Ken Brown (1940, Enfield, Middlesex – c. 9 June 2010, Essex) was a British guitarist with The Quarrymen, a precursor to The Beatles.^[1]

Brown was born in Enfield, Middlesex in 1940, but moved with his family to Liverpool the following year.^[2]

Ken Brown was a member of the Les Stewart Quartet with Les Stewart, George Harrison, and a young man known as Skinner.^[3] Mona Best opened The Casbah Coffee Club on 29 August 1959, and Brown arranged for the quartet to be its resident band. When Brown missed rehearsals to help decorate The Casbah, Stewart refused to play.^[4] Brown and Harrison recruited John Lennon and Paul McCartney at short notice to help them fulfill the residency, and used the name of The Quarrymen.^[4] They played a series of seven Saturday night engagements in The Casbah for 15 shillings each per night, starting on 29 August to October 1959, featuring Brown, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, but without a drummer, and only one microphone connected to the club's small PA system.^[5][6] The opening night performance was attended by about 300 local teenagers, but as the cellar had no air-conditioning and people were dancing, the temperature rose to a level where it became hard to breathe.^[7]

Brown injured his leg on 10 October and it was agree that he could not play, so he rested upstairs while the three future Beatles, Lennon, Harrison, and McCartney played the gig.^[1] Mona Best still divided the group's £3 fee equally between the four of them. An argument ensued that meant Brown lost his place in the group.

Ken Brown formed the Blackjacks with Pete Best (the son of Mona Best) on drums and 'Chas' Newby.^[1] The group played at the Casbah until Pete Best was invited to join the Beatles just before their first 1960 trip to Hamburg in Germany. The Blackjacks disbanded and Brown moved to London. Brown never established himself as a professional musician subsequently, although, in his later years, he recorded a number of tracks that he made available through his personal website.^[8]

Brown wrote an autobiography of his experiences initially called My Life and subsequently retitled Some Other Guy!^[1][9] The approximately 38,000 word manuscript never found a market and remains unpublished.^[10] He suffered from emphysema and died at his home in Essex aged 70. His body was discovered on 14 June 2010; police determined that he died about five days earlier.^[11]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Cynthia Lennon (2006). John. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-89828-3. 
• Barry Miles (1997). Many Years From Now. Vintage-Random House. ISBN 0-7493-8658-4. 
• Bob Spitz (2006). The Beatles: The Biography. Little, Brown and Company (New York). ISBN 1-84513-160-6. 

Ken Brown or Kenny Brown is the name of:

• Ken Brown (academic historian), Professor of History and Pro-Vice Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast
• Ken Brown (filmmaker) (born 1944), American filmmaker, photographer, cartoonist, and designer
• Ken Brown (footballer born 1934), England and West Ham United football player, later Norwich City manager
• Ken Brown (golfer) (born 1957), Scottish golfer and BBC golf broadcaster
• Ken Brown (ice hockey) (born 1948), Canadian ice hockey player
• Ken Brown (musician) (1940–2010), English guitarist for The Quarrymen
• Ken Brown (American football) (born 1954), American football player
• Ken Brown, (born 1971) American football player from Virginia Tech, unsigned 1995 Draft pick (4th Round) for the Denver Broncos
• Kenny Brown (footballer born 1967), English former professional footballer
• Kenny Brown (guitarist) (born 1953), American blues guitarist
• Kenny Browne (born 1986), Irish football defender
• Ken Brown (strongman), American professional strongman competitor

See also[link]

• Kenneth Brown (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article may require copy editing for grammar and tense. You can assist by editing it. (August 2011)

Today's practicality of green screen compositing is demonstrated by Iman Crosson in a self-produced YouTube video.
Top panel: A frame of Crosson in a full motion video that was shot in his own living room.
Bottom panel: The corresponding frame in the final version, in which Crosson, impersonating Barack Obama, "appears" in the White House's East Room.^[1]

Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a special effects / post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together, used heavily in many fields to remove a background from the subject of a photo or video - particularly the newscasting, motion picture and videogame industries. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production. This technique is also referred to as color keying, colour-separation overlay (CSO; primarily by the BBC^[2]), or by various terms for specific color-related variants such as green screen, and blue screen - chroma keying can be done with backgrounds of any color that are uniform and distinct, but green and blue backgrounds are more commonly used because they differ most distinctly in hue from most human skin colors and no part of the subject being filmed or photographed may duplicate a color used in the background.^[3] It is commonly used for weather forecast broadcasts, wherein the news presenter appears to be standing in front of a large map during live television newscasts, though in actuality it is a large blue or green background. When using a blue screen, different weather maps are added on the parts of the image where the color is blue. If the news presenter wears blue clothes, his clothes will also be replaced with the background video. A complementary system is used for green screens. Chroma keying is also used in the entertainment industry for special effects in movies and videogames. The advanced state of the technology and much commercially available computer software, such as Pinnacle Studio, Adobe Premiere, and dozens of other computer programs, makes it possible and relatively easy for the average home computer user to create videos using the "chromakey" function and easily affordable greenscreen or bluescreen kits.

History[link]

In filmmaking, a complex and time-consuming process known as "travelling matte" was used prior to the introduction of digital compositing. The blue screen and traveling matte method were developed in the 1930s at RKO Radio Pictures and other studios, and were used to create special effects for The Thief of Bagdad (1940). At RKO, Linwood Dunn used a travelling matte to create "wipes" – where there were transitions like a windshield wiper in films such as Flying Down to Rio (1933).

The development of the bluescreen is credited to Larry Butler, who won the Academy Award for special effects for The Thief of Bagdad.

In 1950, Warner Brothers employee and ex-Kodak researcher Arthur Widmer began working on an ultra violet travelling matte process. He also began developing bluescreen techniques: one of the first films to use them was the 1958 adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novella, The Old Man and the Sea, starring Spencer Tracy.^[4]

The background footage is shot first and the actor or model is filmed carrying out their actions against a bluescreen. To simply place the foreground shot over the background shot would create a ghostly image over a blue-tinged background. The actor or model must be separated from the background and placed into a specially-made "hole" in the background footage. The bluescreen shot was first rephotographed through a blue filter so that only the background is exposed. A special film is used that creates a black and white negative image — a black background with a subject-shaped hole in the middle. This is called a 'female matte'. The bluescreen shot was then rephotographed again, this time through a red and green filter so that only the foreground image was cast on film, creating a black silhouette on an unexposed (clear) background. This is called a 'male matte'.

The background image is then rephotographed through the male matte, and the shot rephotographed through the female matte. An optical printer with two projectors, a film camera and a 'beam splitter' combines the images together one frame at a time. This part of the process must be very carefully controlled to ensure the absence of 'black lines'. During the 1980s, minicomputers were used to control the optical printer. For The Empire Strikes Back, Richard Edlund created a 'quad optical printer' that accelerated the process considerably and saved money. He received a special Academy Award for his innovation.

One drawback to the traditional traveling matte is that the cameras shooting the images to be composited can't be easily synchronized. For decades, such matte shots had to be done "locked-down" so that neither the matted subject nor the background could shift their camera perspective at all. Later, computer-timed motion control cameras alleviated this problem, as both the foreground and background could be filmed with the same camera moves.

Petro Vlahos was awarded an Academy Award for his development of these techniques. His technique exploits the fact that most objects in real-world scenes have a color whose blue color component is similar in intensity to their green color component. Zbigniew Rybczyński also contributed to bluescreen technology.

For Star Trek: The Next Generation, an ultraviolet light matting process was proposed by Don Lee of CIS and developed by Gary Hutzel and the staff of Image G. This involved a fluorescent orange backdrop which made it easier to generate a holdout matte, thus allowing the effects team to produce effects in a quarter of the time needed for other methods.^[5]

Some films make heavy use of chroma key to add backgrounds that are constructed entirely using computer-generated imagery (CGI). Performances from different takes can even be composited together, which allows actors to be filmed separately and then placed together in the same scene. Chroma key allows performers to appear to be in any location without even leaving the studio.

