Following the disbandment of Destiny's Child in 2006, she released her second solo album, B'Day (2006), which contained the top-ten hits "Déjà Vu", "Irreplaceable", and "Beautiful Liar". Beyoncé also continued her acting career, with starring roles in The Pink Panther (2006), Dreamgirls (2006), and Obsessed (2009). Her marriage to rapper Jay Z and portrayal of Etta James in Cadillac Records (2008) influenced her third album, I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008), which saw the introduction of her alter-ego Sasha Fierce and earned a record-setting six Grammy Awards in 2010, including Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". Beyoncé took a hiatus from music in 2010 and took over management of her career; her fourth album 4 (2011) was subsequently mellower in tone, exploring 1970s funk, 1980s pop, and 1990s soul. Her critically acclaimed fifth album, Beyoncé (2013), was distinguished from previous releases by its experimental production and exploration of darker themes. With the release of the widely acclaimed Lemonade (2016), Beyoncé became the first artist to have their first six studio albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart.

Throughout her career, she has sold over 100 million records as a solo artist, and a further 60 million with Destiny's Child, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She has won 22 Grammy Awards and is the most nominated woman in the award's history. She is the most awarded artist at the MTV Video Music Awards, with 24 wins. The Recording Industry Association of America recognized her as the Top Certified Artist in America during the 2000s (decade). In 2009, Billboard named her the Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade, the Top Female Artist of the 2000s (decade) and awarded her their Millennium Award in 2011. In 2014, she became the highest-paid black musician in history and was listed among Time's 100 most influential people in the world for a second year in a row. Forbes listed her as the most powerful female in entertainment of 2015, and in 2016 she occupied the sixth place for Person of the Year.

Early life

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, to Celestine "Tina" Knowles (née Beyincé), a hairdresser and salon owner, and Mathew Knowles, a Xerox sales manager. Beyoncé's name is a tribute to her mother's maiden name. Beyoncé's younger sister Solange is also a singer and a former member of Destiny's Child. Solange and Beyoncé are the first sisters to have both had No. 1 albums. Mathew is African American, while Tina is of Louisiana Creole descent (African, Native American, and French). Through her mother, Beyoncé is a descendant of Acadian leader Joseph Broussard.

Beyoncé attended St. Mary's Montessori School in Houston, where she enrolled in dance classes. Her singing talent was discovered when dance instructor Darlette Johnson began humming a song and she finished it, able to hit the high-pitched notes. Beyoncé's interest in music and performing continued after winning a school talent show at age seven, singing John Lennon's "Imagine" to beat 15/16-year-olds. In fall of 1990, Beyoncé enrolled in Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston, where she would perform with the school's choir. She also attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and later Alief Elsik High School. Beyoncé was also a member of the choir at St. John's United Methodist Church as a soloist for two years.

When Beyoncé was eight, she and childhood friend Kelly Rowland met LaTavia Roberson while in an audition for an all-girl entertainment group. They were placed into a group with three other girls as Girl's Tyme, and rapped and danced on the talent show circuit in Houston. After seeing the group, R&B producer Arne Frager brought them to his Northern California studio and placed them in Star Search, the largest talent show on national TV at the time. Girl's Tyme failed to win, and Beyoncé later said the song they performed was not good.

In 1995 Beyoncé's father resigned from his job to manage the group. The move reduced Beyoncé's family's income by half, and her parents were forced to move into separated apartments. Mathew cut the original line-up to four and the group continued performing as an opening act for other established R&B girl groups. The girls auditioned before record labels and were finally signed to Elektra Records, moving to Atlanta Records briefly to work on their first recording, only to be cut by the company. This put further strain on the family, and Beyoncé's parents separated. On October 5, 1995, Dwayne Wiggins's Grass Roots Entertainment signed the group. In 1996, the girls began recording their debut album under an agreement with Sony Music, the Knowles family reunited, and shortly after, the group got a contract with Columbia Records.

Career

1997-2002: Destiny's Child

The group changed their name to Destiny's Child in 1996, based upon a passage in the Book of Isaiah. In 1997, Destiny's Child released their major label debut song "Killing Time" on the soundtrack to the 1997 film, Men in Black. The following year, the group released their self-titled debut album, scoring their first major hit "No, No, No". The album established the group as a viable act in the music industry, with moderate sales and winning the group three Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards for Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year, Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist, and Best R&B/Soul Single for "No, No, No". The group released their Multi-Platinum second album The Writing's on the Wall in 1999. The record features some of the group's most widely known songs such as "Bills, Bills, Bills", the group's first number-one single, "Jumpin' Jumpin'" and "Say My Name", which became their most successful song at the time, and would remain one of their signature songs. "Say My Name" won the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and the Best R&B Song at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards. The Writing's on the Wall sold more than eight million copies worldwide. During this time, Beyoncé recorded a duet with Marc Nelson, an original member of Boyz II Men, on the song "After All Is Said and Done" for the soundtrack to the 1999 film, The Best Man.

LeToya Luckett and Roberson became unhappy with Mathew's managing of the band and eventually were replaced by Farrah Franklin and Michelle Williams. Beyoncé experienced depression following the split with Luckett and Roberson after being publicly blamed by the media, critics, and blogs for its cause. Her long-standing boyfriend left her at this time. The depression was so severe it lasted for a couple of years, during which she occasionally kept herself in her bedroom for days and refused to eat anything. Beyoncé stated that she struggled to speak about her depression because Destiny's Child had just won their first Grammy Award and she feared no one would take her seriously. Beyoncé would later speak of her mother as the person who helped her fight it. Franklin was dismissed, leaving just Beyoncé, Rowland, and Williams.

The remaining band members recorded "Independent Women Part I", which appeared on the soundtrack to the 2000 film Charlie's Angels. It became their best-charting single, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for eleven consecutive weeks. In early 2001, while Destiny's Child was completing their third album, Beyoncé landed a major role in the MTV made-for-television film, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, starring alongside American actor Mekhi Phifer. Set in Philadelphia, the film is a modern interpretation of the 19th-century opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet. When the third album Survivor was released in May 2001, Luckett and Roberson filed a lawsuit claiming that the songs were aimed at them. The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 663,000 copies sold. The album spawned other number-one hits, "Bootylicious" and the title track, "Survivor", the latter of which earned the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. After releasing their holiday album 8 Days of Christmas in October 2001, the group announced a hiatus to further pursue solo careers.

In July 2002, Beyoncé continued her acting career playing Foxxy Cleopatra alongside Mike Myers in the comedy film Austin Powers in Goldmember, which spent its first weekend atop the US box office and grossed $73 million. Beyoncé released "Work It Out" as the lead single from its soundtrack album which entered the top ten in the UK, Norway, and Belgium. In 2003, Beyoncé starred opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the musical comedy The Fighting Temptations as Lilly, a single mother with whom Gooding's character falls in love. The film received mixed reviews from critics but grossed $30 million in the U.S. Beyoncé released "Fighting Temptation" as the lead single from the film's soundtrack album, with Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free which was also used to promote the film. Another of Beyoncé's contributions to the soundtrack, "Summertime", fared better on the US charts.

2003-2007: Dangerously in Love and B'Day

Beyoncé's first solo recording was a feature on Jay Z's "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" that was released in October 2002, peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Her first solo album Dangerously in Love was released on June 24, 2003, after Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland had released their solo efforts. The album sold 317,000 copies in its first week, debuted atop the Billboard 200, and has since sold 11 million copies worldwide. The album's lead single, "Crazy in Love", featuring Jay Z, became Beyoncé's first number-one single as a solo artist in the US. The single "Baby Boy" also reached number one, and singles, "Me, Myself and I" and "Naughty Girl", both reached the top-five. The album earned Beyoncé a then record-tying five awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards; Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Dangerously in Love 2", Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Crazy in Love", and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "The Closer I Get to You" with Luther Vandross.

In November 2003, she embarked on the Dangerously in Love Tour in Europe and later toured alongside Missy Elliott and Alicia Keys for the Verizon Ladies First Tour in North America. On February 1, 2004, Beyoncé performed the American national anthem at Super Bowl XXXVIII, at the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. After the release of Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé had planned to produce a follow-up album using several of the left-over tracks. However, this was put on hold so she could concentrate on recording Destiny Fulfilled, the final studio album by Destiny's Child. Released on November 15, 2004, in the US and peaking at number two on the Billboard 200, Destiny Fulfilled included the singles "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier", which reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Destiny's Child embarked on a worldwide concert tour, Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It and during the last stop of their European tour, in Barcelona on June 11, 2005, Rowland announced that Destiny's Child would disband following the North American leg of the tour. The group released their first compilation album Number 1's on October 25, 2005, in the US and accepted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006.

Beyoncé's second solo album B'Day was released on September 4, 2006, in the US, to coincide with her twenty-fifth birthday. It sold 541,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200, becoming Beyoncé's second consecutive number-one album in the United States. The album's lead single "Déjà Vu", featuring Jay Z, reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second international single "Irreplaceable" was a commercial success worldwide, reaching number one in Australia, Hungary, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States. B'Day also produced three other singles; "Ring the Alarm", "Get Me Bodied", and "Green Light" (released in the United Kingdom only).

Her first acting role of 2006 was in the comedy film The Pink Panther starring opposite Steve Martin, grossing $158.8 million at the box office worldwide. Her second film Dreamgirls, the film version of the 1981 Broadway musical loosely based on The Supremes, received acclaim from critics and grossed $154 million internationally. In it, she starred opposite Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, and Eddie Murphy playing a pop singer based on Diana Ross. To promote the film, Beyoncé released "Listen" as the lead single from the soundtrack album. In April 2007, Beyoncé embarked on The Beyoncé Experience, her first worldwide concert tour, visiting 97 venues and grossed over $24 million. Beyoncé conducted pre-concert food donation drives during six major stops in conjunction with her pastor at St. John's and America's Second Harvest. At the same time, B'Day was re-released with five additional songs, including her duet with Shakira "Beautiful Liar".

2008-2010: Marriage, I Am... Sasha Fierce, and films

On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé married Jay Z. She publicly revealed their marriage in a video montage at the listening party for her third studio album, I Am... Sasha Fierce, in Manhattan's Sony Club on October 22, 2008. I Am... Sasha Fierce was released on November 18, 2008, in the United States. The album formally introduces Beyoncé's alter ego Sasha Fierce, conceived during the making of her 2003 single "Crazy in Love". It was met with generally mediocre reviews from critics, but sold 482,000 copies in its first week, debuting atop the Billboard 200, and giving Beyoncé her third consecutive number-one album in the US. The album featured the number-one song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and the top-five songs "If I Were a Boy" and "Halo". Achieving the accomplishment of becoming her longest-running Hot 100 single in her career, "Halo"'s success in the US helped Beyoncé attain more top-ten singles on the list than any other woman during the 2000s. It also included the successful "Sweet Dreams", and singles "Diva", "Ego", "Broken-Hearted Girl" and "Video Phone". The music video for "Single Ladies" has been parodied and imitated around the world, spawning the "first major dance craze" of the Internet age according to the Toronto Star. The video has won several awards, including Best Video at the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards, the 2009 Scottish MOBO Awards, and the 2009 BET Awards. At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the video was nominated for nine awards, ultimately winning three including Video of the Year. Its failure to win the Best Female Video category, which went to American country pop singer Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me", led to Kanye West interrupting the ceremony and Beyoncé improvising a re-presentation of Swift's award during her own acceptance speech. In March 2009, Beyoncé embarked on the I Am... World Tour, her second headlining worldwide concert tour, consisting of 108 shows, grossing $119.5 million.

Beyoncé further expanded her acting career, starring as blues singer Etta James in the 2008 musical biopic Cadillac Records. Her performance in the film received praise from critics, and she garnered several nominations for her portrayal of James, including a Satellite Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and a NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Beyoncé donated her entire salary from the film to Phoenix House, an organization of rehabilitation centers for heroin addicts around the country. On January 20, 2009, Beyoncé performed James' "At Last" at the First Couple's first inaugural ball. Beyoncé starred opposite Ali Larter and Idris Elba in the thriller, Obsessed. She played Sharon Charles, a mother and wife who learns of a woman's obsessive behavior over her husband. Although the film received negative reviews from critics, the movie did well at the US box office, grossing $68 million?$60 million more than Cadillac Records?on a budget of $20 million. The fight scene finale between Sharon and the character played by Ali Larter also won the 2010 MTV Movie Award for Best Fight.

At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé received ten nominations, including Album of the Year for I Am... Sasha Fierce, Record of the Year for "Halo", and Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", among others. She tied with Lauryn Hill for most Grammy nominations in a single year by a female artist. Knowles went on to win six of those nominations, breaking a record she previously tied in 2004 for the most Grammy awards won in a single night by a female artist with six. In 2010, Beyoncé was featured on Lady Gaga's single "Telephone" and appeared in its music video. The song topped the US Pop Songs chart, becoming the sixth number-one for both Beyoncé and Gaga, tying them with Mariah Carey for most number-ones since the Nielsen Top 40 airplay chart launched in 1992. "Telephone" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Beyoncé announced a hiatus from her music career in January 2010, heeding her mother's advice, "to live life, to be inspired by things again". During the break she and her father parted ways as business partners. Beyoncé's musical break lasted nine months and saw her visit multiple European cities, the Great Wall of China, the Egyptian pyramids, Australia, English music festivals and various museums and ballet performances.

2011-2015: 4 and Beyoncé

On June 26, 2011, she became the first solo female artist to headline the main Pyramid stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival in over twenty years. Her fourth studio album 4 was released two days later in the US. 4 sold 310,000 copies in its first week and debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Beyoncé her fourth consecutive number-one album in the US. The album was preceded by two of its singles "Run the World (Girls)" and "Best Thing I Never Had". The fourth single "Love on Top" spent seven consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while peaking at number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest peak from the album. 4 also produced four other singles; "Party", "Countdown", "I Care" and "End of Time". "Eat, Play, Love", a cover story written by Beyoncé for Essence that detailed her 2010 career break, won her a writing award from the New York Association of Black Journalists. In late 2011, she took the stage at New York's Roseland Ballroom for four nights of special performances: the 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé concerts saw the performance of her 4 album to a standing room only. On August 1, 2011, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having shipped 1 million copies to retail stores. By December 2015, it reached sales of 1.5 million copies in the US.

On January 7, 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Five months later, she performed for four nights at Revel Atlantic City's Ovation Hall to celebrate the resort's opening, her first performances since giving birth to Blue Ivy.

In January 2013, Destiny's Child released Love Songs, a compilation album of the romance-themed songs from their previous albums and a newly recorded track, "Nuclear". Beyoncé performed the American national anthem singing along with a pre-recorded track at President Obama's second inauguration in Washington, D.C. The following month, Beyoncé performed at the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, held at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The performance stands as the second most tweeted about moment in history at 268,000 tweets per minute. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé won for Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Love on Top". Her feature-length documentary film, Life Is But a Dream, first aired on HBO on February 16, 2013.

Beyoncé embarked on The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour on April 15 in Belgrade, Serbia; the tour included 132 dates that ran through to March 2014. It became the most successful tour of her career and one of the most successful tours of all time. In May, Beyoncé's cover of Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" with André 3000 on The Great Gatsby soundtrack was released. Beyoncé voiced Queen Tara in the 3D CGI animated film, Epic, released by 20th Century Fox on May 24, and recorded an original song for the film, "Rise Up", co-written with Sia.

On December 13, 2013, Beyoncé unexpectedly released her eponymous fifth studio album on the iTunes Store without any prior announcement or promotion. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, giving Beyoncé her fifth consecutive number-one album in the US. This made her the first woman in the chart's history to have her first five studio albums debut at number one. Beyoncé received critical acclaim and commercial success, selling one million digital copies worldwide in six days; Musically an electro-R&B album, it concerns darker themes previously unexplored in her work, such as "bulimia, postnatal depression [and] the fears and insecurities of marriage and motherhood". The single "Drunk in Love", featuring Jay Z, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In April 2014, after much speculation, Beyoncé and Jay Z officially announced their On the Run Tour. It served as the couple's first co-headlining stadium tour together. On August 24, 2014, she received the Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. Knowles also won home three competitive awards: Best Video with a Social Message and Best Cinematography for "Pretty Hurts", as well as best collaboration for "Drunk in Love". In November, Forbes reported that Beyoncé was the top-earning woman in music for the second year in a row?earning $115 million in the year, more than double her earnings in 2013. Beyoncé was reissued with new material in three forms: as an extended play, a box set, as well as a full platinum edition. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), in the last 19 days of 2013, the album sold 2.3 million units worldwide, becoming the tenth best-selling album of 2013. The album also went on to become the twentieth best-selling album of 2014. As of November 2014, Beyoncé has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and has generated over 1 billion streams, as of March 2015.

At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2015, Beyoncé was nominated for six awards, ultimately winning three: Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song for "Drunk in Love", and Best Surround Sound Album for Beyoncé. She was nominated for Album of the Year, but the award went to Beck for his album Morning Phase.

2016-present: Lemonade

On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released "Formation" and its accompanying music video exclusively on the music streaming platform Tidal; the song was made available to download for free. She performed "Formation" live for the first time during the NFL Super Bowl 50 halftime show. The appearance was considered controversial as it appeared to reference the 50th anniversary of the Black Panther Party and the NFL forbids political statements in its performances. Immediately following the performance, Beyoncé announced The Formation World Tour, which highlighted stops in both North America, and Europe. It ended on October 7, with Beyoncé bringing out her husband Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Serena Williams for the last show. The tour went on to win "Tour of the Year" at the 44th American Music Awards.

On April 16, 2016, Beyoncé released a teaser clip for a project called Lemonade. It turned out to be a one-hour film which aired on HBO exactly a week later; a corresponding album with the same title was released on the same day exclusively on Tidal. Lemonade debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making Beyoncé the first act in Billboard history to have their first six studio albums debut atop the chart; she broke a record previously tied with DMX in 2013. With all 12 tracks of Lemonade debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Beyoncé also became the first female act to chart 12 or more songs at the same time. Additionally, Lemonade was streamed 115 million times through Tidal, setting a record for the most-streamed album in a single week by a female artist in history. As of November 2016, it has sold 1.5 million copies in the US.

Lemonade became her most critically acclaimed work to date, receiving universal acclaim according to Metacritic, a website collecting reviews from professional music critics. Several music publications included the album among the best of 2016, including Rolling Stone, which listed Lemonade at number one. The album's visuals were nominated in 11 categories at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, the most ever received by Beyoncé in a single year, and went on to win 8 awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation". The eight wins made Beyoncé the most awarded artist in the history of the VMAs (24), surpassing Madonna (20). At the 59th Grammy Awards, Lemonade led with nine nominations including Album of the Year, and Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Formation" and ultimately won two, Best Urban Contemporary Album for Lemonade and Best Music Video for "Formation". Adele, upon winning her Grammy for Album of the Year, broke the award in half, stating that Lemonade was monumental and more deserving. Beyoncé occupied the sixth place for Time magazine's 2016 Person of the Year. In January 2017, it was announced that Beyoncé would headline the Coachella Music and Arts Festival. This would make Beyoncé only the second female headliner of the festival since it was founded in 1999. It was later announced on February 23, 2017 that Beyoncé would no longer be able to perform at the festival due to doctor's concerns regarding her pregnancy. The festival owners announced that she will instead headline the 2018 festival. Upon the announcement of Beyoncé's departure from the festival lineup, ticket prices dropped by 12%.

Artistry

Voice and songwriting

Jody Rosen highlights her tone and timbre as particularly distinctive, describing her voice as "one of the most compelling instruments in popular music". Her vocal abilities mean she is identified as the centerpiece of Destiny's Child. Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that her voice is "velvety yet tart, with an insistent flutter and reserves of soul belting". Rosen notes that the hip hop era highly influenced Beyoncé's unique rhythmic vocal style, but also finds her quite traditionalist in her use of balladry, gospel and falsetto. Other critics praise her range and power, with Chris Richards of The Washington Post saying she was "capable of punctuating any beat with goose-bump-inducing whispers or full-bore diva-roars."

Beyoncé's music is generally R&B, but she also incorporates pop, soul and funk into her songs. 4 demonstrated Beyoncé's exploration of 1990s-style R&B, as well as further use of soul and hip hop than compared to previous releases. While she almost exclusively releases English songs, Beyoncé recorded several Spanish songs for Irreemplazable (re-recordings of songs from B'Day for a Spanish-language audience), and the re-release of B'Day. To record these, Beyoncé was coached phonetically by American record producer Rudy Perez.

She has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Destiny's Child and her solo efforts. Her early songs were personally driven and female-empowerment themed compositions like "Independent Women" and "Survivor", but after the start of her relationship with Jay Z, she transitioned to more man-tending anthems such as "Cater 2 U". Beyoncé has also received co-producing credits for most of the records in which she has been involved, especially during her solo efforts. However, she does not formulate beats herself, but typically comes up with melodies and ideas during production, sharing them with producers.

In 2001, she became the first black woman and second female lyricist to win the Pop Songwriter of the Year award at the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Pop Music Awards. Beyoncé was the third woman to have writing credits on three number one songs ("Irreplaceable", "Grillz" and "Check on It") in the same year, after Carole King in 1971 and Mariah Carey in 1991. She is tied with American lyricist Diane Warren at third with nine song-writing credits on number-one singles. (The latter wrote her 9/11-motivated song "I Was Here" for 4.) In May 2011, Billboard magazine listed Beyoncé at number 17 on their list of the "Top 20 Hot 100 Songwriters", for having co-written eight singles that hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She was one of only three women on that list, along with Alicia Keys and Taylor Swift.

Influences

Beyoncé names Michael Jackson as her major musical influence. Aged five, Beyoncé attended her first ever concert where Jackson performed and she claims to have realized her purpose. When she presented him with a tribute award at the World Music Awards in 2006, Beyoncé said, "if it wasn't for Michael Jackson, I would never ever have performed." She admires Diana Ross as an "all-around entertainer" and Whitney Houston, who she said "inspired me to get up there and do what she did." She credits Mariah Carey's singing and her song "Vision of Love" as influencing her to begin practicing vocal runs as a child. Her other musical influences include Aaliyah, Prince, Lauryn Hill, Sade Adu, Donna Summer, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Anita Baker and Rachelle Ferrell.

The feminism and female empowerment themes on Beyoncé's second solo album B'Day were inspired by her role in Dreamgirls and by singer Josephine Baker. Beyoncé paid homage to Baker by performing "Déjà Vu" at the 2006 Fashion Rocks concert wearing Baker's trademark mini-hula skirt embellished with fake bananas. Beyoncé's third solo album I Am... Sasha Fierce was inspired by Jay Z and especially by Etta James, whose "boldness" inspired Beyoncé to explore other musical genres and styles. Her fourth solo album, 4, was inspired by Fela Kuti, 1990s R&B, Earth, Wind & Fire, DeBarge, Lionel Richie, Teena Marie, The Jackson 5, New Edition, Adele, Florence and the Machine, and Prince.

Beyoncé has stated that she is personally inspired by US First Lady Michelle Obama, saying "She proves you can do it all" and she has described Oprah Winfrey as "the definition of inspiration and a strong woman". She has also discussed how Jay Z is a continuing inspiration to her, both with what she describes as his lyrical genius and in the obstacles he has overcome in his life. Beyoncé has expressed admiration for the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, posting in a letter "what I find in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, I search for in every day in music... he is lyrical and raw". In February 2013, Beyoncé said that Madonna inspired her to take control of her own career. She commented: "I think about Madonna and how she took all of the great things she achieved and started the label and developed other artists. But there are not enough of those women.".

Stage and alter ego

In 2006, Beyoncé introduced her all-female tour band Suga Mama (also the name of a song in B'Day) which includes bassists, drummers, guitarists, horn players, keyboardists and percussionists. Her background singers, The Mamas, consist of Montina Cooper-Donnell, Crystal Collins and Tiffany Moniqué Riddick. They made their debut appearance at the 2006 BET Awards and re-appeared in the music videos for "Irreplaceable" and "Green Light". The band have supported Beyoncé in most subsequent live performances, including her 2007 concert tour The Beyoncé Experience, 2009-2010 I Am... World Tour, 2013-2014 The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour and 2016 The Formation World Tour.

Beyoncé has received praise for her stage presence and voice during live performances. Jarett Wieselman of the New York Post placed her at number one on her list of the Five Best Singer/Dancers. According to Barbara Ellen of The Guardian Beyoncé is the most in-charge female artist she's seen onstage, while Alice Jones of The Independent wrote she "takes her role as entertainer so seriously she's almost too good." The ex-President of Def Jam L.A. Reid has described Beyoncé as the greatest entertainer alive. Jim Farber of the Daily News and Stephanie Classen of Star Phoenix both praised her strong voice and her stage presence.

Described as being "sexy, seductive and provocative" when performing on stage, Beyoncé has said that she originally created the alter ego "Sasha Fierce" to keep that stage persona separate from who she really is. She described Sasha as being "too aggressive, too strong, too sassy [and] too sexy", stating, "I'm not like her in real life at all." Sasha was conceived during the making of "Crazy in Love", and Beyoncé introduced her with the release of her 2008 album I Am... Sasha Fierce. In February 2010, she announced in an interview with Allure magazine that she was comfortable enough with herself to no longer need Sasha Fierce. However, Beyoncé announced in May 2012 that she would bring her back for her Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live shows later that month.

Public image

Beyoncé has been described as having a wide-ranging sex appeal, with music journalist Touré writing that since the release of Dangerously in Love, she has "become a crossover sex symbol". Offstage Beyoncé says that while she likes to dress sexily, her onstage dress "is absolutely for the stage." Due to her curves and the term's catchiness, in the 2000s (decade), the media often used the term "Bootylicious" (a portmanteau of the words booty and delicious) to describe Beyoncé, the term popularized by Destiny's Child's single of the same name. In 2006, it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

In September 2010, Beyoncé made her runway modelling debut at Tom Ford's Spring/Summer 2011 fashion show. She was named "World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People and the "Hottest Female Singer of All Time" by Complex in 2012. In January 2013, GQ placed her on its cover, featuring her atop its "100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century" list. VH1 listed her at number 1 on its 100 Sexiest Artists list. Several wax figures of Beyoncé are found at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in major cities around the world, including New York, Washington, D.C., Amsterdam, Bangkok, Hollywood and Sydney.

According to Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli, Beyoncé uses different fashion styles to work with her music while performing. Her mother co-wrote a book, published in 2002, titled Destiny's Style an account of how fashion affected the trio's success. The B'Day Anthology Video Album showed many instances of fashion-oriented footage, depicting classic to contemporary wardrobe styles. In 2007, Beyoncé was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, becoming the second African American woman after Tyra Banks, and People magazine recognized Beyoncé as the best-dressed celebrity.

