Bill Haley was fifteen [c.1940] he left home with his guitar and very little else and set out on the hard road to fame and fortune. The next few years, continuing this story in a fairy-tale manner, were hard and poverty stricken, but cramful of useful experience. Apart from learning how to exist on one meal a day and other artistic exercises, he worked at an open-air park show, sang and yodelled with any band that would have him and worked with a traveling medicine show. Eventually he got a job with a popular group known as the "Down Homers" while they were in Hartford, Connecticut. Soon after this he decided, as all successful people must decide at some time or another, to be his own boss again - and he has been that ever since.’ [Note: these notes fail to account for his early band, known as the Four Aces of Western Swing. During the 1940s Haley was considered one of the top cowboy yodelers in America as "Silver Yodeling Bill Haley".]^[4]

The sleeve notes conclude: "For six years Bill Haley was a musical director of Radio Station WPWA in Chester, Pennsylvania, and led his own band all through this period. It was then known as Bill Haley's Saddlemen, indicating their definite leaning toward the tough Western style. They continued playing in clubs as well as over the radio around Philadelphia, and in 1951 made their first recordings."

Bill Haley & His Comets[link]

Bill Haley and the Comets performing during 1974

During the Labor Day weekend in 1952, The Saddlemen were renamed Bill Haley with Haley's Comets (inspired by a popular mispronunciation of Halley's Comet), and in 1953, Haley's recording of "Crazy Man, Crazy" (co-written by Haley and his bass player, Marshall Lytle although Lytle would not receive credit until 2001) became the first rock and roll song to hit the American charts, peaking at no.15 on Billboard and no.11 on Cash Box. Soon after, the band's name was revised to Bill Haley & His Comets.

In 1953, a song called "Rock Around the Clock" was written for Haley.^[5] He was unable to record it until April 12, 1954. Initially, it was relatively unsuccessful, staying at the charts for only one week, but Haley soon scored a major worldwide hit with a cover version of Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which went on to sell a million copies and became the first ever rock 'n' roll song to enter British singles charts in December 1954 and became a Gold Record. He retained elements of the original, but threw some country music aspects in to the song (specifically, Western Swing) and cleaned up the lyrics. Haley and his band were important in launching the music known as "Rock and Roll" to a wider, mostly white audience after a period of it being considered an underground genre. When "Rock Around the Clock" appeared behind the opening credits of the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle starring Glenn Ford, it soared to the top of the American Billboard chart for eight weeks. The single is commonly used as a convenient line of demarcation between the "rock era" and the music industry that preceded it; Billboard separated its statistical tabulations into 1890-1954 and 1955–present. After the record rose to number one, Haley was quickly given the title "Father of Rock and Roll," by the media, and by teenagers that had come to embrace the new style of music.

"Rock Around the Clock" was the first record ever to sell over one million copies in both Britain and Germany and, in 1957, Haley became the first major American rock singer to tour Europe. Haley continued to score hits throughout the 1950s such as "See You Later, Alligator" and he starred in the first rock and roll musical movies Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock, both in 1956. Haley was soon eclipsed in the United States by the younger, sexier Elvis, but continued to enjoy great popularity in Latin America, Europe, and Australia through the 1960s.

Death and legacy[link]

A self-admitted alcoholic (as indicated in a 1974 radio interview for the BBC), Haley fought a battle with alcohol into the 1970s. Nonetheless, he and his band continued to be a popular touring act, enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1960s with the Rock and roll revival movement and the signing of a lucrative record deal with the European Sonet Records label. After performing for Queen Elizabeth II at a command performance in 1979, Haley made his final performances in South Africa in May and June 1980. Prior to the South African tour, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 was canceled.

The October 25, 1980 edition of the German paper Bild reported that Haley had a brain tumor. It quoted British manager Patrick Maylan as saying that Haley "had taken a fit and went over the seat. He didn't recognize anyone anymore" after being taken to his home in Beverly Hills. It also reported that a doctor at the clinic where Haley had been taken said, "The tumor can't be operated on anymore."^[6]

"The Berliner Zeitung" reported a few days later that Haley had collapsed after a performance in Texas and been taken to the hospital in his home town of Harlingen, Texas.^[6] However this account is questionable as Bill Haley never performed in the United States in 1980.

