Eric Robert Rudolph (born September 19, 1966), also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is a far-right terrorist responsible for a series of bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured at least 150 others in the name of an anti-abortion and anti-gay agenda. The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers him a terrorist.
As a teenager Rudolph was taken by his mother to a Church of Israel compound in 1984; it is connected to the Christian Identity movement. He has called himself a Roman Catholic in "the war to end this holocaust" (in reference to abortion). He has confirmed religious motivation, but denied racial motivation for his crimes.
He spent five years on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives until he was caught in 2003. In 2005, as part of a plea bargain, Rudolph pled guilty to numerous federal and state homicide charges and accepted four consecutive life sentences in exchange for avoiding a trial and a potential death sentence.
Rudolph was born in Merritt Island, Florida. After his father, Robert, died in 1981, he moved with his mother and siblings to Nantahala, Macon County, in western North Carolina.[citation needed] He attended ninth grade at the Nantahala School but dropped out after that year and worked as a carpenter with his older brother Daniel. When Rudolph was 18, he spent time with his mother at a Christian Identity compound in Missouri.
Robert Knight Rudolph (June 8, 1906 — July 14, 1986) served as Professor of Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics at the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church in Philadelphia for forty-nine years before his retirement in 1981. Together Rudolph and his father trained men for the gospel ministry at this institution for a total of seventy-four years. Rudolph was known for his strict adherence to Calvinism and presuppositional apologetics.
Rudolph, the son of Bishop Robert Livingston Rudolph and his wife Anna Knight Rudolph, was born in New York City on June 8, 1906. He married Ruth Muriel Andrews of Dorset, VT. Ruth’s mother owned a maple candy store there. He used to say that he loved maple candy and he loved the clerk.
After attending the Collegiate School in New York, Rudolph earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1929. He went on to receive two graduate degrees. He earned a Bachelor of Divinity from the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1932, at which time the commencement speaker was J. Gresham Machen, founder of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Rudolph began teaching at Reformed Episcopal Seminary that year and continued his studies at Westminster, where he received a Master of Theology degree. In the course of his training, he studied under Machen, Cornelius Van Til and Gordon Haddon Clark. His theology reflected the influences of all three men.
Robert Randolph and the Family Band is a multicultural American funk and soul band led by pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph. Other band members include drummer Marcus Randolph, bass guitarist Danyel Morgan, vocalist Lenesha Randolph, keyboardist and guitarist Brett Andrew Haas, and one of three rotating rhythm guitarists: Joey Williams of Blind Boys of Alabama, Adam "Shmeeans" Smirnoff, and Cousin Ray-Ray. Jason Crosby (keyboards and fiddle) and John Ginty (organ) are former members. Rolling Stone included Robert on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.
Frontman Robert Randolph was trained as a pedal steel guitarist in the House of God Church and makes prominent use of the instrument in the band's music. The instrument is referred to in many African-American Pentecostal churches as Sacred Steel. Randolph was discovered while playing at a sacred steel convention in Florida.
Randolph cites Stevie Ray Vaughan as a primary influence in his own technique and style.[citation needed] The group's sound is inspired by successful 1970s funk bands such as Earth, Wind & Fire and Sly & the Family Stone, another multicultural band composed of former members of the Church of God in Christ.[citation needed] Randolph himself has explained that in his adolescent years before his discovery by the secular community, he was almost completely unaware of non-religious music, saying "I never heard of The Allman Brothers Band, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, none of them. I wasn’t into that music, only the church thing."
George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou (Greek: Γεώργιος Κυριάκος Παναγιώτου); 25 June 1963) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Michael rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley. His first solo single, "Careless Whisper", was released when he was still in the duo and sold about six million copies worldwide.
As one of the world's best-selling music artists, Michael has sold more than 100 million records worldwide as of 2010. His 1987 debut solo album, Faith, has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and made several records and achievements in the United States. Michael has garnered seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked Michael the 40th most successful artist on the Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists list.
Michael has won numerous music awards throughout his 30-year career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male twice, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations.