In September 2004, MusiCares acquired the Musicians Assistance Program, a similar program assisting musicians in need, including drug rehabilitation.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Neil Young |
|---|---|
| Landscape | yes |
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Neil Percival Young |
| Alias | Bernard Shakey, Joe Canuck OC, OM (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation. Young began performing as a solo artist in Canada in 1960, before moving to California in 1966, where he co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield along with Stephen Stills, and later joined Crosby, Stills & Nash as a fourth member in 1969. He then forged a successful and acclaimed solo career, releasing his first album in 1968; his career has since spanned over 40 years and 34 studio albums, with a continual and uncompromising exploration of musical styles. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice: first as a solo artist in 1995, and secondly as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997. |
The 1982 album Trans, which incorporated vocoders, synthesizers, and electronic beats, was Young's first for new label Geffen Records (distributed at the time by Warner Bros. Records, whose parent Warner Music Group owns most of Young's solo and band catalog) and represented a distinct stylistic departure. Young later revealed that an inspiration for the album was the theme of technology and communication with his son Ben, who has severe cerebral palsy and cannot speak. An extensive tour preceded the release of the album, and was documented by the video Neil Young in Berlin, which saw release in 1986.
Young's next album, 1983's Everybody's Rockin', included several rockabilly covers and clocked in at less than twenty-five minutes in length. Young was backed by the Shocking Pinks for the supporting U.S. tour. Trans had already drawn the ire of label head David Geffen for its lack of commercial appeal, and with Everybody's Rockin' following only seven months later, Geffen Records sued Young for making music "unrepresentative" of himself. The album was also notable as the first for which Young made commercial music videos – Tim Pope directed the videos for "Wonderin'" and "Cry, Cry, Cry". Also premiered in 1983, though little seen, was the eclectic full-length comedy film Human Highway, co-directed and co-written by Young, and starring Young and members of Devo.
1984 was the first year without a Neil Young album since the start of Young's musical career with Buffalo Springfield in 1966. Young's lack of productivity was largely due to the ongoing legal battle with Geffen, although he was also frustrated that the label had rejected his 1982 country album Old Ways. It was also the year when Young's third child, his second with wife Pegi was born; his daughter Amber Jean, a child who was later diagnosed with inherited epilepsy. Young spent most of 1984 and all of 1985 touring for Old Ways with his country band, the International Harvesters. The album was finally released in an altered form midway through 1985. Young also appeared at that year's Live Aid concert in Philadelphia, collaborating with Crosby, Stills and Nash for the quartet's first performance for a paying audience in over ten years.
Young's last two albums for Geffen were more conventional in genre, although they incorporated production techniques like synthesizers and echoing drums that were previously uncommon in Young's music. Young recorded 1986's Landing on Water without Crazy Horse, but reunited with the band for the subsequent year-long tour and final Geffen album, Life, which emerged in 1987. Young's album sales dwindled steadily throughout the eighties; today Life remains his all-time-least successful studio album, with an estimated four hundred thousand sales worldwide.
Switching back to his old label Reprise Records, Young continued to tour relentlessly, assembling a new blues band called The Bluenotes in mid-1987 (a legal dispute with musician Harold Melvin forced the eventual rechristening of the band as Ten Men Working midway through the tour). The addition of a brass section provided a new jazzier sound, and the title track of 1988's This Note's For You became Young's first hit single of the decade. Accompanied by a video that parodied corporate rock, the pretensions of advertising, and Michael Jackson, the song was initially unofficially banned by MTV for mentioning the brand names of some of their sponsors. Young wrote an open letter, "What does the M in MTV stand for: music or money?" Despite this, the video was eventually named best video of the year by the network in 1989. By comparison, the major music cable network of Young's home nation, Muchmusic, ran the video immediately.
Young reunited with Crosby, Stills and Nash to record the 1988 album American Dream and play two benefit concerts late in the year, but the group did not embark upon a full tour. The album was only the second-ever studio record for the quartet.
Young's 1989 single "Rockin' in the Free World", which hit #2 on the U.S. charts, and accompanying album, Freedom, rocketed him back into the popular consciousness after a decade of sometimes-difficult genre experiments. The album's lyrics were often overtly political; "Rockin' in the Free World" deals with homelessness, terrorism, and environmental degradation, implicitly criticizing the government policies of President George H.W. Bush.
The use of heavy feedback and distortion on several Freedom tracks was reminiscent of the Rust Never Sleeps album, and foreshadowed the imminent rise of grunge. The rising stars of the genre, including Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, frequently cited Young as a major influence, contributing to his popular revival. A tribute album called was released in 1989, featuring covers by alternative and grunge acts including Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Soul Asylum, Dinosaur Jr, and the Pixies.
Young's 1990 album Ragged Glory, recorded with Crazy Horse in a barn on his Northern California ranch, continued this distortion-heavy aesthetic. Young toured for the album with Orange County, California country-punk band Social Distortion and alternative rock pioneers Sonic Youth as support, much to the consternation of many of his old fans. Weld, a two-disc live album documenting the tour, was released in 1991. Still enamored with the grunge scene, Young reconnected with Pearl Jam in 1995 for the live-in-the-studio album Mirror Ball and a tour of Europe with the band and producer Brendan O'Brien backing Young. 1995 also marked Young's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he was inducted by Eddie Vedder.
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Young's next collaborative partner was filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, who asked Young to compose a soundtrack to his 1995 black and white western film Dead Man. Young's instrumental soundtrack was improvised while he watched the film alone in a studio. The death of longtime mentor, friend, and producer David Briggs in late 1995 prompted Young to reconnect with Crazy Horse the following year for the album and tour Broken Arrow. A Jarmusch-directed concert film and live album of the tour, Year of the Horse, emerged in 1997. From 1996–97 Young and Crazy Horse toured extensively throughout Europe and North America, including a stint as part of the H.O.R.D.E. Festival's sixth annual tour.
In 1998, Young renewed his collaboration with rock band Phish, sharing the stage at the annual Farm Aid concert and then at Young's Bridge School Benefit, where he joined headliners Phish for renditions of "Helpless" and "I Shall Be Released." Phish declined Young's later invitation to be his backing band on his 1999 North American tour.
The decade ended with the release in late 1999 of Looking Forward, another reunion with Crosby, Stills and Nash. The subsequent tour of the United States and Canada with the reformed super quartet earned $42.1 million, making it the eighth largest grossing tour of 2000.
In 2003, Young released Greendale, a concept album recorded with Crazy Horse members Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina. The songs loosely revolved around the murder of a police officer in a small town in California and its effects on the town's inhabitants. Young, under the pseudonym "Bernard Shakey", directed an accompanying film of the same name, featuring actors lip-synching to the music from the album. Young toured extensively with the Greendale material throughout 2003 and 2004, first with a solo, acoustic version in Europe, then with a full-cast stage show in North America, Japan, and Australia. Young began using biodiesel on the 2004 Greendale tour, powering his trucks and tour buses with the fuel. "Our Greendale tour is now ozone friendly,” Young said. “I plan to continue to use this government approved and regulated fuel exclusively from now on to prove that it is possible to deliver the goods anywhere in North America without using foreign oil, while being environmentally responsible.” Young spent the latter portion of 2004 giving a series of intimate acoustic concerts in various cities with his wife, who is a trained vocalist and guitar player.
In March 2005, while working on the Prairie Wind album in Nashville, Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. He was treated successfully with a minimally invasive neuroradiological procedure, performed in a New York hospital on March 29. Two days afterwards, Young passed out on a New York street from bleeding from the femoral artery, which surgeons had used to access the aneurysm. The complication forced Young to cancel his scheduled appearance at the Juno Awards telecast in Winnipeg, but within months he was back on stage, appearing at the close of the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ontario on July 2. During the performance, he debuted a new song, a soft hymn called "When God Made Me". Young's brush with death influenced Prairie Wind's themes of retrospection and mortality. The album's live premiere in Nashville was immortalized by filmmaker Jonathan Demme in the 2006 film .
Young's renewed activism manifested itself in the 2006 album Living With War, which was hastily recorded and released in less than a month. The album's overtly political songs rebuked U.S. President George W. Bush and the War in Iraq and included the provocatively titled "Let's Impeach the President". Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunited for the supporting "Freedom Of Speech Tour '06". CSNY Déjà Vu, a concert film of the tour directed by Young was released in 2008, along with an accompanying live album.
While Young had never been a stranger to eco-friendly lyrics, themes of environmentalist spirituality and activism became increasingly prominent in his work throughout the 1990s and 2000s, especially on Greendale and Living With War. The trend continued on 2007's Chrome Dreams II, with lyrics exploring Young's personal eco-spirituality. Also in 2007, Young accepted an invitation to participate in , contributing his version of "Walking to New Orleans".
In 2008, Young revealed his latest project, the production of a hybrid-engine 1959 Lincoln called Lincvolt. A new album loosely based on the Lincvolt project, Fork in the Road, was released on April 7, 2009. Unfortunately, the car caught fire in November, 2010, in a California warehouse, and along the way it burned an estimated $850,000 worth of Young's rock and roll memorabilia collection. Initial reports suggest the fire might have been triggered by an error in the vehicle's plug-in charging system. Young blamed the fire on human error and said he and his team were committed to rebuilding the car. "The wall charging system was not completely tested and had never been left unattended. A mistake was made. It was not the fault of the car," he said.
, England, on June 23 2009.]] A Jonathan Demme concert film from a 2007 concert at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, called the Neil Young Trunk Show premiered on March 21, 2009, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival in Austin, Texas. It was featured at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2009 and was released in the US on March 19, 2010 to critical acclaim.
Young's most recent album appearance was on the album Potato Hole, released on April 21, 2009 by Memphis organ player Booker T. Jones, of Booker T. & the MG's fame. Young plays guitar on nine of the album's ten instrumental tracks, alongside Drive-By Truckers, who already had three guitar players, giving some songs on the album a total of five guitar tracks. Jones contributed guitars on a couple of tracks.
Young continues to tour extensively. In 2009, he headlined the Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, England, at Hard Rock Calling in London (where he was joined onstage by Paul McCartney for a rendition of "A Day in the Life") and, after years of unsuccessful booking attempts, the Isle of Wight Festival in addition to performances at the Big Day Out festival in New Zealand and Australia and the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona.
Young currently lives in La Honda, California on the 1500-acre (6 km²) Broken Arrow Ranch, purchased in 1970 for $350,000 and named after one of his early Buffalo Springfield songs.
Three performances from the Performance Series of the archives were released individually before The Archives Vol. 1. Live at the Fillmore East, a selection of songs from a 1970 gig with Crazy Horse, was released in 2006. Live at Massey Hall 1971, a solo acoustic set from Toronto's Massey Hall, saw release in 2007. Sugar Mountain - Live At Canterbury House 1968, an early solo performance and, chronologically, the first disc in the performance series, emerged late in 2008.
In an interview in 2008, Neil Young discussed Toast, an album originally recorded with Crazy Horse in San Francisco in 2000 but never released. The album will be part of the Special Edition Series of the Archives. No release date currently exists for Toast. Another album Young has mentioned as a possible release is Treasure, from 1985 sessions with the Harvesters.
On July 14, 2009, Young's first four solo albums were reissued as remastered HDCD discs and digital downloads as discs 1–4 of the Original Release Series of the Archives.
As one of the original founders of Farm Aid, he remains an active member of the board of directors. For one weekend each October, in Mountain View, California, he and his wife host the Bridge School Concerts, which have been drawing international talent and sell-out crowds for nearly two decades with some of the biggest names in rock having performed at the event including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, The Who, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Tom Waits, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth, The Smashing Pumpkins, and Sir Paul McCartney and Dave Matthews. The concerts are a benefit for the Bridge School, which develops and uses advanced technologies to aid in the instruction of children with disabilities. Young's involvement stems at least partially from the fact that both of his sons have cerebral palsy and his daughter, like Young himself, has epilepsy.