Despite his ill health, Haley began compiling notes for possible use as a basis for either a biographical film based on his life, or a published autobiography (accounts differ), and there were plans for him to record an album in Memphis, Tennessee, when the brain tumor began affecting his behavior and he went back to his home in Harlingen, Texas, where he died early in the morning of February 9, 1981.

Martha, Bill's widow, who was with him in these troubling times, denies he had a brain tumor as does his old, very close friend, Hugh McCallum. Martha and friends related that Bill did not want to go on the road any more and that ticket sales for that planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 were slow. According to McCallum, "It's my unproven gut feeling that that [the brain tumor] was said to curtail talks about the tour and play the sympathy card."

It was obvious that his drinking problem was getting worse. According to Martha, by this time she and Bill fought all the time and she told him to stop drinking or move out so he moved out into a room in their pool house. Martha still took care of him and sometimes he would come in the house to eat, but he ate very little. "There were days we never saw him," said his daughter Martha Maria.

In addition to the drinking problems, it had become obvious that he also was having serious mental problems; Martha Maria said that, "It was like sometimes he was drunk even when he wasn't drinking." After he'd been jailed by the Harlingen Police, Martha had the judge put Haley in the hospital where he was seen by a psychiatrist who said Bill's brain was overproducing a chemical, like adrenaline. The doctor prescribed a medication to stop the overproduction but said Bill would have to stop drinking. Martha said, "This is pointless." She took him home, however, fed him and gave him his first dose. As soon as he felt better, he went back out to his room in the pool house and the downward spiral continued until his death.^[7]

Haley's death certificate listed "Natural causes: Most likely heart attack" as the 'Immediate Cause' of death. The next lines, 'Due to, or as a consequence Of" were blank.^[8]

Haley made a succession of bizarre, mostly monologue late-night phone calls to friends and relatives in which he seemed incoherently drunk or ill. Haley's first wife has been quoted as saying, "He would call and ramble and dwell on the past, his mind was really warped." A belligerent phone call to a business associate was taped and gives evidence of Haley's troubled state of mind.^[9]

Media reports immediately following his death indicated Haley displayed deranged and erratic behavior in his final weeks, although beyond a biography of Haley by John Swenson, released a year later, which described Haley painting the windows of his home black, there is little information extant about Haley's final days.

Haley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[10]

Songwriters Tom Russell and Dave Alvin addressed Haley's demise in musical terms with "Haley's Comet" on Alvin's 1991 album Blue Blvd. Dwight Yoakam sang backup on the tribute.

Haley's original Comets still tour the world. They released a concert DVD in 2004 on Hydra Records, played the Viper Room in West Hollywood in 2005, and performed at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri in 2006-07.

In March 2007, the Original Comets pre-opened the Bill Haley Museum in Munich, Germany.^[11] On October 27, 2007, ex-Comets guitar player Bill Turner opened the Bill Haley Museum for the public.

Asteroid[link]

Main article - 79896 Billhaley

In February 2006, the International Astronomical Union announced the naming of asteroid 79896 Billhaley to mark the 25th anniversary of Bill Haley's death.

Children[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Married three times, Bill Haley had at least four children. John W. Haley, his eldest son, wrote Sound and Glory, a biography of Haley, while his youngest daughter, Gina Haley, is a professional musician based in Texas. Scott Haley is an athlete, while Haley's youngest son, Pedro Haley, is also a musician.

He also had a daughter, Martha Maria, from his last marriage with Martha Velasco.

Bill Haley Jr. (Haley's second son and first with Joan Barbara "Cuppy" Haley-Hahn) publishes a regional business magazine in Southeastern Pennsylvania (Route 422 Business Advisor). He sings and plays guitar with a band called "Lager Rhythms," and appeared with the "Original Comets" at the Bubba Mac Shack in Somers Point, New Jersey, in 2004 and 2005, and at the Twin Bar re-dedication ceremony in Gloucester City, New Jersey, in 2007. He is currently writing a biography about his father, concentrating on the years 1949-61.

He also appeared live before a sellout crowd with the Comets as recently as March 19, 2011 when he was invited onstage for the grand finale at the Pioneers of Rock & Roll Show at Cannstatter's Ballroom on Academy Rd. in N.E. Philadelphia. The show featured the Original Comets and Philadelphia's first original rock artist, Charlie Gracie. Also appearing was one of the favorite local Doo Wop groups - The Emeralds. Highlights of the show can be seen on YouTube.

