The Forward (Yiddish: פֿאָרווערטס; Forverts), commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon. As a privately-owned publication loosely affiliated with the Socialist Party of America, Forverts achieved massive circulation and considerable political influence during the first three decades of the 20th Century. The publication still exists as a weekly news magazine in parallel Yiddish (Yiddish Forward) and English editions (The Jewish Daily Forward).

History[link]

Origins[link]

The first issue of Forverts, appeared on April 22, 1897 in New York City.^[1] The paper was founded by a group of about 50 Yiddish-speaking socialists who organized themselves approximately three months earlier as the Forward Publishing Association.^[1] The paper's name, as well as its political orientation, was borrowed from the German Social Democratic Party and its organ Vorwärts.

Forverts was a successor to New York's first Yiddish-language socialist newspaper, Di Arbeter Tsaytung (The Workman's Paper), a weekly established in 1890 by the fledgling Jewish trade union movement centered in the United Hebrew Trades as a vehicle for bringing socialist and trade unionist ideas to non-English speaking immigrants.^[2][3] This paper had been merged into a new Yiddish daily called Dos Abend Blatt (The Evening Paper) as its weekend supplement when that publication was launched in 1894 under the auspices of the Socialist Labor Party (SLP).^[2] As this publication established itself, it came under increased political pressure from the de facto head of the SLP, Daniel DeLeon, who attempted to maintain a rigid ideological line with respect to its content.^[4] It was this centralizing political pressure which had been the motivating factor for a new publication.

Abraham Cahan, patriarch of The Forward until 1946

Newsboys for the Forward wait for their copies in the early morning hours during March 1913

Chief among the dissident socialists of the Forward Publishing Association were Louis Miller and Abraham Cahan. These two founding fathers of The Forward were quick to enlist in the ranks of a new rival socialist political party founded in 1897, the Social Democratic Party of America, founded by the nationally famous leader of the 1894 American Railroad Union strike, Eugene V. Debs, and Victor L. Berger, a German-speaking teacher and newspaper publisher from Milwaukee. Both joined the SDP in July 1897.^[5]

Despite this political similarity, Miller and Cahan differed as to the political orientation of the paper and Cahan left after just 4 months to join the staff of The Commercial Advertiser, a well-established Republican newspaper also based in New York City.^[6]

For the next four years Cahan remained outside of The Forward office, learning the newspaper trade in a financially successful setting. He only returned, he later recalled in his memoirs, upon the promise of "absolute full power" over the editorial desk.^[7]

The circulation of the paper grew quickly, paralleling the rapid growth of the Yiddish speaking population of the United States. By 1912 its circulation was 120,000,^[8] and by the late 1920s/early 1930s, The Forward was a leading U.S. metropolitan daily with considerable influence and a nationwide circulation of more than 275,000^[8][9] though this had dropped to 170,000 by 1939 as a result of changes in U.S. immigration policy that restricted the immigration of Jews to a trickle.^[8]

Early on, The Forward defended trade unionism and moderate, democratic socialism. The paper was a significant participant in the activities of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union; Benjamin Schlesinger, a former president of the ILGWU, became the General Manager of the paper in 1923, then returned to the Presidency of the union in 1928. The paper was also an early supporter of David Dubinsky, Schlesinger's eventual successor.

This November 1, 1936, magazine section of The Forward, illustrates its evolution from a Socialist publication to a Social Democratic supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal"

The most well-known writer in the Yiddish Forward was Isaac Bashevis Singer, who received the Nobel Prize in literature although other well known Socialist literary and political figures, such as Leon Trotsky and Morris Winchevsky have also written for it.

Major political developments in the early 1930s, chief among them Franklin Delano Roosevelt's election in 1932, gave rise to internal tensions with the Socialist Party, and a group of Socialist labor leaders on the East Coast left the Socialist Party to form the Social Democratic Federation (U.S.). Through organizations like New York State's American Labor Party, they helped move the mass vote held by the Socialist Party in places like New York City, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Reading, Pennsylvania into the Democratic Party.