Young was nominated for an Oscar in 1994 for his song "Philadelphia" from the film Philadelphia. Bruce Springsteen won the award for his song "Streets of Philadelphia" from the same film. In his acceptance speech, Springsteen said that "the award really deserved to be shared by the other nominee's song." That same night, Tom Hanks accepted the Oscar for Best Actor and gave credit for his inspiration to the song "Philadelphia".
He was part owner of Lionel, LLC, a company that makes toy trains and model railroad accessories. In 2008 Lionel emerged from bankruptcy and his shares of the company were wiped out. At this time his status with Lionel is unknown, according to Lionel CEO Jerry Calabrese he is still a consultant for Lionel. He was instrumental in the design of the Lionel Legacy control system for model trains
Young has twice received honorary doctorates. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1992, and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from San Francisco State University in 2006. The latter honour was shared with his wife Pegi for their creation of the Bridge School. In 2006, Young was given Manitoba's highest civilian honour, when he was appointed to the Order of Manitoba. In 2009, he was then given Canada's highest civilian honour, when he was appointed to the Order of Canada.
Rolling Stone magazine in 2000, ranked Young thirty-fourth in its list of the 500 greatest artists of all time, and in 2003, included five of his albums in its list of 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2000, Young was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2006, Paste magazine compiled a "Greatest Living Songwriters" list; Young was ranked second behind Bob Dylan. (While Young and Dylan have occasionally played together in concert, they have never collaborated on a song together, or played on each others' records). He ranked thirty-ninth on VH1's 100 Greatest Artist of Hard Rock that same year. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame explained that while Young has "avoided sticking to one style for very long, the unifying factors throughout Young’s peripatetic musical journey have been his unmistakable voice, his raw and expressive guitar playing, and his consummate songwriting skill." Dave Matthews lists Neil Young as one of his favorite and most inspirational songwriters and covers his songs on occasion. The British Indie band The Bluetones named their number one debut album after the song "Expecting to Fly" (written by Young when still with Buffalo Springfield and have covered the song while touring. Young also inspired Oasis singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher, with Gallagher covering "My My, Hey Hey (Into the Black)" on the live album Familiar to Millions.
The Australian rock group Powderfinger named themselves after Young's song "Powderfinger" from Young's Rust Never Sleeps. The members of the Constantines have occasionally played Neil Young tribute shows under the name Horsey Craze. While in Winnipeg on November 2, 2008 during the Canadian leg of his tour, Bob Dylan visited Young's former home in River Heights, where Young spent his teenage years. Dylan was interested in seeing the room where some of Young's first songs were composed.
Jason Bond, an East Carolina University biologist, discovered a new species of trapdoor spider in 2007 and named it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi after Young, his favorite singer (a previous similar case was the dinousaur Masiakasaurus knopfleri named after the musician Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits).
In 2001, Young was awarded the Spirit of Liberty award from the civil liberties group People for the American Way. Young was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year on January 29, 2010, two nights prior to the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. In addition was also nominated for two Grammy Awards; Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance ("Fork In The Road") and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package ["Neil Young Archives Vol. I (1963–1972)"]. Young won the latter Grammy Award. In 2010, Young was ranked #26 in Gibson.com’s Top 50 Guitarists of All Time.
Other notable (or odd) instruments played by Young include:
Category:1945 births Category:Living people
Category:Anti-Iraq War activists Category:Anti-Vietnam War activists Category:Buffalo Springfield members Category:Canadian country guitarists Category:Canadian country rock musicians Category:Canadian country singers Category:Canadian film directors Category:Canadian folk guitarists Category:Canadian folk singers Category:Canadian male singers Category:Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Canadian people of American descent Category:Canadian people of French descent Category:Canadian people of Irish descent Category:Canadian rock guitarists Category:Canadian rock singers Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:Canadian environmentalists Category:Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States Category:Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young members Category:Juno Award winners Category:Lead guitarists Category:Musicians from Manitoba Category:Writers from Manitoba Category:Members of the Order of Manitoba Category:Neil Young and Crazy Horse members Category:Musicians from Ontario Category:Writers from Ontario Category:Officers of the Order of Canada Category:People with epilepsy Category:People from Toronto Category:People from Winnipeg Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers
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| Name | Lea Michele |
|---|---|
| Caption | Michele at the Time 100 Gala in Manhattan, May 4, 2010. |
| Birth name | Lea Michele Sarfati |
| Birth date | August 29, 1986 |
| Birth place | The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, Singer, Dancer |
| Years active | 1995–present |
She played the role of Wendla in Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical version of Spring Awakening, starring in early workshops to Off-Broadway and finally originating the role in the Broadway production at the age of 20. Around the same time that the show was set to go to Broadway, she was offered the role of Eponine in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables. She chose to remain with Spring Awakening, which debuted on Broadway in December 2006. Michele was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance in Spring Awakening in the category of Outstanding Actress in a Musical.
On May 18, 2008, Michele left Spring Awakening with co-star Jonathan Groff. She performed in a reading of Sheik and Sater's new musical, Nero, in July 2008 at Vassar College. On August 8 through 10, 2008, Michele portrayed Eponine in the Hollywood Bowl's Les Misérables concert.
Michele is on the original Broadway cast recordings of Ragtime and Spring Awakening, as well as the 2003 Broadway revival cast recording of Fiddler on the Roof.
Michele stars in the Fox television series Glee, where she plays the star singer of a high school glee club, Rachel Berry. The pilot debuted on May 19, 2009. She has won a Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding ensemble performance and the 2009 Satellite Award for best actress. She also received nominations for an Emmy Award, two nominations for an Golden Globe Award, and Teen Choice Award for her performance in the role. Her cover of The All-American Rejects' "Gives You Hell" reached number one on the Irish charts and the top 40 on the US Billboard 200. Michele is featured lead singer in 14 of the top 20 selling glee songs as of 2010.
Michele was included in Time magazine's 2010 list of the 100 Most Influential People In the World. FHM named her #7 on 2010 Sexiest Women List, which was the highest ranking for a new entry on the list that year. AfterEllen.com named her #16 in Hot 100 of 2010, stating that "Lea Michele is just a perfect storm of hotness". Michele was named to Victoria’s Secret Sexy List 2010 as having the "Sexiest Smile". Michele was named to People Magazine's Best Dressed List of 2010 as "The Newbie". She was voted "2010 Most Stylish Star" by E! Online. E! Online also named Michele to its Top 10 celebrities of 2010 list at #7.
In 2010, Michele joined the cast of the animated film Dorothy of Oz, voicing the lead role of Dorothy Gale. That same year, she also joined the ensemble cast of Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve.
Readings/Workshops Burt Bacharach and Steven Satar collaboration (November 2009) Nero as Octavia (July 2008) Samson and Delilah as Delilah King as Anisette Spring Awakening as Wendla – Roundabout Theatre Company (2000 and June 2001)
Concerts/Events
Other projects
Film and television
Category:1986 births Category:Actors from New York City Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American female singers Category:American television actors Category:American vegans Category:American voice actors Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:American actors of Italian descent Category:American people of Spanish descent Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York City Category:People from Bergen County, New Jersey Category:People from the Bronx Category:Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:Animal rights advocates
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| Name | Barbra Streisand |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Barbara Joan Streisand |
| Born | April 24, 1942Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Genre | Broadway, traditional pop, adult contemporary |
| Occupation | singer-songwriter, actress, film producer, director |
| Other names | Mrs. Elliotvt Gould, Barbra Streisand Gould, Mrs. Barbra Gould, Ms. Barbra Streisand, Mrs. James Brolin, Barbra Gould Brolin, Barbra Streisand Gould Brolin, Mrs. Barbra Streisand, Mrs. Barbra Brolin |
| Years active | 1957–present |
| Label | Columbia Records |
| Url | |
| Spouse | Elliott Gould (1963–1971)James Brolin (1998–present) |
According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most top ten albums of any female recording artist - a total of 31 since 1963. Streisand has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest top ten albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became the only artist to achieve number-one albums in five consecutive decades. According to the RIAA, she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States. She attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn and joined the Freshman Chorus and Choral Club. Diana Rosen Streisand remarried and gave Barbra a half-sister who grew up to become a professional singer with the name Roslyn Kind.
Barbra Streisand became a nightclub singer while in her teens. She wanted to be an actress and appeared in summer stock and in a number of Off-Off-Broadway productions, including Driftwood (1959), with the then-unknown Joan Rivers. (In her autobiography, Rivers wrote that she played a lesbian with a crush on Streisand's character, but this was later refuted by the play's author.) Driftwood ran for only six weeks. When her boyfriend, Barry Dennen, helped her create a club act—first performed at The Lion, a popular gay nightclub in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1960—she achieved success as a singer. While singing at The Lion for several weeks, she changed her name to Barbra. One early appearance outside of New York City was at Enrico Banducci’s hungry i nightclub in San Francisco. In 1961, Streisand appeared at the Town and Country nightclub in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, but her appearance was cut short; the club owner did not appreciate her singing style. Streisand's first television appearance was on The Tonight Show, then hosted by Jack Paar, in 1961, singing Harold Arlen's A Sleepin' Bee. Orson Bean, who substituted for Paar that night, had seen the singer perform at a gay bar and booked her for the telecast. (Her older brother Sheldon paid NBC for a kinescope film so she could use it in 1961 to promote herself. Decades later the film was preserved through digitizing and is available for viewing on a website.) Streisand became a semi-regular on PM East/PM West, a talk/variety series hosted by Mike Wallace, in late 1961. Westinghouse Broadcasting, which aired PM East/PM West in a select few cities (Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and San Francisco), has since wiped all the videotapes because of the cost of videotape at the time. Audio segments from some episodes are part of the compilation CD Just for the Record, which went platinum in 1991. The singer said on 60 Minutes in 1991 that 30 years earlier Mike Wallace had been "mean" to her on PM East/PM West. He countered that she had been "self-absorbed". 60 Minutes included the audio of Streisand saying to him in 1961, "I like the fact that you are provoking. But don't provoke me."
In 1962, after several appearances on PM East/PM West, Streisand first appeared on Broadway, in the small but star-making role of Miss Marmelstein in the musical I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Her first album, The Barbra Streisand Album, won two Grammy Awards in 1963. Following her success in I Can Get It for You Wholesale, Streisand made several appearances on The Tonight Show in 1962. Topics covered in her interviews with host Johnny Carson included the empire-waisted dresses that she bought wholesale, to her "crazy" reputation at Erasmus Hall High School. It was at about this time that Streisand entered into a long and successful professional relationship with Lee Solters and Sheldon Roskin as her publicists with the firm Solters/Roskin (later Solters/Roskin/Friedman).
Streisand returned to Broadway in 1964 with an acclaimed performance as entertainer Fanny Brice in Funny Girl at the Winter Garden Theatre. The show introduced two of her signature songs, "People" and "Don't Rain on My Parade". Because of the play's overnight success she appeared on the cover of Time. In 1966, she repeated her success with Funny Girl in London's West End at the Prince of Wales Theatre. From 1965 to 1967 she appeared in her first four solo television specials.
Beginning with My Name Is Barbra, her early albums were often medley-filled keepsakes of her television specials. Starting in 1969, she began attempting more contemporary material, but like many talented singers of the day, she found herself out of her element with rock. Her vocal talents prevailed, and she gained newfound success with the pop and ballad-oriented Richard Perry-produced album Stoney End in 1971. The title track, written by Laura Nyro, was a major hit for Streisand.