Biographies[link]

• In 1980, Haley began working on an autobiography entitled The Life and Times of Bill Haley but died after completing only 100 pages. The work is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office but has yet to be released to the public.
• In 1982, John Swenson wrote Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll (published in the UK under the title, Bill Haley).
• In 1990, Haley's eldest son, John W. Haley, along with John von Hoëlle wrote Sound and Glory, a biography focusing mostly on Haley's early life and peak career years. This book is out of print.
• A German-language biography was published soon after Haley's death, written by Peter Cornelsen and Harald D. Kain.
• A book on the history of Haley's most famous recording, Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution by Jim Dawson was published in June 2005.^[12]

Film portrayals[link]

Unlike his contemporaries, Bill Haley has rarely been portrayed on screen. Following the success of The Buddy Holly Story in 1978, Haley expressed interest in having his life story committed to film, but this never came to fruition. In the 1980s and early 1990s, numerous media reports emerged that plans were underway to do a biopic based upon Haley's life, with Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges and John Ritter all at one point being mentioned as actors in line to play Haley (according to Goldmine Magazine, Ritter attempted to buy the film rights to Sound and Glory).

Bill Haley has also been portrayed - not always in a positive light - in several "period" films:

• John Paramor in Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe (1985)
• Michael Daingerfield in Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999)
• Dicky Barrett (of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) in Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story (also 1999)

In March 2005, the British network Sky TV reported that Tom Hanks was planning to produce a biopic on the life of Bill Haley, with production tentatively scheduled to begin in 2006.^[13] However this rumor was quickly debunked by Hanks.

Discography[link]

Prior to the formation of Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, which later became The Comets, Haley released several singles with other groups. Dates are approximate due to lack of documentation.^[14]

As Bill Haley and the Four Aces of Western Swing

1948

• Too Many Parties and Too Many Pals (vocal by Tex King)/Four Leaf Clover Blues (Cowboy CR1201)

1949

• Tennessee Border/Candy Kisses (Cowboy CR1202)

As Johnny Clifton and His String Band

1950

• Stand Up and Be Counted/Loveless Blues (Center C102)

Many Haley discographies list two 1946 recordings by the Down Homers released on the Vogue Records label as featuring Haley. Haley historian Chris Gardner, as well as surviving members of the group, have confirmed that the two singles: "Out Where the West Winds Blow"/"Who's Gonna Kiss You When I'm Gone" (Vogue R736) and "Boogie Woogie Yodel"/"Baby I Found Out All About You" (Vogue R786) do not feature Haley.^[15] However, the tracks were nonetheless included in the compilation box set Rock 'n' Roll Arrives released by Bear Family Records in 2006.

See the discography section of Bill Haley & His Comets for a list of the singles and album releases made by Haley with the Saddlemen and the Comets from 1950 onwards.

Unreleased recordings[link]

Bill Haley recorded prolifically during the 1940s, often at the radio stations where he worked, or in formal studio settings. Virtually none of these recordings were ever released. Liner notes for a 2003 CD release by Hydra Records entitled Bill Haley and Friends Vol. 2: The Legendary Cowboy Recordings reveal that several additional Cowboy label single releases were planned for the Four Aces, but this never occurred.

A number of previously unreleased Haley country-western recordings from the 1946-1950 period began to emerge near the end of Haley's life, some of which were released by the Arzee label, with titles such as "Yodel Your Blues Away" and "Rose of My Heart." Still more demos, alternate takes, and wholly unheard-before recordings have been released since Haley's death. Notable examples of such releases include the albums Golden Country Origins by Grassroots Records of Australia and Hillbilly Haley by the British label, Rollercoaster, as well as the aforementioned German release by Hydra Records. In 2006, Bear Family Records of Germany released what is considered to be the most comprehensive (yet still incomplete) collection of Haley's 1946-1950 recordings as part of its Haley box set Rock n' Roll Arrives.

