- published: 26 May 2015
- views: 7140610
Gregory Porter is a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actor. His debut album, Water, released in 2010 via Motéma Music, was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. He was also a member of the original Broadway cast of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues. His sophomore album, Be Good, which contains many of Porter's compositions, was released on February 14th, 2012, and garnered critical acclaim for both his distinctive singing and his compositions, such as "Be Good (Lion's Song), "Real Good Hands", and "On My Way To Harlem".
Porter was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Bakersfield, California, where his mother was a minister. He attended San Diego State University on a football scholarship until a shoulder injury sidelined him permanently. Performing in local jazz clubs, Porter met saxophonist, pianist, and composer Kamau Kenyatta, whose mentoring played an integral role in Porter's career trajectory and professional development. Kenyatta introduced Gregory to flautist Hubert Laws who, upon hearing Porter singing along to Charlie Chaplin's "Smile", chose to include a bonus track featuring Porter's vocals on his Hubert Laws' Remembers the Unforgettable Nat King Cole (1998). Eloise Laws, Hubert's sister, happened to be visiting the studio, and helped get Porter cast in one of the leading roles in a new musical, It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues, which premiered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts before moving to Off-Broadway and ultimately Broadway, in spite of previously having appeared in only one other theatrical work, Avenue X.
Avril Ramona Lavigne (pronunciation: /ˈævrɨl ləˈviːn/; AV-ril lə-VEEN; born 27 September 1984) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She was born in Belleville, Ontario, but spent most of her youth in the small town of Napanee. By the age of 15, she had appeared on stage with Shania Twain; by 16, she had signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records worth more than $2 million. In 2002, when she was 17 years old, Lavigne broke onto the music scene with her debut album Let Go.
Let Go made Lavigne the youngest female soloist to reach No. 1 in the UK, and the album was certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. By 2009, over 16 million copies had been sold worldwide. Her breakthrough single, "Complicated", peaked at No. 1 in many countries around the world, as did the album Let Go. Her second album, Under My Skin, was released in 2004 and was her first album to peak at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200, eventually selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. The Best Damn Thing, Lavigne’s third album, was released in 2007, becoming her third No. 1 album in the UK Albums Chart and featuring her first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, "Girlfriend". Lavigne has scored six number-one singles worldwide, including "Complicated", "Sk8er Boi", "I'm with You", "My Happy Ending", "Nobody's Home", and "Girlfriend". With more than 30 million copies of her albums sold worldwide, Lavigne is one of the top-selling artists releasing albums in the U.S., with over 10.25 million copies certified by the RIAA. Her fourth studio album, Goodbye Lullaby, was released in March 2011. Goodbye Lullaby gave Lavigne her fourth top 10 album on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart and her third No. 1 album in both Japan and Australia. Three months after the release of Goodbye Lullaby, Lavigne began work on her fifth album, which will be released on Epic Records following her departure from RCA Records.
Ferry Corsten, also known under the alias System F, (born 4 December 1973) is a Dutch producer of trance music, in addition to being a DJ and remixer. He also hosts his own weekly radio show, Corsten's Countdown. He routinely plays at events all over the world with crowds in excess of tens of thousands. In 2009 Ferry Corsten ranked #7 on DJ Magazine's annual Top 100 DJ Poll, dropping to #9 and #18 in subsequent years.
Ferry Corsten was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He has produced and remixed under many aliases since the release of his first record at the age of sixteen, but he officially started to work as a musician when he was 17 years old. As a teenager he saved money to buy his first keyboard by washing cars, and selling mix tapes to kids in his neighbourhood. He later began to perform live performances with a friend and won his first award "De Grote Prijs van Nederland" at Holland in 1989. He eventually released a record with a couple of friends when he was just sixteen years old and later began releasing self-made productions while he grew up in Rotterdam in the 1990s, producing underground hardcore gabber tracks, later expanding into club-house and trance music. His first single to reach a chart position was "Don't Be Afraid" under the alias Moonman, which was only the start for becoming a composer as well. In 1997 Corsten and his partner Robert Smit established a dance label named Tsunami with the Dutch based dance company Purple Eye Entertainment b.v., this junction made the creation of another label possible; Polar State. Ferry Corsten was studying to become an Electrical Engineer, so he went to the Technical Training School and after that Higher Technical Education.
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Keep doing it
Yeah, yeah
When I was a little boy and growing up
I, I didn't know myself what's left and right
I'm all pent up
Said holding on
They said, keep, keep holding
Holding, holding on
My mama told me this
She said don't grow up too quickly
She said grow up boy, grow up boy
She said hold on, keep on
Holding on, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Mama told me
That's what she said
Keep holding babe
Holding, holding
Holding on
He stopped holding on
She said to me, she said to me
Keep holding on
I honey, I said I would keep holding
Oooh, oh, oh, ooh, oh
(Ad-libbed lyrics)
Yeah, yeah
Yeah
Holding
I said keep holding, holding
My big brother told me
He said, I don't need you as a brother, babe
I wanna, I wanna keep holding on
That's what he said
I just keep holding, holding
(Ad-libbed lyrics)
(Ad-libbed lyrics)
You do that
One more time
I keep holding on, yeah
I just keep holding, holding on
Holding on, key change
Yeah
Holding on, holding on
I just keep holding on, holding on
My mama told me that
I gotta keep holding on, yeah, yeah, ha, ha, ha, yeah
Wooh, oooh, ooh, oh, oh, oh
Ha, ha
Now it's your turn babe
Go, go
(Ad-libbed lyrics)
(Ad-libbed lyrics)
(Ad-libbed lyrics)
(Ad-libbed lyrics)
Yeah, ha
Hang on, what