During the 1970s, she was also highly prominent on the pop charts, with Top 10 recordings such as The Way We Were (US No. 1), Evergreen (US No. 1), No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) (1979, with Donna Summer), which as of 2010 is reportedly still the most commercially successful duet,(US No. 1), You Don't Bring Me Flowers (with Neil Diamond) (US No. 1) and The Main Event (US No. 3), some of which came from soundtrack recordings of her films.
As the 1970s ended, Streisand was named the most successful female singer in the U.S.—only Elvis Presley and The Beatles had sold more albums. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits Woman In Love (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), Guilty, and What Kind of Fool.
After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted No. 1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for album of the year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including On My Own (from Les Misérables), a medley of How Are Things in Glocca Morra? and Heather on the Hill (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera), Warm All Over (from The Most Happy Fella) and an unusual solo version of Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only Warm All Over and a reworked, lite FM-friendly version of All I Ask of You were ever released, the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her film directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities and previously unreleased material.
The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at No. 1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's Janet to the No. 2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of I Have A Love/One Hand, One Heart, a duet with the legendary Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.
In 1993, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century."
In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 – making Streisand the highest-paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top-grossing concert of the year and earn five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, while the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest-rated concert special in HBO's 30-year history.
Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on acting and directing duties as well as a burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin. In 1997, she finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely-inspirational nature which also featured a duet with Celine Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and, remarkably, once again debuted at No. 1 on the pop charts.
Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics carping about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly-lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged If You Ever Leave Me, a duet with Vince Gill.
On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, with the highest-grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the millennium, she was the number-one female singer in the U.S., with at least two No. 1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A two-disc live album of the concert entitled was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, in early 2000.
In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from paying public concerts. Her performance of the song People was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.
Streisand's most-recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous film themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.
In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song Smile alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th birthday album, Duets. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled Tony Bennett: An American Classic. The special aired on NBC November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opens the special.
In 2006, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with a featured stop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, (this was the concert Streisand chose to film for a TV special), and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as .
Streisand's 20-concert tour set box-office records. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062, and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006, show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999, show being the house record and the highest-grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.
A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, Live in Concert 2006, debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. The first concert took place in Zürich (June 18), then Vienna (June 22), Paris (June 26), Berlin (June 30), Stockholm (July 4, canceled), Manchester (July 10) and Celbridge, near Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 and 25), the only European city where Streisand had performed before 2007. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.
In February 2008, Forbes listed Streisand as the No. 2 earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has deepened over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century. Streisand is a contralto or possibly a mezzo-soprano who has a range consisting of well over two octaves from “low E to a high G and probably a bit more that in either direction.”
On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what will be her sixty-third album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album.
On April 25, 2009, CBS aired Streisand's latest TV special, , highlighting the aforementioned featured stop from her 2006 North American tour, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies. This performance was later released on DVD as One Night Only Barbra Streisand and Quartet at The Village Vanguard.
On September 29, 2009, Streisand and Columbia Records released her newest studio album, Love is the Answer, produced by Diana Krall. On October 2, 2009, Streisand made her British television performance debut with an interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross to promote the album. This album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and registered her biggest weekly sales since 1997, making Streisand the only artist in history to achieve No. 1 albums in five different decades.
On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World". Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.
Streisand will be honored as MusiCares Person of the Year on February 11, 2011, two days prior to the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Streisand is one of many singers who uses teleprompters during their live performances. Streisand has defended her choice in using teleprompters to display lyrics and, sometimes, banter.
During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976.
Along with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier and later Steve McQueen, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969, so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).
From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list. After the commercially disappointing All Night Long in 1981, Streisand's film output decreased considerably. She has only acted in five films since.
Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director. Prince of Tides received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but the director was not nominated. Streisand also scripted "Yentl", something she is not always given credit for. According to New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal in an interview (story begins at minute 16) with Allan Wolper, "the one thing that makes Barbra Streisand crazy is when nobody gives her the credit for having written 'Yentl'."
In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.
In 2005, Streisand's Barwood Films, Gary Smith, and Sonny Murray purchased the rights to Simon Mawer's book Mendel's Dwarf. In December 2008, she stated that she was considering directing an adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart, a project she has worked on since the mid-1990s In 2009, Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Streisand was one of several actresses (alongside Meryl Streep and Glenn Close) who were interested in playing the role of Norma Desmond in the film adaptation of Webber's musical version of Sunset Boulevard
In December 2010, Streisand appeared in Little Fockers, the third film from the Meet the Parents trilogy. She reprised the role of Roz Focker alongside Dustin Hoffman.
On 4 January 2011, the New York Post reported that Streisand was in negotiations to produce, direct, and star in a new film version of Gypsy. In an interview with the New York Post, Arthur Laurents said: "We've talked about it a lot, and she knows what she's doing. She has my approval." He said that he would not write the screenplay. The following day, the New York Times reported that Arthur Laurents clarified in a telephonic interview that Streisand would not direct the film "but playing Rose is enough to make her happy." Streisand's spokesperson confirmed that "there have been conversations".
Jon Peters' daughters, Caleigh Peters and Skye Peters, are her goddaughters.
Streisand shares a birthday with Shirley MacLaine, and they celebrate together every year.
Streisand is the older sister of singer/actress Roslyn Kind. Kind was born 9 January 1951 in Brooklyn, New York.
Streisand's philanthropic organization, The Streisand Foundation, gives grants to "national organizations working on preservation of the environment, voter education, the protection of civil liberties and civil rights, women’s issues and nuclear disarmament" and has given large donations to programs related to women's health. Streisand was named third most generous celebrity. The Giving Back Fund claimed Streisand donated $11 million, which The Streisand Foundation distributed.
At Julien’s Auctions in October 2009, Streisand, a long-time collector of art and furniture, sold 526 items with all the proceeds going to her foundation. Items included a costume from Funny Lady and a vintage dental cabinet purchased by the performer at 18 years old. The sale’s most valuable lot was a painting by Kees van Dongen.
Streisand is mentioned many times in television sitcoms. In the CBS 1993–1999 sitcom The Nanny, Fran Drescher's character Fran Fine, along with her entire family, is obsessed with the performer. And Fran is obsessed with the fact that many times she almost meets Ms. Streisand, most notably when her stepdaughter, Margret S. Sheffield, marries Michael Brolin, nephew of James Brolin who is Barbra Gould Brolin's husband.
Streisand is frequently mentioned in the sitcom Will & Grace, particularly by the character Jack McFarland. Songs made famous by Streisand, such as "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" from Yentl and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from The Broadway Album are reproduced by characters in the show.
The sitcom Friends refers to Streisand in at least two episodes. In "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister", Monica names a sandwich at her 1950s-styled restaurant after Barbra Streisand. A soup is also named after Streisand's movie Yentl. Meanwhile, in The One After 'I Do', Phoebe pretends she is pregnant with James Brolin's baby, to which Chandler Bing responds "[A]s in Barbra Streisand's husband, James Brolin?" In the same episode, Gould appears on the show as Ross and Monica's father.
At least four episodes of the animated sitcom The Simpsons refer to Streisand. Outside Springfield Elementary School, announcing Lisa's jazz concert and noting tickets have been sold out, is an advertisement for a Streisand concert in the same venue for the following day, with tickets still on sale. In another episode, after Marge undergoes therapy, she informs the therapist that whenever she hears the wind blow, she'll hear it saying "Lowenstein", Streisand's therapist character in The Prince of Tides, despite Marge's therapist having a completely different name. Another reference comes in "Sleeping with the Enemy" when Bart exclaims after seeing Lisa make a snow-angel in a cake on the kitchen table, "At least she's not singing Streisand". Nelson Muntz sings a song from Yentl earlier in the episode, which is the reason for Bart's reference. In "Simple Simpson", the on-stage patriotic western-singer says that Ms. Streisand is unpatriotic and could be pleased by spitting on the flag and strangling a bald eagle.
Another enduring satirical reference is in the animated series South Park, most notably in the episode "Mecha-Streisand", where Streisand is portrayed as a self-important, evil, gigantic robotic dinosaur with a terrible singing voice about to conquer the universe before being defeated by Robert Smith of The Cure. This was because she criticized South Park saying it was bad for children. On another occasion, the Halloween episode "Spookyfish" is promoted for a week as being done in "Spooky-Vision", which involves Streisand's face seen at times during the episode in the four corners of the screen. At the end of the feature film , her name is used as a powerful curse word, a gag repeated in the episode "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants". The Mecha-Streisand character made a return in the Season 14 episodes "200" and "201", as one of several celebrities the show had lampooned over the years.
In the episode titled "Ex in the City" from Season 2 of Sex and the City, protagonist Carrie Bradshaw likens herself and her lovelife to that of Streisand's character, Katie Morosky in The Way We Were before breaking into a rendition of the title song.
In the 2002–04 Icebox.com cartoon and animated TV series Queer Duck, the title character is obsessed with Streisand. He undergoes Christian-based conversion therapy to be made straight; only Barbra's magic nose can return him to his gayness.
In the 2005 Fox animated sitcom American Dad!, Season 5 Episode 1 shows Roger preparing to watch a Streisand special where the entertainer sings the collected works of Celine Dion in Las Vegas.
In Season 1 Episode 12 of Boston Legal aired in August 2005, Denny Crane boasts that he once had a threesome with Shirley Schmidt and Barbra Streisand. Schmidt corrects him by reminding him that "Barbra Streisand" was actually a female impersonator, whose penis should have been a clue.
In the 2007 Fox animated sitcom Family Guy, one episode shows Lois singing a cabaret act with "Don't Rain on My Parade"—originally sung by Streisand in Funny Girl—only slowed down and jazzier, as an act of defiance to Peter. In another episode, Peter received life insurance after Lois died and claimed that he has more money than Streisand. This was followed by a cut scene showing Streisand and her husband in their home. The husband asked for money and Streisand pressed one nostril of her nose and dollar bills came out the other nostril. Another earlier episode shows Streisand and husband James Brolin, with Streisand remarking "I'm glad I married you and not a celebrity".
Streisand is referenced frequently on the Fox TV musical series Glee. The character Rachel (Lea Michele) mentions that Streisand refused to alter her nose in order to become famous in the show's third episode Acafellas. Also, in the mid-season finale of Glee, Rachel sings the Streisand anthem "Don't Rain on My Parade". In the episode Hell-O, she says that she will be heartbroken for life, "Like Barbra in The Way We Were." Also in the episode Hell-O, Jesse St.James (Jonathan Groff) criticizes Rachel's performance of "Don't Rain on My Parade" by saying that she "lacked Barbra's emotional depth." In the episode Theatricality, Rachel is spying on the opposing team's dance rehearsal when the director, Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel), expresses dissatisfaction at the team's routine. She demonstrates how it's done with the title song from Funny Girl, and Rachel, sitting in the audience, whispers to her friend, "Exactly what I would have done--Barbra. I could do it in my sleep."
When Glee won the prize for "Best TV Series-Comedy Or Musical" at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards, creator Ryan Murphy quipped on stage, "Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press and Miss Barbra Streisand".
In the 1980 musical film Fame, one of the characters, Mrs. Finsecker, announces that Barbra Streisand did not have to change her name to get to the top. Also, Doris Finsecker, played by Maureen Teefy, sings "The Way We Were" for her audition to get into the drama department.
In the 1988 comedy, BIG, Tom Hanks goes home and to prove to his mother that he is her "little" boy he sings the first line of her favorite song, "Memories, like the corner of my mind..." from "The Way We Were."
In the 1993 romantic comedy Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams, while trying different looks to apply to the Mrs. Doubtfire character that he portrays, uses a wig "a la Streisand" and sings some lines from "Don't Rain on My Parade".
In the 1996 comedy "The Associate", Whoopi Goldberg plays a business woman, Laurel Ayers, who creates a business associate, Robert S. Cutty, who is said to have known and dated Streisand. In addition to having an autographed picture of Streisand in her office, Ayers also has a cross-dressing friend who dresses up to resemble Streisand throughout the film.
In the 1998 film adaptation of the novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a teenage runaway played by Christina Ricci paints images of Streisand while being administered large amounts of LSD by Hunter Thompson's Samoan attorney.
In the 1999 film based on the TV series, Cartman shouted out Barbra Streisand's name and shot electricity out of his hands. She is also mentioned in a relationship conversation between the characters of Satan and Saddam Hussein.
In the 2000 remake of the comedy Bedazzled, the Devil (Elizabeth Hurley) tells Elliot (Brendan Fraser): "It's not easy being the Barbra Streisand of evil, you know."
The characters Carla and Connie, as aspiring song-and-dance acts in the 2004 comedy Connie and Carla, include four Streisand references. They sing "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" and "Memory" at an airport lounge and "Don't Rain on My Parade" onstage in a gay bar, and talk about the plot of Yentl at the climax of the film after they ask how many in their audience have seen the movie (everyone raised their hands).
In the 2005 animated feature Chicken Little, Chicken's best friend Runt's mom says, after she thinks he is lying about seeing an alien spaceship, "Don't make me take away your Streisand collection!" and Runt returns with, "Mother, you leave Barbra out of this!"
Her name consists both the title and the complete lyrics of the "Barbra Streisand" disco house song by Duck Sauce which reached number 1 in the UK Dance charts. It also reached number 1 in several other countries.
The 2005 Broadway musical Spamalot carries the song "You won't succeed on Broadway" which references lines from "People" and "Papa, Can You Hear Me?".
The 2008 Broadway musical "Title of show" has a line where the character, Susan, was suggesting names for the title of the show. She threw out the name "Color Me Susan", a reference to Barbra's Color Me Barbra.
* Category:1942 births Category:1950s singers Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Actors from New York City Category:American dance musicians Category:American female pop singers Category:American film actors Category:American film directors Category:American musical theatre actors Category:American stage actors Category:American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Director Golden Globe winners Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Daytime Emmy Award winners Category:Emmy Award winners Category:English-language singers Category:Erasmus Hall High School alumni Category:Female film directors Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:Jewish singers Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Living people Category:New York Democrats Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People of Jewish descent Category:Tony Award winners Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients
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| Name | Randy Jackson |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Randall Darius Jackson |
| Born | June 23, 1956Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Music producer, musician, television personality |
| Instrument | Vocals, bass, keyboards |
| Genre | Rock, pop, R&B;, jazz, jazz fusion |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Label | Columbia |
| Associated acts | Journey, Boston, Brooke White, Mariah Carey, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Richie Sambora, Breakfast Club, Bruce Springsteen, Taxxi, Jermaine Stewart, Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham, Madonna, Blue Öyster Cult, Kimberley Locke |
Randall Darius "Randy" Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American bassist, singer, record producer, music manager, A&R; executive and television personality. He is best known as a judge on American Idol and Executive Producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. Jackson has won a Grammy Award as a producer.
As a result of the resignation of Simon Cowell, Jackson is left as the sole original judge on American Idol.
In 1985, Keith Richards was asked to provide music for the Whoopi Goldberg comedy vehicle Jumpin' Jack Flash. Richards assembled an all-star band which included Aretha Franklin on piano and lead vocals and Jackson on bass guitar. This song was the fourth track on Aretha's 1986 album titled Aretha. Jackson can be seen in the song's video.
In the late 1980s, Jackson was still doing sessions. He was notably on the first solo album by famed session guitarist Steve Lukather. Jackson was a featured bass guitarist on five songs on Maze's 1989 "Silky Soul" album.
Jackson was the bass guitarist on the 1991 self-titled Divinyls album (which features the song "I Touch Myself") as well as featured bassist on several tracks of Tracy Chapman's 1992 release, Matters of the Heart. He performed on the singles "Bang Bang Bang", "Open Arms", and "Dreaming on a World". That same year, Jackson also played bass on Bruce Springsteen's hit "Human Touch."
Jackson has recorded, produced, or toured with many well-known artists and bands, ranging from Mariah Carey (he has worked with her throughout her career, been her musical director for a number of her tours; he has formed part of her band during numerous performances including Live 8 in London in 2005) to *NSYNC, Whitney Houston, (produced) Dionne Farris' (critically acclaimed debut CD, Wild-Seed Wild-Flower), Céline Dion, Fergie (dating back to her days in Wild Orchid), Stryper, Whitesnake (he took over when former bassist broke his arm for a couple of shows in the late 80s), and Madonna (he played some bass on her album "Like a Prayer" although not on the single of the same name).Jackson played numerous times in Jean-Luc Ponty's backing band. His credits as a session musician range from playing with Aldo Nova, Blue Öyster Cult, Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Bolton, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Billy Cobham, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Ernie Isley, Billy Joel, Brent Bourgeois, Journey, Richard Marx, George Michael, Stevie Nicks, Imogen Heap, Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters to playing at the Grand Ole Opry with The Charlie Daniels Band. His production/songwriting work in the San Francisco Bay Area with Narada Michael Walden and Walter Afanasieff led Jackson to be in demand as a producer as well.
On March 11, 2008, Jackson released an album produced entirely by himself, titled Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1. The album's release was preceded by the single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" sung by Paula Abdul. In 2009, Randy began working with former Idol finalist Kimberley Locke, producing her 4th album. The lead single, "Strobe Light", was released March 16, 2010.
Jackson is the manager for the Charlotte, North Carolina based band Paper Tongues. The band, with the help of Jackson, signed with a major label, A&M;/Octone Records. Has also worked extensively with American DJ T.J. Roche, better known as TJ the DJ. He has also worked as an executive, spending eight years as vice president of artists and repertoire (A&R;) at Columbia Records and four years heading A&R; at MCA Records.
Since 2002, Jackson has been one of the panel judges on the Fox Network reality television series American Idol, along with Paula Abdul (from 2002–2009), Simon Cowell (from 2002–2010), Kara DioGuardi (from season 8), and, during season 9, Ellen DeGeneres. Jackson is under contract through the end of the ninth season of the show. In February 2010 Randy Jackson participated in "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" as part of the chorus.
Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:African American rock musicians Category:American Idol participants Category:American male singers Category:American music critics Category:American radio personalities Category:American record producers Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:American session musicians Category:American television personalities Category:A&R; people Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Idol series judges Category:Journey (band) members Category:Musicians from Louisiana Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
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| Name | Josh Klinghoffer |
|---|---|
| Background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth name | Joshua Adam Klinghoffer |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California |
| Born | October 03, 1979 |
| Genre | Alternative rock, avant-garde, experimental rock, electronica |
| Occupation | Musician, songwriter, producer |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Instrument | Guitar, synthesizer, bass, keyboards, piano, drums, vocals |
| Associated acts | Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Frusciante, Ataxia, Beck, Dot Hacker, The Bicycle Thief, Gnarls Barkley, Warpaint |
Josh Klinghoffer (born October 3, 1979) is an American musician, record producer and the current guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has also toured and played as a studio musician with numerous other artists, including The Bicycle Thief, Gnarls Barkley, Beck, the Butthole Surfers, John Frusciante, Golden Shoulders, Jon Brion, Neon Neon, PJ Harvey, Sparks, that dog., Thelonious Monster, The Insects, The Format, Vincent Gallo, and Warpaint.
In 2007, Klinghoffer joined the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the later part of the Stadium Arcadium tour as a backing musician where he provided backing vocals, keyboard instruments and a second guitar to the band.
On May 8, 2009, Klinghoffer, Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, Ron Wood and Ivan Neville performed under the name The Insects at a MusiCares event to honor Kiedis for his commitment to helping other addicts with addiction and recovery. Later that year Klinghoffer founded the band, Dot Hacker, of which he is the key songwriter, singer, rhythm guitarist and piano player.
In October 2009, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, minus John Frusciante, ended their two year hiatus and were joined by Klinghoffer in the studio to begin work on their tenth album. On January 29, 2010, Klinghoffer performed with the band for the first time as their lead guitarist at a MusiCares tribute event to Neil Young for a performance of Young's "A Man Needs A Maid." It was later revealed he would permanently replace Frusciante as guitarist. Klinghoffer was officially named the replacement for John Frusciante in early 2010 although he had been with the band since October 2009 writing music for the band's tenth studio album.
In May 2010, Klinghoffer along with Flea performed the United States national anthem at a Lakers home playoff game during the NBA Western Conference Finals series against the Phoenix Suns.
After eleven months of writing and rehearsing, the Chili Peppers began recording their new album on September 13, 2010. According to drummer Chad Smith, Klinghoffer would also sing, write music and play keyboards on the upcoming album, which is due out in 2011.
Eric Avery – TBA (2011) Paul Oakenfold - Pop Killer (2010) Red Hot Chili Peppers – Tenth studio album (2011)
Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:Butthole Surfers members Category:Red Hot Chili Peppers members Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American rock guitarists
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| Name | Jordin Sparks |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Jordin Brianna Sparks |
| Born | December 22, 1989Phoenix, Arizona |
| Genre | R&B;, pop, pop rock |
| Origin | Phoenix-Glendale, Arizona, United States |
| Instrument | Vocals, guitar |
| Occupation | Singer, actress, model |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Label | Jive, 19 |
| Url |
Sparks' second album Battlefield was released in July 2009 worldwide and debuted at #7 in the U.S., three spots higher than her first album. The album's lead single, also titled "Battlefield", peaked in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her third top 10 single and fifth consecutive top 20 single. Sparks is the only Idol contestant to have their first five singles reach the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Battlefield" has sold almost 2 million copies worldwide. Sparks has sold over 9 million singles worldwide to date, making her one of the most successful idol winners. Battlefield's second single, "S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)", was her first song to top the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play making it her first U.S. number one single. Sparks followed her success in 2010 by making her debut on Broadway. Sparks starred as Nina Rosario in the Tony Award winning broadway musical, In The Heights.
Before appearing on American Idol, Sparks participated in and won such talent competitions as Coca-Cola's Rising Star, the Gospel Music Association Academy's Overall Spotlight Award, America's Most Talented Kids, Colgate Country Showdown, and the 2006 Drug Free AZ Superstar Search. Prior to Idol, Sparks frequently performed the national anthem at various local sporting events, notably for the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Cardinals, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Sparks also appeared with Alice Cooper in his 2004 Christmas show and toured with Christian contemporary singer Michael W. Smith in 2006. In 2006, Sparks was one of six winners who won the Phoenix Torrid search for the "Next Plus Size Model". She was flown to California, where she was used in a number of Torrid ads and promotional pieces. A full-page ad for Torrid featuring Sparks ran in the December 2006 issue of Seventeen magazine.
Four selected songs Sparks had performed on American Idol, including the season's coronation song, "This Is My Now", were made available on her self-titled EP, released on May 22, 2007, the day before the grand finale. The coronation song, "This Is My Now" peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Sparks' first top fifteen hit on the chart. On August 27, 2007, she released her debut single, "Tattoo", which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Sparks' first top ten hit on the chart. and Australia. To date, "Tattoo" has sold over two million copies in the U.S.
Sparks released her self-titled debut studio album on November 20, 2007, which debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200. To date, it has sold over a million copies in the U.S It also became Brown's first song to hit three million. "No Air" also charted in Australia
On February 3, 2008, Sparks sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLII. She performed in a tribute to Aretha at the NAACP Awards in February, as well. She had previously performed in a tribute to Diana Ross in December 2007.