Computer development also made it easier to incorporate motion into composited shots, even when using handheld cameras. Reference-points can now be placed onto the colored background (usually as a painted grid, X's marked with tape, or equally spaced tennis balls attached to the wall). In post-production, a computer can use the references to adjust the position of the background, making it match the movement of the foreground perfectly. Modern advances in software and computational power have even eliminated the need to use grids or tracking marks – the software analyzes the relative motion of colored pixels against other colored pixels and solves the 'motion' to create a camera motion algorithm which can be used in compositing software to match the motion of composited elements to a moving background plate.

Weathermen often use a field monitor to the side of the screen to see where they are putting their hands. A newer technique is to project a faint image onto the screen.

Process[link]

Film set for The Spiderwick Chronicles, where a special effects scene using bluescreen chroma key is in preparation.

The principal subject is filmed or photographed against a background consisting of a single color or a relatively narrow range of colors, usually blue or green because these colors are considered to be the furthest away from skin tone.^[3] The portions of the video which match the preselected color are replaced by the alternate background video. This process is commonly known as "keying", "keying out" or simply a "key".

Green is currently used as a backdrop more than any other color because image sensors in digital video cameras are most sensitive to green, due to the bayer pattern allocating more pixels to the green channel, mimicking the human eye's increased sensitivity to green light.^[6] Therefore, the green camera channel contains the least "noise" and can produce the cleanest key/matte/mask. Additionally, less light is needed to illuminate green, again because of the higher sensitivity to green in image sensors.^[7] Bright green has also become favored as a blue background may match a subject's eye color or common items of clothing, such as jeans, or a dark-navy suit.

Blue was used before digital keying became commonplace because it was necessary for the optical process, but it needed more illumination than green. However, it is also further in the visual spectrum from red, the predominant color in human skin.

The most important factor for a key is the color separation of the foreground (the subject) and background (the screen) – a bluescreen will be used if the subject is predominately green (for example plants), despite the camera being more sensitive to green light.

In analog color TV, color is represented by the phase of the chroma subcarrier relative to a reference oscillator. Chroma key is achieved by comparing the phase of the video to the phase corresponding to the preselected color. In-phase portions of the video are replaced by the alternate background video.

In digital color TV, color is represented by three numbers (red, green, blue). Chroma key is achieved by a simple numerical comparison between the video and the preselected color. If the color at a particular point on the screen matches (either exactly, or in a range), then the video at that point is replaced by the alternate background video.

Clothing[link]

A chroma key subject must not wear clothing similar in color to the chroma key color(s) (unless intentional), because the clothing may be replaced with the background video. An example of intentional use of this is when an actor wears a blue covering over a part of his body to make it invisible in the final shot. This technique can be used to achieve an effect similar to that used in the Harry Potter films to create the effect of an invisibility cloak. The actor can also be filmed against a chroma key background and inserted into the background shot with a distortion effect in order to create a cloak that is marginally detectable.^[8]

Difficulties emerge with bluescreen when a costume in an effects shot must be blue, such as Superman's traditional blue outfit. In the 2002 film Spider-Man, in scenes where both Spider-Man and the Green Goblin are in the air, Spider-Man had to be shot in front of the greenscreen and the Green Goblin had to be shot in front of a bluescreen, because Spider-Man wears a costume which is red and blue in color and the goblin wears a costume which is entirely green in color. If both were shot in front of the same screen, one character would have been partially erased from the shot.

Background[link]

Demonstration of the creation of special effects techniques utilizing chroma key.

Blue is generally used for both weather maps and special effects because it is complementary to human skin tone. The use of blue is also tied to the fact that the blue emulsion layer of film has the finest crystals and thus good detail and minimal grain (in comparison to the red and green layers of the emulsion.) In the digital world, however, green has become the favored color because digital cameras retain more detail in the green channel and it requires less light than blue. Green not only has a higher luminance value than blue but also in early digital formats the green channel was sampled twice as often as the blue, making it easier to work with. The choice of color is up to the effects artists and the needs of the specific shot. In the past decade, the use of green has become dominant in film special effects. Also, the green background is favored over blue for outdoors filming where the blue sky might appear in the frame and could accidentally be replaced in the process. Although green and blue are the most common, any color can be used. Red is usually avoided due to its prevalence in normal human skin pigments, but can be often used for objects and scenes which do not involve people.

