Rocky

Rocky is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and both written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It tells the rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted working class Italian-American boxer working as a debt collector for a loan shark in the slums of Philadelphia. Rocky starts out as a small-time club fighter, and later gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship. The film also stars Talia Shire as Adrian, Burt Young as Adrian's brother Paulie, Burgess Meredith as Rocky's trainer Mickey Goldmill, and Carl Weathers as the champion, Apollo Creed.

The film, made on a budget of just over $1 million and shot in 28 days, was a sleeper hit; it earned $225 million in global box office receipts, becoming the highest grossing film of 1976, and went on to win three Oscars, including Best Picture. The film received many positive reviews and turned Stallone into a major star. In 2006, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Rocky is considered to be one of the greatest sports films ever made and was ranked as the second-best in the genre, after Raging Bull, by the American Film Institute in 2008.

Rod Stewart

Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock singer-songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide.

He has had six consecutive number one albums in the UK, and his tally of 62 UK hit singles includes 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position. He has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2007, he received a CBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music.

With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with The Jeff Beck Group and then with Faces, though his music career had begun in 1962 when he took up busking with a harmonica. In October 1963 he joined the Dimensions as a harmonica player and part-time vocalist, then in 1964 he joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars. Later, in August 1964, he also signed a solo contract, releasing his first solo single, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl", in October of the same year. He maintained a solo career alongside a group career, releasing his debut solo album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album), in 1969. His early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music and R&B. His aggressive blues work with The Jeff Beck Group and the Faces influenced heavy metal genres. From the late 1970s through the 1990s, Stewart's music often took on a new wave or soft rock/middle-of-the-road quality, and in the early 2000s he released a series of successful albums interpreting the Great American Songbook.

Mark Ronson

Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is an English musician, DJ, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Although his debut album Here Comes the Fuzz failed to make an impact on the charts, his second album Version reached number two in the UK and included three top 10 singles. This success won him a Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist in 2008. His third studio album, Record Collection, was released on 27 September 2010, peaking at number two in the UK.

In 2014, Ronson achieved his first UK and US number one single with the Grammy-nominated "Uptown Funk," which featured vocals from Bruno Mars. In 2015 it won Ronson the Brit Award for British Single of the Year. His fourth studio album, the Grammy-nominated Uptown Special, was released in January 2015, and became his first UK number one album. Ronson has also produced multi-platinum, Grammy-winning albums for Amy Winehouse and Adele.

Early life

Ronson was born at the Wellington Hospital, St John's Wood, London, the son of Laurence Ronson, a real-estate speculator and music manager, and Anne Dexter. His parents are both Ashkenazi Jews (their ancestors being Jewish immigrants from Austria, Russia, and Lithuania); Ronson was brought up in Masorti Judaism and had a Bar Mitzvah. The family name was originally "Aaronson," but was shortened by Mark's grandfather Henry. He is the nephew of Gerald Ronson. Through his mother, he is also related to British Conservative politicians Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Leon Lord Brittan, as well as Odeon Cinemas founder Oscar Deutsch. He is not related to the late English guitarist Mick Ronson, who coincidentally fathered a son named Mark in 1975.

2 Chainz

Tauheed Epps (born September 12, 1977), better known by his stage name 2 Chainz (formerly Tity Boi), is an American rapper from College Park, Georgia. He initially gained recognition for being one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, alongside his longtime friend and fellow rapper, Earl "Dolla Boy" Conyers. They are perhaps best known for being signed to fellow Georgia-based rapper Ludacris' Disturbing tha Peace label, as well as their debut single "Duffle Bag Boy".

In February 2012, Epps signed a solo record deal with Def Jam Records, an imprint of Universal Music Group. The following August, he released his debut studio album Based on a T.R.U. Story, to mixed reviews. The album spawned three successful singles: "No Lie", "Birthday Song", and "I'm Different", all of which charted in the top 50 of the Billboard Hot 100 and were certified Gold or higher by the RIAA, along with the album being certified Gold. His second studio album B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time was released on September 11, 2013. It was supported by the singles "Feds Watching", "Where U Been?", and "Used 2".