In support of the album, Sparks opened for Alicia Keys on the North America leg of her As I Am Tour, starting on April 19, 2008. Before the tour, a career-threatening throat injury forced Sparks to cancel a few weeks of the shows. Officials revealed she was suffering an acute vocal cord hemorrhage and was ordered strict vocal rest until the condition improved. Sparks was back on the road by April 30, 2008 and remained on the tour until June 18, 2008. Sparks later joined Keys for the tour leg in Australia and New Zealand in December 2008.
The album's third single, "One Step at a Time", was released in June 2008. It peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Sparks her fourth top twenty hit on the chart.
Sparks received two MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Female Video for "No Air" and Best New Artist at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. While at the awards show, Sparks caused controversy by responding to a joke made by host Russell Brand during his opening monologue, in which he held up a silver ring, claiming to have relieved one of the Jonas Brothers of their virginity, saying he would "take them more seriously if they wore it (the ring) around their genitals". Sparks who also wears a promise ring, began her introduction of T.I. and Rihanna by saying "It's not bad to wear a promise ring because not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut." In response to the controversy over her "slut" remark, Sparks told Entertainment Weekly that she doesn't regret the remark, commenting that "I wish I would've worded it differently – that somebody who doesn't wear a promise ring isn't necessarily a slut – but I can't take it back now." At the 2008 American Music Awards, Sparks won the award for Favorite Artist in the Adult Contemporary Category.
In support of the album, Sparks opened for The Jonas Brothers on the North America leg of the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009, starting on June 20, 2009. She also opened for Britney Spears on the second leg of her Circus Tour in North America, beginning on August 24, 2009. Sparks served as a replacement for Ciara.
"S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)", was released as the second single from Battlefield on September 15, 2009. The song topped the U.S Hot Dance Club Songs chart, becoming Sparks' first number one on the chart During this time, she recorded the duet, "Art of Love", with Australian artist Guy Sebastian for his fifth studio album, Like It Like That. The song reached the top ten in Australia The third single from Battlefield, "Don't Let It Go to Your Head", was released only in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2010, but did not chart.
In May 2010, Sparks embarked on her first headlining tour in the United States, the Battlefield Tour. It began on May 1, 2010 and ended on July 18, 2010, stopping in over 35 major cities in the United States. In support of the DVD/Blu-Ray re-release of the Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast, Sparks recorded a cover of the film's title track for the soundtrack. A music video for the song was released on October 18, 2010.
On May 3, 2010, it was announced that Sparks would join the cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway show "In the Heights" as Nina Rosario. Sparks took part in the production from August 19 through November 14 for a consecutive 12 weeks. In October 2010, Sparks released her debut fragrance "Because of You." This fragrance is currently being exclusively distributed at Dots, but by November will spread to other retail stores. The perfume is described as a "fruity floriental perfume" consisting of notes of "clementine, white imperial currant and orange blossom; a heart of nectarine, sharry baby orchid and coral charm peony; and a drydown of sheer musks, vanilla bean, Baltic amber and blond woods." Sparks wanted this product to be affordable for her fans, yet still high end. "When I was starting this project, I really wanted it to be affordable. I looked at some other celebrity fragrances, and they were like $80. Even now, I look at a fragrance that's $80, and I can't bring myself to spend that much."
On May 20, 2009, Sparks became an endorser for the Got Milk? campaign, an American advertising campaign encouraging the consumption of cow's milk. On September 17, 2009, Sparks took part in the VH1 Divas special, a concert created to support the channel's Save The Music Foundation The concert was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York where Sparks performed the second single from her Battlefield album, S.O.S. (Let the Music Play), as well as "A Broken Wing" with Martina McBride. In February 2010, Sparks was one of the many artists who contributed to "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", a charity single for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Sparks teamed up with Pennyroyal Silver creator and designer, Tim Foster to create her very own necklace design for the company's signature collection. Proceeds of the necklace funded medical units in Haiti.
On February 3, 2010, Sparks and David Archuleta performed at the "X the TXT" event, held at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. All proceeds raised by the event went to a number of charities, including the Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation. The following day both Sparks and Archuleta delivered teddy bears to children at the hospital. In June 2010, the "Thumbs Up to X the TXT" pledge campaign, established by "The Allstate Corporation", made it's way to Sparks' Battlefield Tour, presented by Mike & Ike to encourage teens and their families not to text while driving. Fans at Sparks' concerts made a pledge not to text and drive by adding their thumbprint to a traveling banner at each of her shows. The campaign began at Sparks' Battlefield Tour on June 3, 2010 and ended on July 18, 2010. Sparks is the main spokesperson for the "I’m M.A.D., Are You?" campaign. She also supports Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which helps to raise money for children with cancer. Sparks traveled to Louisiana in June 2010 to visit the Gulf Coast oil spill with the Audubon Society to view the effects of the oil spill on the wildlife and marshes. Sparks is also is a member of the National Youth Leadership Committee for the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration, along with Nick Jonas, Genvieve Ryan, and Brodi Conover.
Joint tours
Category:American pop singers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American evangelicals Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American female singers Category:African American singers Category:American child singers Category:American Idol winners Category:Jive Records artists Category:Musicians from Arizona Category:American female models Category:People from Glendale, Arizona Category:People from Phoenix, Arizona Category:1989 births Category:Living people
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| Name | Denise (née Eisenberg) Rich |
|---|---|
| Birth date | January 26, 1944 |
| Birth place | Worcester, Massachusetts, United States |
| Spouse | Marc Rich (1966-1996 - divorced) |
| Occupation | Songwriter, philanthropist |
| Nationality | American |
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | David Crosby |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | David Van Cortlandt Crosby |
| Born | August 14, 1941Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Instrument | VocalsGuitar |
| Genre | Folk rockRock |
| Occupation | SingerSongwriter |
| Years active | 1963–present |
| Label | Atlantic, A&M;, Rhino |
| Associated acts | The Byrds Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young CPR |
| Url | CrosbyCPR.com |
Crosby also attended Santa Barbara City College. The song turned into a massive hit, soaring to #1 in the charts in the U.S. and the U.K. during 1965. Crosby took the opportunity to hone his craft, and soon blossomed into a prolific and talented songwriter. His early Byrds efforts included the classic 1966 hit "Eight Miles High" (to which he contributed one line, while Clark and McGuinn wrote the rest), and its flip side "Why", co-written with McGuinn, which showed Crosby at his hard-edged best.
Crosby is widely credited with popularizing the song "Hey Joe", after he picked it up from Dino Valente. He taught the song to Bryan MacLean and Arthur Lee of Love, who then taught it to members of The Leaves. Since he felt responsible for having popularized the song, Crosby convinced the other members of the Byrds to cover it on Fifth Dimension. By Younger Than Yesterday, the Byrds' album of 1967, Crosby clearly began to find his trademark style.
Friction between Crosby and the other Byrds came to a head in mid 1967. Tensions were high after the famous Monterey Pop Festival in June, when Crosby's on-stage political discourses between songs generated ill-feeling. The next night he further annoyed McGuinn and Hillman when, at the invitation of Stephen Stills, he substituted for an absent Neil Young during Buffalo Springfield’s set. The internal conflict boiled over during recording of the album Notorious Byrd Brothers in August and September. Differences over song selections led to arguments, with Crosby being particularly adamant that the band should record only original material. McGuinn and Hillman dismissed Crosby in mid-September, after he refused to participate in the recording session of the Goffin and King song "Goin' Back". Crosby's controversial menage-a-trois song "Triad", recorded by the band before his dismissal, was left off the album. Jefferson Airplane recorded "Triad" and released it on their album Crown of Creation in 1968. David Crosby sang a solo acoustic version on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's 1971 double live album Four Way Street. The Byrds' version appeared decades later on the 1988 Never Before release and is now available on the CD re-release of Notorious Byrd Brothers.
In 1973 Crosby reunited with the original Byrds for the album Byrds, with Crosby acting as the record's producer. The album failed to be a critical or commercial success, and marked the final artistic collaboration of the original band.
Their first album, Crosby, Stills & Nash of 1969 was an immediate hit, spawning two Top 40 hit singles and receiving key airplay on the new FM radio format, in its early days populated by unfettered disc jockeys who then had the option of playing entire albums at once.
The songs he wrote while with CSN include "Guinnevere", "Almost Cut My Hair," "Long Time Gone," and "Delta". He also co-wrote "Wooden Ships" with Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane and Stephen Stills.
In 1969, Neil Young joined the group, and with him they recorded the album Déjà Vu, which went to number 1 on the charts. That same year, Crosby's longtime girlfriend Christine Hinton was killed in a car accident only days after Hinton, Crosby, and fellow girlfriend Debbie Donovan moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area. Crosby was devastated, and he began abusing drugs much more severely than he had before. Nevertheless, he still managed to contribute "Almost Cut My Hair" and the title track "Déjà Vu". After the release of the double live album Four Way Street, the group went on a temporary hiatus to focus on their respective solo careers.
In December 1969, David appeared with CSNY at the Altamont Free Concert hosted by The Rolling Stones, thus performing at all three of the iconic rock festivals of the 1960s: Altamont, Monterey Pop and Woodstock. At the beginning of the new decade, he briefly did a stint with Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart from the Grateful Dead, performing together as "David and the Dorks," and making a live recording at the Matrix on December 15, 1970.
CSNY reunited in 1973 at the Winterland in San Francisco. This served as a prelude to their highly successful stadium tour in the summer of 1974. Prior to the tour, the foursome attempted to record a new album entitled Human Highway. The recording session, which took place at Neil Young's ranch, was very unpleasant, and marked by constant bickering. The bickering eventually became too much, and the album was cancelled.
In rehearsals for the 1974 tour, CSNY recorded a then-unreleased David Crosby song, "Little Blind Fish." A different version of the song would appear on the second CPR album more than two decades later.
The 1974 tour was also full of constant bickering, though they managed to finish it without interruption. A greatest hits compilation entitled So Far was released during 1974 to capitalize on the foursome's reunion tour.
In 1976, as separate duos, Crosby & Nash and Stills & Young were both working on respective albums and contemplated retooling their work to produce a CSNY album. This attempt ended bitterly as Stills and Young deleted Crosby and Nash's vocals from their album Long May You Run.
CSNY would not perform together again as a foursome until Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985, and then performed only sporadically in the 1980s and '90s (mainly at the annual Bridge School Benefit organized by Young's wife Pegi). Without Young, however, Crosby, Stills & Nash has performed much more consistently since its reformation in 1977. The trio toured in support of their 1977 and 1982 albums CSN and Daylight Again and then, starting in the late-eighties, has toured regularly year after year. And while the group has continued to perform live to the present day, since 1982 it has released only four albums of new material: American Dream (1988, with Young), Live It Up (1990), After The Storm (1994), and Looking Forward (1999, with Young). In addition Crosby & Nash released the self-titled album Crosby & Nash in 2004.
Fullscale CSNY tours took place in 2000, 2002 and 2006.
Crosby, Stills and Nash appeared together on a 2008 episode of The Colbert Report, and "Neil Young" joined them during the musical performance at the end of the episode. However, eventually, it became clear that it was only Stephen Colbert impersonating Young as the group sang Teach Your Children.
As a duo Crosby and Graham Nash have released four studio albums and two live albums including Another Stoney Evening, which features the duo in a 1971 acoustic performance with no supporting band.
Some other popular songs Crosby wrote in the 1970s include "Where Will I Be?", "Carry Me", "Bittersweet", "Time After Time", "Foolish Man", and "In My Dreams".