Occasionally, a magenta background is used, as in some software applications where the magenta or fuchsia key value #FF00FF is sometimes referred to as "magic pink".^[9]

With better imaging and hardware, many companies are avoiding the confusion often experienced by weather presenters, who must otherwise watch themselves on a monitor to see the image shown behind them, by lightly projecting a copy of the background image onto the blue/green screen. This allows the presenter to accurately point and look at the map without referring to monitors.

A newer technique is to use a retroreflective curtain in the background, along with a ring of bright LEDs around the camera lens. This requires no light to shine on the background other than the LEDs, which use an extremely small amount of power and space unlike big stage lights, and require no rigging. This advance was made possible by the invention of practical blue LEDs in the 1990s, which also allow for emerald green LEDs.

There is also a form of color keying that uses light spectrum invisible to human eye. Called Thermo-Key, it uses infrared as the key color, which would not be replaced by background image during postprocessing.^[10][11]

Even lighting[link]

The biggest challenge when setting up a bluescreen or greenscreen is even lighting and the avoidance of shadow, because it is best to have as narrow a color range as possible being replaced. A shadow would present itself as a darker color to the camera and might not register for replacement. This can sometimes be seen in low-budget or live broadcasts where the errors cannot be manually repaired. The material being used affects the quality and ease of having it evenly lit. Materials which are shiny will be far less successful than those that are not. A shiny surface will have areas that reflect the lights making them appear pale, while other areas may be darkened. A matte surface will diffuse the reflected light and have a more even color range. In order to get the cleanest key from shooting greenscreen it is necessary to create a value difference between the subject and the greenscreen. In order to differentiate the subject and screen a two-stop difference can be used, either by making the greenscreen two stops higher than the subject or vice versa.

Sometimes a shadow can be used to create a special effect. Areas of the bluescreen or greenscreen with a shadow on them can be replaced with a darker version of the desired background video image, making it look like the person casting the shadow is actually casting a shadow on the background image instead.

Another common, related, problem is lighting the subjects in a manner that is complementary to the scene being keyed in behind. Attention has to be paid to matching the direction of lighting and the color balance in the background. Any spill of the chroma key color will make the result look unnatural. Even a difference in the focal length of the lenses used can affect the success of chroma key.

Exposure[link]

Another challenge for bluescreen or greenscreen is proper camera exposure. Underexposing or overexposing a colored backdrop can lead to poor saturation levels. In the case of video and digital cinema cameras, underexposed images can contain high amounts of noise, as well. The background must be bright enough to allow the camera to create a bright and saturated image.

Programming[link]

There are several different quality- and speed-optimized techniques for implementing color keying in software.^[12]

In most versions, a function f(r, g, b) → α is applied to every pixel in the image. α (alpha) has a meaning similar to that in alpha compositing techniques. α ≤ 0 means the pixel is the green screen, α ≥ 1 means the pixel is in the foreground object. Values between 0 and 1 indicate a pixel that is partially covered by the foreground object. A usable green screen example, which matches how chroma key was done on an optical printer, is f(r, g, b) = K₀ * b − K₁ * g + K₂ (K_0..2 are user-adjustable constants, 1 is a good initial guess for all of them).

Often the software does screen spill removal from the colors as well as figure out the alpha. This may be a separate function g(r, g, b) → (r, g, b), a very simple green screen example is g(r, g, b) → (r, min(g, b), b). Or f is changed to return (r, g, b, a) all at once, this is useful if part of the calculation is shared.

