1989

1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (dominical letter A) of the Gregorian calendar, the 1989th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 989th year of the 2nd millennium, the 89th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1980s decade. It was a historical turning point for the wave of revolutions that swept the Eastern Bloc, starting in Poland that summer with the beginning of a move towards private enterprise, coming to a head with opening of the Berlin Wall in November, embracing the overthrow of the communist dictatorship in Romania in December and ending in December 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Collectively known as the Revolutions of 1989, they heralded the beginning of the post–Cold War period.

It was the year of the first Brazilian presidential elections in 29 years, since the end of the military government in 1985 which commanded the country for more than twenty years, and marked the redemocratization process's final point. F. W. de Klerk was elected in South Africa, and his regime gradually dismantled the apartheid system over the next five years, culminating with the 1994 election that brought jailed ANC leader Nelson Mandela to power. The Echo Boom in the United States reached its peak in 1989–1990.

Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [aˈiʁtõ ˈsẽnɐ dɐ ˈsiwvɐ]; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won three Formula One world championships in 1988, 1990 and 1991. He was killed in an accident while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. He was among the most dominant and successful Formula One drivers of the modern era and is considered by many as the greatest racing driver of all time.

Senna began his motorsport career in karting, moving up to open-wheel racing in 1981, and winning the British Formula 3 championship in 1983. He made his Formula One debut with Toleman-Hart in 1984 before moving to Lotus-Renault the following year and winning six Grands Prix over the next three seasons. In 1988, he joined Frenchman Alain Prost at McLaren-Honda. Between them, they won all but one of the 16 Grands Prix that year and Senna claimed his first World Championship. Prost claimed the championship in 1989, and Senna his second and third championships in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, the Williams-Renault combination began to dominate Formula One. Senna nonetheless managed to finish the 1993 season as runner-up, winning five races and negotiating a move to Williams in 1994.

Milli Vanilli

Milli Vanilli was a West German-based R&B, pop and dance music project created by Frank Farian in Munich in 1988. The group was formed with Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. The group's debut album Girl You Know It's True achieved international success and earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on 21 February 1990. Milli Vanilli became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their success turned to infamy when the Grammy award was withdrawn after Morvan, Pilatus and their agent Sergio Vendero confessed that Morvan and Pilatus did not actually sing any of the vocals heard on the record. The group recorded a comeback album in 1998, but Rob Pilatus died before the album was released.

Beginnings

According to VH1's Behind the Music, the single "Girl You Know It's True" was first produced by Jesse Powell and had already been completed before Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan were recruited. Frank Farian felt that no efforts should be focused on refining Pilatus and Morvan's voices. Farian added his own studio-augmented voice to recordings, using back-up singers to hide the other two members' voices live.

Paula Abdul

Paula Julie Abdul (/ˈæbduːl/; born June 19, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality. She is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 before rising to prominence in the 1980s as a highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era. Abdul later scored a string of pop music hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Her six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 tie her with Diana Ross for seventh among the female solo performers who have topped the chart. She won a Grammy for "Best Music Video – Short Form" for "Opposites Attract" and twice won the "Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography".

After her initial period of success, Abdul suffered a series of setbacks in her professional and personal life. She saw renewed fame and success as an original judge on American Idol in the 2000s, which she left after the eighth season. She went on to star on CBS's short-lived television series Live to Dance, which lasted one season in 2011, and was subsequently a judge on the first season of the American version of The X Factor along with her former American Idol co-judge Simon Cowell, the creator and producer of the show. She was also a guest judge on the All-Stars edition of Dancing with the Stars in 2012 and the tenth season of So You Think You Can Dance in 2013, and more recently became a permanent judge for that series along with the Australian version of the show for its 2014 revival.

Sound of...

Sound of... is an annual BBC poll of music critics and industry figures to find the most promising new music talent. It was first conducted by the BBC News website in 2003, and is now widely covered by the corporation's online, radio and TV outlets, as well as other media. A 15-strong longlist is published each December, with a ranked shortlist and annual winner announced the following January.

Winners

2003–09

2010–16

Notes

Sound of 2009

More than 130 critics, editors and broadcasters took part in the Sound of 2009 survey, which was won by electro-pop singer Little Boots. For the first time, a longlist of 15 acts from the 2009 poll was published by the BBC on 5 December 2008. The other five acts on the longlist were The Big Pink, Frankmusik, Master Shortie, Mumford & Sons and The Temper Trap.

Sound of 2010

The longlist for the Sound of 2010 poll was revealed on 7 December 2009. The acts nominated were Daisy Dares You, Delphic, Devlin, The Drums, Everything Everything, Giggs, Gold Panda, Ellie Goulding, Hurts, Joy Orbison, Marina and the Diamonds, Owl City, Rox, Stornoway and Two Door Cinema Club. On 8 January 2010, Ellie Goulding was announced as the winner. She has since gone to reach No. 1 with her debut album Lights.