Laura Jansen

Laura Jansen (born 4 March 1977 in Breda) is a Dutch-American musician. Before gaining fame in the Netherlands, Jansen became a fixture in the constellation of artists associated with Los Angeles nightclub Hotel Café – a national launching pad for artists as Sara Bareilles, Priscilla Ahn, and Joshua Radin. As daughter of an American mother and Dutch father, Laura has been living in the United States for over 10 years.

Jansen's debut album Bells, a dreamy collection of piano-driven alt-pop songs, was released on Universal Music in the Netherlands in 2009, on Decca Records in the USA in March 2011 and in the rest of the world in May 2011 on Universal Music Group. Bells has gone platinum in Jansen's native country the Netherlands, reached a No. 1 position on iTunes and a No. 6 position in the Dutch Album Top 100. Propelled by Single Girls and a cover of Kings of Leon's Use Somebody, which has spent more than 6 months lodged in the Top 25 on the Dutch singles chart.

Early life

Born in Breda, Netherlands, to a Dutch father and an American mother, Jansen began playing piano at age five while the family lived in Brussels, followed by Zurich and Connecticut. Jansen fell in love with classical music, Queen, Joni Mitchell, Barbra Streisand, and the Brazilian protest music her mother loved. In high school, she sang in the choir and performed in musicals.

Use Somebody

"Use Somebody" is a song by the American alternative rock group Kings of Leon. It was the second single from the band's fourth studio album Only by the Night (2008), released on December 8, 2008.

The single received heavy airplay in Scandinavia, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia, where it was number one on the Official Airplay Chart for six consecutive weeks. It was a huge success in the U.S., where it topped multiple airplay formats and reached number four on the Hot 100 and number one on the Pop Songs chart. The song received positive reviews and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best Rock Song and was also nominated for Song of the Year.

Critical reception

The song has received generally positive reviews from music critics. Mikael Wood of Entertainment Weekly called "Use Somebody" a highlight of the album, describing the song as "a too-cool hipster's cry for comfort". Nick Levine of Digital Spy said, "With its Springsteen-style 'oooah-woooah's, gathering storm of guitars and lusty, longing vocals from Caleb Followill, it's nearly as infectious as 'Sex on Fire'." Gavin Haynes of NME praised the song as "easily the best 80s power ballad of 2008", but cautioned that the band "may be in danger of mistaking bluster for brilliance".

Armin van Buuren

Armin van Buuren (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɑrmɪn vɑn ˈbyːrə(n)]; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch trance producer, DJ and radio personality.

Since 2001, Van Buuren has hosted a weekly radio show called A State of Trance, which currently has more than 20 million weekly listeners in 74 countries on over 150 FM radio stations. This radio show propelled him to stardom and helped cultivate an interest in trance music around the world.

Van Buuren has won a number of accolades. He has been ranked the World No. 1 DJ by DJ Magazine in their annual Top 100 DJs fan poll a record of five times, 4 years in a row. He is currently ranked World No. 4 on DJ Magazine's list for 2015. In 2014, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for his single "This Is What It Feels Like" featuring Trevor Guthrie, which makes him the fourth trance artist ever to receive a Grammy nomination. In the United States, he holds the record for most entries (21) on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart. His 2008 studio album, Imagine, entered the Dutch album chart at No. 1, a first for a trance artist in Dutch music history.

Laura

Laura may refer to:

Places

Australia

Canada

Italy

Marshall Islands

Poland

Ukraine; Romania

United States

People

Arts, media, and entertainment

Arts

Films

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.