A misdemeanor (also spelled misdemeanour) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions (also known as minor, petty or summary offences) and regulatory offences. Many misdemeanors are punished with monetary fines.

Contraventions are similar to misdemeanors in many civil law countries (e.g. France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland etc.).^{[citation needed]}

In the United States, the federal government generally considers a crime punishable with incarceration for one year or less to be a misdemeanor. All other crimes are considered felonies^{[citation needed]}. Many states also employ this distinction^{[citation needed]}.

A misdemeanor is considered a crime of low seriousness, and a felony one of high seriousness^{[citation needed]}. A principal of the rationale for the degree punishment meted out is that the punishment should fit the crime. One standard for measurement is the degree to which a crime affects others or society. Measurements of the degree of seriousness of a crime have been developed.

Foster Emerson Sylvers (born February 25, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known for being a member of the family act The Sylvers and the chart topping single "Misdemeanor".

Foster Sylvers released his first album Foster Sylvers on June 10, 1973. His first single, "Misdemeanor," written by his brother Leon Sylvers III, became a hit that summer charting number seven R&B on Billboard's charts. "Misdemeanor"'s follow-up was a cover of Dee Clark's 1959 hit "Hey Little Girl" charting at number 63 R&B in fall 1973. The popularity of these records led to Foster to appear on such TV shows as American Bandstand and Soul Train. In 1974 he released his second album Foster Sylvers Featuring Pat & Angie Sylvers. By 1975 he joined the rest of his brothers and sisters in the The Sylvers just in time for the Showcase album. He co-sang lead with his brother Edmund on the #1 1976 Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles song Boogie Fever. While with Capitol, Foster released another self titled album called Foster Sylvers in early 1978. Primarily produced by his family The Sylvers and their managers Al Ross and Bob Cullen. Foster then branched out into studio work just like his big brother Leon collaborating on many projects such as Dynasty ("Your Piece of the Rock," "When You Feel Like Giving Love," "Satisfied") and Evelyn "Champagne" King ("Shake Down," number 12 R&B,spring 1984). By the late 1980s Foster recorded two albums as Foster Sylvers & Hy-Tech, 1987's Plain & Simple for EMI America and 1990's Prime Time for A&M. In recent years, Foster has been noted for being on the National Sex Offenders list for a crime he committed many years ago.

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier; February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician whose career spans more than four decades. With a stage show that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constrictors, and baby dolls, Cooper has drawn equally from horror movies, vaudeville, and garage rock to pioneer a grandly theatrical and violent brand of heavy metal designed to shock.

Originating in Detroit in the late 1960s, Alice Cooper was originally a band consisting of Furnier on vocals and harmonica, lead guitarist Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce on rhythm guitar, Dennis Dunaway on bass guitar, and drummer Neal Smith. The original Alice Cooper band broke into the international music mainstream with the 1971 hit "I'm Eighteen" from the album Love It to Death, which was followed by the even bigger single "School's Out" in 1972. The band reached their commercial peak with the 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies.

Furnier's solo career as Alice Cooper, adopting the band's name as his own name, began with the 1975 concept album Welcome to My Nightmare; in 2011 he released Welcome 2 My Nightmare, his 19th album as a solo artist, and his 26th album in total. Expanding from his Detroit rock roots, in his career Cooper has experimented with a number of musical styles, including conceptual rock, art rock, hard rock, New Wave, pop rock, experimental rock and industrial rock.

Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott (born July 1, 1971) is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actress. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Elliott, with record sales of over seven million in the United States, is the only female rapper to have six albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one double platinum for her 2002 album Under Construction. Elliott is known for a series of hits and diverse music videos, including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Hot Boyz", "Get Ur Freak On", "One Minute Man", "4 My People", "Work It", "Pass That Dutch", and "Lose Control". In addition, she has worked extensively as a songwriter and producer for other artists, both alone and with her fellow producer and childhood friend Timbaland, with whom she received her first production credit on R&B singer Ginuwine's 1996's album Ginuwine...the Bachelor.

Elliott was born on July 1, 1971, in Portsmouth, Virginia. She is the only child of mother Patricia, a power-company coordinator, and father Ronnie, a Marine. At the age of four in 1975, she wanted to be a performer, though she knew no one took her seriously, as she was always the class clown. While her father was a Marine, the family lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in a mobile home. Elliott enjoyed school for the friendships she formed and had little interest in school work, though an IQ test classified her above average and she was able to jump two years ahead of her class. This made her feel increasingly isolated, so she purposely failed all her classes, eventually returning to her age-appropriate class. When her father returned from the Marines, they moved back to Virginia, where they lived in a vermin-infested shack.