Compositions[link]

Bill Haley's compositions included "Four Leaf Clover Blues", "Crazy Man, Crazy", "What'Cha Gonna Do", "Fractured", "Live It Up", "Farewell, So Long, Goodbye", "Real Rock Drive", "Rocking Chair on the Moon", "Sundown Boogie", "Birth Of The Boogie", "Two Hound Dogs", "Rock-A-Beatin' Boogie", "Hot Dog Buddy Buddy", "R-O-C-K", "Rudy's Rock", "Calling All Comets", "Tonight's the Night", "Hook, Line and Sinker", "Sway with Me", "Paper Boy (On Main Street U.S.A.)", "Skinny Minnie", "B.B. Betty", "Eloise", "Whoa Mabel!", "Vive la Rock and Roll", "So Right Toight", "Football Rock and Roll", and "Chick Safari". He also wrote or co-wrote songs for other artists such as "Calypso Rock" for Dave Day and The Red Coats on Kapp in 1956, "A.B.C. Rock" and "Rocky the Rockin' Rabbit" for Sally Starr on Arcade, and "(Ya Gotta) Sing For The Ladies" and "Butterfly Love" for Ginger Shannon and Johnny Montana in 1960 on Arcade as well as the unissued "I'm Shook" in 1958.

Quotations[link]

Frankly, our market is the teenagers. They are the ones we constantly try to please. We keep very close to them, listening for their new expressions and asking what they want in the way of music.

NME - October 1955^[16]

There has to be a Cadillac music and a Ford music. Tchaikovsky and Bach is Cadillac music, while we play more down-to-earth Ford music. It's got a good solid beat that can't be missed... definitely designed for teenage kids to dance to.

NME - January 1957^[17]

References[link]

Other sources[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (February 2008)

• Jim Dawson, Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution! (San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2005)
• John W. Haley and John von Hoëlle, Sound and Glory (Wilmington, DE: Dyne-American, 1990)
• John Swenson, Bill Haley (London: W.H. Allen, 1982)

External links[link]

• Bill Haley's new Comets web site
• Melody Manor (Bill Haley's house) Google Map
• Bill Haley at the Internet Movie Database
• Answers
• The Bill Haley & His Comets Story (German)

Seth Rogen
Rogen at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	(1982-04-15) April 15, 1982 (age 30) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Medium	Stand up, film, television
Nationality	Canadian
Years active	1996–present
Genres	Black comedy, blue comedy, satire, deadpan
Influences	Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, Adam Sandler
Spouse	Lauren Miller (m. 2011–present)

Seth Rogen (pronounced /ˈroʊɡɪn/; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter, and voice artist. Rogen began his career doing stand-up comedy during his teen years, winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998. While still living in his native Vancouver, he landed a small part in Freaks and Geeks. Shortly after Rogen moved to Los Angeles for his role, Freaks and Geeks was canceled after one season due to poor ratings. He then got a part on the equally short-lived Undeclared, which also hired him as a staff writer.

After landing a job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show, for which Rogen and the other writers received an Emmy nomination, he was guided by film producer Judd Apatow toward a film career. Rogen was cast in a major supporting role and credited as a co-producer in Apatow's directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin. After Rogen received critical praise for that performance, Universal Pictures agreed to cast him as the lead in Apatow's directorial feature films Knocked Up and Funny People. Rogen and his comedy partner Evan Goldberg co-wrote the films Superbad, Pineapple Express, and The Green Hornet. Rogen has done voice work for the films Horton Hears a Who!, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, and Paul. He married fellow screenwriter Lauren Miller in October 2011.^[1]

Early life[link]

Rogen was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on April 15, 1982. His mother, Sandy (née Belogus), is a social worker, and his father, Mark Rogen, worked for non-profit organizations and as an assistant director of a Workmen's Circle.^[2][3][4][5] He has described his parents, who met at an Israeli kibbutz, as "radical Jewish socialists."^[3] He has one older sister, Danya.^[2] Rogen attended Vancouver Talmud Torah Elementary School and Point Grey Secondary School (although he never graduated), incorporating many of his classmates into his writing. He was also known for the stand-up comedy he performed at Camp Miriam, a Habonim Dror camp.^[2]