Modern times[link]

By 1962 circulation was down to 56,126 daily and 59,636 Sunday,^[10] and by 1983 the newspaper was published only once a week, with an English supplement.^[9] In 1990 the English supplement became an independent weekly which by 2000 had a circulation of 26,183, while the Yiddish weekly had a circulation of 7,000 and falling.^[11]

As the influence of the Socialist Party in both American politics and in the Jewish community waned, the paper joined the American liberal mainstream though it maintained a social democratic orientation. The English version has some standing in the Jewish community as an outlet of liberal policy analysis.

The Yiddish edition has recently enjoyed a modest increase in circulation as courses in the language have become more popular among university students; circulation has leveled out at about 5,500. The current editor of the Yiddish Forward is Boris Sandler, who is also one of the most significant contemporary secular writers in Yiddish.

For a period in the 1990s, conservatives came to the fore of the English edition of the paper, but the break from tradition didn't last. A number of conservatives dismissed from The Forward later helped to found the modern New York Sun.

As of 2008, The Forward is published as a weekly news magazine in separate Yiddish and English editions. Each is effectively an independent publication with its own contents. Jane Eisner became Editor in June, 2008.^[12] The Senior Columnist is J.J. Goldberg, who has served in that role since 2008.^[13] The paper maintains a left of center editorial stance.^[12]

For a few years, there was also a Russian edition. The website of the Forward describes its formation: "In the fall of 1995 a Russian-language edition of the Forward was launched, under the editorship of Vladimir "Velvl" Yedidowich. The decision to launch a Russian Forward in the crowded market of Russian-language journalism in New York followed approaches to the Forward Association by a number of intellectual leaders in the fast-growing émigré community who expressed an interest in adding a voice that was strongly Jewish, yet with a secular, social-democratic orientation and an appreciation for the cultural dimension of Jewish life."

The Russian edition was sold to RAJI (Russian American Jews for Israel) in 2004, although initially it kept the name.^[14] In contrast to its English counterpart, the Russian edition and its readership were more sympathetic to right-wing voices. In March 2007, it was renamed the Forum.

Around the same time in 2004, the Forward Association also sold off its interest in WEVD to The Walt Disney Company's sports division, ESPN.

Jewish Daily Forward Building[link]

Forward Building, New York City

At the peak of its popularity, the Forward erected a ten-story office building at 175 East Broadway on the Lower East Side, designed by architect George Boehm and completed in 1912. It was a prime location, across the street from Seward Park. The building was embellished with marble columns and panels and stained glass windows. The facade features carved bas relief portraits of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels,^[15] (who co-authored, with Marx, The Communist Manifesto) and Ferdinand Lassalle, an early scholar of the international socialist movement,. A fourth relief portrays a person whose identity has not been clearly established, and has been identified as Wilhelm Liebknecht,^[16] Karl Liebknecht,^[17] or August Bebel.^[18] In the real estate boom of the 1990s, the building was converted to condominiums.^[8][19]

Forward 50[link]

The Forward 50 is a list of fifty Jewish-Americans "who have made a significant impact on the Jewish story in the past year," published annually as an editorial opinion of The Forward newspaper since 1994.^[20] The list was the initiative of Seth Lipsky, founding editor of the English Forward.^[21]

According to the newspaper's website, this is not a scientific study, but rather the opinion of staff members, assisted by nominations from readers. The Forward does not endorse, or support any of the individuals mentioned in the listing. The rankings are divided into different categories (which may vary from year to year): Top Picks, Politics, Activism, Religion, Community, Culture, Philanthropy, Scandals, Sports and, new in 2010, Food.^[20]

The list also includes those Jews whose impact in the past year has been dramatic and damaging.^[21]

See also[link]

• Secular Jewish culture
• Yiddish theatre

Footnotes[link]

External links[link]

• The Forward
• Yiddish Forward
• The transition from the Russian Forward to Forum

Knute Rockne
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	(1888-03-04)March 4, 1888 Voss, Norway
Died	March 31, 1931(1931-03-31) (aged 43) Bazaar, Kansas
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1918–1930	Notre Dame
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1920–1930	Notre Dame
Head coaching record
Overall	105–12–5
Bowls	1–0
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships 3 National (1924, 1929–1930)
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1951 (profile)

Knute Kenneth Rockne ( /kəˈnuːt/ kə-NOOT; March 4, 1888 – March 31, 1931) was an American football player and coach, both at the University of Notre Dame. He is regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college football history.^[1] His biography at the College Football Hall of Fame calls him "without question, American football's most-renowned coach." A Norwegian American, he was educated as a chemist at the University of Notre Dame. He popularized the forward pass and made Notre Dame a major factor in collegiate football.

