Joanne (alternate spellings Joann, JoAnn, Johann, Johanne, Jo-Ann, Jo-Anne) is a common given name for females, being a variant of Joanna, the feminine form of John; derived from the Latin name Johanna with the meaning in Hebrew of "God is gracious". In Northern Ireland of 1975, "Joanne" was the most frequently used name for female newborns, though by the early years of the 21st Century, the name had declined in popularity so that it could not be counted among the twenty most frequently used.

Sometimes in modern English Joanne is reinterpreted as a compound of the two names Jo and Anne, and therefore given a spelling like JoAnne, Jo-Anne, or Jo Anne. However, the original name Joanna in ancient Greek and Latin is a single unit, not a compound. The names Hannah, Anna, Anne, Ann are etymologically related to Joanne just the same: they are derived from Hebrew חַנָּה Ḥannāh 'grace' from the same verbal root meaning 'to be gracious'.

In the United Kingdom, its popularity peaked during the 1970s, when it was frequently among the 10 most popular female names. However, by the 1980s it had fallen out of the top 10 and by 1994 it wasn't even in the top 100.

Robert Michael Nesmith (born December 30, 1942) is an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, novelist, businessman, and philanthropist, best known as a member of the musical group The Monkees and star of the TV series of the same name. Nesmith is notable as a songwriter, including "Different Drum" sung by Linda Ronstadt with the Stone Poneys, and as executive producer of the cult film Repo Man. In 1981, Nesmith won the first Grammy Award given for Video of the Year for his hour-long Elephant Parts.

Nesmith was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Houston, in 1942. He was an only child; his parents, Warren Audrey Nesmith and Bette Nesmith Graham, divorced when their son was four. He and his mother moved to Dallas, to be closer to her parents, sister, aunts and grandmother. Bette took temporary jobs ranging from clerical work to graphics design, and developed very good secretarial skills, including shorthand, and, auspiciously, touch typing. When Nesmith was 13 his mother invented a typewriter correction fluid later known commercially as Liquid Paper. Over the next 25 years she built the Liquid Paper Corporation into a multimillion dollar international company which she finally sold to Gillette in 1980 for US$48 million. She died a few months later at age 56.

Zhang Ziyi (born 9 February 1979), sometimes credited as Ziyi Zhang, is a Chinese film actress. Chinese media have called her one of the Four Young Dan Actresses (四小花旦) in China's film industry, along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei and Zhou Xun.

Her first major role was in The Road Home (1999). She achieved fame in the West after leading roles in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Rush Hour 2 (2001), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005). She has been nominated for three BAFTA Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

Zhang was born and raised in Beijing to Zhang Yuanxiao, an accountant and later economist, and Li Zhousheng, a kindergarten teacher. She is very close to her older brother, Zhang Zinan (Chinese: 章子男; pinyin: Zhāng Zǐnán; born 1973). Zhang began studying dance when she was 8 years old; subsequently, she joined the Beijing Dance Academy by her parents' suggestion at the age of 11. While at this boarding school, she noticed how mean the other girls were to each other while competing for status amongst the teachers. Zhang disliked the attitudes of her peers and teachers so much that, on one occasion, she ran away from the school. At the age of 15, Zhang won the national youth dance championship and began appearing in television commercials in Hong Kong.

Joanne Shaw Taylor (born 1986, England) is a British blues guitarist and singer, who was discovered by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics at the age of 16.

The British music publication, Blues Matters!, called Taylor "the new face of the blues".

Taylor grew up around Birmingham, England, and was inspired towards blues music in her teenage years by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins and Jimi Hendrix. Dave Stewart heard her play, and in 2002 invited Taylor to join his supergroup, D.U.P., on tour in Europe.

In May 2009, she released her debut album, White Sugar, on Ruf Records. On subsequent tours to promote the album, Taylor played shows alongside the American singer-songwriter, Candye Kane.

Taylor's second release was 2010's Diamonds In The Dirt, also on Ruf Records. In 2010, she won Best Female Vocalist at the British Blues Awards. Both her albums have peaked at number 8 in the US Billboard Top Blues Albums chart. At the 2011 British Blues Awards, Taylor won both Best Female Vocalist and Songwriter of the Year for her track "Same As It Never Was" from her album, Diamonds In The Dirt.

Shaw Taylor MBE (born 26 October 1924 in Hackney, London) is a British actor and television presenter.

He served in the RAF and trained at RADA. He then acted on stage in the West End and on tour. He was an announcer for ATV when the normal announcer was not available. He then had a variety of acting roles in film and television from the 1950s onwards, and presented various game shows including Password, Tell the Truth, Dotto, This Is Your Chance and The Law Game (BBC Radio 2).

He is today best known for presenting Police 5, a long-running 5-minute television programme first broadcast in 1962 that appealed to the public to help solve crimes. He later presented a spin-off show for younger viewers called Junior Police 5, aka JP5. His catchphrase was "Keep 'em peeled!" - asking viewers to be vigilant. This was originally used at the end of every JP5 programme, but according to Shaw Taylor himself, "...at the suggestion of a friend I tried it out on the adult Police 5. I thought it sounded a bit naff at first but then the studio crew seemed to get withdrawal symptoms if I didn't say it at the end of the programme and it became a catchphrase that complete strangers still shout at me in the street".