Renewing his ties to the San Francisco milieu that had abetted so well on his solo album, Crosby participated in electronica composer Ned Lagin’s proto-ambient project Seastones, along with members of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Starship. He also sang back up vocals on "Highway Song" from the Hot Tuna album Burgers. In 1999, he appeared on , singing a duet of the title track with Lucinda Williams. Crosby & Nash also contributed harmony vocals to songs by James Taylor, notably "Lighthouse" and "Mexico".
Crosby also worked with Phil Collins occasionally from the late 1980s to the early 1990s; he sang backup to Collins in "Another Day in Paradise" and, on his own 1993 song, "Hero", from his album Thousand Roads, he had Collins singing backup.
In 2006 Crosby worked with David Gilmour on his third solo album On an Island along with Nash. You can hear Crosby and Nash sing along with Gilmour on the second track on the album "On an Island". The album was released in March 2006 and reached #1 quickly on the UK charts. Both Crosby and Nash also performed live with Gilmour in his concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London in May 2006 and toured together in the USA, which can be seen on Gilmour's 2007 DVD "Remember That Night".
Crosby has also voiced himself on two episodes of The Simpsons, "Marge in Chains" and "Homer's Barbershop Quartet".
Crosby suffers from obesity, has type 2 diabetes and is being treated with insulin to manage this disease.
At a concert in October 2008, Crosby, looking quite thinner than in recent years, announced to the audience that he'd recently shed 55 pounds.
In 1985, David Crosby, on probation for drunken driving, was arrested for hit-and-run driving and possession of a concealed pistol and drug paraphernalia. Crosby was arrested after driving into a fence in a Marin County suburb and officers found a .45-caliber pistol and cocaine in his car.
One of his famous stories is that while being interviewed, after being arrested, the reporter asked him: "Why did you have a gun?" Crosby responded, "John Lennon, man" and replied the same to every other of the questions.
On March 7, 2004, he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, illegal possession of a hunting knife, illegal possession of ammunition and illegal possession of about 1 ounce of marijuana. Crosby left said items behind in his hotel room. "Authorities said a hotel employee searched the suitcase for identification and found about an ounce of marijuana, rolling papers, two knives and a .45-caliber pistol. Mr. Crosby was arrested when he returned to the hotel to pick up his bag." After spending 12 hours in jail, he was released on $3500 bail. On July 4, 2004, he pleaded guilty to "attempted criminal possession of a weapon," was fined $5,000 and given no jail time. "Prosecutors did not seek a more severe penalty on the weapons charge because the pistol was registered in California and was stowed safely in his luggage when it was found. A charge of "unlawful possession of marijuana" was dismissed. "Mr. Crosby was discharged by the court on condition that he pay his fine and not get arrested again."
Crosby has two other children. He has a daughter, Donovan Crosby, with girlfriend Debbie Donovan. After extensive fertility treatments while Crosby's liver was failing, he and wife Jan Dance conceived son Django Crosby.
He is married to Jan Dance but had a number of long-term relationships, including those with Christine Hinton, Debbie Donovan and Joni Mitchell.
In January 2000, Melissa Etheridge, a lesbian musician announced that Crosby was the biological father of the two children she and her partner Julie Cypher had conceived by artificial insemination.
Crosby's brother Ethan, who taught him to play guitar and started his musical career with him, committed suicide in late 1997 or early 1998. The date is unknown because Ethan left a note not to search for his body and let him return to the earth. His body was found months later in May 1998.
Category:1941 births Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American male singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American people of Welsh descent Category:The Byrds members Category:Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young members Category:Living people Category:Musicians from California Category:Organ transplant recipients Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics
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| Name | Darren Everett Criss |
|---|---|
| Caption | Criss performing in November 2010 |
| Birth date | |
| Birth place | San Francisco, California |
| Known for | Team StarKidGlee |
| Occupation | actor, singer-songwriter |
Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American television actor, singer-songwriter and Internet personality. He is best known for his portrayals of Harry Potter in A Very Potter Musical and playing the role of Blaine, an openly gay student at Dalton Academy, in the second season of Glee.
Criss made his professional stage debut at the age of ten, in 42nd Street Moon's 1997 production of Fanny in the role of Cesario. The next year, Criss played Mauro in the same company's production of the Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim musical Do I Hear a Waltz, followed by Babes in Arms in 1999, in which he played Beauregard Calhoun.
Criss went on to attend the University of Michigan, graduating in 2009 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance, Acting.
On November 9, 2010, Criss joined the cast of Glee in the episode "Never Been Kissed" as Blaine, a gay student at a rival school. He is now a series regular for season 2 and 3. Criss had auditioned before for the show; he had auditioned to play Finn when the show was initially created. Glee creator Ryan Murphy stated, "Darren has a major, major arc... He sort of becomes Kurt's mentor and then maybe love - [Blaine] had to leave his own school because of bullying and goes to an all-boys academy and finds acceptance because that school has a zero-tolerance no-bullying policy. So Kurt really admires him and respects him. He plays someone who's one year older than Chris' character, so he's the old pro." Criss has been confirmed as a regular for the remainder of season two and for season three of Glee.
His work outside of Team StarKid and Glee includes his stint as Josh in the television series Eastwick and a guest-starring role in Cold Case.
He also frequently collaborates and performs with fellow Michigan alum, New York-based singer/songwriter Charlene Kaye. He sings on her song "Skin and Bones" and is featured in her music videos for "Skin and Bones" and "Magnolia Wine."
{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Television ! Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 2009 | Eastwick | Josh Burton | 5 episodes |- | 2010 | Cold Case | Ruben Harris '68 | Episode: "Free Love" |- | 2010–present | Glee | Blaine Anderson | Series Regular
|}
Category:1987 births Category:American Internet personalities Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American musicians of Filipino descent Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:Articles created via the Article Wizard Category:Living people Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:University of Michigan alumni
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| Name | Brian Wilson |
|---|---|
| Landscape | yes |
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Brian Douglas Wilson |
| Born | June 20, 1942Inglewood, California, United States |
| Instrument | Vocals, bass, piano, synthesizers |
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, surf rock, psychedelic pop, baroque pop, art rock, rock, pop |
| Occupation | Songwriter, bassist, pianist, vocalist, producer, composer, arranger |
| Years active | 1961–present |
| Label | Capitol/EMI RecordsSire/Reprise/Warner Bros. RecordsBrother/Reprise/Warner Bros. RecordsGiant/Warner Bros. RecordsCaribou/CBS RecordsNonesuch/Elektra Records |
| Associated acts | The Beach Boys |
| Url | BrianWilson.com |
| Notable instruments | Fender Precision BassBaldwin HT2R Theater Organ |
That same year, Wilson and his bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which refers to Wilson on its website as "One of the few undisputed geniuses in popular music". In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine published a list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time", and ranked Wilson number 52. Wilson won a Grammy Award in 2005 for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Fire)" as Best Rock Instrumental. He is also an occasional actor and voice actor, having appeared in television shows, films, and other music artist music videos.
Brian Wilson's father Murry Wilson told of Brian's unusual musical abilities prior to his first birthday, observing that the baby could repeat the melody from "When the Caissons Go Rolling Along" after only a few verses had been sung by the father. Murry stated, "He was very clever and quick. I just fell in love with him."
At about age two, Brian heard George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue", which had an enormous emotional impact on him. A few years later Brian was discovered to have extremely diminished hearing in his right ear. The exact cause of this hearing loss is unclear, though theories range from Brian's simply being born partially deaf, to a blow to the head from Brian's father, or a neighborhood bully, being to blame.
While father Murry was ostensibly a reasonable provider, he was abusive and hard to please, liable to dispense harsh punishments for minor or perceived misdeeds. But Murry, a minor musician and songwriter, also encouraged his children in this field in numerous ways. At a young age, Brian was given six weeks of lessons on a "toy accordion", and at seven and eight sang solos in church with a choir behind him.
By most accounts a natural leader by the time he began attending Hawthorne High School, Brian was on the football team as a quarterback, played baseball and was a cross-country runner in his senior year. However, most of his energy was directed toward music. He sang with various students at school functions and with his family and friends at home. Brian taught his two brothers harmony parts that all three would then practice when they were supposed to be asleep. He also played piano obsessively after school, deconstructing the harmonies of The Four Freshmen by listening to short segments of their songs on a phonograph, then working to recreate the blended sounds note by note on the keyboard. Brian received a Wollensak tape recorder on his sixteenth birthday, allowing him to experiment with recording songs and early group vocals.
Enlisting his cousin and often-time singing partner Mike Love, and Wilson's reluctant youngest brother Carl Wilson, Brian's next public performance featured more ambitious arrangements at a fall arts program at his high school. To entice Carl into the group, Wilson named the newly-formed membership "Carl and the Passions". The performance featured tunes by Dion and the Belmonts and The Four Freshmen ("It's a Blue World"), the latter of which proved difficult for the ensemble to carry off. However, the event was notable for the impression it made on another musician and classmate of Brian's who was in the audience that night, Al Jardine, later to join the three Wilson brothers and Mike Love in The Beach Boys.
Brian and his brothers Carl and Dennis Wilson along with Mike Love and Al Jardine first gelled as a music group in the summer of 1961, initially named the Pendletones. After being prodded by Dennis to write a song about the local water sports craze, Brian and Mike Love together created what would become the first single for the band, "Surfin'". Over Labor Day weekend 1961, Brian took advantage of the fact that his parents were in Mexico City for a couple days and intended to use the emergency money they had left for the boys to rent an amp, a microphone, and a stand-up bass. As it turned out, the money they had left was not enough to cover musical expenses, so Al Jardine appealed to his mother, Virginia for assistance. When she heard the group perform, she was suitably impressed and handed over $300 to help out. Al promptly took Brian to the music store where he was able to rent a stand-up bass. After two days of rehearsing in the Wilson's music room, Brian's parents returned home from their trip. Murry was irate, until Brian convinced him to listen to what they'd been up to. His father was convinced that the boys did indeed have something worth pursuing. He quickly proclaimed himself the group's manager and the band embarked on serious rehearsals for a proper studio session. Recorded by Hite and Dorinda Morgan and released on the small Candix label, "Surfin'" became a top local hit in Los Angeles and reached number seventy-five on the national Billboard sales charts.
Dennis later described the first time Brian heard their song on the radio as the three Wilson brothers (and soon-to-be-band member David Marks) drove in Brian's 1957 Ford in the rain: "Nothing will ever top the expression on Brian's face, ever ... THAT was the all-time moment."
However, the Pendletones were no more. Without the band's knowledge or permission, Candix Records had changed their name to The Beach Boys.
Looking for a followup single for their radio hit, Brian and Mike wrote "Surfin' Safari", and attempts were made to record a usable take at World Pacific, including overdubs, on February 8, 1962, along with several other tunes including an early version of "Surfer Girl". Only a few days later, discouraged about the band's financial prospects, and objecting to adding some Chubby Checker songs to The Beach Boys live setlist, Al Jardine abruptly left the group.
Murry Wilson had become The Beach Boys manager, and when Candix Records ran into money problems and sold the group's master recordings to another label, Murry terminated the contract. Brian, worried about The Beach Boys' future, asked his father to help his group make more recordings. But Murry and Hite Morgan (who at this point was their music publisher) were turned down by a number of Los Angeles record companies.
As "Surfin'" faded from the charts, Brian, who had forged a songwriting partnership with Gary Usher, created several new tunes, including a car song, "409", that Usher had helped write. Recruiting Carl and Dennis' friend, thirteen-year-old neighbor David Marks, who had been playing electric guitar (and practicing with Carl) for years, Brian and the revamped Beach Boys cut new tracks on April 19 at Western Recorders including an updated "Surfin' Safari" and "409". These tunes convinced Capitol Records to release the demos as a single; they became a double-sided national hit.