Early life[link]

Knute Rockne was born Knut Larsen Rokne in Voss, Norway to the smith and wagonmaker Lars Knutson Rokne (1858–1912) and his wife Martha Pedersdatter Gjermo (1859–1944). He emigrated with his parents at five years old to Chicago.^[2] He grew up in the Logan Square area of Chicago, on the northwest side of the city. Rockne learned to play football in his neighborhood and later played end in a local group called the Logan Square Tigers. He attended North West Division High School in Chicago playing football and also running track.

After Rockne graduated from high school, he took a job as a mail dispatcher with the Chicago Post Office for four years. When he was 22, he had saved enough money to continue his education. He headed to Notre Dame in Indiana to finish his schooling. Rockne excelled as a football end while at the university, winning All-American honors in 1913. He also helped to transform the collegiate game in a single contest. On November 1, 1913, the Notre Dame squad stunned the highly-regarded Army team 35–13 in a game played at West Point. Led by quarterback Charlie "Gus" Dorais and Rockne, the Notre Dame team attacked the Cadets with an offense that featured both the expected powerful running game but also long and accurate downfield forward passes from Dorais to Rockne. This game was not the "invention" of the forward pass but it was the first major contest in which a team used the forward pass regularly throughout the game.

He graduated from Notre Dame in 1914 with a degree in pharmacy. After graduating he was the laboratory assistant to noted polymer chemist Julius Arthur Nieuwland at Notre Dame and helped out with the football team, but rejected further work in chemistry after receiving an offer to coach football.

Notre Dame coach[link]

Portions of this section are adapted from Murray Sperber's book Shake Down The Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football

During 13 years as head coach, Rockne led his "Fighting Irish" to 105 victories, 12 losses, five ties, and three national championships, including five undefeated seasons without a tie. Rockne posted the highest all-time winning percentage (.881) for an American football coach, college or professional. His players included George 'Gipper' Gipp, the "Four Horsemen" (Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden), Frank Thomas, Frank Leahy, Curly Lambeau, Jack Chevigny, and Johnny O'Brien.

Rockne introduced the "shift", with the backfield lining up in a T formation and then quickly shifting into a box to the left or right just as the ball was snapped. Rockne was also shrewd enough to recognize that intercollegiate sports had a show-business aspect. Thus he worked hard promoting Notre Dame football so as to make it financially successful. He used his considerable charm to court favor from the media, which then consisted of newspapers, wire services and radio stations and networks, to obtain free advertising for Notre Dame football. He was very successful as an advertising pitchman, for South Bend-based Studebaker and other products.

For all his success, Rockne also made what an Associated Press writer called "one of the greatest coaching blunders in history."^[3] Instead of coaching his 1926 team against Carnegie Tech, Rockne traveled to Chicago for the Army–Navy Game to "write newspaper articles about it, as well as select an All-America football team."^[3] Carnegie Tech used the coach's absence as motivation for a 19–0 win; the upset likely cost the Irish a chance for a national title.^[3]

On November 10, 1928, when the "Fighting Irish" team was losing to undefeated Army 6-0 at the end of the half, Rockne entered the locker room and told the team the words he heard on Gipp's deathbed in 1920: "I've got to go, Rock. It's all right. I'm not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are going wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy." This inspired the team, who tied Army 6-6 in the third quarter with senior Jack Chevigny's, "that's one for the Gipper" touchdown and sophomore Johnny "one play" O'brien's 12-6 game winning touchdown with three minutes left to play. Obrien would be killed in an auto accident in 1937 and Chevigny would be killed in action on Iwo Jima in 1945.

