Girl

A girl is a female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood when she becomes a woman. The term girl may also be used to mean a young woman, and is often used as a synonym for daughter.

Etymology

The English word girl first appeared during the Middle Ages between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the Anglo-Saxon words gerle (also spelled girle or gurle). The Anglo-Saxon word gerela meaning dress or clothing item also seems to have been used as a metonym in some sense.

Girl has meant any young unmarried woman since about 1530. Its first noted meaning for sweetheart is 1648. The earliest known appearance of girl-friend is in 1892 and girl next door, meant as a teenaged female or young woman with a kind of wholesome appeal, dates only to 1961.

Usage for adults

The word girl is sometimes used to refer to an adult female, usually a younger one. This usage may be considered derogatory or disrespectful in professional or other formal contexts, just as the term boy can be considered disparaging when applied to an adult man. Hence, this usage is often deprecative. It can also be used deprecatively when used to discriminate against children ("you're just a girl").

Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child was an American R&B girl group whose final and best-known line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1990 in Houston, Texas, Destiny's Child members began their musical endeavors as Girl's Tyme comprising, among others, Knowles, Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett. After years of limited success, they were signed in 1996 to Columbia Records as Destiny's Child. Destiny's Child was launched into mainstream recognition following the 1999 release of their best-selling second album, The Writing's on the Wall, which contained the number-one singles "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name". Despite critical and commercial success, the group was plagued by internal conflict and legal turmoil, as Roberson and Luckett attempted to split from the group's manager Mathew Knowles, citing favoritism of Knowles and Rowland.

Both Roberson and Luckett were soon replaced with Williams and Farrah Franklin; however, in 2000, Franklin left, leaving the group as a trio. Their third album, Survivor, which contains themes the public interpreted as a channel to the group's experience, contains the worldwide hits "Independent Women", "Survivor" and "Bootylicious". In 2002, they announced a hiatus and re-united two years later for the release of their fourth and final studio album, Destiny Fulfilled (2004). Destiny's Child has sold more than 60 million records worldwide to date.Billboard magazine ranks the group as one of the greatest musical trios of all time, the ninth most successful artist/band of the 2000s, and placed the group 68th in its All-Time Hot 100 Artists list in 2008.

Sean Kingston

Kisean Anderson (born February 3, 1990), known professionally as Sean Kingston, is a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, rapper and actor whose first album, Sean Kingston, was released in 2007.

Early life and education

Kisean Anderson was born on February 3, 1990, in Miami, Florida, and moved to Kingston, Jamaica, when he was six. He attended high school in Ocho Rios. His grandfather was the noted Jamaican reggae producer Lawrence Lindo, who worked under the stage name Jack Ruby. Afterwards, Kingston spent three weeks in jail for burglary, and he lived in a car while his mother was incarcerated for identity theft.

Career

2007–08: Sean Kingston

Kingston was discovered on Myspace by Tommy Rotem at Beluga Heights, and signed to the label in a partnership deal with Sony. In an interview with HitQuarters label head and producer J.R. Rotem described this process with regards to Kingston:

In a venture between Epic Records and Koch Records, Kingston recorded and released the single "Beautiful Girls" in May 2007. The song peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100. "Beautiful Girls" was a success internationally, topping the charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, the song spent four weeks at the summit of the UK Singles Chart. In 2007, Kingston was the opening act for Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape Tour and for select dates on Beyoncé's The Beyoncé Experience Tour. In 2008, he was one of the opening acts for the Australian leg of Kelly Clarkson's My December Tour. Since Sean is a Jamaican singer, he got his stage name from the capital of Jamaica called Kingston.

Alicia Keys

Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known by the pseudonym Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records. Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor, was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001. The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'" becoming the second American recording artist to win five Grammys in one night. Her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling eight million copies. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005. Later that year, she released her first live album, Unplugged, which debuted at number one in the United States. She became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album to debut at number one and the highest since Nirvana in 1994.

The 1975

The 1975 are a British alternative rock band formed in Manchester. The group consists of Matthew Healy (vocals, guitar), Adam Hann (guitar), George Daniel (drums, backing vocals) and Ross MacDonald (bass).

They have released four EPs, while their self-titled debut album was released on 2 September 2013 through Dirty Hit/Polydor. The album debuted at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart on 8 September 2013. The band has toured internationally.

History

2002–12: Formation

Matthew Healy (b. 8 April 1989), the son of actors Denise Welch and Tim Healy, grew up in Newcastle and Manchester. He met Ross MacDonald, Adam Hann and George Daniel at Wilmslow High School. In Wilmslow, Cheshire, south of Manchester, as teenagers and began to play music in 2002. The band formed when the local council worker organised a number of gigs for teenagers. Healy found Hann who "came up to [him] and said he wanted to play one of these shows." The band began by playing a number of covers until they "eventually wrote a song," according to Healy. "We started from then and we've been making music together since we were about 15." After Hann invited the members to form a band, they passed their early days covering punk songs in a local club. Healy was originally the drummer but took over vocals after the previous singer left to start another band. George Daniel was recruited as the new drummer to complete the final line-up.