- published: 30 Apr 2009
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Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian pop, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter who was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. Since 2010 he has been a judge on Australia's The X Factor. Sebastian has released six top ten platinum/multi-platinum albums, including a number one and two. He has also released 11 top 15 singles, including eight top tens, with five achieving number one. He has the most number one singles for an Australian male artist in Australian music history, and is equal third overall for all Australian acts. Four of his singles have reached multi-platinum certification, with "Angels Brought Me Here", "Who's That Girl" and "Don't Worry Be Happy" achieving 4× platinum. "Angels Brought Me Here" was the highest selling song in Australia last decade. With 30 platinum and two gold certifications and combined album and single sales of over 2.2 million in Australia, Sebastian has the highest certifications and sales of any Australian Idol contestant.
"Angels Brought Me Here" also reached number one in four Asian countries and New Zealand. Sebastian had a second number one in New Zealand with "Who's That Girl", two other top ten singles and a number three album, and gained four platinum and two gold certifications there. He has worked with a number of well-known American musicians. He co-wrote songs with Brian McKnight and Robin Thicke for his album Beautiful Life, which also included a duet with Mýa. The Memphis Album was recorded with members of the MGs including Steve Cropper, and they were his band on his 2008 Australian tour. Like It Like That has three tracks with John Mayer on guitar and backing vocals, and "Art of Love" featuring Jordin Sparks. "Who's That Girl" from his album Twenty Ten features US rapper Eve.
John William "Will" Ferrell (/ˈfɛrəl/; born July 16, 1967) is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the mid 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega Nights, Stranger than Fiction, Blades of Glory, Semi-Pro, and The Other Guys. He is considered a member of the "Frat Pack", a generation of leading Hollywood comic actors who emerged in the late 1990s and the 2000s, including Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Vince Vaughn, and brothers Owen and Luke Wilson.
Ferrell was born in Irvine, California, the son of Betty Kay (née Overman), a teacher who taught at Old Mill School elementary school and Santa Ana College, and Roy Lee Ferrell, Jr., a musician with The Righteous Brothers. His parents were both natives of Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and moved to California in 1964; Ferrell has Irish ancestry. Ferrell has a younger brother, Patrick. When he was 8, his parents divorced. Ferrell said of the divorce, "I was the type of kid who would say, 'Hey Look at the bright side! We'll have two Christmases.'" The divorce was amicable and both parents were committed to their children. The biggest problem was Lee's line of work. As a person in show business, his paychecks were never steady and he was gone from home months at a time. Growing up in the environment made Ferrell not want to go into show business, but get a steady job.
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings as solo artist, and during the seventies and eighties with the band Utopia. He has also been prolific as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Rundgren engineered and/or produced many notable albums for other acts, including Straight Up by Badfinger, Stage Fright by The Band, We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad, Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf, and Skylarking by XTC. In the 1980s and 1990s his interest in video and computers led to Rundgren's "Time Heals" being the eighth video played on MTV, and "Change Myself" was animated by Rundgren on commercially available Amiga Computers.
His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" which have heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and "Bang the Drum All Day" featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers. Although lesser known, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" has had a major influence on artists in the power pop musical genre.