Plane crash[link]

Rockne died in a plane crash in Kansas on March 31, 1931, while en route to participate in the production of the film The Spirit of Notre Dame. Shortly after taking off from Kansas City, where he had stopped to visit his two sons, Bill and Knute Jr., who were in boarding school there at the Pembroke-Country Day School, one of the Fokker Trimotor aircraft's wings separated in flight. The plane crashed into a wheat field near Bazaar, Kansas, killing Rockne and seven others.^[4] President Herbert Hoover called Rockne's death "a national loss."^[5] A personal envoy represented King Haakon VII of Norway at Rockne's funeral.

On the spot where the plane crashed, a memorial dedicated to the victims stands surrounded by a wire fence with wooden posts; it was maintained for many years by James Easter Heathman, who, at age thirteen in 1931, was one of the first people to arrive at the site of the tragedy.^[5]

Rockne was buried in Highland Cemetery in South Bend.

Legacy[link]

Knute Rockne bronze sculpture in Voss, Norway.

Rockne was not the first coach to use the forward pass, but he helped popularize it nationally. Most football historians agree that a few schools, notably Saint Louis University (under coach Eddie Cochems), Michigan, Carlisle and Minnesota, had passing attacks in place before Rockne arrived at Notre Dame. The great majority of passing attacks, however, consisted solely of short pitches and shovel passes to stationary receivers. Additionally, few of the major eastern teams that constituted the power center of college football at the time used the pass. In the summer of 1913, while he was a lifeguard on the beach at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, Rockne and his college teammate and roommate Gus Dorais worked on passing techniques. These were employed in games by the 1913 Notre Dame squad and subsequent Harper- and Rockne-coached teams and included many features common in modern passing, including having the passer throw the ball overhand and having the receiver run under a football and catch the ball in stride. That fall, Notre Dame upset heavily favored Army, 35-13, at West Point thanks to a barrage of Dorais-to-Rockne long downfield passes. The game played an important role in displaying the potency of the forward pass and "open offense" and convinced many coaches to add pass plays to their play books. The game is dramatized in the movie The Long Gray Line.

Memorials and tributes[link]

Memorial plaque to Knute Rockne in his birth town of Voss, Norway

• Notre Dame memorializes him in the Knute Rockne Memorial Building, an athletic facility built in 1937, as well as the main football stadium.^[6]
• His name appears on streets in South Bend and in Stevensville, Michigan (where Rockne had a summer home) and a travel plaza on the Indiana Toll Road.
• The Matfield Green travel plaza on the Kansas Turnpike, near Bazaar, contains a memorial to him.
• Allentown Central Catholic High School in Allentown, Pennsylvania dedicated its gymnasium, Rockne Hall, to Knute Rockne.
• Taylorville, Illinois, dedicated the street next to the football field as "Knute Rockne Road".
• The town of Rockne, Texas was named to honor him. In 1931 the children of Sacred Heart School were given the opportunity to name their town. A vote was taken, with the children electing to name the town after Rockne, who had died in a plane crash earlier that year. On March 10, 1988, Rockne opened its post office for one day, during which a Knute Rockne twenty-two-cent commemorative stamp was issued. A life size bust of Rockne was unveiled on March 4, 2006.
  

  

  Knute Rockne memorial on the Kansas Turnpike.
• The Studebaker automobile company of South Bend marketed the Rockne automobile between 1931 and 1933. It was a separate product line of Studebaker and priced in the low cost market segment.

• Symphonic composer Ferde Grofe composed a musical suite in Rockne's honor shortly after the coach's death.

• In 1940, actor Pat O'Brien portrayed Rockne in the Warner Brothers film Knute Rockne, All American in which Rockne used the phrase "win one for the Gipper" in reference to the death bed request of George Gipp, played by Ronald Reagan.

• Rockne was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as a charter member and in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.

• In 1988, the United States Postal Service honored Rockne with a 22 cent postage stamp in his honor.^[7] President Ronald Reagan, who played George Gipp in the movie "Knute Rockne, All American", gave an address at the Athletic & Convocation Center at the University of Notre Dame on March 9, 1988, and officially unveiled the Rockne stamp.