Most keyers use far more complicated functions. A popular approach is to describe a closed 3D surface in RGB space and determine the signed distance the point (r, g, b) is from this surface, or to find the distance the point (r, g, b) is between two closed nested surfaces. It is also very common for f() to depend on more than just the current pixel's color, it may also use the (x, y) position, the values of nearby pixels, the value from reference images, and values from user-drawn masks.

A different class of algorithm tries to figure out a 2D path that separates the foreground from the background. This path can be the output, or the image can be drawn by filling the path with α = 1 as a final step. An example of such an algorithm is the use of active contour. Most research in recent years has been into these algorithms.

See also[link]

• Compositing
• Federal Standard 1037C
• Filmmaking
• Drew Carey's Green Screen Show
• Film production
• Front projection effect
• Live action
• Matte (filmmaking)
• Muslin
• Optical printer
• Primatte chromakey technology
• Rear projection effect
• Reverse bluescreen
• Schüfftan process
• Signal processing
• Sodium vapor process
• Special effects
• Video switcher
• Virtual set

References[link]

External links[link]

• Building a Chroma Key on a low budget (Google Knol)
• How Blue Screens Work
• Stargate Studios Virtual Backlot Reel 2012 -- An awesome demonstration of green screen work!!!

Keyshia Cole (born October 15, 1981) is an American singer–songwriter and actress. She gained nationwide acclaim when her 2005 debut album, The Way It Is went platinum. Her second album Just Like You went into production shortly after that and was released in September 2007.^[2] Her third studio album, A Different Me was released on December 16, 2008 and is certified Gold for selling 900,000+ units in the United States. She also achieved moderate success for her reality/documentary series Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is which aired on BET from 2006-2008 which gave a close look at Cole's career and personal life with her biological mother and sister. In December 2010, she released her fourth studio album, Calling All Hearts.

Biography[link]

1981-03: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Keyshia Cole was born on October 15, 1981 in Oakland, California, where she was raised. Cole was born to Francine "Frankie" Lons and Sal, her now deceased father. She was later adopted by family friend Yvonne Cole and raised by Yvonne's husband's family and friends from the age of two. Yvonne learned that Cole could sing when she was five. At a school function, she snuck away from her mother and the next thing she knew, Cole had won a talent show.^[3] Along with her brother Sean, Cole was first introduced to the music industry at the age of 12, when she met and recorded with MC Hammer.^[4][5][6][7] She later formed a friendship with Tupac Shakur,^[8] who promised to help start her singing career before he died unexpectedly. Cole remembers Shakur as "really outspoken and really bright. He was definitely a guy who gave off a superstar vibe."^[9] Cole moved to Los Angeles when she was 18 to pursue a music career. During this time, Cole collaborated with artists from her native Bay Area, among them D'Wayne Wiggins of Tony Toni Tone and Messy Marv. In 2002, she was introduced to A&M Records executive Ron Fair, who signed her and began mentoring her after hearing her singing a verse of her hit song "Love".

In anticipation of her debut album, Cole and DJ Green Lantern released a mixtape, Team Invasion Presents Keyshia Cole, in June 2005.^[10] It featured appearances by Shyne, Remy Ma, Fat Joe and Ghostface Killah. The mixtape was composed mostly of songs recorded over popular hip-hop instrumentals, including 2Pac's "I Get Around", Nas' "Ether", Mobb Deep's "Shook Ones (Part II)" and Scarface's "Guess Who's Back", among others. The singles "(I Just Want It) To Be Over", a remix of "I Changed My Mind", "I Should Have Cheated", and "Love" were also included.

[edit] 2004–05: The Way It Is and marriage proposal

Cole's debut single, "Never", featuring Eve, was released on March 23, 2004 to promote the soundtrack to the film, Barbershop 2: Back in Business. The single failed to chart, and Cole proceeded to record her debut album for the rest of 2004 and into early 2005. "Never" eventually became the final song on The Way It Is. On November 9, 2004, Cole released her first official single, "I Changed My Mind", featuring Kanye West.^[11] The single reached #71 in the US, and was not a huge hit for Cole. The second single from the album, "(I Just Want It) To Be Over", was released on April 5, 2005,^[12] and reached #1 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 (#101). Cole completed her debut album in early 2005. The Way It Is was released on June 21, 2005.^[13] It debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, selling 89,000 copies in the first week of release. It has since sold 1.6 million copies in the US, receiving a Platinum certification from the RIAA. The third single from the album, "I Should Have Cheated" was released on August 3, 2005, and reached #30 on the Hot 100. The fourth and final single, "Love" was released on January 6, 2006 and reached #19 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It has been regarded as Cole's "breakthrough single" by many^{[by whom?]}.

From early 2005 to late 2007, Cole dated rapper Young Jeezy, but the relationship ended after she declined a marriage proposal from him.

[edit] 2006–07: Just Like You and Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is

Cole in 2007

Cole began work on her second album in early 2006, shortly after the release of her debut album. She was featured on the single "Last Night" by Diddy, which was the third single from his fourth studio album, Press Play. The recording of her second album was documented on her reality TV show, Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is in late 2006 and early 2007. Cole's second album, Just Like You, was due for a release on July 8, 2007, but wasn't released until September 25, 2007. It spawned three #1 singles, "Let It Go featuring Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim, "I Remember", and "Heaven Sent" which stayed at #1 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for 9 weeks. Other guest artists included Too $hort, Anthony Hamilton, Young Dro, T.I., and Cole's artist, Amina, on the top ten single "Shoulda Let You Go". Just Like You debuted at #2 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 281,000 copies in its first week, and has proceeded to sell 1.6 million copies in the US, earning a Platinum certification from the RIAA, like her debut. The album was nominated for four Grammys, Best Contemporary R&B Album and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2008 Grammy Awards and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song at the 2009 Grammy Awards.

The lead single from the album, "Let It Go", featuring Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim, was released on June 19, 2007. The single is Cole's most successful single to date, as it reached #7 in the US and #1 on US Hip/Hop R&B charts. The second single, "Shoulda Let You Go", featuring and introducing Cole's best friend Amina, was released on October 19, 2007, and was mildly successful, by reaching #41 in the US. The third single from the album, "I Remember" was released on December 5, 2007. The single was highly successful, by reaching #24 in the US. The fourth and final single was the critically acclaimed "Heaven Sent", was released on March 7, 2008. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for nine weeks, and #28 in the US. Cole was featured on Jaheim's third single, "I've Changed", off his fourth album, The Makings of a Man and Keith Sweat's "Love U Better" which was featured on the Why Did I Get Married? soundtrack and his ninth studio album Just Me.

In 2006, BET broadcast a reality show/documentary entitled Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is to show Cole's life in making music, touring, and being with her family. Although being a rating success, the show failed to promote her debut, The Way It Is as the album stayed at selling 1.5 million units. In conjunction with her second album release, Just Like You, BET began airing the second season on October 30, 2007. The show premiered to record breaking ratings for BET. It is the top returning series premiere in BET history, as well as the number one original series premiere of the year. A reported 2.9 million viewers and 2.0 million households watched the season 2 finale. It is now the #1 series telecast in BET history.^[14] Season 3 of the series was filmed in Summer 2008 and premiered on November 11, 2008 and featured the process of recording and touring for Cole's third album, A Different Me. The show was rumored to be having a fourth season, however; Cole has concluded that there will not be a fourth season. On Tuesday, August 25, 2009, Cole's mother and sister debuted their own reality show titled Frankie & Neffe on BET. Their show's season finale aired on Tuesday, October 6, 2009.

[edit] 2008–09: A Different Me and collaborations

In 2008, Cole made guest appearances on songs such as "I Got a Thang for You" with rapper Trina on her album Still Da Baddest and "Boyfriend/Girlfriend" with hip-hop band C-Side on their album Class In Session. She also made a guest appearance in the music video for "She Got Her Own", by singers Ne-Yo Jamie Foxx and in the song "Game's Pain" by Compton-based rapper The Game. Cole is also featured on the charity song "Just Stand Up", which was released in August 2008 and raises money for cancer research along with various pop, hip-hop, and R&B artists that year. As a result of SU2C fund raising endeavors, the SU2C scientific advisory committee, overseen by the American Association for Cancer Research was able to award 73.6 million dollars towards novel, groundbreaking cancer research.^[15] Cole embarked on the I Am Music Tour with Keri Hilson, Lil' Wayne, and T-Pain from December 2008 to February 2009.