The BeyHive is the name given to Beyoncé's fan base. Fans were previously titled "The Beyontourage", (a portmanteau of Beyoncé and entourage). The name Bey Hive derives from the word beehive, purposely misspelled to resemble her first name, and was penned by fans after petitions on the online social networking service Twitter and online news reports during competitions.

In 2006, the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), criticized Beyoncé for wearing and using fur in her clothing line House of Deréon. In 2011, she appeared on the cover of French fashion magazine L'Officiel, in blackface and tribal makeup that drew criticism from the media. A statement released from a spokesperson for the magazine said that Beyoncé's look was "far from the glamorous Sasha Fierce" and that it was "a return to her African roots".

Beyoncé's lighter skin color and costuming has drawn criticism from some in the African-American community. Emmett Price, a professor of music at Northeastern University, wrote in 2007, that he thinks race plays a role in many of these criticisms, saying white celebrities who dress similarly do not attract as many comments. In 2008, L'Oréal was accused of whitening her skin in their Feria hair color advertisements, responding that "it is categorically untrue", and in 2013, Beyoncé herself criticized H&M for their proposed "retouching" of promotional images of her, and according to Vogue requested that only "natural pictures be used".

Personal life

Marriage and children

Beyoncé started a relationship with Jay Z after their collaboration on "'03 Bonnie & Clyde", which appeared on his seventh album The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002). Beyoncé appeared as Jay Z's girlfriend in the music video for the song, fuelling speculation about their relationship. On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé and Jay Z married without publicity. As of April 2014, the couple had sold a combined 300 million records together. They are known for their private relationship, although they have appeared to become more relaxed in recent years.

Beyoncé suffered a miscarriage around 2010 or 2011, describing it as "the saddest thing" she had ever endured. She returned to the studio and wrote music in order to cope with the loss. In April 2011, Beyoncé and Jay Z traveled to Paris in order to shoot the album cover for 4, and unexpectedly became pregnant in Paris. In August, the couple attended the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, at which Beyoncé performed "Love on Top" and ended the performance by revealing she was pregnant. Her appearance helped that year's MTV Video Music Awards become the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers; the announcement was listed in Guinness World Records for "most tweets per second recorded for a single event" on Twitter, receiving 8,868 tweets per second and "Beyonce pregnant" was the most Googled term the week of August 29, 2011. On January 7, 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to a daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

On February 1, 2017, she revealed on her Instagram account that she is expecting twins. Her announcement gained 6,335,571 "likes" within eight hours, breaking the world record for the most liked image on the website.

Activism

Beyoncé performed "America the Beautiful" at the 2009 presidential inauguration, as well as "At Last" during the first inaugural dance at the Neighborhood Ball two days later. They held a fundraiser at Jay Z's 40/40 Club in Manhattan for Obama's 2012 presidential campaign which raised $4 million. In the 2012 Presidential election, Beyoncé voted for Obama. She performed the American national anthem at his second inauguration. The Washington Post reported in May 2015, that Beyoncé attended a major celebrity fundraiser for 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

In 2013, Beyoncé stated in an interview with Vogue that she considered herself to be "a modern-day feminist". She would later align herself more publicly with the movement, sampling "We should all be feminists", a speech delivered by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at a TEDx talk in April 2013, in her song "Flawless", released later that year. She has also contributed to the Ban Bossy campaign, which uses television and social media to encourage leadership in girls. Following Beyoncé's public identification as a feminist, the sexualized nature of her performances and the fact that she championed her marriage was questioned.

Beyoncé publicly endorsed same sex marriage on March 26, 2013, after the Supreme Court debate on California's Proposition 8. The singer has also condemned police brutality against black Americans. Beyoncé and Jay Z attended a rally in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the shooting of Trayvon Martin. The film for her sixth album Lemonade included the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, holding pictures of their murdered sons in the video for "Freedom". In a 2016 interview with Elle, she responded to the controversy surrounding her song "Formation" which was perceived to be critical of the police. She clarified, "I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate things. If celebrating my roots and culture during Black History Month made anyone uncomfortable, those feelings were there long before a video and long before me".

In February, Beyoncé spoke out against the withdrawal of protections for transgender students in public schools by Donald Trump's Presidential administration. Posting a link to the 100 Days of Kindness campaign on her Facebook page, Beyoncé voiced her support for transgender youth and joined a roster of celebrities who spoke out against Trump's decision.

Wealth

Forbes magazine began reporting on Beyoncé's earnings in 2008, calculating that the $80 million earned between June 2007 to June 2008, for her music, tour, films and clothing line made her the world's best-paid music personality at the time, above Madonna and Celine Dion. They placed her fourth on the Celebrity 100 list in 2009 and ninth on the "Most Powerful Women in the World" list in 2010. The following year, Forbes placed her eighth on the "Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30" list, having earned $35 million in the past year for her clothing line and endorsement deals. In 2012, Forbes placed Beyoncé at number 16 on the Celebrity 100 list, twelve places lower than three years ago yet still having earned $40 million in the past year for her album 4, clothing line and endorsement deals. In the same year, Beyoncé and Jay Z placed at number one on the "World's Highest-Paid Celebrity Couples", for collectively earning $78 million. The couple made it into the previous year's Guinness World Records as the "highest-earning power couple" for collectively earning $122 million in 2009. For the years 2009 to 2011, Beyoncé earned an average of $70 million per year, and earned $40 million in 2012. In 2013, Beyoncé's endorsements of Pepsi and H&M made her and Jay Z the world's first billion dollar couple in the music industry. That year, Beyoncé was published as the fourth most-powerful celebrity in the Forbes rankings.

MTV estimated that by the end of 2014, Beyoncé would become the highest-paid black musician in history; this became the case in April 2014. In June 2014, Beyoncé ranked at #1 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, earning an estimated $115 million throughout June 2013 - June 2014. This in turn was the first time she had topped the Celebrity 100 list as well as being her highest yearly earnings to date. In 2016, Beyoncé ranked at #34 on the Celebrity 100 list with earnings of $54 million. Herself and Jay Z also topped the highest paid celebrity couple list, with combined earnings of $107.5 million. As of March 2017, Forbes calculated her net worth to be $290 million.

Legacy

In The New Yorker, music critic Jody Rosen described Beyoncé as "the most important and compelling popular musician of the twenty-first century..... the result, the logical end point, of a century-plus of pop." When The Guardian named her Artist of the Decade, Llewyn-Smith wrote, "Why Beyoncé? [...] Because she made not one but two of the decade's greatest singles, with Crazy in Love and Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), not to mention her hits with Destiny's Child; and this was the decade when singles - particularly R&B singles - regained their status as pop's favourite medium. [...] [She] and not any superannuated rock star was arguably the greatest live performer of the past 10 years." In 2013, Beyoncé made the Time 100 list, with Baz Luhrmann writing "no one has that voice, no one moves the way she moves, no one can hold an audience the way she does... When Beyoncé does an album, when Beyoncé sings a song, when Beyoncé does anything, it's an event, and it's broadly influential. Right now, she is the heir-apparent diva of the USA ? the reigning national voice." In 2014, Beyoncé was listed again on the Time 100 and also featured on the cover of the issue.

Beyoncé's work has influenced numerous artists including Adele, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Ellie Goulding, Rihanna, Kelly Rowland, Sam Smith, Nicole Scherzinger, Jessica Sanchez, Cheryl, JoJo, Meghan Trainor, Grimes, Rita Ora, Zendaya, Alexis Jordan, Bridgit Mendler, and Azealia Banks. American indie rock band White Rabbits also cited her an inspiration for their third album Milk Famous (2012), friend Gwyneth Paltrow studied Beyoncé at her live concerts while learning to become a musical performer for the 2010 film Country Strong.

Her debut single, "Crazy in Love" was named VH1's "Greatest Song of the 2000s", NME's "Best Track of the 00s" and "Pop Song of the Century", considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the 500 greatest songs of all time, earned two Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling singles of all time at around 8 million copies. The music video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", which achieved fame for its intricate choreography and its deployment of jazz hands, was credited by the Toronto Star as having started the "first major dance craze of both the new millennium and the Internet", triggering a number of parodies of the dance choreography and a legion of amateur imitators on YouTube. In 2013, Drake released a single titled "Girls Love Beyoncé", which featured an interpolation from Destiny Child's "Say My Name" and discussed his relationship with women. In January 2012, research scientist Bryan Lessard named Scaptia beyonceae, a species of horse fly found in Northern Queensland, Australia after Beyoncé due to the fly's unique golden hairs on its abdomen. In July 2014, a Beyoncé exhibit was introduced into the "Legends of Rock" section of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The black leotard from the "Single Ladies" video and her outfit from the Super Bowl half time performance are among several pieces housed at the museum. Architects credit Beyoncé's look in her "Ghost" music video as the inspiration of the design of the Premier Tower under construction in Australia.

Honors and awards

Beyoncé has received numerous awards. As a solo artist she has sold over 17 million albums in the US, and over 100 million records worldwide (a further 60 million additionally with Destiny's Child), making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) listed Beyoncé as the top certified artist of the 2000s decade, with a total of 64 certifications. Her songs "Crazy in Love", "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", "Halo", and "Irreplaceable" are some of the best-selling singles of all time worldwide. In 2009, The Observer named her the Artist of the Decade and Billboard named her the Top Female Artist and Top Radio Songs Artist of the Decade. In 2010, Billboard named her in their "Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years" list at number 15. In 2012 VH1 ranked her third on their list of the "100 Greatest Women in Music", behind Mariah Carey and Madonna. Beyoncé was honored with the International Artist Award at the 2007 American Music Awards. She has also received the Legend Award at the 2008 World Music Awards, the Billboard Millennium Award at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, and the Fashion Icon Award at the 2016 CFDA Awards.

Beyoncé has won 22 Grammy Awards, both as a solo artist and member of Destiny's Child, making her the second most honored female artist by the Grammys, behind Alison Krauss and the most nominated woman in Grammy Award history with a total of 62 nominations. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" won Song of the Year in 2010 while "Say My Name", "Crazy in Love" and "Drunk in Love" have each won Best R&B Song. Dangerously in Love, B'Day and I Am... Sasha Fierce have all won Best Contemporary R&B Album, while Lemonade has won Best Urban Contemporary Album. Beyoncé set the record for the most Grammy awards won by a female artist in one night in 2010 when she won six awards, breaking the tie she previously held with Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, and Amy Winehouse, with Adele equaling this in 2012.

Beyoncé has also won 24 MTV Video Music Awards, making her the most-awarded artist in Video Music Award history. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Formation" won Video of the Year in 2009 and 2016 respectively. Beyoncé tied the record set by Lady Gaga in 2010 for the most VMAs won in one night for a female artist with eight in 2016. She is also the most awarded and nominated artist in BET Award history, winning 24 awards from a total of 54 nominations.

Following her role in Dreamgirls Beyoncé was nominated for Best Original Song for "Listen" and Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, and Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture at the NAACP Image Awards. Beyoncé won two awards at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2006; Best Song for "Listen" and Best Original Soundtrack for Dreamgirls: Music from the Motion Picture. According to Fuse in 2014, Beyoncé is the second most award-winning artist of all time, after Michael Jackson.

She was named on the 2016 BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Power List as one of seven women judged to have had the biggest impact on women's lives over the past 70 years, alongside Margaret Thatcher, Barbara Castle, Helen Brook, Germaine Greer, Jayaben Desai and Bridget Jones. In 2016, she was announced by WatsUp TV as the first winner of the Best International Video Category with her "Formation" video at the maiden edition of the WatsUp TV Africa Music Video Awards held in Accra, Ghana.

Other ventures

Endorsements

Beyoncé has worked with Pepsi since 2002, and in 2004 appeared in a Gladiator-themed commercial with Britney Spears, Pink, and Enrique Iglesias. In 2012, Beyoncé signed a $50 million deal to endorse Pepsi. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPINET) wrote Beyoncé an open letter asking her to reconsider the deal because of the unhealthiness of the product and to donate the proceeds to a medical organisation. Nevertheless, NetBase found that Beyoncé's campaign was the most talked about endorsement in April 2013, with a 70 per cent positive audience response to the commercial and print ads.

Beyoncé has worked with Tommy Hilfiger for the fragrances True Star (singing a cover version of "Wishing on a Star") and True Star Gold; she also promoted Emporio Armani's Diamonds fragrance in 2007. Beyoncé launched her first official fragrance, Heat, in 2010. The commercial, which featured the 1956 song "Fever", was shown after the water shed in the United Kingdom as it begins with an image of Beyoncé appearing to lie naked in a room. In February 2011, Beyoncé launched her second fragrance, Heat Rush. Beyoncé's third fragrance, Pulse, was launched in September 2011. In 2013, The Mrs. Carter Show Limited Edition version of Heat was released. The six editions of Heat are the world's best-selling celebrity fragrance line, with sales of over $400 million.

The release of a video-game Starpower: Beyoncé was cancelled after Beyoncé pulled out of a $100 million with GateFive who alleged the cancellation meant the sacking of 70 staff and millions of pounds lost in development. It was settled out of court by her lawyers in June 2013 who said that they had cancelled because GateFive had lost its financial backers. Beyoncé also has had deals with American Express, Nintendo DS and L'Oréal since the age of 18.

In March 2015, Beyoncé became a co-owner, with other artists, of the music streaming service Tidal. The service specializes in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Beyoncé's husband Jay Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Including Beyoncé and Jay Z, sixteen artist stakeholders (such as Kanye West, Rihanna, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj and more) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. The idea of having an all artist owned streaming service was created by those involved to adapt to the increased demand for streaming within the current music industry.

Fashion lines

Beyoncé and her mother introduced House of Deréon, a contemporary women's fashion line, in 2005. The concept is inspired by three generations of women in their family, with the name paying tribute to Beyoncé's grandmother, Agnèz Deréon, a respected seamstress. According to Tina, the overall style of the line best reflects her and Beyoncé's taste and style. Beyoncé and her mother founded their family's company Beyond Productions, which provides the licensing and brand management for House of Deréon, and its junior collection, Deréon. House of Deréon pieces were exhibited in Destiny's Child's shows and tours, during their Destiny Fulfilled era. The collection features sportswear, denim offerings with fur, outerwear and accessories that include handbags and footwear, and are available at department and specialty stores across the US and Canada.

In 2005, Beyoncé teamed up with House of Brands, a shoe company, to produce a range of footwear for House of Deréon. In January 2008, Starwave Mobile launched Beyoncé Fashion Diva, a "high-style" mobile game with a social networking component, featuring the House of Deréon collection. In July 2009, Beyoncé and her mother launched a new junior apparel label, Sasha Fierce for Deréon, for back-to-school selling. The collection included sportswear, outerwear, handbags, footwear, eyewear, lingerie and jewelry. It was available at department stores including Macy's and Dillard's, and specialty stores Jimmy Jazz and Against All Odds. On May 27, 2010, Beyoncé teamed up with clothing store C&A to launch Deréon by Beyoncé at their stores in Brazil. The collection included tailored blazers with padded shoulders, little black dresses, embroidered tops and shirts and bandage dresses.

In October 2014, Beyoncé signed a deal to launch an activewear line of clothing with British fashion retailer Topshop. The 50-50 venture is called Ivy Park and was launched in April 2016. The brand's name is a nod to Beyoncé's daughter Blue Ivy and her favourite number four (IV in roman numerals), and also references the park where she used to run in Texas.

Philanthropy

After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Beyoncé and Rowland founded the Survivor Foundation to provide transitional housing for victims in the Houston area, to which Beyoncé contributed an initial $250,000. The foundation has since expanded to work with other charities in the city, and also provided relief following Hurricane Ike three years later.

Beyoncé participated in George Clooney and Wyclef Jean's Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief telethon and was named the official face of the limited edition CFDA "Fashion For Haiti" T-shirt, made by Theory which raised a total of $1 million. On March 5, 2010, Beyoncé and her mother Tina opened the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center at the Brooklyn Phoenix House, offering a seven-month cosmetology training course for men and women. In April 2011, Beyoncé joined forces with US First Lady Michelle Obama and the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation, to help boost the latter's campaign against child obesity by reworking her single "Get Me Bodied". Following the death of Osama bin Laden, Beyoncé released her cover of the Lee Greenwood song "God Bless the USA", as a charity single to help raise funds for the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.

In December, Beyoncé along with a variety of other celebrities teamed up and produced a video campaign for "Demand A Plan", a bipartisan effort by a group of 950 US mayors and others designed to influence the federal government into rethinking its gun control laws, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Beyoncé became an ambassador for the 2012 World Humanitarian Day campaign donating her song "I Was Here" and its music video, shot in the UN, to the campaign. In 2013, it was announced that Beyoncé would work with Salma Hayek and Frida Giannini on a Gucci "Chime for Change" campaign that aims to spread female empowerment. The campaign, which aired on February 28, was set to her new music. A concert for the cause took place on June 1, 2013 in London and included other acts like Ellie Goulding, Florence and the Machine, and Rita Ora. In advance of the concert, she appeared in a campaign video released on May 15, 2013, where she, along with Cameron Diaz, John Legend and Kylie Minogue, described inspiration from their mothers, while a number of other artists celebrated personal inspiration from other women, leading to a call for submission of photos of women of viewers' inspiration from which a selection was shown at the concert. Beyoncé said about her mother Tina Knowles that her gift was "finding the best qualities in every human being." With help of the crowdfunding platform Catapult, visitors of the concert could choose between several projects promoting education of women and girls. Beyoncé is also taking part in "Miss a Meal", a food-donation campaign, and supporting Goodwill charity through online charity auctions at Charitybuzz that support job creation throughout Europe and the U.S. In December 2016, Beyoncé was named the Most Charitable Celebrity of the year.

Discography

• Dangerously in Love (2003)
• B'Day (2006)
• I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008)
• 4 (2011)
• Beyoncé (2013)
• Lemonade (2016)

Filmography

• Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001)
• Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
• The Fighting Temptations (2003)
• The Pink Panther (2006)
• Dreamgirls (2006)
• Cadillac Records (2008)
• Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!: Wubb Idol (2009)
• Obsessed (2009)
• Life Is But a Dream (2013)
• Epic (2013)

Tours and residency shows

Headlining tours

• Dangerously in Love Tour (2003)
• The Beyoncé Experience (2007)
• I Am... World Tour (2009-2010)
• The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour (2013-2014)
• The Formation World Tour (2016)

Co-headlining tours

• Verizon Ladies First Tour (with Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott) (2004)
• On the Run Tour (with Jay Z) (2014)

Residency shows

• I Am... Yours (2009)
• 4 Intimate Nights with Beyoncé (2011)
• Revel Presents: Beyoncé Live (2012)

See also

• Honorific nicknames in popular music
• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
• List of black Golden Globe Award winners and nominees
• List of artists with the most number ones on the U.S. dance chart

Notes

Tim Bergling (born 8 September 1989), better known by his stage name Avicii, is a Swedish musician, DJ, remixer and record producer.

Bergling was ranked third on DJ Mag in 2012 and 2013 and has been nominated twice for a Grammy Award, once for his work on "Sunshine" with David Guetta in 2012 and once for his song "Levels" in 2013. Some of his most famous songs are "I Could Be the One" with Nicky Romero, "Wake Me Up", "You Make Me", "X You", "Hey Brother", "Addicted to You", "The Days", "The Nights", "Levels" and "Waiting for Love". He released his debut studio album, True, in 2013. It received generally positive reviews from music critics, peaked within the top ten in more than fifteen countries and topped the Australian, Swedish, Danish and US charts. In 2015, Bergling released his second studio album, Stories.

Early life

Tim Bergling was born on 8 September 1989 in Stockholm, Sweden, to Klas Bergling and actress Anki Lidén. In May 2007, Avicii signed on with the Dejfitts Plays label. Then, in 2010, Bergling released the hit song "Seek Bromance", which reached the top 20 in several countries including Belgium, France, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Sweden. He also remixed Nadia Ali's classic single "Rapture" for her album Queen of Clubs Trilogy: Onyx Edition. In October 2010, Bergling signed with the European A&R team with EMI Music Publishing.

Career

Origin of the name "Avicii"

Bergling explained that the name Avicii means "the lowest level of Buddhist hell? (Av?ci) and he chose the moniker because his real name was already used upon creating his MySpace page.

2011-12: "Levels" and international breakthrough

In 2011, Bergling released "Levels", which launched him into the mainstream. The song was produced by Tim Bergling and contains a vocal sample from the 1962 gospel-inspired "Something's Got a Hold on Me" by Etta James. The same vocal sample was used first by Pretty Lights in his 2006 song "Finally Moving". This sample was also used by Drum and Bass producer Logistics on "Call Me Back" and by Flo Rida in his single "Good Feeling", which was produced by DJ Prak and Cirkut. "Levels" reached the top ten in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, whilst topping the charts in Hungary, Norway and Sweden.

In 2012, his collaboration track "Sunshine" with David Guetta was nominated for a Grammy award under the category for Best Dance Recording. His track "Fade into Darkness" was sampled by Leona Lewis on her single "Collide". The sampling was not accredited and led to controversy as Bergling attempted to block the single's release. However, the matter was resolved outside of court with representatives stating "that Leona Lewis and Avicii will work together on the forthcoming single of Collide".

On 23 March 2012, Bergling's unsigned single "Last Dance" was previewed on Pete Tong's show on BBC Radio 1. The song was later released on 27 August 2012. At Ultra Music Festival 2012 in Miami, he premiered two tracks, "Girl Gone Wild" (Avicii's UMF Remix) with Madonna and "Superlove" with Lenny Kravitz. Avicii's UMF Remix of "Girl Gone Wild" was released on 20 April 2012, and "Superlove" with Kravitz was released on 29 May 2012. After reaching two million followers on Facebook, Bergling released a new song titled "Two Million". It was put out as a free download on his official Soundcloud page. On 27 April 2012, Bergling released "Silhouettes". The song featured vocals from Salem Al Fakir and peaked at number 5 on the UK Dance charts and number 4 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs.

Bergling was a featured performer on 4 August 2012 at Lollapalooza festival in Chicago's Grant Park. On 12 August 2012, he released "Dancing in My Head" (Avicii's 'Been Cursed' Mix) on Beatport. The track features vocals from Eric Turner. A radio edit of the track, titled "Dancing in My Head" (Tom Hangs Mix) was released on 14 August 2012 on iTunes, and a remix EP was later released on 30 October 2012 featuring remixes from Charlie Bernardo and Michael Woods. On 26 September 2012, Bergling made history by being the first DJ to headline the world-famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City. He performed two sold out shows on 26 and 27 September. He was supported by Matt Goldman and Cazzette at the two shows. At his Radio City Music Hall shows, he played a preview of his new track with Mike Posner titled "Stay with You".

On 29 December 2012, Bergling premiered many new songs at Lights All Night, Dallas Convention Center, some of which made it into his first album, True. These unreleased songs included "I'll Be Gone" and "Let It Go". The instrumental of "Let It Go" was mixed with the a capella of "Addicted to You" to become "Addicted to You (Avicii by Avicii)".

On 29 December 2012, Bergling released "I Could Be the One" with Nicky Romero. After first being debuted at his shows almost a year earlier, the track finally got released via Bergling's record label LE7ELS. The new vocal version was released along with an instrumental version, a radio edit, and remixes from Audrio and Didrick. On 9 January 2013, Bergling launched the Avicii X You project, a partnership with Ericsson designed to create the world's first "crowdsourced" hit song. The project enabled fans to send in basslines, effects, melodies, rhythms and vocals to Bergling as sound files over the Internet. The song features sequences from Kian Sang (melody), Naxsy (bassline), Martin Kupilas (beat), ???? ????? (break), Jonathan Madray, Mateusz Kolata, and Christian Westphalen (effects). Bergling acted as executive producer and created the finished song officially titled X You, which was released on 26 February 2013. On 30 January 2013, Bergling released "Three Million" featuring Negin to celebrate three million fans on his Facebook page.

Bergling was nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Recording with "Levels" at the 2013 Grammy Awards. He was nominated alongside Calvin Harris and Ne-Yo, Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia and John Martin, and Al Walser. The award show took place on 10 February 2013. From late February to early March 2013, Bergling toured Australia as one of the headline acts in the Future Music Festival alongside The Prodigy and The Stone Roses. In late February 2013, Bergling made his first South American tour, with concerts in Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Chile.

2013: True

In March 2013, Bergling announced and premiered many new tracks from his new album True, which would later be set to be released in September, during his Main Stage set at Ultra Music Festival in Miami. The new tracks were experimental in nature. For example, Bergling brought out a stomping band to play through the new bluegrass-tinged song "Wake Me Up". Many of these new songs, however, received mixed critical reviews after the concert.

On 11 April 2013, Bergling released his new album promo mix on SoundCloud. It contained some songs from True and some of his non-album singles. It also contained some of his ID's such as "Black and Blue" and "Enough is Enough (Don't Give Up On Us)".

The EBU and SVT announced on 15 April that Bergling, along with ex-ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, had composed the anthem for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. The song was performed for the first time in the Final on 18 May.

On 14 June 2013, the world premiere of Bergling's new single, "Wake Me Up", was previewed by Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1, featuring vocals from Aloe Blacc. The song was later released on iTunes and radio on 25 June 2013. It is the first single from Bergling's album True, which was released on 16 September 2013. "Wake Me Up" was number 1 on the Spotify Global Chart and Bergling was at 2 in most streamed artist worldwide. "Wake Me Up" later went on to set a then record of 14 weeks as the number one hit on Billboards Dance/Electronic Songs list. The Official Charts Company announced on 21 July that "Wake Me Up" had become the UK's fastest selling single of 2013 after overtaking Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", having sold 267,000 copies in its first week on sale in the UK. "Wake Me Up" subsequently became a major hit, topping the charts in over 20 countries including Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

On 19 October 2013, the DJ Mag 2013 Top 100 DJs List was announced, with Bergling ranking number 3 on the list. Hardwell became the new World No.1 displacing Armin Van Buuren. On 28 October 2013, Bergling released the single "Hey Brother" with vocals by Dan Tyminski. On 10 November, Bergling won his first award "Best Electronic" at the MTV EMA's.

On 24 November 2013 he won the American Music Award for favorite Electronic Dance Music Artist.

In December 2013, Bergling released his fourth single off the album, "Addicted To You", which reached number 1 in Australia, with vocals from Audra Mae, who also sings on Shame on Me and Long Road to Hell, both tracks on the album. Bergling also released the single, "Lay Me Down" featuring vocals from Adam Lambert and guitar from Nile Rodgers. On 29 December 2013, Bergling debuted his new track "Dreaming of Me", featuring vocals from Audra Mae, via episode 19 of his LE7ELS podcast. It is unknown whether it will be released in the future.

In January 2014, the French hit music radio station NRJ released a new web radio station called "NRJ AVICII", which plays songs only by Bergling.

On 8 March 2014, Bergling's Instagram account confirmed a collaboration with Madonna. The extent of the collaboration is unknown. On 21 March 2014, Bergling released a remixed edition of his album True titled True: Avicii By Avicii containing remixes by himself of all the tracks, excluding "Heart Upon My Sleeve" for unknown reasons. The promotion of this album was supposed to begin at the 2014 Ultra Music Festival, but Bergling announced he had been hospitalised on 28 March, and was unable to play his closing set at the festival. On 28 March 2014, FIFA and Sony Music Entertainment announced that Bergling would be collaborating with Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean and Alexandre Pires for the official FIFA World Cup Anthem titled "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)". The anthem was performed at the FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony on 13 July 2014.

In 2014, following the FIFA World Cup, Bergling released his single "Lay Me Down". He also produced and collaborated with Chris Martin from Coldplay, co-writing and co-producing the track "A Sky Full of Stars" from the band's sixth studio album Ghost Stories, released on 19 May 2014. He also played and recorded the piano parts on the track. "A Sky Full of Stars" was released on 3 May as the second single from Ghost Stories. "Lovers on the Sun", a track Bergling co-produced with David Guetta, was released on 30 June 2014. He has also worked with Wyclef Jean on a single titled "Divine Sorrow" off his upcoming album Clefication.

2014-2015: Stories and major collaborations

In July 2014, Bergling told Rolling Stone that he had worked on 70 songs for his next album Stories, which would include collaborations with Jon Bon Jovi, Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Chris Martin, Wyclef Jean and Matisyahu. Describing the album, Bergling said: "It's going to be a lot more song-oriented."

During his tour for True, he also performed his upcoming single "No Pleasing A Woman" with vocals from Billie Joe Armstrong of American rock band Green Day. It has a similar instrumental to "Wake Me Up" albeit different chord progressions, along with "No Pleasing A Woman." Bergling also performed other upcoming songs like "In Love With Your Ghost" with Daniel "Danne" Adams-Ray, "Love To Fall" with Tom Odell and "Million Miles" with LP which is the demo version of "Trouble", a song from "Stories" with vocals from Wayne Hector.

"Lose Myself", a collaboration between Bergling and Chinese singer Wang Leehom, was released on 1 September 2014. On 8 September 2014, his 25th birthday, Bergling decided to cancel all of his remaining performances of 2014 due to health concerns. The following day, he announced through Denim & Supply that he would release his new single "The Days" later in 2014; a video was also featured with a preview of the track. "The Days" is a collaboration between Bergling and Robbie Williams, and was released on 3 October 2014 via PRMD. On 16 September 2014, it was announced through EA Sports that Bergling was debuting a brand new track called "The Nights" exclusively on FIFA 15. On 17 November 2014, it was officially announced that the track is to be released as a part of an EP together with "The Days".

On 17 November 2014, Wyclef Jean released a track titled "Divine Sorrow" featuring Avicii.

On 2 March 2015, Bergling performed live at Australia's Future Music Festival his upcoming single "Heaven", a collaboration with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin on vocals. However, the vocals were later resung by singer Simon Aldred from Cherry Ghost; Chris Martin will receive writing credits on "Heaven". A lot of songs were leaked into the internet via Bergling's UMF set 2015. These songs include "Heaven", "Waiting For Love," and some of his ID's "For A Better Day", "City Lights", "Can't Catch Me", "True Believer", "What Would I Change It To", "Can't Love You Again" (previously leaked on the internet under the name "Don't Call") and "Attack".

On 25 April 2015, Bergling announced on episode 35 of his LE7ELS podcast that he would be playing some of his unreleased songs on his show. He also previewed his bootleg of Kings of Tomorrow's song "Finally" and one of his old songs that he did with ASH, titled "Papa Was a Rolling Stone".

On 6 May 2015, Bergling released his rework of Nina Simone's version of "Feeling Good", composed in 1964 by the English songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse. On 8 May 2015, Bergling previewed his song "I'll Be Gone" via episode 422 of Tiësto's Club Life Podcast which has a very similar instrumental to Liar Liar (Avicii by Avicii) albeit different vocals and chord progressions. It was leaked into the internet between 2013-2014 via the name "Stars" and is yet to be released. It also shares a similar drop to one of Bergling's ID's "Black and Blue". On 22 May 2015, Bergling premiered another single from Stories, "Waiting for Love". The track was co-produced by fellow DJ and producer Martin Garrix, and featured vocals from Simon Aldred of Cherry Ghost. On 25 May 2015, Bergling previewed three old tracks on episode 36 of his LE7ELS podcast: "Tracks of My Tears", "Sorry Mr. Atari" and "Time to Get lll", all of which are songs that Bergling had made years ago. "Tracks of My Tears" is the original version of Bergling's "All You Need is Love". On 27 May 2015, it was confirmed by a Swedish newspaper through an interview with Bergling that his sophomore album Stories would be released in fall 2015.

On 3 July 2015, Bergling previewed two tracks from his album Stories on episode 37 of his LE7ELS podcast: "Broken Arrows" featuring Zac Brown Band and "Can’t Catch Me" featuring Wyclef Jean and Matisyahu. He also played a full version of his track "Heaven" and also revealed that he was doing another track with Chris Martin on vocals called "True Believer". Later, Bergling also revealed that he is also singing on that track. On 18 July 2015, it was announced by Bergling that he had finally finished production on Stories after 2 years of work.

A couple of weeks later, on 4 August 2015, it was announced that the final singles before the release of Stories would be "For a Better Day" featuring American singer Alex Ebert and "Pure Grinding" featuring vocals from Kristoffer Fogelmark and Earl St. Clair. On 27 August, Bergling released a teaser video on Instagram with the song "Pure Grinding" playing. The tracks "For a Better Day" and "Pure Grinding" were released the following day through Spotify and iTunes. On 26 September, Bergling announced "Stories - Megamix" on Spotify.

Stories was released on 2 October 2015 alongside 3 promotional singles: "Broken Arrows" with Zac Brown, "Ten More Days" with Zak Abel and "Gonna Love Ya" with Sandro Cavazza.

2016: Touring Retirement and Upcoming Third Studio Album

On 15 January 2016, Bergling released his remix of Morten's "Beautiful Heartbeat". Coca Cola had partnered with Bergling for a global campaign anthem "Taste the Feeling" featuring Conrad Sewell. The song was released on 19 January. On 25 January, Bergling teamed up again with Coldplay to co-produce the band's single "Hymn for the Weekend", which was released as the second single from their album A Head Full of Dreams. In 2016, according to a report by Inc magazine, Avicii was the 6th fastest growing company in Europe, with a revenue of ?7.7 million in 2014.

On 19 March 2016, Bergling performed live at Ultra Music Festival and premiered new IDs such as "Without You (feat. Sandro Cavazza)", "We Burn (Faster Than Light)", and a collaboration with Australian pop star Sia (which he first played in Dubai). On 29 March, Bergling announced on Facebook that he would be retiring from performing live and touring in 2016.

On 7 April 2016, Bergling announced that he's working on a third studio album.

On 3 June 2016, Bergling released his collaboration with Otto Knows titled "Back Where I Belong". It's the second collaboration with the two producers after "Itrack", back in 2011.

On 15 July 2016, Bergling released a remix of his own song, 'Feeling Good'. The remix was titled "Feeling Good (Avicii By Avicii)". This track was only released on Bergling's official YouTube channel. However, on 1 August, it appears to have been pulled with the YouTube video being made private.

On 28 August 2016, Bergling performed his final live performance in Ibiza, before retiring from touring citing health concerns. His initial announcement was made on his website in April.

On 22 December 2016, a representative of Avicii Music AB had announced that Avicii had parted ways with long time manager Ash Pournouri and At Night Management along with Ash's record label PRMD. The representative also announced that Avicii had signed on to Universal Music Sweden and is expected to release his third studio album in 2017.

Influences

Bergling's influences include Daft Punk, former trio Swedish House Mafia (Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello, Axwell) and Eric Prydz.

Bergling has described his earliest entree to electronic music as "listening to a lot of Daft Punk, way before I knew what house music was."

Avicii is named in the song "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" by American singer and songwriter Mike Posner. Posner recounts the event when he went to an Avicii show in Ibiza and got a mystery pill from someone. with the starting lyrics "I took a pill in Ibiza / To show Avicii I was cool". The song was made in the week they wrote a song together in Sweden called ?Stay With You?.

Philanthropy

Since achieving widespread commercial success, Bergling began working with his manager and executive producer Ash Pournouri to start House for Hunger in 2011, a charity dedicated to alleviating global hunger. The pair wanted to showcase the giving spirit fostered by the house music community. Bergling explained, "You have to give something back. I am so fortunate to be in the position where I can actually do that. I feel lucky every day when I wake up and am able to do what I love and make a living." In addition to donating $1 million to Feeding America, a charity founded by John van Hengel, House for Hunger has helped fund the efforts of The Feed Foundation, started by Laura Bush, allowing it to distribute over two million school meals throughout Africa.

Discography

Studio albums

• True (2013)
• Stories (2015)

Concert tours

• True Tour (2014)
• Stories World Tour (2015)

Awards and nominations

American Music Awards

The American Music Awards is an annual American music awards show created by Dick Clark in 1973, which airs on ABC. Avicii received two nominations and won one.

Billboard Music Awards

The Billboard Music Awards are an annual awards show from Billboard Magazine, Avicii received six nominations.

Echo Music Awards

The Echo Music Awards is an annual music awards ceremony presented by Deutsche Phono-Akademie in Germany. Avicii won two awards.

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Avicii received one nomination in 2012 and one nomination in 2013.

iHeartRadio Music Awards

The iHeartRadio Music Awards is an awards show created by iHeartRadio. Avicii received two nominations and won an award.

International Dance Music Awards

The International Dance Music Awards are held annually as part of the Winter Music Conference. Avicii has received four nominations and won one.

MTV Europe Music Awards

The MTV Europe Music Awards were established in 1994 by MTV Networks Europe, Avicii received five nominations and won two.

MTV Video Music Awards

The MTV Video Music Awards are presented annually by MTV and honor accomplishments in the music video medium. Avicii has received two nominations.

Teen Choice Awards

The Teen Choice Awards is an annual award ceremony to honour the year's biggest achievements in entertainment and is voted by teen viewers. Avicii has won an award.

World Music Awards

The World Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that honors best selling artists in the record industry. Avicii received eight nominations.

See also

• Swedish popular music

References

External links

• Official website

Source : Wikipedia

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:30:00 +0000 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/one-direction-9 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/one-direction-9 One Direction (commonly abbreviated as 1D) are an English-Irish pop boy band based in London, composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously, Zayn Malik until his departure from the band on 25 March 2015. The group signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records after forming and finishing third in the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor in 2010. Propelled to international success by social media, One Direction's five albums, Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013), Four (2014), and Made in the A.M. (2015), topped charts in most major markets, and generated hit singles including "What Makes You Beautiful", "Live While We're Young", "Best Song Ever", "Story of My Life", and "Drag Me Down".

Their awards include six Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, eleven MTV Europe Music Awards, seven American Music Awards (including Artist of the Year in 2014 and 2015), and 27 Teen Choice Awards, among many others. According to Nick Gatfield, the chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment UK, One Direction represented a $50 million business empire by June 2012. They were proclaimed 2012's "Top New Artist" by Billboard. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, by April 2013, they had an estimated personal combined wealth of £25 million ($41.2m) making them the second-wealthiest musicians in the UK under 30 years of age. In 2014, Forbes listed them the second-highest earning celebrities under 30, with the group earning an estimated $75 million from June 2013 to June 2014. In June 2015, Forbes listed their earnings at $130 million for the previous twelve months, and ranked them the fourth highest earning celebrities in the world. In 2016 Forbes ranked them the world's second highest earning celebrities.

After the release of Four, One Direction became the first band in the US Billboard 200 history to have their first four albums debut at number one. Their third album, Midnight Memories, was the biggest-selling album worldwide of 2013 despite being released in late November. The band's Where We Are Tour in support of Midnight Memories and Four, was the highest-grossing concert tour in 2014, and the highest-grossing tour ever by a vocal group, generating $282 million. In 2014, Billboard named One Direction Artist of the Year. The band is temporarily on a hiatus that began in January 2016, which is expected to last around 18 months.

History

2010-11: The X Factor

In 2010, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson auditioned as solo candidates for the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor. They failed to progress to the "Boys" category at "judges' houses" but were put together to form a five-piece boy band at Wembley Arena, in London, England, in July 2010, during the "bootcamp" stage of the competition, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category. Nicole Scherzinger, a guest judge, and Simon Cowell have both claimed to have come up with the idea of forming the band. In 2013, Cowell said that it "took him 10 minutes to put them together as a group". Subsequently, the group got together for two weeks to get to know each other and to practice. Styles came up with the name One Direction. For their qualifying song at "judges' houses", and their first song as a group, One Direction sang an acoustic version of "Torn". Cowell later commented that their performance convinced him that they "were confident, fun, like a gang of friends, and kind of fearless as well." Within the first four weeks of the live shows, they were his last act in the competition. The group quickly gained popularity in the UK.

One Direction achieved third place in the competition and immediately after the final, their song "Forever Young", which would have been released if they had won The X Factor, was leaked onto the internet. Shortly afterwards it was confirmed that One Direction had been signed by Cowell to a reported £2 million Syco Records record contract. Recording for their debut album began in January 2011, as they flew to Los Angeles to work with RedOne, a record producer. A book licensed by One Direction, One Direction: Forever Young (Our Official X Factor Story), was published by HarperCollins in February 2011, subsequently topping The Sunday Times Best Seller list. The same month, the boy band and other contestants from the series participated in the X Factor Live Tour. During the tour, the group performed for 500,000 people throughout the UK. After the tour concluded in April 2011, the group continued working on their debut album. Recording took place in Stockholm, London and Los Angeles, as One Direction worked with producers Carl Falk, Savan Kotecha, Steve Mac, and Rami Yacoub, among others.

2011-12: Up All Night

Released in September 2011, One Direction's debut single, "What Makes You Beautiful", reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, after becoming the most pre-ordered Sony Music Entertainment single in history. Subsequent singles, "Gotta Be You" and "One Thing", peaked in the UK Singles Chart top ten. In November 2011, they signed a record deal with Columbia Records in North America. Steve Barnett, the co-chairman of Columbia Records, said it was not a difficult decision to sign One Direction; "I just thought there was a void, and maybe they could seize and hold it." "What Makes You Beautiful" was released in the United States in February 2012, where it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 28, becoming the highest debut for a British act since 1998. It has sold over 4 million copies in the US Upon arrival in the US in February 2012, One Direction embarked on a radio promotion spree, as well as their first North American concert tour as an opening act for Big Time Rush. They made their first US television appearance on The Today Show, at the Rockefeller Center; an estimated 15,000 fans descended on the plaza. Critically commended for its appeal to the teenage audience, One Direction's first studio album, Up All Night, was released globally in early 2012. It became the UK's fastest-selling debut album of 2011, and topped the charts in sixteen countries. The album bowed atop the Billboard 200 chart, making One Direction the first British group in US chart history to enter at number one with their debut album. They were inducted into the Guinness World Records as a result. Up All Night also became the first album by a boy band to sell 500,000 digital copies in the US and, by August 2012, had sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

In April 2012, an American band that went by the same name filed a trademark infringement lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, the US band had been using the name since 2009, recorded two albums and filed an application to register the trademark name in the US in February 2011. The US band said they were entitled to three times the profits made by the UK band, as well as compensatory damages in excess of US$1million. The lawsuit claimed that Syco and Sony Music "chose to ignore the plaintiff's rights and wilfully infringed them" after they realised in early 2011 that the two bands shared the same name. Syco Records subsequently counter-sued, suggesting the US group was trying to make money from One Direction's success and that the boy band was the first to use the name in US interstate commerce. The BBC reported in September 2012 that the UK group won the legal dispute over the right to keep using their band name; the US band changed its name to Uncharted Shores. The change of name was announced in a joint statement that also noted both groups were happy with the outcome.

In December 2011, One Direction embarked on their first headlining UK concert tour, the Up All Night Tour. In early 2012, they announced Australasian and North American legs of the concert tour, with dates from April to July 2012. The tour, comprising 62 shows, was met with positivity both critically and commercially. A recording of a concert from the tour, Up All Night: The Live Tour, was released in May 2012. In addition to the DVD topping the charts in twenty-five countries, its global sales had exceeded 1 million copies by August 2012. One Direction's first book to be licensed in America, Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction, published in the United States in May 2012, topped The New York Times Best Seller list. In June 2012, Nick Gatfield, the chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Music Entertainment UK, stated how he expects One Direction to represent a $100 million business empire over 2013. Gatfield was quoted as saying, "What you might not know about One Direction is that they already represent a $50 million business and that's a figure we expect to double next year". In August 2012, the group's record sales exceeded 8 million singles, 3 million albums, and 1 million DVDs, and they performed "What Makes You Beautiful" at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London, which represented the handover to Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. One Direction were the biggest winners of the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards winning their three nominations on 6 September 2012, including Best New Artist.

2012-13: Take Me Home

One Direction's second studio album, Take Me Home, was released in November 2012. Take Me Home was written in groups and has an average of just under five songwriters per track. Savan Kotecha, Rami Yacoub, and Carl Falk, who composed One Direction's hits "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing", spent six months in Stockholm developing songs for the album, and were able to shape melodies around their tones. One Direction began recording the album in May 2012, in Stockholm at Kinglet Studios. The album cover artwork features the group surrounding a traditional British K2 red telephone box, a familiar sight on the streets of the UK. Take Me Home garnered mixed reviews from music critics. There was praise for its quality of production, while it was criticised for its generic, rushed nature. The album's lead single, "Live While We're Young", released in September 2012, reached the top ten in almost every country it charted in and recorded the highest one-week opening sales figure for a song by a non-US artist in the US The album and its second single, "Little Things", both debuted at number one in the UK simultaneously; something that One Direction became the youngest act in British chart history to achieve. Take Me Home sold 540,000 copies in its first week in the US, debuted atop the Billboard 200, and topped the charts in more than thirty-four other countries. Additionally, Up All Night and Take Me Home were the number three and number four best-selling albums of 2012 globally, each album selling over 5 million units worldwide.

One Direction performed "Little Things" at the 2012 Royal Variety Performance in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II, and headlined a sold-out show at New York City's Madison Square Garden on 3 December 2012. In February 2013, One Direction released a cover version of "One Way or Another" and "Teenage Kicks", "One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)", as the 2013 Comic Relief single. As part of their involvement with the UK charity, One Direction travelled to Ghana to volunteer at a children's hospital, visit a school and make donations.

The Official Charts Company revealed that One Direction had sold 2,425,000 records in the UK by February 2013. One Direction embarked on their second concert tour in February 2013, the Take Me Home Tour. The concert tour consists of over 100 shows in Europe, North America and Australasia. Ticket sales reached 300,000 within a day of release in the UK and Ireland, which included a six-date sell-out at London's The O2 Arena. In the Australian and New Zealand markets, tickets grossed US$15.7 million, with all 190,000 tickets being sold for the eighteen shows to be held. The tour received critical acclaim from music critics who praised the band's live vocals and their performance abilities and was a commercial success, selling 1,635,000 tickets from 134 shows.

2013-14: Midnight Memories and This Is Us

One Direction: This Is Us, a 3D documentary and concert film about the group directed by Morgan Spurlock and produced by Spurlock, Ben Winston, Adam Milano and Simon Cowell, was released by TriStar Pictures on 30 August 2013. The film features the song "Best Song Ever", released on 22 July 2013. "Best Song Ever" was the lead single of the group's third studio album Midnight Memories. The film was a box office success, topping the UK and US box offices and grossing over $60 million worldwide, and became the fourth highest-grossing concert movie. "Best Song Ever" broke the 24-Hour Vevo Record with 10.9 million views on YouTube (this was the second time the band held the record with "Live While We're Young" attaining 8.2 million views on 20 September 2012). On 16 May 2013, the band announced their first stadium tour, the Where We Are Tour, which began in April 2014. On 30 May 2013, the band announced a partnership with Office Depot on a limited-edition capsule collection of back to school supplies. They also confirmed that a portion of the proceeds from the alliance would go toward an anti-bullying educational program intended to promote kinder behaviour in schools.

On 23 November 2013, in support of Midnight Memories, the band participated in "1D Day", a day dedicated to One Direction fans. The day constituted of a landmark 7.5-hour socially interactive YouTube live-stream featuring live band performances, celebrity guests including, Simon Cowell, Cindy Crawford, Piers Morgan, Jerry Springer and many more. The event was unique not only because of its long runtime but the unprecedented use of social media whereby fans got to participate in the show interact directly with the band via Google+ Hangout.

Midnight Memories was released globally on 25 November 2013. It debuted at number one in the UK and in the US, making them the first group to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 with its first three albums, and the second to reach the top after The Monkees in 1967. The album was described by the band as edgier and as having a "slightly rockier tone" than their previous efforts. "Story of My Life" was revealed as the second single of the album with each member posting a photo from their childhood. To promote the album, the band performed on both the American and British versions of The X Factor.

In December 2013, One Direction broke yet another UK sales record with the DVD and Blu-ray release of their 3-D concert film This is Us. Nearly 270,000 copies of the film were sold in the UK within three days of its release, beating the record previously set by Michael Jackson's This Is It in 2010 by 10,000 copies. The group was named Top Global artists of 2013 by the IFPI because of strong digital downloads, physical albums, on-demand streams, and music videos.

2014-15: Four and Malik's departure

On 21 July 2014, One Direction announced One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film, a film which documents the 28 June and 29 June 2014 concerts that took place in San Siro Stadium during their Where We Are Tour. After the announcement, the band announced the film would also have a limited 10-11 October 2014 international cinema release before its home media release in November 2014. The group also released an autobiography book titled Who We Are on 25 September 2014.

On 8 September 2014, One Direction announced their fourth studio album to be titled Four, set to be released on 17 November 2014. As part of the announcement, one of the songs from the album, "Fireproof" was released for free download for 24 hours on their official website. "Steal My Girl", the album's lead single, was released on 29 September 2014, and the music video was released on 24 October 2014. The second single from the album, "Night Changes", was released on 14 November, three days before the album's release. Four was released on 17 November 2014, topping the Billboard 200 and the UK Album Chart.

On 22 November 2014, Paul Higgins, the group's tour manager who has been with them since its formation, parted ways with the band. The band confirmed at the BBC Music Awards that following the success of Four, they had hopes to continue to go "somewhere else" on their fifth album. In support of Midnight Memories and Four, the band's Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing concert tour in 2014, and the highest-grossing tour ever by a vocal group, generating $282 million.

On 25 March 2015, the band released a statement announcing Malik's departure. They admitted that they were angry at first because of Zayn Malik's decision. The group made their first official public appearance as a four-piece on The Late Late Show with James Corden on 14 May, where they confirmed that they would continue working without a new fifth member. Since leaving the band, Malik has gone on to have solo success with his number one debut single "Pillowtalk" and album Mind of Mine.

2015-16: Made in the A.M. and hiatus

On 31 July 2015, the group released "Drag Me Down" without promotional material or announcement. The single is the first single from their fifth studio album, Made in the A.M., and the first material released by the group after Malik's departure. Following the release, it was revealed that the group would going on hiatus in 2016 to take a break. On 22 September, the title for the fifth studio album, Made in the A.M., was officially announced along with promotional single "Infinity" being released. The group began to reveal the track listing on their Snapchat stories to which it was later confirmed on iTunes. The album was released on 13 November 2015. At the 2015 American Music Awards on 22 November, One Direction won the award for Artist of the Year for the second year in succession. Louis Tomlinson later confirmed that the break would be around 18 months. On 13 December, One Direction performed on The X Factor final. Their last televised performance as a group, before their hiatus, was on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on 31 December 2015.

On 13 January 2016, Us Weekly published a report claiming that the group's hiatus would become a permanent split, with a "source" citing that each of the four remaining group members did not renew their contracts following the completion of the on the Road Again Tour in October 2015. Representatives for the group denied said-report in a statement to Billboard, stating, "nothing has changed regarding hiatus plans for the group, and all will be revealed in due time from the band members' own mouths." In February, it was confirmed that Harry Styles had left the group's management and may begin a solo career path. In June, it was confirmed that Styles had signed a solo recording contract. In July, Payne announced that he has signed a solo recording contract with Capitol Records. On 29 September, Horan released his solo debut single "This Town".

Musical style

One Direction's debut studio album, Up All Night (2011), is predominantly a pop music record, containing elements of teen pop, dance-pop, pop rock, with electropop and rock influences. Digital Spy's Robert Copsey described the album as a "collection of PG pop rock with killer choruses", while The New York Times considered it "full of easy rock-inflected pop, blithe and sometimes clever." Jason Lipshutz of Billboard acknowledged that the album demonstrates an originality in sound that was "necessary for the revitalization of the boy band movement". The songs "One Thing" and "What Makes You Beautiful" were particularly noted for the genres of power pop and pop rock, for their "powerhouse" guitar riffs and "forceful" choruses.

Their second studio album, Take Me Home (2012), is characterised by rock-inherited pop, prominent electric guitar riffs, bright synthesisers, a homogeneous sound and message, and the pitch-correcting software Auto-Tune. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian interpreted its signature sound as a "peppy, synth-bolstered take on early-80s new-wave pop, heavy on clipped rhythms and chugging guitars," which, he said, is at least an improvement on the substitute contemporary R&B "that was once the grim lot of the boyband." Jon Caramanica, writing in The New York Times, considered the album "far more mechanical" than their debut album, although noted that it is sonically and lyrically similar. The album's lyricism speaks of falling in love, unrequited love, the insistence that flaws are what make a person unique, commitment, jealousy and longing for past significant others.

Erica Futterman for Rolling Stone favoured their live acoustic performances as both showing, "Horan's ability to play guitar, as well as One Direction's admirable live vocals. There was no need to worry about a backing track or a bum note, a pleasant realization at a pop show." Herald Sun's Cameron Adams opined that One Direction have "strong pop voices". Melody Lau of the National Post wrote, "It's easy to get lost in inherent appeal of their perfectly coiffed dos and almost-too-put-together preppy style but somewhere in the midst of all the love-struck squeals of teenage girls are guys who can actually sing and, to a certain extent, entertain." Jane Stevenson of the portal site Canoe concurred: "What I didn't really prepare myself for was that they all can actually sing in concert." Chris Richards, writing in The Washington Post, dissented from the approval: "As the five traded couplets, it was tough to imagine a future Justin Timberlake, Ricky Martin or Bobby Brown emerging from the pack. No one voice stood out." Mike Wass of Idolator felt One Direction's "surprisingly accomplished effort" of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" proved that One Direction are "more than capable" of evolving their sound.

Their third album Midnight Memories (2013) is a pop rock record, a slight departure from the band's original teen pop sound. Liam Payne called Midnight Memories a "slightly rockier and edgier" album than their previous material. The album is heavily influenced by 80's rock and folk music and briefly integrates elements of dubstep, notably in "Little White Lies". The album's lyrical themes primarily revolve around love, heartbreak and sexual intercourse. Many critics praised its lyrical depth and musical composition, as well as the group's level of involvement in the production process.

Their fourth album Four (2014) was released on 17 November 2014. Payne once again claimed that the album would be "edgier" and that the group had written most of the songs for it; Horan came up with the name of the album, commemorating the fact that it is One Direction's fourth record to date and that it has been four years since the band's formation. Signifying a further maturation of their pop sound, the album's first single, Steal My Girl, was dubbed by Billboard as "no What Makes You Beautiful, but its Coldplay-like piano pop could be a good direction", and that the band was "not entirely ready to let go of its bubble-gum days". Rolling Stone described the record as "saturated with retro vibes"; its songs "split the difference between big, splashy Eighties pop rock and more elegant Seventies flavours - a very pesky whipper-snapper move that's not so far from what Haim's hit Days Are Gone did last year."

Charity work

In 2011, the band performed on the BBC's Children in Need 2011 charity telethon, helping raise over 26 million pounds. In 2012 they extended their involvement with Children in Need as they opened the telecast with a performance of their single "Live While We're Young". A prominent annual event in British culture, the group said it was "incredible" to be involved in Children in Need as it was something that they had "always watched as children".

In February 2013, One Direction released "One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)" (a medley of "One Way or Another" and "Teenage Kicks") as the 2013 single for the UK's other major charity telethon Comic Relief. For ITV's Santa charity Christmas campaign, they filmed a set of pleas to their fans and the general public, asking them to donate £2. The band have made numerous other appearances for charitable causes, including the 2011 Pride of Britain Awards where they presented 13-year-old quadruple amputee Danielle Bailey the Child of Courage award at her school assembly, and the 2014 Royal Variety Performance where they played in front of Prince William and Catherine at the London Palladium.

In September 2012, Niall Horan organised an event to raise money for Irish Autism Action and another charity, called Temporary Emergency Accommodation Mullingar, based in his hometown. Due to overwhelming demand to participate in the fundraising, the ticket website for the event broke down. Horan's brother Greg commented on the website crash, saying that "there were 500 tickets and they were all snapped up pretty quick".

In 2013, band members Liam Payne and Harry Styles partnered with Trekstock, a leading cancer charity to help raise money for cancer research. As ambassadors of the charity, the duo collaborated to offer the chance for one fan and a friend to win an evening out with them in return for a donation to the charity as part of an exclusive "#HangwithLiam&Harry" global campaign. They had originally set a goal of raising $500,000 and ended up raising $784,984. Trekstock later added that this amount would allow them to "complete funding of their Hodgkin's lymphoma trial, in the hope of offering a much brighter future to thousands of children and young people affected by this form of disease." One Direction were named the most charitable in 2013 behind Taylor Swift by social change organisation DoSomething.org.

In 2014, One Direction donated £600,000 for the Stand up to Cancer campaign by giving portions of their ticket sales revenues from their Where We Are Tour. On 15 November 2014, One Direction joined the charity group Band Aid 30 along with other British and Irish pop acts, recording the latest version of the track "Do They Know It's Christmas?" at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, to raise money for the 2014 Ebola crisis in Western Africa.

Image

Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph, in an article on One Direction's success in North America, notes that Americans had left a gap in the market and it took the prominence of Justin Bieber to demonstrate that there still was a market for "clean cut, wholesome, whiter-than-white, middle class parent friendly pop: cute boys advocating puppy love. And what could be better than one cute boy, if not five?" One Direction have been described as sparking a resurgence in the interest in boy bands, and as forming part of a new "British Invasion" in the United States. Bill Werde, a representative of Billboard magazine, commented, "There's a lot of possibility here, there's a lot of upside, that level of talent with those kinds of looks, it's really a perfect storm for a massive, massive successful phenomenon."

Sonny Takhar, the chief executive officer of Syco Records, attributes the breakthrough to the power of social media. "Sometimes you feel the song's the star, but it's not like that here - it's the act," he said. "It's a real moment. Social media has become the new radio, it's never broken an act globally like this before." Will Bloomfield, the group's manager, added, "These guys live online, and so do their fans." Their management employs a social media team and the members all tweet themselves, "which helps create the illusion that they couldn't be any closer to their fans," according to Caspar Llewellyn Smith, writing for The Guardian. One Direction's Twitter account had amassed 10 million followers by February 2013, with the account gaining followers at an average of 21,000 per day. In an approach pioneered by The Beatles, each member is known for his feature; Horan is "the cute one", Malik is "the quiet and mysterious one", Payne is "the sensible one", Styles is "the charming one" and Tomlinson is "the funny one". Each member's individual identity is reinforced by their intentionally different personal styles. Caroline Watson, the band's original stylist, spoke about styling the band, "At the beginning I didn't want them all in black or all in leather?that whole stereotypical boy band thing." Instead, her original idea was for them to be the "male equivalent to the Spice Girls", with each member being a part of the group but still having his own individual style. Horan commented on One Direction as a boy band, "People think that a boy band is air-grabs and [being] dressed in all one colour. We're boys in a band. We're trying to do something different from what people would think is the typical kind of boy band. We're trying to do different kinds of music and we're just trying to be ourselves, not squeaky clean." Leah Collins, writing for the National Post, remarked that One Direction had succeeded on the latter front, "For the most part, that just means the group presents themselves as typical, goofy and uncensored teenage boys - posting jokey YouTube videos, for instance, or boozing at awards shows." Writing for The Observer, Kitty Empire opined, "One Direction fulfil a great many boy band prerequisites (looks, soppy lyrics, tune-grasp, fame-lust) but their lack of routines points to the subtle digressions afoot here".

Discography

• Up All Night (2011)
• Take Me Home (2012)
• Midnight Memories (2013)
• Four (2014)
• Made in the A.M. (2015)

Filmography

• The X Factor series 7 (finalists)
• Up All Night: The Live Tour
• One Direction: This Is Us
• One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film

Tours

Awards and nominations

One Direction has received five BRIT Awards?winning their first with "What Makes You Beautiful" for Best British Single at the 2012 BRIT Awards, three NME awards, two Kids' Choice Awards, and four MTV Video Music Awards, among other awards. One Direction won 27 awards from 29 they have been nominated for at the Teen Choice Awards. One Direction also won two American Music Awards out of their two nominations for Favorite Pop/Rock Album and Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group, respectively.

See also

• List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
• List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart

Publications

• One Direction: Forever Young, HarperCollins (17 February 2011) ISBN 978-0-00-743230-1
• One Direction: The Official Annual 2012, HarperCollins (1 September 2011) ISBN 978-0-00-743625-5
• Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction, HarperCollins (15 September 2011) ISBN 978-0-00-744439-7
• One Direction: Where We Are: Our Band, Our Story: 100% Official, HarperCollins (19 November 2013) ISBN 978-0-00-748900-8
• One Direction: Who We Are: Our Official Autobiography, HarperCollins (25 September 2014) ISBN 978-0-00-757731-6

References

External links

• Official website
• One Direction at AllMusic
• One Direction at the Internet Movie Database
• Management

Source : Wikipedia

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:31:00 +0000 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/taylor-swift-10 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/taylor-swift-10 Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. One of the most popular contemporary female recording artists, she is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which has received much media attention.

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at age 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest artist ever signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. Her eponymous debut album in 2006 peaked at number five on Billboard 200 and spent the most weeks on the chart in the 2000s. The album's third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest Album of the Year winner.

Swift was the sole writer of her 2010 album, Speak Now. It debuted at number one in the United States and the single "Mean" won two Grammy Awards. Her fourth album, Red (2012), yielded the successful singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble". With her fifth album, the pop-focused 1989 (2014), she became the first act to have three albums sell a million copies within one week in the United States. Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space" and "Bad Blood" reached number one in the US, Australia and Canada. The album received three Grammy Awards, and Swift became the first woman and fifth act overall to win Album of the Year twice. The 2015 eponymous concert tour for 1989 became one of highest-grossing of the decade.

As a songwriter, Swift has received awards from the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She is also the recipient of ten Grammy Awards, five Guinness World Records, one Emmy Award, 23 Billboard Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, eight Academy of Country Music Awards, and one Brit Award. Swift is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums?including 27.1 million in the US?and 130 million single downloads. She has appeared in Time's 100 most influential people in the world (2010 and 2015), Forbes' top-earning women in music (2011-2015), Forbes' 100 most powerful women (2015) and Forbes Celebrity 100 (2016). She was the youngest woman to be included in the third of these and ranked first in Celebrity 100.

Biography

1989-2003: Early life

Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in Reading, Pennsylvania. Her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, was a financial advisor, and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift (née Finlay), was a homemaker who worked previously as a mutual fund marketing executive. She has a younger brother named Austin. Swift spent the early years of her life on a Christmas tree farm. She attended preschool and kindergarten at the Alvernia Montessori School, run by Franciscan nuns, before transferring to The Wyndcroft School. The family then moved to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.

At the age of nine, Swift became interested in musical theater and performed in four Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions. She also traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons. Swift later shifted her focus toward country music inspired by Shania Twain's songs, which made her "want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything". She spent her weekends performing at local festivals and events. After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt sure that she needed to go to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a music career. At the age of eleven, she traveled with her mother to visit Nashville record labels and submitted a demo tape of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers. However, she was rejected since "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different".

When Swift was about 12 years old, a computer repairman taught her how to play three chords on a guitar, leading to her first effort as a songwriter, "Lucky You". In 2003, Swift and her parents started working with New York-based music manager Dan Dymtrow. With his help, Swift modelled for Abercrombie & Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign, had an original song included on a Maybelline compilation CD, and attended meetings with major record labels. After performing original songs at an RCA Records showcase, Swift was given an artist development deal and began making frequent trips to Nashville with her mother.

To help Swift break into country music, her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch when she was 14, and the family relocated to a lakefront house in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Swift attended public high school, but after two years transferred to the Aaron Academy, which through homeschooling could accommodate her touring schedule, and she graduated a year early.

2004-2008: Career beginnings and Taylor Swift

In Nashville, Swift worked with experienced Music Row songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, Brett James, Mac McAnally, and The Warren Brothers. She eventually formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose. They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school. Rose thought that the sessions were "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks". Swift was signed by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house, but left RCA Records when she was 14. She later recalled: "I genuinely felt that I was running out of time. I wanted to capture these years of my life on an album while they still represented what I was going through".

At an industry showcase at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a DreamWorks Records executive who was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine Records. She became one of the first signings, and her father purchased a three percent stake in the fledgling company at an estimated cost of $120,000. The singer began working on her eponymous debut album shortly after signing the record deal. She persuaded Big Machine to hire her demo producer Nathan Chapman, with whom she felt she had the right "chemistry". Swift wrote three of the album's songs alone, and co-wrote the remaining eight with writers Rose, Robert Ellis Orrall, Brian Maher, and Angelo Petraglia. Taylor Swift was released on October 24, 2006. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times described it as "a small masterpiece of pop-minded country, both wide-eyed and cynical, held together by Ms. Swift's firm, pleading voice". Taylor Swift peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 and spent 157 weeks on the chart, marking the longest stay by any release in the 2000s. As of August 2016 the album has sold over 7.75 million copies worldwide.

Big Machine Records was still in its infancy on the release of the lead single, "Tim McGraw", in June 2006, and Swift and her mother helped "stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio". She spent much of 2006 promoting Taylor Swift with a radio tour and television appearances. Borchetta has said that record industry peers disliked his signing of a 16-year-old singer-songwriter at first, but that Swift tapped into a previously unknown market?teenage girls who listen to country music. Following "Tim McGraw", four more singles were released throughout 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No". All were highly successful on Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, with "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" both reaching number one. For the former, Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the chart. "Teardrops on My Guitar" became a moderate commercial success, reaching number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100. Swift also released the holiday album Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007 and the EP Beautiful Eyes in July 2008. She promoted her debut album extensively as the opening act for other artists on their tours.

Swift won accolades for Taylor Swift. She was one of the recipients of the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist of the Year in 2007, becoming the youngest person to be honored with the title. She also won the Country Music Association's Horizon Award for Best New Artist, the Academy of Country Music Awards' Top New Female Vocalist, and the American Music Awards' Favorite Country Female Artist honor. She was also nominated for Best New Artist at the 2008 Grammy Awards. In July of that year, Swift began a romance with Joe Jonas that ended three months later.

2008-2010: Fearless and acting

Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released on November 11, 2008. The lead single, "Love Story", was released in September 2008. It peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one in Australia. Four more singles were released throughout 2008 and 2009: "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". "You Belong with Me" was the album's highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two. The album debuted at number one on Billboard 200 and was the top-selling album of 2009 in the United States. The album received promotion from Swift's first concert tour, Fearless Tour, which grossed over $63 million. Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless, a concert film, was aired on television and later released on DVD and Blu-ray. Swift also performed as a supporting act for Keith Urban's Escape Together World Tour.

In 2009, the music video for "You Belong with Me" was named MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video. Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West. The incident was the subject of controversy and frequent media attention, resulting in many Internet memes. James Montgomery of MTV argued that the incident and subsequent media attention turned Swift into "a bona-fide mainstream celebrity". Also that year, she won five American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album. Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year.

Swift also won accolades for Fearless in 2010. At the 52nd Grammy Awards, Fearless was named Album of the Year and Best Country Album, and "White Horse" was named Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Swift was the youngest artist ever to win Album of the Year. During the ceremony, Swift sang "You Belong with Me" and "Rhiannon" with Stevie Nicks. Her vocal performance received negative reviews and a media backlash. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times found it "refreshing to see someone so gifted make the occasional flub" and described Swift as "the most important new pop star of the past few years". Swift became the youngest ever artist to be named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. Fearless also won the Association's Album of the Year award.

Swift contributed backing vocals to John Mayer's "Half of My Heart", a single featured on his fourth album, Battle Studies (2009). She co-wrote and recorded "Best Days of Your Life" with Kellie Pickler, and co-wrote two songs for the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack?"You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Crazier". Swift also provided vocals for Boys Like Girls' "Two Is Better Than One". She contributed two songs to the Valentine's Day soundtrack, including "Today Was a Fairytale", which became her first number one on the Canadian Hot 100 chart.

Swift made her acting debut in a 2009 episode of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, playing a rebellious teenager. The New York Times noted that the character allowed Swift to be "a little bit naughty, and credibly so". Later that year, Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for an episode of Saturday Night Live. Entertainment Weekly described her as "this season's best Saturday Night Live host so far", noting that she "was always up for the challenge, seemed to be having fun, and helped the rest of the cast nail the punchlines". While filming Valentine's Day in October 2009?Swift's feature film acting debut?she began a romantic relationship with co-star Taylor Lautner; however, they broke up later that year. The romantic comedy, released the following year, saw her play the ditzy girlfriend of a high school jock, a role in which Los Angeles Times found "serious comedic potential". In a scathing review, the critic for Variety deemed her "entirely undirected", arguing that "she needs to find a skilled director to tamp her down and channel her obviously abundant energy". Later in 2010, she briefly dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

2010-2014: Speak Now and Red

In August 2010, Swift released "Mine", which entered the United States at number three, making Swift the second female artist in the history of the Hot 100 (after Mariah Carey) to debut multiple tracks?the other one was "Today Was a Fairytale" at number two?in the top five during a calendar year. The song was the lead single from her third studio album, Speak Now, whose songs she wrote by herself. Speak Now, released on October 25, 2010, was a commercial success, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200, with opening week sales of one million copies, the 16th album to do so. Later, it became the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist, with 278,000 downloads in a week. For this feat, Swift received a listing in the 2010 Guinness World Records; she earned another entry in the book after 10 of Speak Now's tracks debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, making her the first female to achieve the feat. Three of the album's singles?"Mine", "Back to December", and "Mean"?peaked within the top ten in Canada.

The song "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. She performed the song during the ceremony. Claire Suddath of Time felt she "delivered her comeback on-key and with a vengeance", and Jayme Deerwester of USA Today remarked that the criticism in 2010 seemed to have "made her a better songwriter and live performer". Swift won various other awards for Speak Now, including Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association (2010 and 2011), Woman of the Year by Billboard (2011), and Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music (2011 and 2012) and the Country Music Association in 2011. At the American Music Awards of 2011, Swift won Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album.

Swift embarked on the Speak Now World Tour, which ran from February 2011 to March 2012, and grossed over $123 million. In November 2011, she released her first live album, Speak Now World Tour: Live. The following month, Swift contributed two original songs to The Hunger Games soundtrack album?"Safe & Sound", co-written and recorded with The Civil Wars and T-Bone Burnett, and "Eyes Open". The former was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. After providing vocals for B.o.B's "Both of Us" in May 2012, Swift dated political heir Conor Kennedy from July to September 2012. In August, Swift released "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"?the lead single from her fourth studio album, Red. An international success, it became her first number-one in the US and New Zealand. The song reached the top slot on an iTunes chart 50 minutes after its release, earning the "Fastest Selling Single in Digital History" listing in the Guinness World Records. Swift released the album's second single "Begin Again" in October. It reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. Other singles released from the album included: "I Knew You Were Trouble", "22", "Everything Has Changed", "The Last Time", and "Red". "I Knew You Were Trouble" was a major commercial success, peaking at number two in the United States.

Red was released on October 22, 2012, incorporating new genres, such as heartland rock, dubstep and dance-pop. The album was a critical and commercial success, and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 1.21 million copies. This marked the highest opening sales in a decade, and made Swift the first female to have two million-selling album openings, a record recognized by Guinness World Records. Promoting the album, Swift embarked on the Red Tour, which ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and grossed over $150 million. Red earned several accolades, including four nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Its single "I Knew You Were Trouble" won Best Female Video at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards. Swift was named Best Female Country Artist at the 2012 American Music Awards and Artist of the Year at the 2013 ceremony. She received the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist Award for the fifth and sixth consecutive years in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Swift was also honored by the Association with a special Pinnacle Award, making her the second recipient of the accolade after Garth Brooks.

In 2013, Swift co-wrote "Sweeter Than Fiction" with Jack Antonoff for the One Chance soundtrack, and received a Best Original Song nomination at the 71st Golden Globe Awards. She provided guest vocals for a McGraw song titled "Highway Don't Care", featuring guitar work by Urban. Swift performed "As Tears Go By" with The Rolling Stones in Chicago as part of their 50 & Counting tour. She also joined Florida Georgia Line on stage during their set at the 2013 Country Radio Seminar to sing "Cruise". Outside of music, Swift voiced Audrey, a tree lover, in the animated film The Lorax (2012), made a cameo in the sitcom New Girl (2013), and had a supporting role in the film adaptation of The Giver (2014). She dated British singer Harry Styles from December 2012 to January 2013.

2014-present: 1989

In March 2014, Swift relocated to New York City. Around this time, she was working on her fifth studio album, 1989, with writers Antonoff, Martin, Shellback, Imogen Heap, Ryan Tedder, and Ali Payami. She promoted the album through various campaigns, including inviting fans to secret album-listening sessions, called the "1989 Secret Sessions". Credited as her "first documented, official pop album", it marks a departure from her previous country albums. The album was released on October 27, 2014 to positive reviews.

1989 sold 1.28 million copies in the US during the first week of release and debuted atop the Billboard 200?this made Swift the first act to have three albums sell more than one million copies in their opening release week, for which she earned a Guinness World Record. As of February 2015, 1989 had sold over 8.6 million copies worldwide. The album's lead single, "Shake It Off", was released in August 2014 and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Others included two number-one singles?"Blank Space" and "Bad Blood" (featuring Kendrick Lamar)?as well as the top-ten entries "Style" and "Wildest Dreams", and the singles "Out of the Woods" and "New Romantics". "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" also topped the charts in Australia and Canada. The music video for "Blank Space" briefly became the fastest video to reach one billion views on Vevo. "Blank Space" and the video for "Bad Blood" won four accolades at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, with the latter winning for Video of the Year and Best Collaboration. Swift's headlining tour, the 1989 World Tour, running from May to December 2015, grossed over $250 million, and became one of the highest grossing tours of all time.

Swift was named Billboard's Woman of the Year in 2014, becoming the first artist to win the award twice. Also that year, she received the Dick Clark Award for Excellence at the American Music Awards. In 2015, "Shake It Off" was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year and Swift won the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist. The singer was one of eight artists to receive a 50th Anniversary Milestone Award at the 2015 Academy of Country Music Awards. In 2016, Swift won three Grammy Awards for 1989?Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Music Video for "Bad Blood". She became the first woman, and fifth act overall, to win the first of these twice.

Prior to 1989's release, Swift stressed the importance of albums to artists and fans. In November 2014, she removed her entire catalog from Spotify, arguing that the streaming company's ad-supported, free service undermined the premium service, which provides higher royalties for songwriters. In June 2015, Swift criticized Apple Music in an open letter for not offering royalties to artists during the streaming service's free three-month trial period and stated that she would pull 1989 from the catalog. The following day, Apple announced that it would pay artists during the free trial period, and Swift agreed to stream 1989 on the streaming service. Swift's intellectual property rights management and holding company, TAS Rights Management, filed for 73 trademarks related to the singer and the 1989 era memes.

In 2015, Swift performed "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Shake It Off" with Paul McCartney at the Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special after-party, and joined Kenny Chesney to sing "Big Star" on the opening night of his Big Revival Tour in Nashville. In March 2015, Swift started dating Scottish DJ and record producer Calvin Harris. By June 2015, the duo were ranked as the highest-paid celebrity couple over the past year by Forbes with combined earnings of over $146 million. In August, Swift addressed her mother's cancer diagnosis, and encouraged others to get a medical checkup. Before Swift and Harris announced the end of their relationship in June 2016, the two co-wrote his song "This Is What You Came For", for which she was initially credited under the pseudonym Nils Sjöberg. In October, she penned Little Big Town's "Better Man" for their seventh album, The Breaker. Two months later, Swift and Zayn Malik released a single together called "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", for the soundtrack of the film Fifty Shades Darker (2017), which reached number one in Sweden.

Artistry

Influences

One of Swift's earliest musical memories is listening to her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, sing at church. As a child, she enjoyed Disney film soundtracks: "My parents noticed that, once I had run out of words, I would just make up my own". Swift has said she owes her confidence to her mother, who helped her prepare for class presentations as a child. She also attributes her "fascination with writing and storytelling" to her mother. Swift was drawn to the storytelling of country music, and was introduced to the genre by "the great female country artists of the '90s"?Shania Twain, Faith Hill and the Dixie Chicks. Twain, both as a songwriter and performer, was her biggest musical influence. Hill was Swift's childhood role model: "Everything she said, did, wore, I tried to copy it". She admired the Dixie Chicks' defiant attitude and their ability to play their own instruments. The band's "Cowboy Take Me Away" was the first song Swift learned to play on the guitar. Swift also explored the music of older country stars, including Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette. She believes Parton is "an amazing example to every female songwriter out there". Alt-country artists such as Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin and Lori McKenna have inspired Swift.

Swift lists Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and Carly Simon as her career role models: "They've taken chances, but they've also been the same artist for their entire careers". McCartney, both as a Beatle and a solo artist, makes Swift feel "as if I've been let into his heart and his mind ... Any musician could only dream of a legacy like that". She admires Springsteen for being "so musically relevant after such a long period of time". She aspires to be like Harris as she grows older: "It's not about fame for her, it's about music". "[Kristofferson] shines in songwriting ... He's just one of those people who has been in this business for years but you can tell it hasn't chewed him up and spat him out", Swift says. She admires Simon's "songwriting and honesty ... She's known as an emotional person but a strong person".

Swift has also been influenced by many artists outside the country genre. As a pre-teen, she enjoyed bubblegum pop acts including Hanson and Britney Spears; Swift has said she has "unwavering devotion" for Spears. In her high school years, Swift listened to rock bands such as Dashboard Confessional, Fall Out Boy, and Jimmy Eat World. She has also spoken fondly of singers and songwriters like Michelle Branch, Alanis Morissette, Ashlee Simpson, Fefe Dobson and Justin Timberlake; and the 1960s acts like The Shirelles, Doris Troy, and The Beach Boys. Swift's fifth album, the pop-focused 1989 was influenced by some of her favorite 1980s pop acts, including Annie Lennox, Phil Collins and "Like a Prayer-era Madonna".

Musical style

Swift's music contains elements of pop, pop rock and country. She self-identified as a country artist until the 2014 release of 1989, which she described as a "sonically cohesive pop album". Rolling Stone asserted, "[Swift] might get played on the country station, but she's one of the few genuine rock stars we've got these days". The New York Times noted, "There isn't much in Ms. Swift's music to indicate country?a few banjo strums, a pair of cowboy boots worn onstage, a bedazzled guitar?but there's something in her winsome, vulnerable delivery that's unique to Nashville". According to The Guardian, Swift "cranks melodies out with the pitiless efficiency of a Scandinavian pop factory".

Swift's vocals have been described by Sophie Schillaci from The Hollywood Reporter as "sweet, but soft". In studio recordings, the Los Angeles Times identified Swift's "defining" vocal gesture as "the line that slides down like a contented sigh or up like a raised eyebrow, giving her beloved girl-time hits their air of easy intimacy". Rolling Stone, in a Speak Now review, remarked: "Swift's voice is unaffected enough to mask how masterful she has become as a singer; she lowers her voice for the payoff lines in the classic mode of a shy girl trying to talk tough." In another review of Speak Now, The Village Voice noted that her phrasing was previously "bland and muddled, but that's changed. She can still sound strained and thin, and often strays into a pitch that drives some people crazy; but she's learned how to make words sound like what they mean." The Hollywood Reporter opines that her live vocals are "fine", but they do not match those of her peers. In 2009, they were also described as "flat, thin, and sometimes as wobbly as a newborn colt". However, Swift has received praise for refusing to correct her pitch with Auto-Tune.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Swift characterized herself primarily as a songwriter: "I write songs, and my voice is just a way to get those lyrics across." A writer for The Tennessean conceded in 2010 that Swift is "not the best technical singer", but described her as the "best communicator that we've got". Swift's vocal presence is something that concerns her and she has "put a lot of work" into improving it. It was reported in 2010 that she continues to take vocal lessons. She has said that she only feels nervous performing "if I'm not sure what the audience thinks of me, like at award shows".

Songwriting

Swift uses her life experiences as an inspiration in her work. In her songs, Swift often addresses the "anonymous crushes of her high school years" and celebrities. Swift frequently criticizes ex-boyfriends, an aspect of her songwriting downplayed by The Village Voice: "Being told What Songs Mean is like having a really pushy professor. And it imperils a true appreciation of Swift's talent, which is not confessional, but dramatic." However, New York believes the media scrutiny over her decision to "mine her personal life for music ? is sexist, inasmuch as it's not asked of her male peers". The singer herself has said that not all her songs are factual and that they are sometimes based on observations. Aside from her liner note clues, Swift tries not to talk about song subjects specifically "because these are real people. You try to give insight as to where you were coming from as a writer without completely throwing somebody under the bus".

For a female to write about her feelings, and then be portrayed as some clingy, insane, desperate girlfriend in need of making you marry her and have kids with her, I think that's taking something that potentially should be celebrated?a woman writing about her feelings in a confessional way?that's taking it and turning it and twisting it into something that is frankly a little sexist.

The Guardian has praised Swift for writing about teenage years "with a kind of wistful, sepia-toned nostalgia" over the course of her first two albums. New York has remarked that many singer-songwriters have made great records as teens, but "none made great records so explicitly about their teens". The magazine has also compared her work to Brian Wilson. In Fearless, Swift featured fairy tale imagery and explored the disconnect "between fairy tales and the reality of love". Her later albums address more adult relationships. In addition to romance and love, Swift's songs have discussed parent-child relationships, friendships, alienation, fame, and career ambitions. Swift frequently includes "a tossed-off phrase to suggest large and serious things that won't fit in the song, things that enhance or subvert the surface narrative".

Rolling Stone describes Swift as "a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture". According to The Village Voice, she uses third-verse point of view reversals frequently. In terms of imagery, repetition is evident in Swift's songwriting. In The Guardian's words, "she spends so much time kissin' in the rain that it seems a miracle she hasn't developed trenchfoot". Slant Magazine adds, "to Swift's credit, she explores new lyrical motifs over the course of [her fourth] album". Although reviews of Swift's work are "almost uniformly positive", The New Yorker has said she is generally portrayed "more as a skilled technician than as a Dylanesque visionary".

Public image

Swift's personal life is the subject of constant media attention. In 2013, Abercrombie & Fitch marketed a slogan T-shirt with a "slut-shaming" remark directed toward her. The New York Times asserted that her "dating history has begun to stir what feels like the beginning of a backlash" and questioned whether Swift was in the midst of a "quarter-life crisis". Swift has said that she is unwilling to discuss her personal life in public, as she believes that talking about it can be "a career weakness".

Rolling Stone remarks upon her polite manner: "If this is Swift's game face, it must be tattooed on because it never drops." The magazine also takes note of her "ease with glad-handing", and The Hollywood Reporter credits her as "the Best People Person since Bill Clinton". While presenting Swift an award for her humanitarian endeavors in 2012, Michelle Obama described her as a singer who "has rocketed to the top of the music industry but still keeps her feet on the ground, someone who has shattered every expectation of what a 22-year-old can accomplish". Swift considers Obama to be a role model. Swift is one of the most followed people on social media, and is known for her friendly interactions with her fans. She has delivered holiday gifts to fans by mail and in person, dubbed "Swiftmas". She considers it her "responsibility" to be conscious of her influence on young fans, and has said that her fans are "the longest and best relationship I have ever had".

Often described by the media as "America's Sweetheart", Swift insists that "I don't live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free". She refuses to take part in overly sexualized photo-shoots, although Bloomberg L.P. views her as a sex symbol. Swift was named an Icon of American Style by Vogue in 2011. In 2014 she topped People's annual best dressed list. In 2015, she was named Woman of the Year at the Elle Style Awards, and ranked first in Maxim's Hot 100 list.

Swift has also appeared in various power listings. Due to her success and earnings, she was included in Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in 2010 and 2015. From 2011-15, she appeared in the top three of Forbes' Top-Earning Women In Music with earnings of $45 million, $57 million, $55 million, $64 million and $80 million respectively. In 2015, she became the youngest woman ever to be included on Forbes' 100 most powerful women list, ranked at number 64. In 2016, Swift topped Forbes' annual list of the 100 highest-paid celebrities with $170 million?she also ranked among the top ten in 2011, 2013 and 2015. In June 2016, Forbes estimated Swift's net worth to be $250 million.

Other ventures

Philanthropy

Swift's philanthropic efforts have been recognized by the Do Something Awards and the Tennessee Disaster Services. She has also received The Big Help Award for her "dedication to helping others" and "inspiring others through action", and the Ripple of Hope Award because of her "dedication to advocacy at such a young age [?] Taylor is just the kind of woman we want our daughters to be". In 2008, she donated $100,000 to the Red Cross to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008. The singer has performed in charity reliefs like Sydney's Sound Relief concert. She also recorded a song for the Hope for Haiti Now album. In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a telethon hosted by WSMV. In 2011, Swift used a dress rehearsal of her Speak Now tour as a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States, raising more than $750,000. In 2012, Swift supported Architecture for Humanity's Restore the Shore MTV telethon in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In 2016, she made donations to the Louisiana flood relief and Dolly Parton Fire Fund.

Swift is a supporter of the arts and donated $75,000 to Nashville's Hendersonville High School in 2010 to help refurbish the school auditorium. In 2012, she pledged $4 million to fund the building of a new education center at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. Also in 2012, Swift partnered with textbook rental company Chegg to donate $60,000 to the music departments of six US colleges. Swift also promotes children's literacy. In 2009, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country for improvement of education. Her other endeavors to promote literacy include donating 6,000 Scholastic books to Reading Public Library, Pennsylvania; 14,000 books to Nashville Public Library, Tennessee; 2,000 Scholastic books to the Reading Hospital Child Health Center's early literacy program; and 25,000 books to New York City schools in 2015.

In 2007, she launched a campaign to protect children from online predators, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police. In 2009, Swift recorded a Sound Matters public service announcement (PSA) to make listeners aware of the importance of listening "responsibly" to prevent hearing impairment. Swift has donated items for auction to several charities, including: the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the UNICEF Tap Project, MusiCares, and Feeding America. As a recipient of the Academy of Country Music's Entertainer of the Year in 2011, Swift donated $25,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Tennessee. In 2012, Swift participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon, performing "Ronan", a song she wrote in memory of a four-year-old boy who died of neuroblastoma. The song was made available for digital download with all proceeds donated to cancer-related charities. In 2014, she donated $100,000 to the V Foundation for Cancer Research, and $50,000 to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The singer made private visits to hospitals to meet with sick patients and to support them. Swift has encouraged young people to volunteer in their local communities as part of Global Youth Service Day.

Politics

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Swift promoted the Every Woman Counts campaign, aimed at engaging women in the political process, and was one of many country stars to record a PSA for the Vote (For Your) Country campaign. She stated: "I don't think it's my job to try and influence people which way they should vote." Following President Obama's inauguration, she told Rolling Stone that she supported the president: "I've never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive. I'm so glad this was my first election."

In a 2012 interview, Swift remarked that in spite of keeping herself "as educated and informed as possible", she does not discuss politics, fearing that it might influence other people. Swift has spent time with the Kennedy family and has spoken of her admiration for Ethel Kennedy. Swift is also a feminist. She has spoken out against LGBT discrimination. Following the 2008 murder of Larry King, she recorded a GLSEN PSA to combat hate crimes. On the first anniversary of King's death, Swift told Seventeen that her parents taught her "never to judge others based on whom they love, what color their skin is, or their religion". The music video for Swift's anti-bullying song "Mean" deals in part with homophobia in high schools; the video was nominated for an MTV VMA social activism award in 2011. The New York Times believes she is part of "a new wave of young (and mostly straight) women who are providing the soundtrack for a generation of gay fans coming to terms with their identity in a time of turbulent and confusing cultural messages".

Product endorsements

While promoting her debut album, Swift appeared as the face of Verizon Wireless' Mobile Music campaign. In the Fearless era, she launched a l.e.i. sundress range at Wal-Mart, and designed American Greetings cards and Jakks Pacific dolls. She became a spokesperson for the National Hockey League's (NHL) Nashville Predators and Sony Cyber-shot digital cameras. In the Speak Now era, she released a special edition of her album through Target. Swift became a CoverGirl spokesmodel, launched two Elizabeth Arden fragrances?Wonderstruck and Wonderstruck Enchanted.

While promoting her fourth album, Red, Swift offered exclusive album promotions through Target, Papa John's Pizza, and Walgreens. She became a spokesmodel for Diet Coke and Keds sneakers, released her third Elizabeth Arden fragrance named Taylor by Taylor Swift, and continued her partnerships with Sony Electronics and American Greetings. Swift also partnered with the companies AirAsia and Qantas during the Red Tour. These acted as the official airlines for the Australian and Asian legs, and Cornetto sponsored the Asian leg of the tour. While promoting 1989, Swift had tie-ins with Subway, Keds, Target and Diet Coke. In 2014, Swift released her fourth fragrance, Incredible Things.

Awards and achievements

Swift has received many awards and honors, including 10 Grammy Awards, 19 American Music Awards, 23 Billboard Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, 8 Academy of Country Music Awards, one Brit Award and one Emmy. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

By the beginning of 2016, Swift had sold more than 40 million albums, 130 million single downloads and was one of the top five music artists with the highest worldwide digital sales. Swift's studio albums Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, and 1989 have all sold over 4 million copies in the US.

Discography

• Taylor Swift (2006)
• Fearless (2008)
• Speak Now (2010)
• Red (2012)
• 1989 (2014)

Concert tours

• Fearless Tour (2009-2010)
• Speak Now World Tour (2011-2012)
• The Red Tour (2013-2014)
• The 1989 World Tour (2015)

Filmography

• Valentine's Day (2010)
• The Lorax (2012)
• The Giver (2014)

References

External links

• Official website
• Taylor Swift at DMOZ
• Taylor Swift at the Internet Movie Database

Source : Wikipedia

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:31:00 +0000 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/drake-11 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/drake-11 Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Drake initially gained recognition as an actor on the teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation in the early 2000s. Intent on pursuing a career as a rapper, he departed the series in 2007 following the release of his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement. He released two further independent projects, Comeback Season and So Far Gone, before signing to Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment in June 2009.

Drake released his debut studio album Thank Me Later in 2010, which debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was soon certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His next two releases were 2011's Take Care and 2013's Nothing Was the Same, with certifications of quadruple and triple platinum respectively in the U.S., with the former also earning him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. They were followed by two mixtapes, with the trap-influenced If You're Reading This It's Too Late, and a collaboration with Future for What a Time to Be Alive, in 2015. The former was certified double platinum in the U.S.

Drake released his fourth album, Views, in 2016, breaking several chart records in the process. The dancehall-influenced Views sat atop the Billboard 200 for ten nonconsecutive weeks, becoming the first album by a solo male to do so in over 10 years. Its single "One Dance" topped the chart in several countries, including the U.S., the UK and Canada, where it became his first number-one single as the lead artist. This saw Drake leading the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard 200 simultaneously for eight weeks, coming close to a record held by Whitney Houston. It achieved quadruple platinum status in the U.S., and earned over 1 million album-equivalent units in the first week of its release. The single "Hotline Bling" secured him his second and third Grammy win, for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song, at the organization's 59th ceremony.

Drake released the critically acclaimed multi-genre More Life in 2017. More Life, described by Drake as a playlist, was his seventh consecutive number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart and set multiple streaming records.

Drake owns several Billboard chart records. He has the most charted songs (154) among solo artists in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the most simultaneously charted Hot 100 songs in a single week (24) and the most Hot 100 debuts in a week (21). Drake also has the most number one singles on the Hot Rap Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Rhythmic Charts. Alongside his Grammy Award wins, Drake has won three Juno Awards and six BET Awards.

Drake has developed other ventures, including his OVO Sound record label with longtime collaborator Noah "40" Shebib. Drake acts as a producer, producing under the pseudonym of Champagne Papi. Using the "OVO" moniker, Drake has his own clothing line and his own program on Beats 1 Radio. He is also currently acting as the global ambassador for NBA franchise, the Toronto Raptors.

Early life

Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24, 1986, in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Dennis Graham, is an African American and a practicing Catholic from Memphis, Tennessee, and worked as a drummer, performing alongside country musician Jerry Lee Lewis. Bass guitarist Larry Graham and the late songwriter Teenie Hodges are his paternal uncles. Drake's mother, Sandi Graham (née Sher), is a white Jewish Canadian who worked as an English teacher and florist. Drake attended a Jewish day school, and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony.

Drake's parents divorced when he was five years old. After the divorce, he and his mother remained in Toronto, while his father chose to return to Memphis in order to find a way to supplement himself financially. As a child, he witnessed his father's arrest while visiting him in Memphis. His father later collaborated with Canadian music group Arkells for a song entitled "Drake's Dad", detailing the events that had occurred following his departure from Drake's early life.

Drake was raised in two polarizing Toronto neighbourhoods; he lived on Weston Road in the city's working-class west end, until the sixth grade. In his youth, he played minor hockey with the Weston Red Wings. Drake then moved to one of the city's affluent neighbourhoods, Forest Hill, in 2000. When asked about the move to Forest Hill, Drake replied, "[We had] a half of a house we could live in. The other people had the top half, we had the bottom half. I lived in the basement, my mom lived on the first floor. It was not big, it was not luxurious. It was what we could afford."

He attended Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where he demonstrated an affinity for the arts, first acting while an active student at the school. He later attended Vaughan Road Academy in the city's multicultural Oakwood-Vaughan neighbourhood. Due to the economic status associated with the neighbourhood, Drake described the school as "not by any means the easiest school to go to. [It's tough]." Drake was often bullied in school for his racial and religious background, and upon realizing that his busy class schedule was detrimental to his burgeoning acting career, Drake dropped out of school. He later graduated in October 2012.

Career

2001-2005: Degrassi: The Next Generation

At 15, Drake encountered an acting agent who was the father of a high school friend. The agent found Drake a role on Canadian teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake portrayed Jimmy Brooks, a basketball star who became physically disabled after he was shot by a classmate. When asked about his early acting career, Drake replied, "My mother was very sick. We were very poor, like broke. The only money I had coming in was off of Canadian TV." He would continue to appear on the show until 2007, returning for sporadic appearances until his character graduated from the school depicted within the show. Overall, Drake appeared in a total of 145 episodes.

2006-2009: Early mixtapes and So Far Gone

After becoming musically inspired by Jay Z and Clipse, Drake self-released his debut mixtape, Room for Improvement, in 2006. The mixtape featured Trey Songz and Lupe Fiasco, and included vast production from Canadian producers Boi-1da, and Frank Dukes. When asked about the mixtape, Drake described the project as "pretty straightforward, radio friendly, [and] not much content to it." The mixtape was released for sale only, and confirmed to have sold over 6,000 copies. In 2007, he released his second mixtape, Comeback Season. Released from his recently founded October's Very Own label, it spawned the single "Replacement Girl", featuring Trey Songz. The song made Drake become the first ever unsigned Canadian rapper to have his music video featured on BET, with "Replacement Girl" being featured on the channel's "New Joint of the Day" segment on April 30, 2007. The song also saw Drake sample "Man of the Year" by Brisco, Flo Rida and Lil Wayne, retaining Lil Wayne's verse, and adjoined his own to the song's earlier half. This caused Jas Prince to gift Lil Wayne the song, which prompted the rapper to invite Drake to Houston in order to join his Tha Carter III tour. Throughout the duration of the tour, Drake and Lil Wayne recorded multiple songs together, including "Ransom", "I Want This Forever", and a remix to "Brand New". Despite the collaborations between the duo, Drake was yet to be signed by Young Money Entertainment.

In 2009, Drake released his third mixtape, So Far Gone. It was made available for free download through his OVO blog website, and was featured Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Omarion, Lloyd, and Bun B. It received over 2,000 downloads in the first 2 hours of release, finding mainstream commercial success due to the singles "Best I Ever Had" and "Successful", both gaining Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). This prompted the release of an EP, featuring only four songs from the original mixtape, as well as the addition of "I'm Goin' In" and "Fear". It debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, and won the Rap Recording of the Year at the 2010 Juno Awards.

Due to the success of the mixtape, Drake was the subject of a bidding war from various labels, often reported as "one of the biggest bidding wars ever". Despite this, it was confirmed that on June 29, 2009, Drake had secured a recording contract with Young Money Entertainment. This was confirmed following the planned lawsuit from Drake and Young Money against an unauthorized album entitled The Girls Love Drake, which was released on iTunes under dubious means.

While participating on the America's Most Wanted Tour in July 2009, Drake fell on stage while performing "Best I Ever Had" in Camden, New Jersey. Drake was confirmed to have torn his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the performance, and underwent surgery on September 8, 2009.

2010-2011: Thank Me Later

Drake planned to release his debut album, Thank Me Later, in late 2008, but the album's release date was postponed, first to March 2010, and then to May 25, 2010. Young Money and Universal Motown had then released a statement that the album had again been pushed back three weeks, for a June 15, 2010, release.

On March 9, 2010, Drake released the debut single "Over", peaking at number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as topping the Rap Songs chart. It also received a nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 53rd Grammy Awards. His second single, "Find Your Love", became an even bigger success; peaking at number five on the Hot 100, and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The music video for the single was shot in Kingston, Jamaica, and was criticized by Jamaica's minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett. Bartlett condemned the portrayal of the island in the video, saying, "care has to be taken by all, including our creative artists, in [showcasing] images of our destination and people. Gun culture, while not unique to Jamaica, is not enhancing [the island's image]." The third single and fourth singles, "Miss Me" and "Fancy" respectively, attained moderate commercial success, however, the latter garnered Drake his second nomination at the 53rd Grammy Awards, for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. On April 29, it was reportedly announced that Drake had finished Thank Me Later during a show in Kansas City, Missouri.

Thank Me Later was released on June 15, 2010, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of over 447,000 copies in its first week. Upon the album's release, 25,000 fans gathered at New York City's South Street Seaport for a free concert, hosted by Drake and Hanson. A near-riot ensued after police cancelled the show due to overflowing crowds. The album became the top selling debut album for any artist in 2010, and featured Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and Jay Z.

It was soon announced that Drake would have a prominent role in military science fiction video game, Gears of War 3. He was scheduled to play the part of Jace Stratton, but scheduling conflicts with his upcoming Away from Home Tour prevented Drake from accepting the role. He began the tour on September 20, 2010, in Miami, Florida, performing at 78 shows over four different legs. It concluded in Las Vegas in November 2010. Due to the success of the Away from Home Tour, Drake hosted the first OVO Festival in 2010. It would soon become a regular event during the summer, with the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto playing host to the festival on its annual cycle. Drake also had an eco-friendly college tour to support the album, beginning with Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. It concluded in Plymouth, New Hampshire on May 8, and he had also performed at The Bamboozle on May 1.

2011-2012: Take Care

Beginning his second effort in fall 2010, Drake announced his intentions to allow for Noah "40" Shebib to handle most of the production and record a more cohesive sound than on Thank Me Later, which featured disparate production duties by Shebib and others. In November 2010, Drake revealed the title of his next studio album will be Take Care. In comparison to his debut album, Drake revealed to Y.C Radio 1 that Thank Me Later was a rushed album, stating, "I didn’t get to take the time that I wanted to on that record. I rushed a lot of the songs and sonically I didn’t get to sit with the record and say, 'I should change this verse.' Once it was done, it was done. That’s why my new album is called Take Care, because I get to take my time this go-round." Drake sought to expand on the low-tempo, sensuous, and dark sonic aesthetic of Thank Me Later. Primarily a hip hop album, Drake attempted to incorporate R&B and pop to create a languid, grandiose sound.

In January 2011, Drake was in negotiations to join Eva Green and Susan Sarandon as a member of the cast in Nicholas Jarecki's Arbitrage, before ultimately deciding against starring in the movie, to focus on the album. "Dreams Money Can Buy" and "Marvins Room" were released on Drake's October's Very Own Blog, on May 20 and June 9, respectively. Acting as promotional singles for Take Care, the former was eventually unincluded on the album's final track listing, while "Marvins Room" gained Gold certification by the RIAA, as well as peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reaching the top 10 of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, coupled with extensive play on contemporary urban radio. Drake would soon release the song's music video on June 28.

"Headlines" was released on August 9, acting as the lead single for Take Care. It was met with positive critical and commercial response, reaching number thirteen on the Hot 100, as well as becoming his tenth single to reach the summit of the Billboard Hot Rap Songs, making Drake the artist with the most number-one singles on the chart, with 12. It was eventually certified Platinum in both the United States and Canada. The music video for the single was released on October 2, and foresaw Drake performing the song during the second intermission of the 59th National Hockey League All-Star Game in January 2012. "Make Me Proud" was released as the album's second single, on October 16. It was the final single to be released prior to the launch of the album, and debuted at number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached number nine the following week, tying the record for the largest jump on the Billboard Hot 100 for a male artist, with 88. "Make Me Proud" soon became Drake's fourth consecutive single to receive Platinum certification by the RIAA.

Drake had also planned to record a collaborative album with Lil Wayne, however, it was ultimately scrapped due to the success of Watch the Throne. Drake had also begun collaborations with Rick Ross for a mixtape entitled Y.O.L.O., but was decided against in favor of increased concern for their respective studio albums.

Take Care was released on November 15, 2011, and received generally positive reviews from music critics. John McDonnell of NME dubbed it "an affecting masterpiece" and commended its "delicate, mellifluous sound and unashamedly candid, emotive lyrics." Pitchfork Media's Ryan Dombal found Drake's "technical abilities" to be improved and stated, "Just as his thematic concerns have become richer, so has the music backing them up." Andy Hutchins of The Village Voice called it "a carefully crafted bundle of contradictory sentiments from a conflicted rapper who explores his own neuroses in as compelling a manner as anyone not named Kanye West." Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot complimented the depth of Drake's "moral psychodramas" and stated, "the best of it affirms that Drake is shaping a pop persona with staying power." It was also certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA in 2016, with sales for the album marking 2.6 million in the US, as well as winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.

The album's third and fourth singles, "The Motto" and Take Care", were released on November 29, and February 21, 2012 respectively. Each song was subject to commercial success, while also having large societal impacts, with "The Motto" credited for popularizing the phrase "YOLO" in the United States. The music video for "Take Care" saw widespread acclaim, with MTV stating, "None of his contemporaries ? not even the ever-obtuse Kanye [West] - make videos like this, mostly because no one else can get away with it." The video received four nominations at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, for Best Male Video, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Video of the Year. The song was also featured on the channel's "Pop Songs You Must Hear" list of 2011. "HYFR" was the final single to be released from the album, and became certified Gold. It would later win the MTV Video Music Award for Best Hip-Hop Video in 2012. Drake was soon ranked at number two on MTV's "Hottest MCs in the Game" list in 2011.

In promotion of his second album, Drake embarked on the worldwide Club Paradise Tour. It became the most successful hip hop tour of 2012, grossing over $42 million. Drake would soon star in Ice Age: Continental Drift, providing the voice for Ethan.

2012-2015: Nothing Was the Same and commercial mixtapes

During the European leg of the Club Paradise Tour, Drake spoke in an interview stating that he had begun working on his third studio album. Revealing his intentions to remain with 40 as the album's executive producer, Drake spoke fondly about Jamie xx, hoping to expand the British producer's influence over his next album. Drake had also revealed that the album would stylistically differ from Take Care, departing from the ambient production and despondent lyrics prevalent in the album.

In January 2013, Drake announced that he would release the first single off of his third album at the conclusion of the 55th Annual Grammy Awards. Despite an initial delay, it was released in the wake of his win for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album at the event, and it foresaw Drake announcing Nothing Was the Same as the title of his third album. The album's second single "Hold On, We're Going Home" was released in August 2013, becoming the most successful single off of the album, peaking at number-one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Drake felt inspired by Miami Vice during the song's composition, incorporating the dramatic elements seen in the show into the song's music video, which won him his second MTV Video Music Award in 2014. Drake appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, performing the album's third single, "Too Much", alongside featured artist Sampha.

Nothing Was the Same was released on September 24, 2013, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200, with 658,000 copies sold in its first week of release. The album debuted atop the charts in Canada, Denmark, Australia and the United Kingdom. The album also enjoyed generally favorable reviews by contemporary music critics, commending the musical shift in terms of the tone and subject matter, comparing it to the distinct change showcased in 808s & Heartbreak. The album was also reported to have sold over 1,720,000 copies in the United States, and was further promoted by the "Would You like a Tour?" throughout late 2013, to early 2014. It became the 22nd-most successful tour of the year, grossing an estimated $46,000,000. Drake returned to acting in January 2014, hosting Saturday Night Live, as well as serving as the musical guest. His versatility, acting ability and comedic timing were all praised by critics, describing it as what "kept him afloat during the tough and murky SNL waters". Drake also performed in Dubai, being one of the only artists ever to perform in the city. In late 2014, Drake announced that he had begun recording sessions for his fourth studio album.

On February 12, 2015, Drake released If You're Reading This It's Too Late onto iTunes, with no prior announcement. Despite debate on whether it is an album or a mixtape, its commercial stance quantifies it as his fourth retail project with Cash Money Records. If You're Reading This It's Too Late sold over 1 million units in 2015, making Drake the first artist with a platinum project in 2015, as well as his fourth overall. Drake proceeded If You're Reading This It's Too Late with a collaborative mixtape with Future, which was recorded in Atlanta in just under a week.

What a Time to Be Alive debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making Drake the first hip hop artist to have two projects reach number one in the same year since 2004. It was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for combined sales, streaming and track-sales equivalent of over 1 million units. Drake appeared on the cover of The Fader for their 100th issue.

2016-present: Views and More Life

Drake announced in January 2016 that his fourth studio album would be launched during the spring, releasing the promotional single "Summer Sixteen" later that month. The album was originally titled Views from the 6, but would later be shortened to Views. "Summer Sixteen" debuted at number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and proved controversial, with Drake comparing his standing in hip hop to more tenured artists. This move divided many contemporary music critics, describing his self-comparison as "goodly brash" or "conventionally disrespectful." It was also interpreted as a diss track towards Tory Lanez, who was unhappy at Drake popularizing the term "The Six" when referencing Toronto. Drake would also crash a Bat Mitzvah in New York City on February 20, performing at the event.

Drake soon released the album's lead singles, "Pop Style" and "One Dance", on April 5. Both debuted within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, however, the latter proved more commercially successful, with "One Dance" becoming Drake's first number-one single in Canada, and on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, as a leading artist. The single also became Drake's first number one single as a lead artist in the United Kingdom, and peaked at number one in Germany, France, Australia, Brazil, Sweden, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands. During an episode for OVO Sound Radio, Drake confirmed the album's release date of April 29, through a tweet and various promotional videos. On October 15, "One Dance" became Spotify's most-streamed song ever, amassing over 882 million plays as of October 2016.

Views was previewed in London, before its premiere on Beats 1 a day later. It was released as an Apple Music and iTunes exclusive on April 29, before being made available to various other platforms later that week. Views would become Drake's most commercially successful album, sitting atop the Billboard 200 for ten nonconsecutive weeks, as well as simultaneously leading the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard 200 for eight weeks. It also achieved double platinum status in the U.S., and earned over 1 million album-equivalent units in the first week of its release, as well as gaining over half-billion overall streams of the album. Despite its success, critical opinion towards the album remained much divided, drawing criticism for being overlong and lacking in a cohesive theme, while also claiming Drake was not challenging himself artistically, as opposed to his contemporaries. He would later plan to release a short film entitled Please Forgive Me.

Drake would return to host Saturday Night Live on May 14, serving as the show's musical guest. This foresaw Drake being named as a member of the Forbes Five, which ranks the wealthiest artists in hip hop. Drake placed fifth, following Birdman, Jay Z, Dr. Dre, and Diddy respectively. Drake and Future would soon announce the Summer Sixteen Tour, in support for their collective mixtape, and respective studio albums. This marks Drake's third co-headlining tour, which began in Austin, Texas on July 20, and is expected to conclude in Newark, New Jersey. On July 23, Drake would announce that he is working on a new project, scheduled to be released in early 2017, and was later preconized as the headline act for the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Festival. The latter dates of the Summer Sixteen Tour were postponed, however, due to Drake suffering an ankle injury. During the 2016 OVO Festival, Kanye West would confirm that he and Drake would begin working on a collaborative album. Soon after, the music video for "Child's Play" would be released, depicting Drake and former lover Tyra Banks encountering relationship issues at the Cheesecake Factory. On September 26, Please Forgive Me was released as an Apple Music exclusive. It ran a total of 25 minutes, and featured music from Views.

At the 2016 BET Hip-Hop Awards, Drake received the most nominations, with 10, winning the awards for Album of the Year and Best Hip-Hop Video. Drake would later announce the Boy Meets World Tour on October 10, with twenty six dates announced for the course of the tour in Europe. Seven additional dates were added a day later, due to overwhelming demand. Soon after, during an episode of OVO Sound Radio, Drake confirmed he would be releasing a project entitled More Life in December, however later he pushed back the date in November. The project would feature as a "playlist of original music", rather than be classified as a mixtape or a solo album. He was later revealed to be Spotify's most streamed artist for the second consecutive year in 2016, amassing a total 4.7 billion streams for all projects on the service, which is more than double the amount of streams in 2015. Drake later secured his second and third Grammy Awards, winning for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song at the organization's 59th ceremony. Despite multiple setbacks, he would announced More Life would be released on March 18, 2017, via a series of multiple video commercials released through Instagram. Upon release, More Life was critically acclaimed, and debuted atop the Billboard 200, earning 505,000 album-equivalent units in its first week. It also set a streaming record, becoming the highest ever streamed album in 24 hours, with a total of 89.9 million streams on Apple Music alone. The album also garnered 61.3 million streams on Spotify, dethroning Ed Sheeran's ÷ as the highest opening on the service in a single day.

Artistry

Influences

Drake has cited several hip hop artists as influencing his rapping style, including Kanye West, Jay Z, and Lil Wayne, while he has also attributed various R&B artists as influential to the incorporation of the genre into his own music, including Aaliyah, and Usher. Drake has also credited several dancehall artists for influencing his more recent Caribbean-inflected style, including Vybz Kartel, whom he has called one of his "biggest inspirations".

Musical style and rapping technique

Drake is known for his egotistical lyrics, technical ability, and integration of personal backstory when dealing with relationships with women. His vocal abilities have been lauded for an audible contrast between typical hip-hop beats and melody, with sometimes abrasive rapping coupled with softer accents, delivered on technical lyricism. His songs often include audible changes in lyrical pronunciation in parallel with his upbringing in Toronto, and connections with Caribbean and Middle Eastern countries which include such phrases as "ting", "touching road", "talkin’ boasy" and "gwanin’ wassy". Most of his songs contain R&B and Canadian hip hop elements, and he combines rapping with singing. He credits his father with the introduction of singing into his rap mixtapes, which have become a staple in his musical repertoire. His incorporation of melody into technically complex lyrics was supported by Lil Wayne, and has subsequently been a critically acclaimed component to Drake's singles and albums. His rapping ability has been noted as "polarizing", and has contributed to him being named one of the most divisive rappers of his generation by multiple critics and media publications.

The lyrical content that Drake deploys is typically considered to be emotional or boastful. However, Drake is often revered for incorporating "degrading" themes of money, drug use, and women into newer, idealized contexts, often achieving this through his augmentation of the typical meaning of phrases in which he combines an objective and subjective perspective into one vocal delivery. His songs often maintain tension between "pause and pace, tone timbre, and volume and vocal fermata." Drake is credited with innovating what has been referred to as "hyper-reality rap" which is characterized by its focus on themes of celebrity as being distinct from the "real world."

Public image

The Washington Post editor Maura Judkis credits Drake for popularizing the phrase "YOLO" in the United States, with his single, "The Motto", which includes, "You only live once: that's the motto, nigga, YOLO." Drake began referring to his hometown of Toronto as "The Six" in early 2015, and has subsequently popularized the term to reference the city. Also, due to subjects depicted in his songs, which commonly revolve around relationships with varying figures, Drake's lyrics have been widely used on social media as captions to photos, often to reference emotions or personal situations. June 10 was declared "Drake Day" in Houston, Texas. Drake garnered an endorsement deal with Sprite, following his mention of drinking purple drank, a concoction synonymous with the region; it contains Sprite as a key ingredient. Drake has also ventured into developing his own alcoholic beverage, titled "Virginia Black Whiskey". In 2016, Drake spoke on the shooting of Alton Sterling, publishing an open letter expressing his concern for the safety of ethnic minorities against police brutality, in the United States. Drake was later endorsed by fast food restaurants Burger King and Whataburger following his feud with Meek Mill. Drake also visited the Drake University after a show in Des Moines. Drake also hosts an annual "Drake Night" segment with the Toronto Raptors organization.

The music video for "Hotline Bling" went viral, due to Drake's eccentric choices in dancing. The video has been remixed, memed, and was heavily commented on due to Drake's unconventional nature on the song, causing it gain popularity on YouTube, spawning several parodies on the website. Drake has also been critiqued for his expensive, product placement-heavy attire, exampled by the video for "Hotline Bling". Drake modeled a $1,500 Moncler Puffer Jacket, a $400 Acne Studios turtleneck, and limited edition Timberland 6" Classic Boots. This foresaw collaborations between OVO and Canada Goose, in which various items of clothing were produced. Drake had also released his own collection of Air Jordans, dubbed the "Air Jordan OVOs". Drake was one of the artists, alongside Pharrell and Katy Perry, to exclusively own an Apple Watch before the smartwatch saw public release. His style and dress sense have caused GQ magazine to describe him as "[one of] the most stylish men alive".

Controversies

In 2012, singer Ericka Lee filed a lawsuit against Drake for the usage of her voice on "Marvins Room". Claiming to have provided the female vocals, Lee also alleged she was owed songwriting credits and royalties. Despite Drake's legal team countering by claiming that Lee simply requested a credit in the liner notes of the album, the matter was resolved in February 2013, with both parties agreeing to an out-of-court settlement. In 2014, Drake was sued for $300,000 for sampling "Jimmy Smith Rap", a 1982 single by jazz musician, Jimmy Smith. The suit was filed by Smith's estate, claiming Drake never asked for permission when sampling it for the intro on "Pound Cake / Paris Morton Music 2". Despite the initial suit, it is unclear whether it has been resolved.

Drake and Chris Brown were allegedly involved in a physical altercation in June 2012, when Drake and his entourage threw glass bottles at Brown in a SoHo nightclub in Manhattan, New York City. Chris Brown tweeted about the incident and released a song criticizing Drake weeks later. Despite no response from Drake, he and Brown both appeared in a comedic skit for the 2014 ESPY Awards, and rehearsed the skit together prior to the televised airing, virtually ending the dispute. Drake also caused a nightclub in Oklahoma City to close down, due to his usage of marijuana and other illegal drugs being prevalent at the club.

In December 2014, Drake was involved in another altercation, being punched by Diddy outside the LIV nightclub in Miami, Florida. The altercation was reported to be over Drake's usage of the instrumental for "0 to 100 / The Catch Up", allegedly produced by Boi-1da for Diddy, before Drake appropriated the track for his own use. Drake was later rushed to the ER after aggravating an old arm injury during the dispute. Drake was also involved in a feud with Tyga, stemming from Tyga's negative comments towards him during an interview with Vibe. Drake would later respond on "6 God" and "6PM In New York", which has been interpreted as directly involved in Tyga's abrupt removal from Young Money Entertainment.

Also in 2014, it emerged that Drake was sued by rapper Rappin' 4-Tay, claiming Drake misused his lyrics on when collaborating with YG on the song "Who Do You Love?". He sought $100,000 for mistreatment and artistic theft, which Drake paid to the rapper later that year. Further controversy arose in July 2015, when it was alleged by Meek Mill that Drake had used ghostwriters during recording sessions for "R.I.C.O.", one of the lead singles off of Mill's second studio album. This proceeded further allegations that Drake did not help in promotion of the album, due to Mill discovering the ghostwriter, widely believed to be Quentin Miller. Despite Miller collaborating with Drake and receiving past credits, Mill assured that Miller had written Drake's verse for "R.I.C.O.". Soon after, Funkmaster Flex aired reference tracks in support of Mill's claims, notably for "R.I.C.O.", "10 Bands", and "Know Yourself". This prompted Drake to respond with two diss tracks, entitled "Charged Up" and "Back to Back", in the space of four days. Mill would later respond with "Wanna Know", before removing it from SoundCloud weeks later. Despite subliminal disses from either artist, the feud has not been officially reignited. Drake would further seek to denounce Funkmaster Flex during his Madison Square Garden shows on the Summer Sixteen Tour.

In 2016, Drake was embroiled in a feud with Joe Budden, stemming from Budden's derogatory comments when reviewing Views. Drake would allegedly respond to Budden through "4PM in Calabasas", prompting Budden to respond with two diss tracks in the space of five days, echoing the same sentiment Drake deployed during his feud with Meek Mill. Drake would later appear on "No Shopping" alongside French Montana, directly referencing Budden throughout the song. However, French Montana claimed that Drake's verse was recorded before the release of Budden's diss tracks. Despite Budden releasing two further songs in reference to Drake, he has yet to officially respond to Budden. In the same year, Drake mocked Kid Cudi for his mental health, drug use and suicidal urges on "Two Birds, One Stone" after Cudi launched an expletive-filled rant on the artist on Twitter. Cudi later checked into rehab following the release of the song, and continued to disparage Drake in further tweets.

Drake has purported to have been in reported feuds with Tory Lanez, DMX, Ludacris, Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z, Common, and Pusha T.

Business career

OVO Sound

During the composition of Nothing Was the Same, Drake started his own record label in late 2012 with producer, Noah "40" Shebib. Drake sought for an avenue to release his own music, as well helping in the nurturing of other artists, while 40 yearned to start a label to form a distinct production sound, prompting the two to team up to form OVO Sound. The name is an abbreviation derived from the October's Very Own moniker Drake used to publish his earlier projects. The label is currently distributed by Warner Bros. Records.

Drake, 40 and PartyNextDoor were the label's inaugural artists. The label houses artists including Drake, PartyNextDoor, Majid Jordan, OB O'Brien, Roy Woods and dvsn, and producers including Boi-1da, T-Minus, Mike Zombie, Nineteen85, and Future the Prince. OVO Sound has released six albums, with two certified platinum or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Toronto Raptors

On September 30, 2013, Drake was announced as the new "global ambassador" for the Toronto Raptors, thereby joining the executive committee of the NBA franchise, in conjunction with the announcement of the 2016 NBA All-Star Game being awarded to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. This would also be the setting where Drake was given The Key to the City. In the role, it was announced that Drake would help to promote and serve as a host of festivities, beginning with the All-Star Game. He would also provide consulting services to rebrand the team, helping to redesign its image and clothing line in commemoration of the franchise's 20th anniversary. When attending the press conference hosted by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment CEO, Tim Leiweke, to formally announce Drake's hiring by the franchise, Drake stated, "obviously, I won't be able to be in the building every day but I am extremely dedicated to it. I do take it very seriously as a new job and a new chapter in my life."

Awards and nominations

Drake has had four songs being certified triple platinum in the U.S. for combined sales plus streaming units as of July 2016, with "Best I Ever Had", "Jumpman", "Over", and "Hold On, We're Going Home". He has also had three exceed 4 million in equivalent units, with "Take Care" and "Headlines", while "Hotline Bling" was certified quintuple platinum with over 5 million units. Drake's first four solo studio albums, all of which have gone platinum, have received numerous awards and generally positive reviews. Views, his fourth solo album, became his fourth consecutive number one album in the U.S.

As of 2017, Drake has won a total of 3 Grammy Award from 27 nominations. He has also won 2 MTV Video Music Awards, and has been ranked by Complex at number one on their "Best Rapper Alive Every Year Since 1979" list, awarding Drake the accolade in 2011, 2012, and 2015. Billboard editor Ernest Baker stated "Drake managed to rule Hip hop in 2014", adding "The best rapper in 2014 didn't need a new album or hit single to prove his dominance". Drake was listed fourth on the Billboard year-end chart for Top Artists of 2015, third on the same chart in 2016 and was named the IFPI Global Recording Artist of 2016.

The Pitchfork online music publication ranked Nothing Was the Same as the 41st best album of the decade "so far"?between 2010 and 2014, and have ranked him in the fifth position in the publication's list of the "Top 10 Music Artists" since 2010.

Discography

Studio albums

• Thank Me Later (2010)
• Take Care (2011)
• Nothing Was the Same (2013)
• Views (2016)

Extended plays

• So Far Gone (2009)

Commercial mixtapes

• If You're Reading This It's Too Late (2015)
• What a Time to Be Alive (with Future) (2015)

Playlists

• More Life (2017)

Tours

Headlining

• Away from Home Tour (2010)
• Club Paradise Tour (2012)
• Would You Like a Tour? (2013-2014)
• Jungle Tour (2015; six date promotional tour)
• Boy Meets World Tour (2017)

Co-headlining

• America's Most Wanted Tour (with Young Money) (2009)
• Drake vs. Lil Wayne (with Lil Wayne) (2014)
• Summer Sixteen Tour (with Future) (2016)

Filmography

Film

Television

See also

• Canadian culture
• Culture of Toronto
• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• List of Canadian musicians
• List of people from Toronto

References

External links

• Official website
• Aubrey Graham at the Internet Movie Database

Source : Wikipedia

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:33:00 +0000 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/katy-perry-12 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/katy-perry-12 Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer and songwriter. After singing in church during her childhood, she pursued a career in gospel music as a teenager. Perry signed with Red Hill Records and released her debut studio album Katy Hudson under her birth name in 2001, which was commercially unsuccessful. She moved to Los Angeles the following year to venture into secular music after Red Hill ceased operations and she subsequently began working with producers Glen Ballard, Dr. Luke, and Max Martin. After adopting the stage name Katy Perry and being dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group and Columbia Records, she signed a recording contract with Capitol Records in April 2007.

Perry rose to fame in 2008 with the release of the singles "I Kissed a Girl"?which sparked controversy for its homosexual themes?and "Hot n Cold" from her second album, a pop rock record titled One of the Boys. Her third album, Teenage Dream (2010), ventured into disco, and contained the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T.", and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" as well as the number-three single "The One That Got Away". The album became the first by a female artist to produce five number-one songs in the U.S., and the second overall after Michael Jackson's album Bad. In March 2012, she re-issued the album as Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, which produced the songs "Part of Me" and "Wide Awake". Her fourth album, Prism, was released in 2013, and is influenced by pop and dance. She became the first artist with multiple videos to reach one billion views on Vevo with the videos for its songs "Roar" and "Dark Horse".

Perry has received many awards, including four Guinness World Records, a Brit Award, and a Juno Award, and been included in the Forbes list of "Top-Earning Women In Music" (2011-2016). Her estimated net worth as of 2016 is $125 million. She is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold 100 million records globally throughout her career. In film, she released an autobiographical documentary titled Katy Perry: Part of Me in 2012, and voiced Smurfette in the 2011 film The Smurfs and its sequel in 2013.

Life and career

1984-1998: Early life

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson was born in Santa Barbara, California, to Pentecostal pastors Mary Christine (née Perry) and Maurice Keith Hudson. Her parents are born again Christians, each having turned to religion after a "wild youth". Perry has English, German, Irish, and Portuguese ancestry. Through her mother, she is a niece of film director Frank Perry. She has a younger brother named David, who is a singer, and an older sister, Angela. From ages 3 to 11, Perry often moved across the country as her parents set up churches before settling again in Santa Barbara. Growing up, she attended religious schools and camps, including Paradise Valley Christian School in Arizona and Santa Barbara Christian School in California during her elementary years. Her family struggled financially, sometimes using food stamps and eating from the food bank intended to feed the congregation at her parents' church.

Growing up, Perry and her siblings were not allowed to eat Lucky Charms as the term "luck" reminded their mother of Lucifer, and had to call deviled eggs "angeled eggs". Perry primarily listened to gospel music, as secular music was generally discouraged in the family's home. She discovered popular music through CDs she sneaked from her friends. While not strictly identifying as religious, Perry has stated, "I pray all the time - for self-control, for humility." Following her sister Angela, Perry began singing by practicing with her sister's cassette tapes. She performed the tracks in front of their parents, who suggested she take vocal lessons. She began training at age 9, and was incorporated into her parents' ministry, singing in church from ages 9 to 17. At 13, Perry was given her first guitar for her birthday, and publicly performed songs she wrote. She tried to "be a bit like the typical Californian girl" while growing up, and started rollerskating, skateboarding, and surfing as a teenager. David described her as a tomboy during her adolescence. She took dancing lessons and learned how to swing, Lindy Hop, and jitterbug.

1999-2006: Career beginnings

During her freshman year of high school, Perry completed her General Educational Development (GED) requirements at age 15, and left Dos Pueblos High School to pursue a musical career. She briefly studied Italian opera at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. Her singing caught the attention of rock artists Steve Thomas and Jennifer Knapp from Nashville, Tennessee, who brought her there to improve her writing skills. In Nashville, she started recording demos and learned how to write songs and play guitar. After signing with Red Hill Records, Perry recorded her debut album, a gospel record titled Katy Hudson. She released the album on March 6, 2001, and went on tour that year as part of Phil Joel's Strangely Normal Tour. while also embarking on other performances of her own in the United States. Katy Hudson received positive reviews from critics, though was commercially unsuccessful and sold an estimated 200 copies before the label ceased operations in December. Transitioning from gospel music to secular music, Perry started writing songs with producer Glen Ballard, and moved to Los Angeles at age 17. In 2003, she briefly performed as Katheryn Perry to avoid confusion with actress Kate Hudson. She later adopted the stage name Katy Perry, using her mother's maiden name.

In 2004, Perry signed to Ballard's label, Java, which was then affiliated with The Island Def Jam Music Group. She began work on a solo record, but the record was shelved after Java was dropped. Ballard then introduced Perry to Tim Devine, an A&R executive at Columbia Records, and she was signed as a solo artist. Over the course of the next two years, Perry wrote and recorded material for her Columbia debut, and worked with songwriters including Desmond Child, Greg Wells, Butch Walker, Scott Cutler/Anne Previn, The Matrix, Kara DioGuardi, and Max Martin and Dr. Luke. In addition, after Devine suggested they become a "real group", she recorded with the Matrix. Perry was dropped from Columbia in 2006 as her record neared completion. After the label dropped her, she worked at an independent A&R company called Taxi Music.

Perry had minor success prior to her breakthrough. One of the songs she had recorded for her album with Ballard, "Simple", was featured on the soundtrack to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. She provided backing vocals on Mick Jagger's song "Old Habits Die Hard", which was included on the soundtrack to the 2004 film Alfie. In September 2004, Blender named Perry "The Next Big Thing". She recorded background vocals on P.O.D.'s single "Goodbye for Now" and was featured at the end of its music video in 2006. That year, Perry also appeared in the music video for "Learn to Fly" by Carbon Leaf, and played the love interest of her then-boyfriend, Gym Class Heroes lead singer Travie McCoy, in the band's music video for "Cupid's Chokehold".

2007-2009: Breakthrough with One of the Boys

After Columbia dropped Perry, Angelica Cob-Baehler, then a publicity executive at the label, brought Perry's demos to Virgin Records chairman Jason Flom. Flom was convinced that she could be a breakthrough star and she was signed to Capitol Records in April 2007. The label arranged for her to work with Dr. Luke in order to add an "undeniable smash" to her existing material. Perry and Dr. Luke co-wrote the songs "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold" for her second album One of the Boys. A campaign was started with the November 2007 release of the video to "Ur So Gay", aimed at introducing her to the music market. A digital EP led by "Ur So Gay" was later released to create interest. Madonna helped publicize the song by praising the track on the JohnJay & Rich radio show in April 2008, stating it was her "favorite song". In March 2008, Perry made a cameo appearance as a club singer in the Wildfire episode "Life's Too Short", and appeared as herself during a photo shoot in June on The Young and the Restless for the show's magazine Restless Style.

Perry released her first single with Capitol, "I Kissed a Girl", on April 28, 2008, as the lead single from One of the Boys. The first station to pick up the song was WRVW in Nashville, who were inundated with enthusiastic calls the first three days they played it. The track reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. One of the Boys, released on June 17, garnered mixed critical reviews and reached number nine on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album went on to sell 7 million copies worldwide. "Hot n Cold" was released in September and became the album's second successful single, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while topping charts in Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, and Austria. Later singles "Thinking of You" and "Waking Up in Vegas" were released in 2009 and reached the top 30 of the Hot 100. The Matrix's self-titled debut album, which Perry had recorded with the band in 2004, was released onto iTunes on January 27, 2009, as a result of her solo success.

After finishing the Warped Tour 2008, Perry hosted the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2008, where she won the award for Best New Act. At the 2009 Brit Awards, she also won the award for International Female Solo Artist. Perry embarked on her first headlining world tour, the Hello Katy Tour, from January to November 2009 to support One of the Boys. On August 4, 2009, she performed as opening act for one date of the band No Doubt's Summer Tour 2009. Perry also hosted the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2009, becoming the first person to host two consecutive ceremonies. On July 22, 2009, Perry recorded a live album titled MTV Unplugged, which featured acoustic performances of five tracks from One of the Boys, as well as two new songs, "Brick by Brick" and "Hackensack". It was released on November 17, 2009. Perry also appeared on two singles with other artists; she was featured on a remix of Colorado-based band 3OH!3's song "Starstrukk" in September 2009, and on a duet with Timbaland entitled "If We Ever Meet Again", from his album Shock Value II, in January 2010. The Guinness World Records recognized her in its 2010 edition as the "Best Start on the U.S. Digital Chart by a Female Artist", for digital single sales of over two million copies.

"I Kissed a Girl" created controversy among both religious groups and LGBT groups. The former criticized its homosexual themes while the latter accused her of using bi-curiosity to sell records. In response to speculation that her parents opposed her music and career, Perry told MTV that they had no problems with her success. After her relationship with McCoy ended in December 2008, Perry met her future husband Russell Brand in the summer of 2009 while filming a cameo appearance for his film Get Him to the Greek. Her scene, in which the two kiss, does not appear in the film. She began dating Brand after meeting him again that September at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The couple became engaged on December 31, 2009, while vacationing in Rajasthan, India.

2010-2012: Teenage Dream and marriage

After serving as a guest judge on American Idol, Perry released "California Gurls" featuring rapper Snoop Dogg on May 7, 2010. The song was the lead single from her third studio album, Teenage Dream, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in June. She also served as a guest judge on The X Factor UK later that month before releasing the album's second single, "Teenage Dream", in July. "Teenage Dream" reached number one on Billboard in September. Released on August 24, 2010, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. It received mixed reviews from music critics, and has since sold 6 million copies globally. Teenage Dream would go on to win the 2011 Juno Award for International Album of the Year. In October, "Firework" was released as the album's third single. It became the album's third consecutive number one on the Hot 100 on December 8, 2010.

A remixed version of "E.T." featuring rapper Kanye West was released as the fourth single from Teenage Dream on February 16, 2011. It topped the Hot 100 chart for five non-consecutive weeks, making Teenage Dream the ninth album in history to produce four number one singles on the Hot 100. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" followed as the fifth single in June, and Perry became the first female artist to achieve five number-one Hot 100 songs from one album when the single topped that chart on August 17, and the second artist after Michael Jackson with his album Bad. For this record, she received an honorary American Music Award in November 2011 and a 2013 Guinness World Record. On September 7, she set a new record by becoming the first artist to spend 69 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Hot 100. In October, "The One That Got Away" was released as the album's sixth single. The song peaked at number three on the Hot 100 and number two in Canada. On February 13, 2012, Capitol released the lead single from Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, "Part of Me", which debuted at number one on the Hot 100 and became Perry's seventh single overall to top the chart. Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection was released on March 23. "Wide Awake" was released on May 22 as the re-release's second single, peaking at number two on the Hot 100 and number one in Canada and New Zealand. On January 5, she was named the sixth best-selling digital artist in the United States, with sales of 37.6 million units according to Nielsen SoundScan. That month, she became the first artist to have four songs sell over 5 million digital units.

Perry embarked on her second tour, the California Dreams Tour, in support of Teenage Dream from February 2011 to January 2012. The tour grossed $59.5 million globally and won her the award for Best Live Act at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards. On September 23, 2011, she performed on the opening day of the 2011 Rock in Rio festival along with Elton John and Rihanna. In September 2010, Perry was scheduled to appear on the 41st-season premiere of Sesame Street. After her scene was uploaded to YouTube, viewers criticized Perry's exposed cleavage. Four days before the scheduled airing, Sesame Workshop announced that the segment would not air on television, but would still be available to watch online. Perry subsequently mocked the controversy on Saturday Night Live, where she was a musical guest and wore an Elmo-themed shirt showing large amounts of cleavage during one skit.

In December 2010, Perry played Moe Szyslak's girlfriend in the live-action segment from a Christmas episode of The Simpsons titled "The Fight Before Christmas". In February 2011, she made a guest appearance on the How I Met Your Mother episode "Oh Honey", playing a woman known as Honey. The role won her the People's Choice Award for Favorite TV Guest Star in January 2012. She made her film debut in the 3D family motion picture The Smurfs as Smurfette on July 29, 2011. The film was a financial success worldwide, while critics gave mostly negative reviews. She hosted Saturday Night Live on December 10, 2011, with Robyn as the episode's musical guest. Perry's work on the episode received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised her performance in the episode's digital short featuring her and Andy Samberg. In March 2012, she guest starred as a prison security guard named Rikki on the Raising Hope episode "Single White Female Role Model". On July 5, 2012, Perry's autobiographical documentary Katy Perry: Part of Me was released to theaters through Paramount Pictures. The film received positive reviews and grossed $32.7 million worldwide at the box office.

Perry began to venture into business when she endorsed her first fragrance, Purr, in November 2010. Her second fragrance, Meow!, was released in December 2011. Both perfumes were released through Nordstrom department stores. Electronic Arts recruited her to promote their new expansion pack for The Sims 3: Showtime, before releasing a separate stuff pack featuring Perry-inspired furniture, outfits, and hairstyles, titled The Sims 3: Katy Perry's Sweet Treats, in June 2012. The following month, she became the spokesperson and ambassador for Popchips and made an investment in the company. Billboard dubbed her as their "Woman of the Year" for 2012.

She married Russell Brand on October 23, 2010, in a traditional Hindu ceremony near the Ranthambhore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan. Brand announced on December 30, 2011, that they were divorcing after 14 months of marriage. Perry later stated that conflicting career schedules and his desire to have children before she was ready led to the end of their marriage, and that he never spoke to her again after sending a text message that he was divorcing her while Brand asserted that he divorced her due to her commercial success and reluctance to engage in activism. She was initially distraught over their divorce, and said that she contemplated suicide. After the marriage ended in 2012, Perry began a relationship with singer John Mayer that August.

2013-2015: Prism and Super Bowl XLIX halftime show

In November 2012, Perry began work on her fourth album, Prism. She told Billboard, "I know exactly the record I want to make next. I know the artwork, the coloring and the tone" and "I even know what type of tour I'm doing next. I'll be very pleased if the vision I have in my head becomes a reality." Although she told L'Uomo Vogue in June 2012 that she planned to have "darker elements" in Prism following the end of her marriage, Perry revealed to MTV during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards that she changed the album's direction after periods of self-reflection. She commented "I felt very prismatic", which inspired the album's name. "Roar" was released as the lead single from Prism on August 10, 2013. It was promoted at the MTV Video Music Awards and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. "Unconditionally" was released as the second single from Prism on October 16, 2013, and peaked at number 14 in the United States.

Prism was released on October 18, 2013, and has sold 4 million copies as of August 2015. It received positive reviews from critics and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Four days later, Perry performed the songs from the album at the iHeartRadio Theater in Los Angeles. "Dark Horse" was released as the album's third single on December 17, 2013, and became her ninth U.S. number-one single on January 29, 2014. In 2014, "Birthday" and "This Is How We Do" followed as the album's fourth and fifth singles, and reached the top 25 on the Hot 100. Prior to ending her relationship with Mayer in February 2014, she recorded and co-wrote a duet with him titled "Who You Love" for his album Paradise Valley. The song was released on August 12, 2013. Perry's third headlining tour, The Prismatic World Tour, began in May 2014 and concluded in October 2015. It grossed $204.3 million worldwide and won Perry the award for "Top Package" at the 2014 Billboard Touring Awards. She also performed at the 2015 Rock in Rio festival on September 27, 2015.

On November 23, 2014, the NFL announced that Perry would perform at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show on February 1, 2015. Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott served as special guests for the show. Two days after the halftime show, the Guinness World Records announced that Perry's performance garnered 118.5 million viewers in the United States, and became the most watched and highest rated show in Super Bowl history. The viewership was higher than the game itself, which was viewed by an audience of 114.4 million.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) ranked her fifth on the list of Top Global Recording Artists of 2013. On June 26, 2014, she was declared the Top Certified Digital Artist Ever by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for certified sales of 72 million digital singles in the United States. In May 2014, a portrait of Perry by painter Mark Ryden was featured in his exhibition "The Gay 90s", and shown at the Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles. Along with several other artists, she also recorded a cover version of the song "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" on a limited-edition concept album titled The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell to accompany the exhibition. That month, a portrait of Perry by artist Will Cotton was included in the United States National Portrait Gallery. On November 23, 2015, Perry starred in H&M's holiday advertising campaign, for which she wrote and recorded a song titled "Every Day Is a Holiday".

On June 17, 2014, Perry announced that she had founded her own record label under Capitol Records, titled Metamorphosis Music. Ferras was the first artist to get signed to her label, and Perry served as an executive producer on his self-titled EP. She also recorded a duet with him on the EP, titled "Legends Never Die".

Outside of her music career, Perry reprised her role as Smurfette in The Smurfs 2, which was released in theaters on July 31, 2013. Like its predecessor, The Smurfs 2 was a financial success but was panned by critics. In March 2014, she made a guest appearance playing herself in the episode "Blisteritos Presents Dad Academy Graduation Congraduritos Red Carpet Viewing Party" of the Kroll Show. Killer Queen was released as her third fragrance in August 2013 through Coty, Inc. In January 2014, she became a guest curator of Madonna's Art for Freedom initiative. In March 2015, she appeared in Brand: A Second Coming, a documentary following her ex-husband Russell Brand's transition from comedy work to activism, and released a concert film titled Katy Perry: The Prismatic World Tour through Epix, which took place during her tour of the same name. Perry also made a cameo appearance in the music video for Madonna's song "Bitch I'm Madonna" in June 2015. The following month, she released another fragrance with Coty, entitled Mad Potion. In September 2015, she appeared in the documentaries Katy Perry: Making of the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show, which followed Perry's preparation for her Super Bowl performance, and Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer, which followed the life and career of designer Jeremy Scott. Perry released a mobile app titled Katy Perry Pop in December 2015 through Glu Mobile where her character helps players become famous musicians. She described it as "the most fun, colorful world that helps guide your musical dreams".

2016-present: Upcoming fifth studio album

After Perry appeared as herself in the film Zoolander 2, which was released in February 2016, she confirmed the following May that she was working on new music. She recorded an anthem for NBC Sports's coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics titled "Rise", which was released on July 14, 2016. Perry chose to release it as a standalone track rather than save it for an album "because now more than ever, there is a need for our world to unite". NBC also felt its message spoke "directly to the spirit of the Olympics and its athletes" for its inspirational themes. The song went number one in Australia and peaked at number eleven in the United States. In August, Perry stated that she aspired to make material "that connects and relates and inspires" and told Ryan Seacrest that she was "not rushing" her fifth album, adding "I'm just having a lot of fun, but experimenting and trying different producers, and different collaborators, and different styles". On February 10, 2017, Perry released its lead single with Skip Marley titled "Chained to the Rhythm", which reached number one in Mexico and number four in the United States. Following the song's release, Spotify announced it would run a promotional campaign leading up to a summer 2017 release of her fifth album.

Artistry

Influences

During the early stages of her career, Perry's musical style gravitated towards gospel and she aspired to be as successful as Amy Grant. At the age of 15, she heard Queen's "Killer Queen," which inspired her to pursue a career in music. She cites the band's frontman, Freddie Mercury, as her biggest influence and expressed how the "combination of his sarcastic approach to writing lyrics and his 'I don't give a fuck' attitude" inspired her music. She paid homage to the band by naming her third fragrance Killer Queen. Perry described The Beach Boys and their album Pet Sounds as having a considerable influence on her music: "Pet Sounds is one of my favorite records and it influenced pretty much all of my songwriting. All of the melody choices that I make are because of Pet Sounds." The singer also holds the Beatles' album The Beatles in high esteem, and described these two albums as "the only things I listened to for probably two years straight."

Perry cites Alanis Morissette and her 1995 album Jagged Little Pill as a significant musical inspiration, and opted to work with Morissette's frequent collaborator Ballard as a result. Perry stated, "Jagged Little Pill was the most perfect female record ever made. There's a song for anyone on that record; I relate to all those songs. They're still so timeless." Additionally, Perry borrows influence from Flaming Red by Patty Griffin and 10 Cent Wings by Jonatha Brooke. Perry intends to become "more of a Joni Mitchell", releasing folk and acoustic music. Perry's autobiographical documentary Katy Perry: Part of Me was largely influenced by Madonna: Truth or Dare. She admires Madonna's ability to reinvent herself, saying "I want to evolve like Madonna", and has credited Madonna for inspiring her to make Prism "darker" than her previous material.

Perry names Björk as an influence, particularly admiring her "willingness to always be taking chances". Other musicians who Perry has cited as influences include ABBA, The Cardigans, Cyndi Lauper, Ace of Base, 3OH!3, CeCe Peniston, C+C Music Factory, Black Box, Crystal Waters, Mariah Carey, Heart, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Imogen Heap, Rufus Wainwright, Pink, and Gwen Stefani. "Firework" was inspired by a passage in the book On the Road by Jack Kerouac in which the author compares people who are full of life to fireworks that shoot across the sky and make people watch in awe. Her second concert tour, the California Dreams Tour, was reminiscent of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She also credits the 1996 movie The Craft for inspiring her song "Dark Horse", and Eckhart Tolle's book The Power of Now for influencing Prism.

Musical style and themes

While Perry's music incorporates pop, rock, and disco, Katy Hudson contains gospel. Her subsequent releases, One of the Boys and Teenage Dream, involve themes of sex and love. One of the Boys is a pop rock record, while Teenage Dream features disco influences. Perry's fourth album, Prism, is significantly influenced by dance and pop music. Lyrically, the album addresses relationships, self-reflection, and everyday life. Many of her songs, particularly on Teenage Dream, reflect on love between teenagers; W described the album's sexual innuendos as "irresistible hook-laden melodies". Self-empowerment is a common theme in Perry's music.

Perry describes herself as a "singer-songwriter masquerading as a pop star" and maintains that honest songwriting is very important to her. She told Marie Claire: "I feel like my secret magic trick that separates me from a lot of my peers is the bravery to be vulnerable and truthful and honest. I think you become more relatable when you're vulnerable." Kristen Wiig commented that "as easy, breezy, and infectious as Perry's songs can be, beneath the surface lurks a sea of mixed emotions, jumbled motives, and contradictory impulses complicated enough to fill a Carole King record." According to Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune, "being taken seriously may be Perry's greatest challenge yet." The New York Times labeled her "the most potent pop star of the day - her hits are relatable with just a hint of experimentation". Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times criticized her use of idioms and metaphors in her lyrics and for frequent "clichés". Throughout her career, Perry has co-written songs recorded by other artists, including Selena Gomez & the Scene, Jessie James, Kelly Clarkson, Lesley Roy, Britney Spears, Iggy Azalea, and Nicki Minaj.

Voice

Perry has a contralto vocal range. Her singing has received both praise and criticism. Betty Clarke of The Guardian commented that her "powerful voice is hard-edged" while Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone described Perry's vocals on Teenage Dream as "processed staccato blips". Darren Harvey of musicOMH compared Perry's vocals on One of the Boys to Alanis Morissette's, both possessing a "perky voice shifting octaves mid-syllable". Alex Miller from NME felt that "Perry's problem is often her voice" on One of the Boys, stating that "somewhere along the line someone convinced her she was like, well, a ballsy rock chick". Conversely, Bernadette McNulty from The Daily Telegraph praised her "rock chick voice" in a review of a concert promoting Prism.

Public image

Perry is considered a sex symbol; GQ labelled her a "full-on male fantasy", while Elle described her body "as though sketched by a teenage boy". Vice described her as a "'serious' popstar/woman/sex symbol". She was placed at number one on the Maxim Hot 100 in 2010 as the "most beautiful woman in the world", with editor Joe Levy describing her as a "triple - no quadruple - kind of hot". Men's Health readers voted her the "sexiest woman of 2013". In November 2010, Perry told Harper's Bazaar that she was proud of and satisfied with her figure.

Perry's fashion often incorporates humor, bright colors, and food-related themes such as her trademark spinning peppermint swirl dress. Vogue described her as "never exactly one to shy away from the outrageous or the extreme in any realm", while Glamour named her the "queen of quirk". In February 2009, Perry told Seventeen that her fashion style was "a bit of a concoction of different things" and stated she enjoyed humor in her clothing. She has also described herself as having "multipersonality disorder" for fashion. Perry lists Gwen Stefani, Shirley Manson, Chloë Sevigny, Daphne Guinness, Natalie Portman, and the fictional character Lolita as her style icons.

On social media, Perry surpassed Justin Bieber as the most followed person on Twitter in November 2013. She won the 2015 Guinness World Record for most Twitter followers, and became the first person to gain 90 million followers on the site in July 2016. Forbes writer Dorothy Pomerantz commended Perry on her social media usage, saying "Perry makes excellent use of Twitter, talking to her fans and sharing funny photos and videos in a way that makes them all feel like Perry is their best buddy." Keith Caulfield of Billboard stated that she is "the rare celebrity who seems to have enormous popularity but genuine ground-level interaction with her adoring KatyCats."

In 2011, Forbes ranked Perry third on their "Top-Earning Women In Music" list with earnings of $44 million and fifth on their 2012 list with $45 million. She subsequently ranked seventh on the 2013 Forbes list for "Top-Earning Women In Music" with $39 million earned, and fifth on their 2014 list with $40 million. With earnings of $135 million, Forbes also ranked Perry number one on their 2015 "Top-Earning Women In Music" list as well as the "World's Highest-Paid Musicians" and declared her the highest earning female celebrity in 2015, placing her at number 3 on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list. In 2016, the magazine estimated her net worth was $125 million, and ranked her number six on the their list of "Highest-Paid Women in Music" with earnings of $41 million.

Other ventures

Philanthropy

Perry has supported various charitable organizations and causes during her career. She has contributed to organizations aimed at improving the lives and welfare of children in particular. In April 2013, she joined UNICEF to assist children in Madagascar with education and nutrition. On December 3, 2013, she was officially named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, "with a special focus on engaging young people in the agency's work to improve the lives of the world's most vulnerable children and adolescents." She arranged for a portion of the money generated from tickets to her Prismatic World Tour to go to UNICEF. In September 2010, she helped build and design the Boys Hope/Girls Hope foundation shelter for youth in Baltimore, Maryland along with Raven-Symoné, Shaquille O'Neal, and the cast of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

She has also supported children's education and well-being. All profits from sales of the album The Gay Nineties Old Tyme Music: Daisy Bell, which includes her rendition of "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)", were donated to the charity Little Kids Rock, which supports musical education in underprivileged elementary schools. In June 2014, she teamed up with Staples Inc. for a project entitled "Make Roar Happen" which donated $1 million to DonorsChoose, an organization that supports teachers and funds classroom resources in public schools. In May 2016, she worked with UNICEF to improve child care quality in Vietnam, hoping to "break the cycle of poverty and drastically improve children's health, education and well-being". The following month, UNICEF announced that Perry would receive the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award "for her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in support of the world's most vulnerable children" at their annual Snowflake Ball in November.

Perry has supported organizations aimed at aiding people suffering with diseases including cancer and HIV/AIDS. During the 2008 Warped Tour, she had a cast made of her breasts to raise money for the Keep A Breast Foundation. She hosted and performed at the We Can Survive concert along with Bonnie McKee, Kacey Musgraves, Sara Bareilles, Ellie Goulding, and duo Tegan and Sara at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, on October 23, 2013. The concert's profits were donated to Young Survival Coalition, an organization aiding breast cancer in young women. In June 2009, she designed an item of clothing for H&M's "Fashion Against AIDS" campaign, which raises money for HIV/AIDS awareness projects. On February 26, 2017, she served as a co-chair alongside various celebrities such as Beyoncé, Lea Michele, Jim Carrey, Jared Leto, and Kevin Spacey for the 25th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Award Party, a fundraiser for HIV/AIDS healthcare.

The proceeds from Perry's single "Part of Me" were donated to the charity MusiCares, which helps musicians in times of need. During her California Dreams Tour, she raised over $175,000 for the Tickets-For-Charity fundraiser. The money was divided between three charities: the Children's Health Fund (CHF), Generosity Water, and The Humane Society of the United States. On her 27th birthday, Perry set up a donations page for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Auckland, and set up a similar page benefiting the David Lynch Foundation for her 28th birthday. On March 29, 2014, she helped raise $2.4 million for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles along with other celebrities such as Ryan Seacrest, Pharrell Williams, Tim Allen, Lisa Edelstein, and Riley Keough.

Politics

Perry is a LGBT rights activist. She supported Stonewall during their "It gets better..... today" campaign to prevent homophobic bullying, and dedicated the music video to her song "Firework" to the It Gets Better Project. Perry told Do Something in November 2008 she was proud to be a gay activist, saying "I've always been a very open-minded person, but I definitely believe in equality." She confirmed that she voted against Proposition 8, an amendment (ultimately ruled unconstitutional) that legally defined marriage as a union solely between a man and a woman in California. In June 2012, Perry expressed her hopes for LGBT equality, commenting "hopefully, we will look back at this moment and think like we do now concerning [other] civil rights issues. We'll just shake our heads in disbelief, saying, 'Thank God we've evolved.' That would be my prayer for the future." In December 2012, Perry was awarded the Trevor Hero Award by The Trevor Project for her work and activism on behalf of LGBT youth. On March 18, 2017, she received a Nation Equality Award from Human Rights Campaign for "using her powerful voice and international platform to speak out for LGBTQ equality", with the organization further stating that "Katy's message of inclusion and equality continues to inspire us and the world".

Perry describes herself as a feminist, and appeared in April 2013 in a video clip for the "Chime For Change" campaign that aimed to spread female empowerment. She has also said that America's lack of free health care drove her "absolutely crazy". Following the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016, Perry and nearly 200 other artists and executives in music signed an open letter organized by Billboard addressed to United States Congress demanding increased gun control in the United States.

Through Twitter and by performing at his rallies, Perry supported President Barack Obama in his run for re-election and praised his support for same-sex marriage and LGBT equality. She performed at three rallies for Obama, in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Wisconsin, singing a rendition of "Let's Stay Together" as well as a number of her songs. During her Las Vegas performance she wore a dress made to replicate a voting ballot, with Obama's box filled in. On Twitter, she encouraged her followers to vote for Obama.

In August 2013, Perry voiced criticism of Tony Abbott, then-Leader of Conservative Liberal Party of Australia and candidate for Prime Minister of Australia, due to his opposition to gay marriage and told Abbott, "I love you as a human being but I can't give you my vote." In April 2014, she publicly supported Marianne Williamson in her campaign for California's 33rd congressional district by attending a political press event. She endorsed Kamala Harris in the United States Senate election in California, and organized a fundraiser for Harris at her home in Los Angeles in November 2016. Perry also publicly endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. She performed alongside Elton John at a fundraising concert for Clinton in New York City in March 2016. Perry also spoke and performed at the 2016 Democratic National Convention to endorse Hillary Clinton.

Achievements

Throughout her career, Perry has won five American Music Awards, fourteen People's Choice Awards, four Guinness World Records, a Brit Award, and a Juno Award. In September 2012, Billboard dubbed her the "Woman of the Year". From May 2010 to September 2011, she spent a record-breaking total of 69 consecutive weeks in the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Teenage Dream became the first album by a female artist to produce five number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles, and the second album overall after Michael Jackson's Bad. She has accumulated a total of nine number-one singles on the Hot 100, her most recent being "Dark Horse". In June 2015, her music video for "Dark Horse" became the first video by a female artist to reach 1 billion views on Vevo. The following month, her music video for "Roar" reached 1 billion views on Vevo, making her the first artist to have multiple videos with 1 billion views.

Perry was declared the Top Global Female Recording Artist of 2013 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). According to Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the third best-selling digital singles artist in the United States, with certified sales of 83.5 million digital singles including on-demand streaming. Her songs "Firework", "E.T.", "California Gurls", "Hot n Cold", "Roar", and "Dark Horse" have each sold over 5 million digital copies. Throughout her career, Perry has sold 100 million records globally, and is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time.

Discography

• Katy Hudson (2001)
• One of the Boys (2008)
• Teenage Dream (2010)
• Prism (2013)

Filmography

• The Smurfs (2011)
• Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012)
• The Smurfs 2 (2013)
• Brand: A Second Coming (2015)
• Katy Perry: The Prismatic World Tour (2015)
• Katy Perry: Making of the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show (2015)
• Jeremy Scott: The People's Designer (2015)
• Zoolander 2 (2016)

Tours

Headlining

• Hello Katy Tour (2009)
• California Dreams Tour (2011-2012)
• The Prismatic World Tour (2014-2015)

Co-headlining

• Strangely Normal Tour (with Phil Joel), Earthsuit, and V*Enna) (2001)

See also

• List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
• List of best-selling music artists
• List of songs recorded by Katy Perry

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

• Official website
• Katy Perry at Rotten Tomatoes
• Katy Perry at the Internet Movie Database

Source : Wikipedia

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:33:00 +0000 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/calvin-harris-13 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/calvin-harris-13 Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish record producer, DJ, singer and songwriter. His debut studio album I Created Disco was released in June 2007, and was the precursor to his UK top 10 singles "Acceptable in the 80s" and "The Girls". In 2009, Harris released his second studio album Ready for the Weekend, which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry within two months of its release. Its lead single "I'm Not Alone" became his first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart.

Harris rose to international prominence with the release of his third studio album 18 Months in October 2012. Topping the UK charts, the album became his first to chart on the US Billboard 200 chart (where it reached number 19). All eight of the album's singles, which were "Bounce", "Feel So Close", "Let's Go", "We'll Be Coming Back", "Sweet Nothing", "Drinking from the Bottle", "I Need Your Love" and "Thinking About You" reached the top 10 in the UK. Harris released his fourth studio album Motion in November 2014. It debuted at number two in the UK and at number five in the US, and became Harris's second consecutive number one album on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart. The album's first three singles "Under Control", "Summer" and "Blame" all topped the UK chart.

Harris has collaborated with numerous other recording artists. His collaboration with Rihanna "We Found Love" became an international success, giving Harris his first US number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Harris later collaborated with Rihanna on the singles "Where Have You Been" (2012) and "This Is What You Came For" (2016). Harris currently holds the record for the most top 10 songs from one studio album on the UK Singles Chart with nine top 10 entries, surpassing Michael Jackson. In October 2014, he became the first artist to place three songs simultaneously on the top 10 of Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart. He also became the first British solo artist to reach more than one billion streams on Spotify. Harris has received ten Brit Award nominations?three for Best British Male, and four Grammy nominations, winning a Grammy for Best Music Video in 2013. He received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year in 2013 and at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards was named Top Dance/Electronic Artist. Additionally, Harris topped Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid DJs for three consecutive years from 2013 to 2015. One of the most successful musicians in contemporary British popular culture, Harris appeared on Debrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in Britain. Harris runs his own record label, Fly Eye Records.

Early life and career

Adam Richard Wiles was born on 17 January 1984 in Dumfries, Scotland. His parents, David Wiles, a biochemist, and Pamela, a homemaker, married in Oxford before moving to the Dumfries suburb of Georgetown. He has an older sister, Sophie, and an older brother, Edward. He attended Dumfries High School, and after leaving school he stacked shelves in supermarkets and worked in a local fish processing factory in order to buy DJ gear.

He was first attracted to electronic music in his teens and began recording bedroom demos in 1999. When Harris was 18 he released two songs "Da Bongos" and "Brighter Days". Both were released as 12-inch club singles and CD-EPs by the label Prima Facie in early 2002 under the name "Stouffer". With these singles to his credit, Harris moved from Scotland to London, hoping to learn from the local music scene. Only one of his songs was released during his time in London, "Let Me Know" with vocalist Ayah Marar on the Unabombers' 2004 live-mix CD Electric Soul, Vol. 2. With the lack of job opportunities and money, Harris returned home to Dumfries and began posting homemade solo recordings to his Myspace page. Harris' popularity on the social media website created Internet attention that prompted Mark Gillespie, a talent booker for the dance-festival firm Global Gathering who had recently founded his own management firm, to make Harris the company's first signing.

Music career

2006-2008: Career beginnings and I Created Disco

Harris signed contracts with Three Six Zero Group (management), EMI (publishing) and Sony BMG (recording) in 2006 after he had been discovered on the social networking website Myspace. Later in 2006, Harris produced a remix of All Saints' single "Rock Steady".

Harris's debut album, I Created Disco, was released in June 2007. He started working on the album in 2006 after he moved back from living in London to his hometown of Dumfries, Scotland. All 14 tracks were written, produced and performed solely by Harris and all recording and producing for the album took place on an Amiga computer. To promote I Created Disco, Harris embarked on a tour of the UK, supporting Faithless and Groove Armada. I Created Disco was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart and number 19 on the US Top Electronic Albums.

The album contained uptempo electroclash songs that were influenced by music from the 1980s. The song, "Vegas", was issued on limited edition vinyl. The first wide-release single from the album was released in March 2007. "Acceptable in the 80s", a tribute to the style and culture of the decade, reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining on the chart for 15 weeks. "The Girls", the album's second single, peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart and at number four in the Scotland chart. The third and final release from the album, "Merrymaking at My Place", only reached number 43.

The same year, Harris caught the attention of Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue after his recordings had been passed on to her by another record producer. This led to him co-writing and producing two songs on her 2007 album X?"Heart Beat Rock" and "In My Arms", the latter a top-10 single in the UK. Harris said that working with Minogue was "surreal, but fun" although he admitted to Mixmag in 2007 to "needing a few drinks before meeting her". Harris also contributed the song "Off & On" to Róisín Murphy's album Overpowered, but it was cut from the album. Harris would later give the song to Sophie Ellis-Bextor to record for her 2011 album Make a Scene. In 2007, Harris produced a remix of the second single "4th of July (Fireworks)" from Kelis' album Flesh Tone.

In 2008, Harris collaborated with rapper Dizzee Rascal on his single "Dance wiv Me", producing the track and singing the hook. The single reached number one in the UK and has been certified platinum by the BPI, selling 600,000 copies. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Popjustice £20 Music Prize and, in 2009, received a Brit Award nomination for British Single and an Ivor Novello Award nomination for Best Contemporary Song. On 18 October 2008, Harris was featured on BBC Radio 1's Essential Mix with a two-hour set.

2008-2010: Ready for the Weekend

Harris' second album, Ready for the Weekend, was released in August 2009 and debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, eventually being certified gold by the BPI within two months of release. Eleven of the fourteen tracks included in the album were sung, produced and written solely by Harris. "I'm Not Alone", released as the album's lead single in April 2009, debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart. The follow-up single, "Ready for the Weekend", reached number three. The third single from Ready for the Weekend, "Flashback", featuring Jordanian singer Ayah Marar reached number eighteen in the UK. During promotion of the album, Harris hosted a series of videos on YouTube titled JAM TV, in which musicians such as Florence Welch, Goldie and Katy Perry tried to open pots of jam. At the 2010 Brit Awards, Harris received a nomination for Best British Male.