As a child, Rogen had no intention of pursuing any career other than comedy: "As soon as I realized you could be funny as a job, that was the job I wanted".^[4] He got his start in show business at age 12, after signing up for a comedy workshop class taught by Mark Pooley.^[2] His early comedy routines involved jokes about his bar mitzvah, his grandparents, and his camp counselors.^[2] During his teenage years he would perform stand-up comedy routines at places like bar mitzvahs and small parties before upgrading to bars.^[6][7] He was even paid to write jokes by a mohel.^[8] At the age of 13, he co-wrote a rough draft of Superbad with childhood friend Evan Goldberg, who he had met at bar mitzvah classes.^[4][8] Based on their teenage experiences,^[3] Rogen and Goldberg spent the rest of their time in high school polishing the script. They initially worried that the 1999 film American Pie had beaten them to the idea for the movie, but felt that it lacked "all honest interaction between characters, which is what [they]'re going for."^[3]

His mother was supportive of his comic endeavors and would often drive him to stand-up gigs at the comedy club Yuk Yuks.^[8] With his deadpan humor, he won the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest at 16 years old.^[6] Also at age 16, Rogen's father lost his job and his mother quit hers, forcing them to put their house up for sale and relocate to a significantly smaller apartment. Around this time, he landed a role on Judd Apatow's television show Freaks and Geeks after attending a local casting call.^[4][8] After dropping out of high school, he began working for Apatow^[9][10] and relocated with his family to Los Angeles. Rogen paid the bills and had become the main wage earner at just 16.^[4]

Acting, writing and producing career[link]

Early work and friendship with Judd Apatow[link]

Rogen's acting debut was in Apatow's 1980s-set cult hit series Freaks and Geeks as Ken Miller, a cynical, acerbic "freak".^[4] Revolving around a group of teenagers' lives, Freaks and Geeks first aired in 1999. Although well-reviewed, the show was NBC's lowest-viewed program and was canceled after one season due to poor rating.^[9][11] Very impressed with Rogen's improvisational skills,^[8] Apatow then chose him as the lead in another of his shows, Undeclared. Rogen was originally set to play a fairly popular but nerdy college freshman, but the network did not think he was leading male material. Apatow opted not to go along with the show but, after facing the risk of getting sued, he hired him for a small role.^[8] Rogen also served as a staff writer to the short-lived production.^[12][13] Following the show's 2002 cancellation, Rogen did not get many auditions, which was not upsetting to him as he always thought he would achieve better success as a writer.^[14] He would soon be a part of Apatow's "frat pack", a close knit group that includes Steve Carell and Paul Rudd.^[6] Of the awkwardness of a grown man spending so much time with a teenaged Rogen, Apatow said: "I'm such a comedy fan that even though he's 16, I know I'm hanging out with one of the guys who's going to be one of the great comics."^[8] Around this time Apatow would come up with odd requests for Rogen and Goldberg to pass, such as: turn an idea of his into a movie in 10 days and come up with 100 one-page-long ideas for films.^[14] Regarding Apatow's professional effect on Rogen, the actor said in 2009, "Obviously, I can't stress how important Judd's been to my career".^[6]

Next, he had brief parts in the Drew Barrymore-produced Donnie Darko (2001) and Apatow's Will Ferrell-starring 2004 film Anchorman.^[15] A big career point for him was becoming a staff writer for Sacha Baron Cohen's last season of Da Ali G Show in 2004.^[10] Along with the show's other writers, Rogen received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.^[16] He became familiar to audiences as one of the main character's witty co-workers in Apatow's well-reviewed buddy comedy directorial debut feature The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005).^[17][18] Rogen also co-produced it and improvised all his dialogue.^[10][19] "[Rogen] hadn’t done any screen work that indicated he could carry as memorable and convincing a performance as he does with the character Cal," MTV's John Constantine wrote.^[15] Boston Globe reviewer Wesley Morris wrote that Rogen, along with co-stars Rudd and Romany Malco, were each hilarious in their own right^[20] and Orlando Sentinel's Roger Moore believed that Rogen had his moments in the film^[21] whereas Moira Macdonald of the Seattle Times said the actor was a "droopily deadpan."^[22] He followed this with a small role in You, Me and Dupree, a critically panned 2006 comedy also featuring Michael Douglas.^[23]

Breakthrough[link]