She released her third studio album, A Different Me, on December 16, 2008. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, selling 322,000 copies in its first week.^[16] The album has gone on to sell over 1,020,000 copies in the US, and receiving a platinum certification from the RIAA. The album was preceded by lead single "Playa Cardz Right", featuring the late rapper 2Pac, which was released on October 28, 2008, and reached #63 on the Hot 100. The second single from the album, "You Complete Me", was released on January 20, 2009, and reached #62 on the Hot 100, making the first and second singles mild hits. Cole released the third and final single from the album, "Trust", a duet with Monica, on May 5, 2009, and reached #5 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and #70 on the US Hot 100. The fourth single from A Different Me was confirmed as "This is Us", and was due for a release in September 2009, but it was never released. For promotion towards A Different Me, Cole went on her first headlining tour, A Different Me Tour in summer of 2009 with opening acts, Keri Hilson, The-Dream, and Bobby Valentino. Cole was on the cover of the March 2009 issue of Vibe, and was on the cover of the Summer 2009 final double-cover issue of King. Keyshia and Yvonne Cole appeared on the June issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine. In 2009, she also made a guest appearance on Keri Hilson's "Get Your Money Up" from her debut album In a Perfect World…. Cole began work on her fourth studio album in early 2009 also with Jasmyne. In September 2009, Cole was featured on the remix of R. Kelly's single "Number One" along with T-Pain. She is also currently listed as one of the inspirations for Pepsi: We Inspire.^[17] Cole also worked with Gucci Mane on the song "Bad, Bad, Bad" from The State vs Radric Davis.

[edit] 2010–11: Calling All Hearts, marriage and motherhood

On June 27, 2010 she returned to the spotlight for her first televised appearance since the birth of her son, filling in for Hayley Williams to sing the chorus to B.o.B.'s "Airplanes (Part II)", featuring Eminem during the 2010 BET Awards. Cole featured on Faith Evans album Something About Faith. In August 2009, Cole announced that she was beginning work on her fourth studio album Calling All Hearts^[18] which was released on December 21, 2010. This album contains featured tracks from artists such as Timbaland, Nicki Minaj, Tank and Faith Evans. As a special feature, Cole's mother, Dr. Yvonne Cole, is featured on the album as well.^[19] In September 2010, Cole stated that her fourth studio album would be released on December 21, 2010. Calling All Heart's first single, entitled "I Ain't Thru", features Minaj and was released by Cole herself via Twitter on October 15, 2010. She released the video to "I Ain't Thru" on 106 and Park along with "Long Way Down" which Interscope Records did not release as a commercial single. In February 2011, Cole released her second single from Calling All Hearts, "Take Me Away", to urban radio after being chosen in a poll by her fans on Twitter. Cole performed the single on January 19, 2011 on Conan after releasing Imani Entertainment as her management.^[20] The single's video, directed by Taj Stansberry, premiered on VEVO on April 18, 2011 and was also released on 106 and Park on the same day. The song has since then peaked on the Billboard US Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs at #27. To promote Calling All Hearts, Cole was a part of the Love Letter tour with R. Kelly and Marsha Ambrosius.

In March 2009, Cole began dating Daniel Gibson of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.^[21] and became engaged to him on January 1, 2010. On February 4, 2010, the pregnant Cole was hospitalized for precautionary reasons.^[22] On March 1, 2010 Cole was admitted into the hospital with labor pains. One of Cole's closest friends, R&B singer Monica, confirmed the labor situation via her official Twitter page.^[23] On March 2, 2010, Cole gave birth to her first child, a boy, named Daniel Hiram Gibson Jr.^[24] On May 21, 2011, Cole and Gibson went to Cleveland for a private wedding ceremony. On September 24, 2011, Cole and Gibson held a big wedding ceremony in Hawaii, which will be aired on their show Family First.^[25] Cole currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio and Johns Creek, Georgia.