• A biographical musical of Rockne's life premiered at the Theatre at the Center in Munster, Indiana, on April 3, 2008. The musical is based on a play and mini-series by Buddy Farmer.^[8]

Personal life[link]

Rockne was married to Bonnie Gwendoline Skiles (December 18, 1891 – June 2, 1956), the daughter of George Skiles and Huldah Dry. They had four children. He converted from the Lutheran to the Roman Catholic faith in 1923.

Head coaching record[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Sherry C. M. Lindquist. "Memorializing Knute Rockne at the University of Notre Dame: Collegiate Gothic Architecture and Institutional Identity," Winterthur Portfolio (Spring 2012), 46#1 pp 1-24. DOI: 10.1086/665045
• Ray Robinson, Rockne of Notre Dame: The Making of a Football Legend (1999)
• Murray Sperber, Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football (1993)
• Norsk Biografisk leksikon (NBL)
• Jeff Walker, "The Last Chalkline: The Life&Times of Jack Chevigny", 2012

External links[link]

	American football portal
	Norway portal
	Biography portal

• The Official Knute Rockne Web Site – Hosted by CMG Worldwide, and endorsed by Rockne grandson Nils Rockne
• Knute Rockne at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Knute Rockne at the College Football Data Warehouse
• Knute Rockne at Find a Grave

The-Dream
The-Dream performing on September 10, 2008 in New York City.
Background information
Birth name	Terius Youngdell Nash
Born	(1977-09-20) September 20, 1977 (age 34) Rockingham, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres	R&B, pop, hip hop
Occupations	singer-songwriter, record producer
Years active	1998–Present
Labels	Def Jam, Radio Killa
Associated acts	Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Los Da Mystro, Jennifer Lopez, Electrik Red, Rihanna, Kanye West, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Drake Fabolous, Jamie Foxx
Website	the-dreammusic.com

Terius Youngdell Nash (Born September 20, 1977), better known by his stage name The-Dream, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is known for co-writing chart topping hits such as "Baby" for Justin Bieber, "Umbrella" for Rihanna and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" for Beyoncé, as well as for his three solo albums, Love Hate, Love vs. Money, and Love King.

Early life[link]

Terius Nash was born in Rockingham, North Carolina and moved with his mother, Reva Nash, to Atlanta at the age of 3. He played trumpet, drums, and guitar as a child.^[1] His mother died in 1992 when Nash was fifteen years old, an event which would inspire him to write songs.^[2] He states that the death of his mother gave him a "soft spot" for women, which he credits to his desire to write songs about female empowerment such as Rihanna's "Umbrella".^[2] He moved in with his grandfather, a concrete mason who instilled a strong work ethic in young Nash. Of his grandfather, Nash recalls "He came out of a bad time for blacks in the South, but even though we lived in the hood, we had a boat, some cars and a house that was paid for. So I’ve always had a different outlook on life. There’s nothing I can’t do."^[3]

Music career[link]

Background[link]

Nash met R&B producer Laney Stewart in 2001; Stewart helped him get a publishing deal after writing "Everything" for B2K's album Pandemonium!.^[1] Under the pen name "The-Dream", Nash began writing lyrics for many popular artists. He spent two years working on Nivea's second album Complicated, which he executive produced, and continued to write and produce with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Laney's brother, which led to Rihanna's 2007 smash hit "Umbrella". The success of "Umbrella" boosted Dream's music career, and in 2007, he signed a deal with Def Jam Records.^[4]

Solo[link]

Following the deal with Def Jam Records, The-Dream began working on his debut studio album Love Hate.^[4] The album was produced by The-Dream's production partner Tricky Stewart, and Carlos "LOS Da Maestro" McKinney, and featured Fabolous and Rihanna.^[5] The album was written and recorded in eight days with twelve tracks making the final cut. Some of the tracks were written in regards to The-Dream's personal life, most notably "Nikki," written about his ex-wife Nivea and how he has moved on since their divorce.^[6] The-Dream explained the title, Love Hate, as short for, "Love me all summer, hate me all winter, because they love you when you hot and when you're cold they don't... I'm hot right now and they love me, but I was cold and they wasn't fuckin' with me."^[6] Released December 11, 2007 on The-Dream's Def Jam-imprint Radio Killa Records,^[7] Love Hate moved 59,000 copies and debuted at number 30 on the Billboard 200.^[8] Love Hate also peaked at #5 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.^[9] The album received generally positive reviews from critics, as Rolling Stone called it "one of the most likable R&B records of the year" and UrbanMusicReviews.com said that the singer has "hit a home run."^[10]