Rogen (far right) at San Diego Comic-Con in 2010

His breakthrough came when Universal Studios greenlit him for the lead in yet another Apatow production: Knocked Up (2007), a dramedy that follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between his slacker character and Katherine Heigl's just-promoted media personality that results in an unintended pregnancy. Upon completing The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Apatow had approached Rogen about potential starring roles, but the actor suggested many high-concept science fiction ideas. After Apatow insisted that he would work better in real life situations, the two agreed on the accidental pregnancy concept of this production.^[24] Rogen called shooting sex scenes with Heigl "nerve racking" and found comfort with the supporting cast since, even though he played the lead, the focus was not all on him.^[25][26] Made on a $30 million budget and released on June 1, Knocked Up was a critical and commercial box office hit, garnering an approval rating of 90 percent on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and grossing $219 million.^[27][28] Rogen also received favorable reviews.^[29][30] Later that year he played a supporting part as an irresponsible police officer in Superbad, which he had written with his writing partner and was co-produced by Apatow. Michael Cera and Jonah Hill originate the main roles, two teenage best friends whose party plans go wrong, based on them.^[3] The film and their writing was praised, with critics finding it to be very authentic.^[31] It topped the US box office for two weeks in a row.^[32] Rogen hosted Saturday Night Live on October 6, 2007 and again on April 4, 2009.^[33][34]

2008 was a busy year for the actor. Among his projects were Jimmy Hayward's Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film based on the Dr. Seuss book, that Rogen voiced a character in.^[35] Rogen additionally co-wrote Drillbit Taylor, a starring Owen Wilson as the homeless titular character that is also produced by Apatow.^[36] He based the screenplay on a 70-page scriptment done by John Hughes.^[37] The movie was panned by critics who thought its plot – a grown man becoming three kids' bodyguard and beating up their bullies – had no focus and was drawn out. "If Superbad were remade as a gimmicky Nickelodeon movie, it would probably look something like Drillbit Taylor" Josh Bell wrote in the Las Vegas Weekly.^[38] He again lent his voice to another animated movie, this time Kung Fu Panda, with Jack Black and Angelina Jolie.^[39] It did exceptionally well in theaters, making more than $630 million.^[40] Rogen, Goldberg and Apatow were behind the stoner action comedy Pineapple Express directed by David Gordon Green at Columbia Pictures. Apatow produced it while Rogen and Goldberg wrote the script.^[41] The actor chose to play the film's protagonist, a 25-year-old who accidentally witnesses a murder while delivering a subpoena. James Franco was cast as his hippie pot dealer that he goes on the run with. When asked about its inspiration, Rogen said he wrote what he knew.^[42] Pineapple Express was released to theaters on August 6 and made $101 million in ticket sales against its $27 million production budget.^[43] Movie critics lauded it, appreciating their performances and its humor.^[41][44]

Rogen in 2007.

In April 2008, Empire reported that the actor and Goldberg would write an episode for the animated television series The Simpsons.^[45] He also voiced a character in the episode,^[46] entitled "Homer the Whopper", which opened the twenty-first season.^[47] Kevin Smith's romantic comedy Zack and Miri Make a Porno rounded out 2008 for the actor. He and Elizabeth Banks portrayed the title roles: Pennsylvania roommates who try to make some extra cash by making an adult film together. After having difficulty trying to secure an R rating, Rogen commented to MTV, "It's a really filthy movie" but complained "It's really crazy to me that Hostel is fine, with people gouging their eyes out and shit like that... But you can't show two people having sex — that's too much".^[48] The picture was distributed on Halloween by The Weinstein Company and disappointed at the box office.^[49] Along with Reese Witherspoon, he voiced a character in the animated science fiction Monsters vs Aliens (2009), did well commercially, with a total of $381.5 million.^[50] He then starred in the Jody Hill-directed mall cop comedy Observe and Report,^[51] in which he portrayed bipolar mall security guard Ronnie Barnhart. The film opened in theaters on April 10. Critics noted a departure in Rogen's acting style from playing laid-back roles to playing a more sadistic character; Wesley Morris from the Boston Globe opined that "Often with Rogen, his vulnerability makes his coarseness safe...Ronnie is something altogether new for Rogen. Vulnerability never arrives. He's shameless."^[52] Later in 2009, Rogen starred in Apatow's third directorial feature, Funny People, with Adam Sandler. Rogen played a young, inexperienced comic while Sandler played a mentor of sorts to his character; the film had more dramatic elements in it than Apatow's previous efforts.^[53] Funny People was a commercial failure, coming short of its $75 million budget, but has a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[54][55]