[edit] 2011–present: Woman to Woman and Family First

Cole started development on this project shortly after her 2010 release, Calling All Hearts. She has disclosed that she was working with writer Ester Dean. She has also collaborated with producers Boi-1da, Cool & Dre, Bangladesh, J.U.S.T.I.C.E League, Toxic and Earl Powell. This is Cole's first album to be released without A&R Executive Ron Fair. Cole says this album is not like any other album she has released becoming her most evolved album thus far. Cole has stated that she would like to have R&B singers Brandy and Monica on this album. She also tweeted that long awaited collaborator Trey Songz would likely be on the album. Cole tweeted on October 14, 2011 that the first single from her forthcoming new album Woman To Woman will be released during the first week of January. The album is believed to have 15 tracks to be chosen. It is slated to be released commercially in the spring of 2012.

She is featured on a song called "Legendary" by DJ Khaled, also featuring Chris Brown and Ne-Yo. It is the fourth single from Khaled's fifth album We the Best Forever. Cole was nominated for an MP3 Music Award in October 2011 and won in December 2011 for her R&B hit "Take Me Away".

In mid-July, Cole tweeted that she, her husband Daniel, and James DeBose will be launching a new reality TV show, entitled Family First, which began shooting shortly after the announcement. During the six episode series, Cole will be crafting her follow up album to Calling All Hearts. "I just kind of lay out all my emotions then we start from there. I usually work with big name producers and stuff like once all from my heart and soul is out that I need to get out," Cole said. Aside from a look into the making of her yet to be titled album, Cole and husband, Daniel "Boobie" Gibson, re-wed during the taping of Family First.^[26] The show is currently in production and will premiere in the third quarter of 2012.

Artistry[link]

Musical style and voice[link]

Cole is known differently for the way she uses her vocals. She is a soprano with a 2.5/3 octave. Her voice is favored because it is said, mostly by critics, that it is powered by angst. Cole found herself positioned alongside fellow young urban female singers like Brandy, Monica, and Beyoncé. Yet Cole had an edge over her peers—a street edge. Having grown up in Oakland and lived there most of her young life, she knew life wasn't all glitter and gold like it was in Hollywood. She knew the streets, and that inner-city viewpoint informs many of her songs, which are generally a bit rougher and less naïve than those of your typical young female urban vocalist.^[27]

Influences[link]

Cole grew up listening to mentors such as Tupac Shakur and Faith Evans. She cites Mary J. Blige and Brandy as the biggest of her musical inspirations and influences. In an interview Cole spoke about artists from the 1980s that influenced her, "Anita Baker, Her voice is incredible and her lyrics are deep, really listen to them. Big Daddy Kane, The original...you can’t think Brooklyn or door knockers and not think Big Daddy Kane, smooth operator: One of hip hop’s pioneers. LL Cool J, One of the first Mc’s to really dissect lyrics and turn them inside out; and he made it sexy! MC Lyte, The female MC that rhymes in such a way that you don’t care if she was male or female...her voice tone is crazy, and her lyrical game bananas. Queen Latifah, She represented the strong female MC, she showed us and taught us about flow and lyrical dexterity. Kid N' Play, They showed you how to take your rap game to the next level...movies!".^[28]

Discography[link]

• The Way It Is (2005)
• Just Like You (2007)
• A Different Me (2008)
• Calling All Hearts (2010)
• Woman to Woman (2012)

Tours[link]

• Sweatsuit Tour (opening for Nelly) (2005)
• Dreamin' Tour (performing with Young Jeezy) (2007)
• Double Up Tour (opening for R. Kelly) (2007)
• I Am Music Tour (opening for Lil Wayne) (2008)
• A Different Me Tour (headliner) (2009)
• Love Letter Tour (opening for R. Kelly) (2011)

Filmography[link]

Television

Films

• How She Move (2008) - Herself

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]