On March 10, 2009 The-Dream released his second album Love vs. Money.^[11] He re-teamed with his production partner Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, who produced most of the tracks on the album, and Los Da Maestro.^[12] He also enlisted the help of Lil Jon for the song "Let Me See the Booty".^[8] Love vs. Money debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 151,000 copies in its first week.^[13] It also entered at number one on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and at number three on its Top Digital Albums chart in March 2009.^[14][15] Upon its release, the album received general acclaim from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 83/100 from Metacritic.^[16]

During the making of Love King, he recorded a song with T-Pain and expressed that he would like to make a collaborative album with Kanye West in the future.^[17] In January 2010, The-Dream officially stated he was finished recording the album and he called it the best of his three albums.^[18] The first single, "Love King", was released on March 16, 2010 for digital download. The album was released on June 29, 2010.^[19]

Before the album's release, the-Dream announced that Love King will be his last solo album.^[8][20] When Love King was released, the lyrics to the song "Sex Intelligent Remix" announced plans to release a new solo album called Love Affair and even gave the specific release date of June 7, 2011. In February 2011, The-Dream announced that the album is not titled "Love Affair" anymore, he stated that it is now titled "The Love, IV" and that he scrapped the June 7, 2011 release date and has set a new release date of August 2011.^[21] One week after anouncing that August release date, he said the he is pushing the album up and is hoping to release it on June 7 as promised.^[22] In June 2011, the album's title was changed yet again, this time to "Love IV: Diary of a Madman", it was also announced that it will released on September 20, 2011.^[23] On June 7, 2011; he released double promotional singles titled "Body Work" and "Fuck My Brains Out" to the internet.^[24] The Dream was not able to release "The Love, IV (Diary of a Mad Man)" on September 20, 2011 as planned and it was announced that the album got pushed back indefinitely due to "contract talks" with Def Jam Records.^[25] The-Dream then released a free 10-track album to the internet entitled 1977 on August 31, 2011.^[26][27] The-Dream also plans to release a 13-track studio album entitled Nikki: The Chronicles, which will follow his infatuation with the woman he sang about on 2007’s Love Hate and 2010’s Love King.^[28] In October 2011, Dream announced that he is personally pushing back the release of The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman) and that it will now be released in 2012. Dream also announced his plans to release his first international album, titled 1984: Persona of Love, it is set for release sometime in 2012, the album is a "persona album" and is inspired by his recent trip overseas.^[29] In February 2012, it was announced that the "The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman)" will be released on April 17, 2012.^[30] In March 2012, it was announced that "The Love; IV (Diary of A Madman)" has been re-titled "Love IV MMXII" and that its release date been pushed back to Summer 2012.^[31] In May 2012, it was announced that the album will be released on August 14, 2012.^[32]

Production[link]

In addition to working with Nivea and Rihanna, The-Dream also began writing for numerous artists, most notably J. Holiday's "Bed", Usher's "Moving Mountains", Yung Joc's "Coffee Shop" and Jesse McCartney's "Leavin'". He also co-wrote Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body", Ciara's "High Price," and took part in co-writing a majority of Mary J. Blige's 2007 Growing Pains album, including the smash hit "Just Fine". Recently^[when?] he featured in Drake (entertainer)'s album Thank Me Later the song "Shut It Down".

In December 2007, The-Dream was nominated for Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Umbrella", but lost to Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". However, in June 2008, The-Dream won the award for Best New Artist at the 2008 BET Awards. Throughout 2008, The-Dream appeared on a number of records including Plies' "Please Excuse My Hands" with Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J's "Baby", Gym Class Heroes' "Cookie Jar" and Kardinal Offishall's "Gimme Some". In addition, The-Dream signed female R&B girl-group Electrik Red to Radio Killa Records and they released their debut album, How to Be a Lady: Volume 1, under the label.^[33] The-Dream and production partner Christopher "Tricky" Stewart produced "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" off Beyoncé's album I Am… Sasha Fierce, co-produced two tracks ("Just Like Me" & "Digital Girl") and was featured on Jamie Foxx's album Intuition, and worked with Mario and Lionel Richie.^[8] He will also be featured on a number of upcoming albums from; Phyzikal, Ciara, Sterling Simms, Young Chris, Dear Jayne, Brandy and Cassie.