Recent work[link]

After years of development, a feature film adaptation of The Green Hornet was handled by Rogen and Goldberg, with a theatrical release in January 2011. Rogen chose to do a re-imagining of the titular character.^[6] Besides executively producing the movie, he also cast himself as the main part. Rogen later admitted to having been overwhelmed by handling its $120 million budget. "It's insane. But it's not so much the specific amount of money that's stressful, it's all the things that go along with making a movie of that size."^[56] The actor also went on a strict weight-loss diet to play the slim crime fighter.^[6] The Green Hornet was a critical disappointment; Adam Graham of the Detroit News called it "a big, sloppy, loud, grating mess of a movie"^[57] and the Arizona Republic's Bill Goodykoontz found its story to have fallen apart.^[58] Nonetheless it still opened at number one at the box office, making $33 million in its opening weekend before going on to gross more than $225 million.^[59]

He reprised his voice role in Kung Fu Panda 2,^[60] as well as produced and took a supporting role in 50/50, from Mandate Pictures. The dramedy about cancer was based on an autobiographical script by screenwriter Will Reiser,^[61] and was released in September 2011. In mid-2010, Rogen shot scenes for another upcoming film, Take This Waltz, with Michelle Williams.^[62] Another of his movies, Paramount Pictures's road movie The Guilt Trip, also starring Barbra Streisand, is due out in cinemas in 2012. The film is about an inventor (Rogen) who invites his mother (Streisand) on a road trip as he attempts to sell his new product while also reuniting her with a lost love.^[63]

Personal life[link]

Rogen began dating writer Lauren Miller in 2004. The two met while he was working on Da Ali G Show.^[10] The couple became engaged in September 2010,^[64] and married on October 2, 2011 in Sonoma, California.^[1] Miller has had minor on-screen roles in a few of Rogen's films.^[65]

His favorite music artists are Led Zeppelin and the Wu-Tang Clan.^[66]

Rogen has spoken out about awareness of Alzheimer's disease. No one in his biological family has it but it runs in his wife's side, and has affected her mother for several years. "I think until you see it firsthand, it's kind of hard to conceive of how brutal it is," Rogen said to CNN. "Until I saw it, you just don't get kind of how heartbreaking it can be."^[67] During the interview, Rogen talked about how he tries to be emotionally supportive and around as much as he can for Miller's mother. Both he and Miller spoke to Larry King for A Larry King Special, Unthinkable: The Alzheimer's Epidemic, which aired in April 2011.^[67]

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

Rogen at the premiere of Observe and Report at the 2009 South by Southwest Festival

Television[link]

Music videos[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

Further reading[link]

	Vancouver portal
	Biography portal
	Comedy portal
	Film portal

• Patterson, J (September 14, 2007). "Comedy's new centre of gravity". The Guardian (London: Guardian News and Media Limited). http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,2168261,00.html. Retrieved June 16, 2011. 
• Stein, Joel (May 17, 2007). "The Education of A Comic Prodigy". Time (Time Inc). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1622581-1,00.html. Retrieved June 16, 2011. 
• Callahan-Bever, Noah (January 14, 2011). "Seth Rogen: Me So Hornet (Cover Story)". Complex Magazine. Complex Media. http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2011/01/seth-rogen-me-so-hornet-cover-story. Retrieved June 16, 2011. 
• Tobias, Scott (May 31, 2007). "Seth Rogen". The AV Club. The Onion, Inc. http://www.avclub.com/articles/seth-rogen,14108/. Retrieved June 16, 2011. 
• Grigoriadis, Vanessa (July 24, 2008). "Irony Man". Elle. Hachette Filipacchi Media. http://www.elle.com/Entertainment/Movies-TV/Seth-Rogen. Retrieved June 16, 2011. 
• Hiscock, John (August 15, 2008). "Seth Rogen: Triumph of the supergeek". The Daily Telegraph (London: Telegraph Media Group Limited). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3558496/Seth-Rogen-Triumph-of-the-supergeek.html. Retrieved June 16, 2011. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Seth Rogen

• Seth Rogen at the Internet Movie Database
• Hilarity for Charity Seth Rogen's Foundation for Alzheimer's