Recording sessions for the band's first album took place in Capitol's basement studios (in the famous tower building) in August 1962, but early on Brian lobbied for a different place to cut Beach Boy tracks. The large rooms were built to record the big orchestras and ensembles of the 50s, not small rock groups. At Brian's insistence, Capitol agreed to let The Beach Boys pay for their own outside recording sessions, which Capitol would own all the rights to, and in return the band would receive a higher royalty rate on their record sales. Additionally, although it was very rare at the time for rock and roll band members to have a say in the process of making their records, during the taping of their first LP Brian fought for, and won, the right to be totally in charge of the production- though his first acknowledged liner notes production credit did not come until the band's third album Surfer Girl, in 1963.
January 1963 saw the recording of the first top-ten (cresting at #3 in the United States) Beach Boys single, "Surfin' USA", which began their long run of highly successful recording efforts at Hollywood's Western Recorders on Sunset Boulevard. It was during the sessions for this single that Brian made the production decision from that point on to use doubletracking on the group's vocals, resulting in a deeper and more resonant sound.
The tune, adapted from (and eventually partially credited to) Chuck Berry, is widely seen as emblematic of the early 60s American rock cultural experience. The Surfin' USA album was also a big hit in the United States, reaching number two on the national sales charts by early July, 1963. Brian and his group had become a top-rank recording and touring music band.
He also began working with other artists in this period. On July 20, 1963, "Surf City", which he had co-written with Jan and Dean, was the first surfing song to reach the pinnacle of the sales charts. While Brian was excited and happy, his father (and still-manager) Murry and Capitol Records were less than thrilled. Indeed, openly enraged by Brian's chart-topping effort for what he saw as a rival band, Murry went so far as to order his oldest son to sever any further efforts with Jan and Dean.
Brian's other non-Beach Boy work in this period included tracks by The Honeys, Sharon Marie, The Timers, and The Survivors. Feeling that surfing songs had become limiting, Brian decided to produce a set of largely car-oriented tunes for The Beach Boys' fourth album Little Deuce Coupe, which was released in October 1963, only three weeks after the Surfer Girl LP. The departure of guitarist David Marks from the band that month meant that Brian was forced to resume touring with The Beach Boys, for a time reducing his availability in the recording studio.
During the Pet Sounds sessions, Wilson had been working on another song, which was held back from inclusion on the record as he felt that it was not sufficiently complete. The song, "Good Vibrations", set a new standard for musicians, and what could be achieved in the recording studio. Recorded in multiple sessions and in numerous studios, the song eventually cost $50,000 to record within a six month period. In October 1966, the song was released as a single, giving The Beach Boys their third U.S. number-one hit—alongside "I Get Around" and "Help Me, Rhonda"—and it sold over a million copies.
:[A] combination of factors, including litigations against the record company and increasing animosity between Wilson and the rest of the band, meant that in May 1967 Wilson pulled the plug on the record... [Mike] Love had already dismissed "Good Vibrations "as "avant-garde shit" and objected to the way Wilson, Parks and a group of highly skilled session musicians were creating music way beyond his understanding... By March 1967, the bad feeling got too much for Parks and, having no desire to break up The Beach Boys, he walked out.
Following the cancellation of Smile, The Beach Boys relocated to a recording studio within the confines of Brian Wilson's mansion, where the hastily compiled Smiley Smile album was assembled, along with a number of future Beach Boys records. This marked the end of Wilson's leadership within the band, and has been seen to be "the moment when the Beach Boys first started slipping from the vanguard to nostalgia."
Wilson spent the majority of the following three years in his bedroom sleeping, taking drugs, and overeating. During this time, his voice deteriorated significantly as a result of chain smoking, drug ingestion and neglect. Many of his "new" contributions to Beach Boys albums were remnants of Smile (e.g., "Cabinessence", "Surf's Up"), and those that were genuinely new reflected his depression and growing detachment from the world ("'Til I Die", the EP "Mount Vernon and Fairway"). Reportedly, Warner Bros. Records was so desperate for material from Wilson that the single "We Got Love" (co-written by Ricky Fataar, Blondie Chaplin, and Love) was scrapped from the Holland album in favor of "Sail On, Sailor", a song mostly written by committee (including Chaplin, Almer and Parks) that happened to draw its initial germ from a Wilson chord sequence.
In 1975, Wilson's wife and family enlisted the services of controversial therapist Eugene Landy in a bid to help Wilson, and hopefully help revive the group's ailing profile. Wilson did not stay under Landy's care for long, but during this short period, the doctor managed to help him into a more productive, social frame of mind. The new album 15 Big Ones, consisting of oldies and some new songs was released in 1976 and Wilson began to regularly appear live on stage with the band. A Love-orchestrated publicity campaign announced that "Brian is Back". He was also deemed to be well enough to do a solo performance on Saturday Night Live in November 1976. In 1977, the cult favorite Love You was released, consisting entirely of new material written and performed by Wilson. He continues to say it is his favorite Beach Boys album.
By 1982, Eugene Landy was once more called into action, and a more radical program was undertaken to try to restore Wilson to health. This involved firing him from The Beach Boys, isolating him from his family on Hawaii, and putting him onto a rigorous diet and health regimen. This, coupled with long, extreme counseling sessions, continued to bring Wilson back to reality. He lost a tremendous amount of weight, was certainly healthier and more conversant than previously, but he was also under a strict level of control by Landy. Wilson's recovery continued as he joined the band on stage in Live Aid in 1985, and recorded the album The Beach Boys with the group.
Dr. Landy provided a Svengali-like environment for Wilson, controlling his every movement in his life, including his musical direction. Landy's misconduct would eventually lead to the loss of his psychologist license, as well as a court-ordered removal and restraining order from Wilson.
Some years later, during his second marriage, Wilson was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type which supposedly caused him to hear voices in his head. By 1989 the rumor was that Brian either had a stroke or had abused too many drugs and was permanently "fried". a neurological condition marked by involuntary, repetitive movements, that develops in about 20% of patients treated with antipsychotic drugs for a long period of time. Wilson's drug regimen has now been reduced to a mild combination of antidepressants, and he has resumed recording and performing.
The effects of Brian Wilson's mental illness on his parenting skills were discussed by Wilson's daughter Wendy during her appearance in an episode of the British reality television program Supernanny. Wilson's daughter Carnie and granddaughter Lola also made an appearance on the episode. The effects of Brian Wilson's mental illness are also referenced in the Barenaked Ladies song "Brian Wilson".
Wilson released a solo album, Brian Wilson, in 1988 and a memoir, Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story, in which he spoke for the first time about his troubled relationship with his abusive father Murry and his "lost years" of mental illness. Although it was written following interviews with Brian and others, Landy was largely responsible for the book, in conjunction with People magazine writer Todd Gold. The book describes Landy in terms that could be called messianic. In a later lawsuit over the book, instigated by several family members including his brother Carl and mother Audree, Wilson testified in court that he hadn't even read the final manuscript. As a result, the book was taken out of press some years later.
A second solo album made for Sire, entitled Sweet Insanity, was never released. Landy's illegal use of psychotropic drugs on Wilson and his influence over Wilson's financial affairs was legally ended by Carl Wilson. In 1995, Wilson married Melinda Ledbetter. The couple adopted two girls, Daria Rose and Delanie Rae, in 1998; a boy, Dylan, in 2004; a boy, Dash Tristan; and a girl, Dakota Rose, in 2010 in 2009. Wilson has two daughters from his first marriage to Marilyn Rovell: Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson, who would go on to musical success of their own in the early 1990s as two-thirds of Wilson Phillips.
Also in 1995, he released two albums, albeit neither containing any new original Wilson material, almost simultaneously. The first, the soundtrack to Don Was's documentary I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, consists of re-recorded versions of songs from his Beach Boys and solo catalogue produced by Was, along with a 1976-vintage demo recording. The second, Orange Crate Art, saw Wilson as lead vocalist, multitracked many times over, on an album of songs produced, arranged and (mostly) written by Van Dyke Parks, and was released as a duo album under both men's names.
His final release as part of the group was on the 1996 album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1, a group collaboration with select country music artists singing the lead vocals. After considerable mental recovery, he mended his relationship with his daughters Carnie and Wendy and the three of them released an album in 1997 titled The Wilsons.
In 1996 Wilson sang backup on Belinda Carlisle's "California."
Wilson released a second solo album of mostly new material, Imagination, in 1998. Following this, he received extensive vocal coaching to improve his voice, and learned to cope with his stage fright and started to play live for the first time in decades, going on to play the whole Pet Sounds album live on his tours of the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe.
A new studio album, Gettin' in Over My Head, was released on June 22, 2004. It featured collaborations with Elton John, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, and Wilson's deceased brother Carl. Clapton played on the track "City Blues." The album was almost entirely composed of re-recordings of unreleased material, and received mixed reviews.
The debut performance at the RFH was a defining moment for Brian. The documentary DVD of the event shows Brian preparing for the big day and, right up to show time, expressing doubts over the concept of putting this legendary work before the public. After an opening set of Beach Boys classics, he climbed back on stage for a rousing performance of the album. A 10-minute standing ovation followed the concert; the DVD shows a sprinkling of rock luminaries in the crowd, such as Roger Daltrey, Paul Weller, Sir George Martin and Sir Paul McCartney (although neither Martin nor McCartney attended the opening night, contrary to what the DVD implies).
Smile was then recorded through April to June and released in September, to wide critical acclaim. The release hit #13 on the Billboard chart. The 2004 recording featured his backup/touring band, including Beach Boys guitarist Jeff Foskett, members of the Wondermints and backup singer Taylor Mills. In this version, "Good Vibrations" features Tony Asher's original lyrics in the verses, instead of Mike Love's lyrics from the released 1966 version.
Wilson won his only Grammy Award in 2005 for the track "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Fire)" as Best Rock Instrumental. In 2004 Smile was taken on the road for a thorough tour of Australia, New Zealand and Europe. In December 2005, he also released What I Really Want for Christmas for Arista Records. The release hit #200 on the Billboard chart, though sales were modest. Wilson's remake of the classic "Deck The Halls" became a surprise Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit.
Though no longer a part of The Beach Boys touring band, Brian Wilson remains a member of the Beach Boys corporation, Brother Records Incorporated.
In September 2005, Wilson arranged a charity drive to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina, wherein people who donated $100 or more would receive a personal phone call from Wilson. According to the website, over $250K was raised. In November 2005, former bandmate Mike Love sued Wilson over "shamelessly misappropriating... Love's songs, likeness, and the Beach Boys trademark, as well as the 'Smile' album itself" in the promotion of Smile. The lawsuit was ultimately thrown out of court on grounds that it was meritless.
On November 1, 2006, Wilson kicked off a small but highly anticipated tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of Pet Sounds. He was joined by Al Jardine.
Wilson released a new album That Lucky Old Sun on September 2, 2008. The piece originally debuted in a series of September 2007 concerts at London's Royal Festival Hall, and in January 2008 at Sydney's State Theatre while headlining the Sydney Festival. Wilson describes the piece as "consisting of five 'rounds', with interspersed spoken word". A series of US and UK concerts led up to its release.
On September 30, 2008, Seattle's Light in the Attic Records released A World of Peace Must Come, a collaboration between Wilson and Stephen Kalinich, originally recorded in 1969, but later lost in Kalinich's closet.
In 2000, Wilson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Paul McCartney introduced Brian, referring to him as "one of the great American geniuses."
On May 10, 2004, Wilson was honored as a BMI Icon at the 52th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was saluted for his "unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers."
