In Greek mythology, Pero (Ancient Greek: Πηρώ) was a daughter of Neleus and Chloris, and the wife of her cousin Bias. Her sons included Areius, Leodocus, and Talaus. The story of Pero is mentioned in Book XI of Homer's Odyssey. Pero's beauty attracted many suitors, but Neleus, her father, refused to give his daughter to any man unless he could raid the cattle of Iphicles from Phylace. In this version of the story, an unnamed seer volunteers to undertake the task. The cowherds capture him and keep him for a year, until he makes a prophecy.

In the Odyssey, the story is told by the seer Theoklymenos about his ancestor Melampous. Melampous was a wealthy man from Pylos, but he left Pylos fleeing Neleus who held his possessions by force for a year. During that year, Melampous was held prisoner in the house of Phylakos because of the daughter of Neleus, Pero, and an ate sent by the Erinys. Melampous escaped death and drove the cattle back to Pylos. He took Pero home as a wife for his brother.

Christina María Aguilera (born December 18, 1980) is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection", the theme song for the animated film Mulan (1998).

In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100—"Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants", and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)." Her sophomore and her debut Latin-pop album, Mi Reflejo (2000), a Christmas third studio album, My Kind of Christmas (2000), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her fourth studio album, Stripped (2002). The album's second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance amidst controversy over Aguilera's image. Aguilera followed up Stripped with the soul, jazz and blues inspired, Back to Basics (2006), released to positive critical acclaim. The album produced three singles "Ain't No Other Man", "Hurt" and "Candyman". Four years later Aguilera released her sixth studio album, Bionic (2010), which incorporated aspects of R&B, electropop, and synthpop and was met with mixed reviews and low sales. Aguilera's seventh studio album is set to be released in 2012.

David Bisbal Ferré (born in Almería, Spain on June 5, 1979) is a Grammy-winning Spanish pop singer. He gained his initial fame as a runner up on the interactive reality television show Operación Triunfo.

He has since released four studio albums, all of which topped the Spanish Albums Chart, in addition to recording a number of live albums. He's toured throughout Europe and Latin America and is now considered to be a crossover international artist.

Until 2012, David Bisbal has sold more than 5 million records in Spain and America, getting 35 Platinum albums, 17 gold and 2 diamond. 'Corazón Latino' and 'Bulería' treasure each one IFPI Platinum Award, official certification for selling over 1 million copies across Europe.

David Bisbal left school early and worked in a platinum and flower nursery. He was encouraged by his colleagues to audition for a music contest and he initially became part of Orquesta Expresiones where he continued singing and dancing.

In October 2001 he auditioned for the first ever edition of Operación Triunfo (Spanish equivalent of Star Academy) where he was accepted and was one of the 16 finalists. The grand prize was the chance of representing Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest. He came second in the final losing to Rosa López. She went on to sing Europe's Living a Celebration for Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 (ESC) competition.

Roberto Cantoral García (7 June 1935 – 7 August 2010) was a Mexican composer, singer and songwriter. He was known for composing a string of hit Mexican songs, including El Triste, Al Final, La Barca and El Reloj. The Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México (English: Society of Authors and Composers of Mexico) estimated that La Barca and El Reloj have been recorded over 1,000 times by other artists like Plácido Domingo, Gualberto Castro, José José, Luis Miguel, Joan Báez and Linda Ronstadt. In 2009, he won the Latin Grammy Trustee Award.Iconos, which was released by Marc Anthony in 2010, featured "El Triste".

Roberto Cantoral Garcia was born on 7 June 1935 in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas. From an early age, he showed an ability for music and its composition. Cantoral moved to Mexico City to attend college but dropped out to become a band leader.

In 1950, Cantoral formed the Hermanos Cantoral (English: Cantoral Brothers) with Antonio Cantoral. The duo recorded "El preso número 9" (English: Prisoner Number 9) and "El crucifijo de piedra" (English: The Crucifix of Stone). The duo ended in 1954 with Antonio's death and Roberto formed Los Tres Caballeros (English: The Three Knights) with Chamin Correa and Leonel Gálvez who performed during Mexico's era of romantic music and traveled to Japan, Argentina and the United States.

Václav Klaus (Czech pronunciation: [ˈvaːtslaf ˈklaus]; born 19 June 1941 in Prague) is the second President of the Czech Republic (since 2003) and a former Prime Minister (1992–1997).

An economist, Klaus was the principal co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party, the Czech Republic's largest center-right political party. Klaus is a eurosceptic, but he reluctantly endorsed the Lisbon treaty as President of his country. He has been called the "Margaret Thatcher of Central Europe".

Klaus was born in Prague during the Nazi occupation, and grew up in the large (up to 1948 middle-class) Vinohrady neighborhood. He studied what was then called "economics of foreign trade" and graduated from the University of Economics, Prague in 1963. He also spent some time at universities in Italy (1966) and at Cornell University in the United States in 1969.

He then pursued a postgraduate academic career at the State Institute of Economics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which he was forced to leave in 1970. However, he soon obtained a position in the Czechoslovak State Bank, where he held various staff positions from 1971 to 1986. It was reported that he obtained a limited permission to travel mainly to so-called socialist foreign countries. This might have been a small privilege at that time. In 1987, Klaus joined the Institute for Prognostics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.