In early 2009, The-Dream began working with Christina Milian on her fourth studio album Elope,^[34] which led to her signing a joint-deal with Radio Killa Records.^[35] The-Dream said that when he was building his label, he went looking for Milian because he believed she was a talented singer.^[36] The singer confirmed that her second single would be a duet with The-Dream called "Supersonic".^[37]

Throughout 2009, The-Dream has also been working on new material for Mariah Carey, Brandy, and Diddy. Diddy's song "Change" is described by The-Dream as, "probably one of the best male records I've ever written...the best record I've written besides 'Umbrella'. The-Dream also worked on Jennifer Lopez's single Louboutins from her 7th album Love? by Sony Music. The song did not chart at the Billboard Hot 100 but charted at number 1 on the Hot/Dance Club Chart. He keep working on more tracks for her album which was released in Spring 2011 by Def Jam.^{[dated info][8][dated info]} He also collaborated on, produced and wrote Snoop Dogg's "Gangsta Luv", which is on the 2009 album Malice n Wonderland.

The-Dream and Tricky Stewart have worked on Ciara's fourth studio album titled "Basic Instinct", which was released on December 14, 2010, and was executive produced by the trio. He co-wrote her lead single titled "Ride", which was released in April 2010, and went on to become a R&B smash hit and her twelfth top ten hit on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[38]

The-Dream received a fair amount of backlash for his cover of singer Aaliyah's song "One in a Million". Upon the release of the song, fans of Aaliyah bombarded radio shows and blog sites with distaste for The-Dream's rendition.^[39]

He also worked alongside Tricky Stewart on Jessica Simpson's Christmas album titled Happy Christmas, released on November 22, 2010, and also working on Simpson's upcoming pop album, to be released in 2011.^{[dated info]}

The-Dream produced a music single for Kim Kardashian, "Jam (Turn It Up)", released in March 2, 2011 and then worked on Beyoncé's album titled 4, released on June 28, 2011.

On March 16, 2012, Billboard posted an interview with The-Dream, where he talked about having been given the opportunity to go in to the studio in a few weeks to work with Shakira, and how excited he is for the track.^[40]

Personal life[link]

The-Dream married girlfriend Nivea in 2004, whom he had been dating for one year. Together they had three children, daughter Navy Talia (on May 10, 2005); and twin sons London and Christian (April 2006). They had been married for three years when Nivea filed for legal separation in December 2007. The-Dream said that although he was in love with Nivea, his lack of experience in a family growing up meant he was "not taught how much more than love does it take to run a relationship. Like, 'cause love isn't just where it's gonna end. It can't start and stop with love. There has to be a certain amount of knowledge and patience that's acquired in order to keep it going and keep it straight, and I found out the hard way".^[41]

The-Dream began dating Christina Milian in early 2009; she became pregnant. The Daily Mail reported that "the pregnancy was a surprise, but they were getting married regardless".^[42] They then became engaged in June 2009.^[43] In August, it was reported that they had applied for a marriage license in Los Angeles. On September 4, 2009, The-Dream married Christina Milian at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas.^[44] The-Dream said in an interview that Nivea was still a good friend of his, and that she was also friends with Milian.^[45] Milian gave birth to their daughter Violet Madison Nash on February 26, 2010.^[46] Milian and The-Dream announced their separation on July 12, 2010 ^[47] after photos surfaced of The-Dream vacationing with his assistant.^[48]

In addition to music, The-Dream revealed he is currently working on a TV reality series for MTV where he will scout aspiring singers,^[8] and plans to release a clothing line called Millionaire Love Affair.^[33]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• Love Hate (2007)
• Love vs. Money (2009)
• Love King (2010)
• Love IV MMXII (2012)

Free album

• 1977 (2011)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website