Category:American composers Category:American record producers Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Sire Records artists Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Nonesuch Records artists Category:Giant Records artists Category:Musicians from California Category:People from the Greater Los Angeles Area Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:The Beach Boys members Category:1942 births Category:Songwriters from California Category:Living people Category:People with schizophrenia
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| Name | Ace Frehley |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Paul Daniel Frehley |
| Alias | Ace Frehley |
| Born | April 27, 1951The Bronx, New York, United States |
| Died | |
| Instrument | Guitar, vocals, bass |
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal |
| Occupation | Musician, songwriter |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Label | Casablanca, Mercury, Megaforce, Bronx Born Records |
| Associated acts | Cathedral, Wicked Lester, Kiss, Frehley's Comet, Ace Frehley |
| Url | www.acefrehley.com |
| Notable instruments | Gibson Les Paul Marshall Amplifiers |
Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley (; born April 27, 1951) is an American musician best known as an original member of the rock band Kiss. He took on the persona of the "Spaceman" or "Space Ace" when the band adopted costumes and theatrics. Frehley played with the group from its inception in 1973 until his departure in 1982.
After leaving Kiss, Frehley embarked on a solo career, which was put on hold when he rejoined Kiss in 1996 for a highly successful reunion tour. His second tenure with Kiss lasted until 2002, when he left at the conclusion of what was purported to be the band's Farewell Tour. His latest album, Anomaly, was released on September 15, 2009.
When Frehley's band, Cathedral, started earning a series of paying gigs, Frehley dropped out of high school. At the insistence of his family and girlfriend, Frehley eventually returned and earned his diploma. After graduation, Frehley held a string of short-term jobs—mail carrier, furniture deliverer, messenger, and liquor store delivery boy.
Growing up on the corner of Marion Avenue and 201st Street, off Bedford Park Boulevard (a/k/a 200th Street) and Webster Avenue in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx, Frehley graduated Grace Lutheran School at age 13. However, he was thrown out of two high schools and dropped out of the third. Two of the high schools he attended were DeWitt Clinton High School on Mosholu Parkway and Theodore Roosevelt High School on Fordham Road. It was in his high school years that he got the nickname "Ace" when he had the ability to get his friends dates. His friends said, "You are a real ace." It was also in his high school years that a guidance counselor encouraged him to get into graphic arts. (On a side note, Frehley did well in the arts department in high school. Later in 1993, he would use his graphic arts skills to produce art work from a computer and sell the work in an art gallery in New Jersey). His family did not have a lot of money, and in his teen years, Frehley got involved in street gangs. He would later credit guitar playing for "saving his life" as a member of Kiss.
Kiss released their debut album, Kiss, in February 1974—Frehley's sole songwriting contribution was "Cold Gin". Due to Frehley's lack of confidence in his own singing voice, however, the vocals were performed by Simmons. Frehley wrote or co-wrote several of the band's songs over the next few years but didn't record his vocals on a song until "Shock Me" (inspired by his near-electrocution during a concert in Lakeland, Florida), which appeared on 1977's Love Gun.
As lead guitarist, Frehley was known for his frenetic, atmospheric playing, becoming one of the most popular guitarists in the 70s and spawning a generation of new players. Frehley stated in the book Kiss: Behind the Mask that many guitarists have told him his playing on 1975's hit Alive! prompted them to pick up the instrument. Frehley is well recognized for using Gibson Les Paul guitars, including his trademarked model conversion Cara Guitars which filled the stage full of smoke during his live guitar solo.
Along with the three other Kiss members, Frehley released an eponymous solo album in 1978. His was the best-selling of the four, and the album's lone single — the Russ Ballard-written "New York Groove"), originally recorded by Hello — reached the Top 20 in the United States.
Frehley's songwriting presence within the group increased in 1979. He contributed three songs for 1979's Dynasty and three for 1980's Unmasked. While this was not the best time for Kiss on a commercial level in the United States, they were only just beginning to take off in other countries (mostly in Australia, where Dynasty and Unmasked are their highest-selling albums). But even as his songwriting role within Kiss was increasing, Frehley found himself increasingly at odds with the musical direction of the band. After Peter Criss left Kiss in 1980, Frehley was often outvoted 2-1 in band decisions, as replacement drummer Eric Carr was not a partner in Kiss and had no vote. Frehley's participation in the recording of 1981's Music from "The Elder" was far more limited than with previous albums. This was in large part due to his unhappiness with the band's decision to create a concept album rather than a straightforward rock album, and also, by Frehley's own admission, his "not relating all that well" to producer Bob Ezrin, who cut many of Frehley's solos from the recorded tracks.
Exacerbating the situation was Frehley's escalating erratic behavior related to substance abuse (documented in the book Kiss & Tell by Gordon G.G. Gebert and Bob McAdams). In April 1982, Frehley was involved in a serious car accident (police records showed drummer Anton Fig was the driver when actually Ace Frehley was the driver - Ace Frehley confessed to Gordon G.G. Gebert, author of the book Kiss & Tell, that Anton "took the rap" for that accident). In May, he led police on a 90-mph car chase on the Bronx River Parkway. This incident led to a $600 fine and a six-month suspension of his driver's license. Although Frehley appeared on the covers for 1982's greatest hits album Killers and studio album Creatures of the Night, he had no involvement with Killers, and minimal (no musical) input on Creatures of the Night. Frehley's last appearances with the band were the video for "I Love it Loud," a series of European promotional appearances in November 1982 and a band interview with MTV in early 1983 promoting their world tour.
After a few unsuccessful attempts at securing a recording contract, the group eventually signed to Megaforce Records and released their first album, Frehley's Comet, on July 7, 1987. The album was co-produced by Eddie Kramer, who had produced not only a number of Kiss albums, but Frehley's 1978 album and some of his 1984-85 demos. Anton Fig, now being the in-studio drummer for David Letterman's late-night television show, performed on the album but was unable to maintain a permanent commitment to touring. He played on the 1987 tour in the U.S. when Frehley's band played a double bill with Y&T;, and new band (at the time) White Lion opening the shows. By the time the band began recording this album, Richie Scarlet had left the group to pursue other projects and was replaced by Tod Howarth. In addition, at some point between the initial Frehley's Comet shows in 1984-85 and their signing to Megaforce, the band had become a four-piece, with Arthur Stead no longer playing with the group.
Frehley's Comet, a mixture of hard rock and pop metal, was a successful return to the music scene for Frehley. The album peaked at #43 on the Billboard 200 (selling nearly 500,000 copies
In order to reverse his band's declining commercial fortunes, Frehley dropped the Frehley's Comet moniker and issued 1989's Trouble Walkin' under his own name. Tod Howarth and Jamie Oldaker also decided to leave before recording started on the album, and were replaced by Richie Scarlet and Sandy Slavin. Despite the return to a more traditional hard rock style, Trouble Walkin' continued the pattern of declining sales, and peaked at #102.
One notable aspect of Trouble Walkin' was the guest appearance of Peter Criss, who provided backing vocals on several tracks, along with Sebastian Bach and other members of Skid Row. It was the first time Criss and Frehley had performed together on an album since Kiss' 1979 album, Dynasty, although Criss had shown up briefly at a Frehley's Comet show in Los Angeles in 1987, playing drums on a final encore of "Deuce". Frehley would return the favour by playing solos on Peter's 'CRISS' "Cat #1" CD on TNT Records, released in 1994. In contrast to the somewhat adversarial relationship Frehley had with Kiss (particularly Gene Simmons) throughout the 1980s, he and Criss had maintained good ties during the decade. In June 1995, Frehley's and Criss' bands embarked on the "Bad Boys Tour." These years (1993 to 1995) produced one of Frehley's most talented bands of his solo career, with Frehley on lead guitar and vocals, Richie Scarlet on guitar, Steve "Budgie" Werner on drums, and Karl Cochran on bass.
The reunited Kiss issued Psycho Circus in September 1998. Frehley's lone song on the album, "Into the Void," was performed during the subsequent tour. The Psycho Circus tour, with new stage costumes (an updated version of those worn on their 1976 Destroyer tour), and a modified stage production from the Reunion tour, commenced in November of 1998, after a Halloween Eve show at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium for over 40,000 fans, the first 30 minutes broadcast live on FOX TV, and the entire show broadcast on nationwide radio. (At the Dodger Stadium show, Frehley and Kiss performed old classics "Nothin' To Lose" and "She" for the only time since they were together in the 1970s). But the Psycho Circus tour was not nearly as successful as the Reunion tour of two years earlier, and, after a Kiss movie "Detriot, Rock City" which was a dismal flop in the fall of 1999, Kiss took a break until early 2000, when Frehley re-signed to join them for a final tour—the "Farewell Tour", beginning March 11, 2000. Frehley, expecting that the tour would be Kiss' last, chose not to remain in the band when it ended. His last performance with Kiss was on February 24, 2002, during the closing ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Frehley appeared with Rob Zombie, Slash, Tommy Lee, Scott Ian, and Gilby Clarke on VH1's Rock Honors special on May 31, 2006. This supergroup played Kiss' "God of Thunder." He has also attempted acting (not counting a walk-on in the "...Thirteen Years Later" episode of Millennium or his part in Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park), making his debut in 2004 in Remedy, an independent crime drama produced by actor/producer Jonathan Doscher, with Sopranos stars Frank Vincent and Vincent Pastore, playing a drug dealer with a heart of gold named Johnny. In July 2007, a Dunkin' Donuts television commercial directed by Zach Braff began airing that featured Frehley playing in his Kiss makeup and costume.
In 2007, Peter Criss dedicated the final track of his new solo album, One for All, to Frehley. The song is titled "Space Ace" and features biographical lyrics and a very Pink Floyd-like atmosphere.
Frehley was to play the Download Festival 08 (June 13, 2008) on the same day as Kiss, who were headlining. However, for reasons unknown, Frehley was moved to the Saturday (headlined by The Offspring), while Kiss remained as headliners for the Friday. He said, "I am very excited to have been asked to play at a festival like this for my English fans and I'm really looking forward to the day." Frehley also made an appearance (and played one of his own songs) at a Pearl Jam concert at Madison Square Garden on June 25, 2008 during an extended encore performance.
Frehley appeared on April 2, 2009, at the opening of the Hard Rock Cafe at Yankee Stadium performing "New York Groove" with Scott Ian, Frank Bello, and Anton Fig.
Frehley performed with Alice Cooper, Barry Goudreau (formerly of Boston), Chad Smith (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Chickenfoot) at the Berklee Performance Center April 26, 2009, as part of the 'Rock & Roll Supergroup' show. It was a benefit for a substance abuse facility in Arlington, Massachusetts, called 'Right Turn'.
His most recent album Anomaly was released on September 15, 2009.
Frehley is currently embarking on a world tour, first in the US, then Europe, Japan, and Australia.
Recently on Eddie Trunk's XM Show in March 2010, Ace Frehley let listeners know that Gene Simmons has contacted him and Peter about rejoining Kiss for a reality show. No confirmation has come from either Simmons, Stanley, Frehley, or Criss. Frehley also mentioned on the show that he hopes to release a new album within the next year or two, plus another album that would contain songs Frehley worked on in the 80s and 90s but were never officially released. The title that was mentioned but has yet to be confirmed was Ace Frehley: The Lost Tapes.
Frehley made a brief appearance during the home opener of the New York Rangers 2010-11 NHL Hockey Season on October 15, 2010. He stood at one of the entrances to the ice and both sang and played guitar on a short version of New York Groove just prior to the start of the game.
followed by Mark St. John
Category:Kiss (band) members Category:American heavy metal guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock songwriters Category:Lead guitarists Category:People from the Bronx Category:People from New York City Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:Musicians from New York City Category:Gang members
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