On 8 February 2010, "You Used to Hold Me" was released as the fourth and final single from the album. It reached number 27 on The UK Singles Chart. The song marked the last time Harris regularly sang on his records, he opted to focus more on music production while having guest singers provide the vocals for him. The same year, shortly after his "Ready for the Weekend tour" wrapped, Harris parted ways with members of his band in which he served as lead vocalist and made the decision to stop doing live shows. In an interview with Billboard, Harris said: "I thought I'd exhausted every avenue [on the two albums] and it takes a long time to make me sound good, which is why I stopped singing live as well. I'd like to think of someone who's better-looking, a better singer, better dancer to be the frontperson for the song." He also released several remixes, including remixes of Shakira's "She Wolf", Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas", Mr Hudson's "Supernova" (featuring Kanye West) and Mika's "We Are Golden".

Harris also produced Dizzee Rascal's next single titled "Holiday", which reached number one on the UK singles chart. Harris made a guest appearance as vocalist on Tiësto's song "Century" on the Dutch producer's album Kaleidoscope. Harris also produced and mixed the English duo The Ting Tings's single Hands which was released on 18 August 2010. The song was originally set to become the first single of their second studio album, but the duo ultimately cancelled the album plans and the song was added as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of Sounds From Nowheresville. On 14 November, Harris invaded the stage of the UK's The X Factor during a performance by Irish duo Jedward, holding a pineapple on his head. He later apologised on Twitter.

Harris claimed that Chris Brown's "Yeah 3x", released in October 2010 plagiarised his 2009 single "I'm Not Alone" After considering similarities between the two songs, Harris was subsequently added to the songwriting credits on the single and the F.A.M.E. album. Harris also featured on Kylie Minogue's eleventh studio album Aphrodite, collaborating on a disco and synthpop track titled "Too Much". In July 2010, Harris released a mix, titled L.E.D. Festival (short for L.E.D. Festival Presents... Calvin Harris).

2011-2013: 18 Months and international prominence

In 2011, Harris toured with Rihanna as a support act on the European leg of her Loud Tour; Rihanna was quoted to say that "Calvin is the perfect fit for the Loud tour. He is going to bring something unique and fun for the fans." Harris played the 2011 Mardi Gras Party in Sydney on 5 March. Harris also featured on LMFAO's album Sorry for Party Rocking, appearing on the track "Reminds Me of You", which is based on Harris's own song "Awooga". Harris produced Tinchy Stryder's second single, "Off the Record" from his fourth studio album, Full Tank. The track had its premiere on 15 September 2011, and was released in the UK on 6 November 2011.

Harris released the single "Bounce", a collaboration with Kelis that debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart in June 2011. Another single, "Feel So Close", was released in August 2011 and also reached number two in the United Kingdom. "Feel So Close" became Harris's first solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, peaking at number 12. Harris performed at the 2011 Jingle Bell Ball concert, and was announced as one of the headline acts at a number of Southern Hemisphere 2011/2012 new year music festivals.

Following a stint as her support act on the Australian leg of her tour, Harris produced "We Found Love" and "Where Have You Been" for Barbadian singer Rihanna. The former was included on Harris's upcoming album 18 Months, and premiered on Capital FM radio in the UK on 22 September 2011. "We Found Love" topped the charts in 27 countries worldwide, including the UK where it became Harris's third UK number one, peaked in the top 10 in 30 countries, and broke many records worldwide. Topping the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 non-consecutive weeks, it was Harris's first US number one, and was also Rihanna's longest-running US number one and the longest-running number one of 2011. "We Found Love" was later ranked number 24 on the list of the all-time top 100 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. In an interview for Q magazine, Harris said of the lyric "We found love in a hopeless place": "It could have been Jumpin Jaks in Dumfries [Harris' home town], I don't know exactly what I was thinking about." In 2013, "We Found Love" was placed at number three on Billboard's top 10 dance-pop collaborations of all time.

Harris co-wrote and co-produced the bonus track "One Life" for R&B singer Mary J. Blige's album My Life II... The Journey Continues (2011). He also worked with the pop band Scissor Sisters on the single "Only the Horses" from their fourth studio album, Magic Hour. He wrote and produced Cheryl Cole's single "Call My Name", the lead single from her third album A Million Lights. Harris also produced a remix of Florence and the Machine's "Spectrum" titled "Spectrum (Say My Name)". The song was released as the album's fifth single on 5 July 2012. It was serviced to radio in the UK on 2 July 2012. It became the group's first single to peak at number one on the UK Singles Chart.

"Let's Go" featuring Ne-Yo, released in April 2012, also reached number two in the UK Singles Chart. It was his second US Billboard Hot 100 appearance as a main artist, charting at number 17. The song received a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 55th Grammy Awards which was held in February 2013. The album's fourth single "We'll Be Coming Back" was released in July 2012. Featuring rapper Example, it peaked at number two in the UK. The fifth single, "Sweet Nothing", features Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, and was released on 14 October 2012. It peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart and at number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song received a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 56th Grammy Awards. These singles became part of his third studio album, 18 Months, which was released on 29 October 2012. Harris eventually made UK chart history by becoming the first artist to attain eight top-10 singles from one studio album, breaking the record previously set by Michael Jackson. 18 Months received a nomination for Best Dance/Electronica Album at the 56th Grammy Awards. Harris was also nominated for Best British Male Solo Artist at the 2013 Brit Awards in February.

Harris was the house DJ at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards held at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, where he won Best Electronic Video for "Feel So Close" and Video of the Year alongside Rihanna for "We Found Love". Harris performed as part of the post-race concert of the 2013 Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix in April 2013. At the 2013 Ivor Novello Awards held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London in May, Harris received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year, with Harris calling it "easily the greatest achievement of my entire life". In 2012, Harris made statements explaining why he wanted to stop singing on tracks stating, "I want each track as good as it can possibly be, which usually means me not singing on it."

2013-2015: Motion and "How Deep Is Your Love"

On 7 October 2013, Harris and Swedish DJ Alesso released a collaborative single with synthpop duo Hurts called "Under Control" as the first single from his fourth album. The song debuted at number one in the UK. Later that month, Harris remixed The Killers' song "When You Were Young" for the deluxe edition of their greatest hits album Direct Hits. He unveiled the full six-minute version through Rolling Stone and told the magazine: "It was a real honour to be asked to remix one of my favourite modern bands, and it was an exciting challenge for me to update this classic track for the dance-floor in a tasteful and respectful way".

On 14 March 2014, Harris's song "Summer" premiered on the UK's Capital FM. The track which was released as the album's second single debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Harris's sixth UK number-one single. It also became Harris's highest-charting solo single on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number seven. "Summer" was Spotify's most-streamed track of 2014 with over 200 million streams. Harris also produced the single "I Will Never Let You Down" for British singer, Rita Ora. On 18 May 2014, the song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, two weeks after his song, "Summer", debuted at the top of the charts.

In April 2014, Harris performed on the main stage of Coachella Festival. His set attracted the second largest crowd in the festival's history, topped only by the 2012 set of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg which featured a hologram of Tupac Shakur. That year, Harris was also a headline act at several prominent music festivals, including Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival, the iTunes Festival in London, Electric Daisy Carnival and the iHeartRadio Music Festival.

The third single was Harris's collaboration with vocalist John Newman which was titled "Blame". It was released in September 2014 to positive reviews from music critics and debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, giving Harris his third consecutive UK number-one single (and his seventh solo single overall). After the release of the song, Harris became the first British solo artist to reach more than a billion streams on Spotify. Later that month, Harris uploaded an instrumental track called "C.U.B.A." to SoundCloud. "Outside", the fourth single from the album, featuring Ellie Goulding, was released in October 2014. It marked the second collaboration between Harris and Goulding, following the internationally successful single "I Need Your Love" from 2013. The instrumental track "Slow Acid" was released as a promotional single from the album on 14 October 2014.

His fourth album, Motion, was released on 4 November 2014. It includes the previously released singles "Under Control", "Summer", "Blame" and "Outside". Another track from the album, "Pray to God", featuring rock band trio Haim, was released on 11 February 2015. At the 2015 Brit Awards, "Summer" was nominated for Best British Single and British Artist Video of the Year. At the 2015 Glamour Awards in London on 2 June, Harris was named Glamour UK's Man of the Year. He was also ranked 6th on Billboard's Top 30 EDM Power Players. The same month, Harris was part of the main stage line-up at the Electric Daisy Carnival held in Las Vegas.

On 17 July 2015, Harris and London-based production trio Disciples released the single "How Deep Is Your Love". The song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, giving Harris his 19th top-10 entry in the UK. It peaked at number one on the ARIA Charts, giving Harris his first chart-topper in Australia. The song peaked at number three on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs in the US and marked Harris's eighth top-10 entry since the chart's launch, making it the most of any act. In September, Harris was featured on Dillon Francis's EP This Mixtape Is Fire, collaborating on a Moombahton style track entitled "What's Your Name". For the 2016 Brit Awards, Harris received three nominations; Best British Male Solo Artist, and "How Deep Is Your Love" for British Single of the Year and Best British Video.

2016-present

Harris released a new single titled "This Is What You Came For", which features Rihanna, on 29 April 2016. The single debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Harris' second top five song. It also reached number one on the US Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, became Harris's tenth number one on sister chart Dance/Mix Show Airplay, and his fourth chart-topper on the Hot Dance Club Songs Chart. It topped the charts in Australia, Canada, and the Republic of Ireland and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland.

On 24 June 2016, Harris released a collaboration with Dizzee Rascal, titled "Hype". On 8 July 2016, John Newman released the track "Olé", which was produced by Harris. On September 16, 2016, Harris released "My Way", where he also performed vocals for the song. On 21 February 2017, he announced the song "Slide", his collaboration with American singer-songwriter Frank Ocean and hip-hop group Migos. The song was released on 25 February 2017. The following month, Harris announced a collaboration with Young Thug, Ariana Grande, and Pharrell Williams titled "Heatstroke".

Endorsements

In 2008, the cover of Harris' debut album I Created Disco was featured as part of a multicoloured iPod nano campaign on TV and in print in the US. In 2009, Harris teamed up with Coca-Cola for their 'Open Happiness' advertising campaign in the UK. Harris wrote and produced an exclusive track for the brand called 'Yeah Yeah Yeah, La La La' which was featured on TV, digital, outdoor and on-pack promotional activity and was offered on 'Coke Zone' website for free download. The same year, Harris's song "Colours" was featured in Kia Motors's hamster television advertisement for the Kia Soul EV.

In 2012, Harris was featured in the Pepsi Max commercial for their Football campaign. Titled "crowd surfing", the advert showed Harris on the DJ deck playing his single "Let's Go" to the crowd of partygoers alongside star footballers Lionel Messi, Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, Sergio Agüero and Jack Wilshere. In 2013, Harris teamed up with Sol Republic to create their first studio tuned professional-calibre headphones. The partnership involved designing a customised look for the headphones and redesigning its drivers to Harris' specifications.

On 17 December 2014, Harris was announced as the new face of Emporio Armani for its men's underwear line for the Spring/Summer 2015 season. He was also named the worldwide testimonial of the Emporio Armani eyewear and watch collection. The black and white campaign was shot in Los Angeles by photographer Boo George. Harris returned as the face of the brand underwear line, eyewear and watch line for their Emporio Armani Fall/Winter 2015/2016 campaign. The images, shot by Lachlan Bailey, were released in July 2015.

Other ventures

In March 2010, Harris launched his own vanity label, Fly Eye Records. Most of the label's releases belong to the EDM genre. In 2014, the label formed a partnership with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Later that year, Harris was appointed as the head of the artists and repertoire team at the dance label Deconstruction Records.

In early 2012, Harris signed an exclusive DJ residency deal with Wynn Las Vegas which included gigs at three of the luxury resort's avenues: Encore Beach Club, Surrender and XS Nightclub. In February 2013, Harris signed as the first exclusive resident DJ with the Abu Dhabi-owned hospitality company Hakkasan Group in Las Vegas. The 20-month residency saw him playing 46 dates at MGM Grand's Hakkasan nightclub, as well as 22 additional gigs at the MGM Grand's Wet Republic. In January 2015, he extended his partnership with the Hakkasan group for three more years, which includes residencies at three of the group's Las Vegas venues (Hakkasan nightclub, Wet Republic and Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace). Harris also serves as the Group's music consultant for its restaurants, nightclubs and hotels, globally.

On 30 March 2015, Harris was announced as a co-owner, along with various other music artists, in the music streaming service Tidal. The service specialises in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Rapper Jay Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Including Beyoncé and Jay Z, 16 artist stakeholders (such as Kanye West, Beyoncé, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj, among others) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. The idea of having an all artist owned streaming service was created by those involved to adapt to the increased demand for streaming within the current music industry, and to rival other streaming services such as Spotify, which have been criticised for their low payout of royalties.

Philanthropy

In September 2007, Harris performed in the charity event "Wasted Youth" in aid of the Campaign Against Living Miserably at KOKO nightclub in Camden Town, London. The event aimed to draw attention to the issue of youth suicide among men in the UK and to raise awareness and money for the charity. In 2008, he supported Shelter's campaign "Hometime Scotland" which pledges to end homelessness and bad housing in Scotland. In 2010, Harris performed live in The War Child's post-Brit Awards show (alongside La Roux and Kasabian) which took place at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, London. The event raised funds and public awareness on children affected by violence in war zones.

In February 2012, Harris teamed up with several other artists (including Rihanna and Coldplay) to perform at a charity concert with all proceeds from the show going to the Children's Orthopaedic Center at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In November 2012, Harris contributed several songs to Tiësto's compilation album Dance (RED) Save Lives in collaboration with anti-AIDS charity Product Red which was aimed at creating awareness on the fight for an AIDS Free Generation. Harris participated in a global live stream of the Stereosonic music festival in Melbourne, Australia which took place on World AIDS Day on 1 December 2012. The proceeds from both the album and the event were donated for the cause.

Personal life

Forbes began reporting on Harris's earnings in 2013, calculating that he earned $46 million between May 2012 and May 2013, for his music, tour and his residency in Las Vegas which placed him as the highest-paid DJ of the year. In 2014, Harris came in at number one on the list again for the second consecutive year with a total of $66 million in annual earnings. In 2015, Harris topped the highest-paid DJs list for a third consecutive year, having earned $66 million over the previous 12 months. On The Sunday Times Rich List published in April 2015, Harris was ranked the 30th richest British millionaire in music, with a personal fortune of £70 million ($105 million).

Harris dated British singer Rita Ora from April 2013 until June 2014. From March 2015 to June 2016, Harris dated American singer Taylor Swift.

Harris is a teetotaler. He has abstained from drinking alcohol since he was 24, stating that "I wasn't an alcoholic or anything like that, but it was clearly affecting what I do."

Concert tours

• Groove Armada: Soundboy Rock tour (2007)
• Faithless: To All New Arrivals tour (2007)
• Ready for the Weekend tour (2009-10)
• Deadmau5 and Skrillex: Unhooked tour (2010)
• Rihanna: Last Girl on Earth Tour (2010-2011)
• Rihanna: Loud Tour (2011)
• Greater Than Tour (with Tiësto), UK and Ireland (2013)

Discography

• I Created Disco (2007)
• Ready for the Weekend (2009)
• 18 Months (2012)
• Motion (2014)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website

 

Source : Wikipedia

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:34:00 +0000 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/rihanna-14 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/rihanna-14 Robyn Rihanna Fenty (born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, she first entered the music industry by recording demo tapes under the direction of record producer Evan Rogers in 2003. She ultimately signed a recording contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for its then-president, hip hop producer and rapper Jay Z. In 2005, Rihanna rose to fame with the release of her debut studio album Music of the Sun and its follow-up A Girl like Me (2006), which charted on the top 10 of the US Billboard 200 and respectively produced the singles "Pon de Replay" and "SOS".

She assumed creative control for her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad (2007) and adopted a public image as a sex symbol while reinventing her music. Its successful lead single "Umbrella" became an international breakthrough in her career, as she won her first Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration with Jay Z in 2008. After releasing four consecutive platinum studio albums, including the Grammy Award winner Unapologetic (2012), she was recognized as a pop icon. Her eighth studio album Anti (2016) and its lead single "Work" reached number-one on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100. Many of her songs rank among the world's best-selling singles of all time, including the singles "Umbrella", "Take a Bow", "Disturbia", "Only Girl (In the World)", "S&M", "We Found Love", "Diamonds", and "Stay" in which she is the lead artist, and her collaborations "Live Your Life" (with T.I.), "Love the Way You Lie" and "The Monster" (both with Eminem).

With sales exceeding 230 million records worldwide, Rihanna is one of the best-selling artists of all time. Rihanna is the youngest and fastest solo artist to earn fourteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and was named the Digital Songs Artist of the 2000s decade and the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s decade by Billboard. Among numerous awards and accolades, Rihanna has won eight Grammy Awards, twelve American Music Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards and the inaugural Icon Award at the American Music Awards of 2013. Widely recognized for frequently reinventing her style, she received the Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2014. Forbes ranked Rihanna the fourth most powerful celebrity of 2012, and was named one of Time's "100 Most Influential People in the World" later that year.

Early life

Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20, 1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados. Her mother, Monica (Braithwaite), is a retired accountant of Afro-Guyanese background, and her father, Ronald Fenty, is a warehouse supervisor of Afro-Barbadian and Irish descent. Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her father's side, each born to different mothers from his previous relationships. She grew up in a three-bedroom bungalow in Bridgetown and sold clothes with her father in a stall on the street. Rihanna's childhood was deeply affected by her father's addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol which contributed to her parents' strained marriage. As a child, she went through a lot of CT scans for the excruciating headaches she suffered: "[The doctors] even thought it was a tumor, because it was that intense." By the time she was fourteen, Rihanna's parents had divorced and her health began to improve. Rihanna grew up listening to reggae music and began singing at around the age of seven. She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere High School, where she studied alongside future England cricketer Chris Jordan and future West Indies cricketer Kraigg Brathwaite. Rihanna was an army cadet in a sub-military programme; the singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant. Although she initially wanted to graduate from high school, she chose to pursue a musical career instead.

Career

2003-2004: Career beginnings

In 2003, Rihanna formed a musical trio with two of her classmates. She was discovered in her home country of Barbados by American record producer Evan Rogers. Without a name or any material, the girl group managed to land an audition with Rogers who commented, "The minute Rihanna walked into the room, it was like the other two girls didn't exist". Rihanna went to Rogers' hotel room, where she performed renditions of Destiny's Child's "Emotion" and Mariah Carey's "Hero". Impressed, Rogers scheduled a second meeting with her mother present, and then invited her to his hometown in the United States to record some demo tapes which could be sent to record labels. She recorded the demo over the next year intermittently, due to only being able to record during school holidays. "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time" were two tracks recorded for the demo tape, which were eventually included on her debut album Music of the Sun. That same year, Rihanna was signed to Rogers' and Carl Sturken's production company, Syndicated Rhythm Productions.

Rihanna's demo was shipped out to Def Jam Recordings, where Jay Brown, an A&R executive at the record label, was one of the first to hear the demo. Brown played the demo tape for rapper Jay Z, who had recently been appointed as president and Chief executive officer (CEO) of Def Jam. When Jay Z first heard the track "Pon de Replay", he felt the song was too big for her, saying "when a song is that big, it's hard [for a new artist] to come back from. I don't sign songs, I sign artists". Despite being sceptical, he invited Rihanna to audition for the label. In early 2005, Rihanna auditioned for Def Jam in New York, where Jay Z introduced her to music mogul Antonio "L.A." Reid. At the audition, she sang Whitney Houston's cover of "For the Love of You" (1987), as well as the demo tracks "Pon de Replay" and "The Last Time". Jay Z was absolutely certain about signing her after she performed her future hit single "Pon de Replay". His boss L.A. Reid was also impressed with her audition, telling Jay Z not to let Rihanna leave the building until the contract was signed. Reid left it to Jay Z and his team to close the deal which resulted in a six-album record deal with Def Jam. She waited in Jay Z's office till three in the morning to get lawyers to draft up a contract because he wanted to prevent her from signing with another label. Rihanna cancelled other meetings with record labels and relocated from Barbados to the United States to live with Rogers and his wife.

2005-2006: Music of the Sun and A Girl like Me

After signing with Def Jam, Jay Z and his team did the A&R for Rihanna's debut album and spent the next three months recording and completing her debut album. She worked with different producers to complete her debut studio album, primarily Rogers and his production partner Carl Sturken. With several songs to pick as a lead single, "Pon de Replay" was chosen because it seemed liked the best song suited for a summer release. In May 2005, her debut single, "Pon de Replay", was released which charted successfully worldwide, peaking in the top five in fifteen countries, including at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart. The song became a big club hit in the United States, peaking at number-one on the Billboard Dance Club Songs.

Music of the Sun was released in August 2005. It debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 and received a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting shipments of over 500,000 units. The album sold over two million copies worldwide. A second single, "If It's Lovin' that You Want", was not as successful as its predecessor, but reached the top ten in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. Aside from her work in music, Rihanna made her acting debut in a cameo role in the straight-to-DVD film Bring It On: All or Nothing, released in August 2006.

A month after the release of her debut album, Rihanna began working on her second studio album. A Girl like Me was released in April 2006. Rolling Stone felt that "the burning rock guitar of "Kisses Don't Lie" and haunted strings of "Unfaithful" help make "A Girl like Me much more likable." The album was a commercial success, charting in the top ten in thirteen countries. The album reached number one in Canada and number five in the United Kingdom and United States, where it sold 115,000 copies its first week. The album became her first to be certified platinum by the RIAA, after selling over 1,000,000 units. Its lead single, "SOS", was an international success, charting in the top five in eleven countries. The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and in Australia, her first to reach this chart position. "Unfaithful", the album's second single, reached the top ten in eighteen countries, including number one in Canada and Switzerland. Two more singles were released from the album: "We Ride" and "Break It Off".

2007-2009: Good Girl Gone Bad and Rated R

In early 2007, Rihanna began work on her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad. With the help of producers Timbaland, Tricky Stewart and Sean Garrett, she embraced a new musical direction through uptempo dance tracks. Released in May 2007, the album charted at number two in Australia and the US and topped the charts in multiple countries, including Brazil, Canada, Ireland, and the UK. The album received the most positive critical reviews of her first three albums. The lead single, "Umbrella", topped the charts in thirteen countries and remained number one in the UK for ten consecutive weeks, the longest-running number one single since Wet Wet Wet's single "Love Is All Around" spent fifteen weeks at the top in 1994. It was Rihanna's first single to be named one of the best-selling singles worldwide, with sales of over 6.6 million copies. The songs "Shut Up and Drive", "Hate That I Love You" featuring Ne-Yo, and "Don't Stop the Music" were also released as singles, with the latter becoming an international hit. In support of the album, she began the Good Girl Gone Bad Tour in September 2007, with 80 shows across the US, Canada, and Europe. Rihanna was nominated for several 2008 Grammy Awards, winning Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Umbrella" alongside Jay Z, her first Grammy Award.

During the late 2000s, Rihanna began experimenting with pop, dubstep and rock music while shifting her musical style and image away from the Barbados island girl. Throughout 2008, Rihanna performed on the Glow in the Dark Tour alongside Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and N.E.R.D. Her third studio album's reissue, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded, was released in June 2008 with three new songs: "Disturbia", "Take a Bow", and the Maroon 5 duet "If I Never See Your Face Again". All three were released as singles and charted highly, reaching peak positions worldwide. In August 2008, Rihanna and a host of other female singers, recorded the charity single "Just Stand Up!", the theme song to the anti-cancer campaign Stand Up to Cancer.

"Live Your Life", a duet between T.I. and Rihanna, released that November, and topped the Billboard Hot 100. A remix album, Good Girl Gone Bad: The Remixes, was released in January 2009. Good Girl Gone Bad has sold over 2.8 million units in the United States alone, receiving a two-times-platinum certification from the RIAA. It is Rihanna's best-selling album in the country to date. The album has sold over seven million copies worldwide. By late 2008, Rihanna remained on the charts with her eighth single, "Rehab" and was named "Diva of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly for her "newfound staying power".

On February 8, 2009, Rihanna's scheduled performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards was cancelled. Reports surfaced that then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown had physically assaulted her. He was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats. On March 5, 2009, Brown was charged with assault and making criminal threats. A leaked photograph from the police department obtained by TMZ.com revealed that Rihanna had sustained visible injuries.

In early 2009, Rihanna began working on her fourth studio album, Rated R. Rated R was released in November 2009 with Rolling Stone stating that Rihanna "transformed her sound and made one of the best pop records of the year". Rated R featured a darker and more foreboding tone than Rihanna's previous albums. Rated R debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 181,000 copies in the United States, giving Rihanna her highest first-week sales in the US at that time. The album was supported by six singles including "Rude Boy", which was the biggest worldwide success from the album, topping the US Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and reaching top ten positions in twenty-two other countries.

2010-2011: Loud and Talk That Talk

In summer 2010, Rihanna collaborated with rapper Eminem on "Love the Way You Lie", which was a major worldwide success, reaching number one in over twenty countries. The song was Rihanna's seventh US number one of her career, making her the female artist with the fifth-most number ones in the chart's history. Reaching number two, the song became the biggest-selling song of 2010 in the UK, and the first of Rihanna's singles to sell over one million copies in the country. She also lent her vocals to "All of the Lights", a single from Kanye West's album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, alongside John Legend, The-Dream, Elly Jackson, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Kid Cudi, and Elton John. In October 2010, Rihanna switched managers, joining Jay Z's Roc Nation Management.

Loud, Rihanna's fifth studio album, was released in November 2010. Its lead single, "Only Girl (In the World)", reached number one in fifteen countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States The album's second single, "What's My Name?", featuring rapper Drake, also reached number one in the US and UK. The third single, "S&M", reached number one on the Hot 100 following the release of its official remix featuring Britney Spears, becoming her tenth number one single. Rihanna set a record as the solo artist with the fastest accumulation of ten chart toppers.

At the 53rd Grammy Awards, "Only Girl (In the World)" won the award for Best Dance Recording. "Man Down" and "California King Bed" were released as singles in May 2011 with moderate success. "Cheers (Drink to That)", which interpolates Avril Lavigne's 2002 single "I'm with You", was released as the sixth and final single from the album, reaching the top twenty in the UK and the top ten in the US. To promote the album, Rihanna embarked on her Loud Tour in June 2011, which sold out ten nights at The O₂ Arena in London, the most sold out shows for a female artist in the venue's history. The tour was the seventh highest grossing tour worldwide of 2011.

Rihanna's sixth album, Talk That Talk, was released in November 2011. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 with sales of 198,000 copies and number one in the UK, selling 163,000 copies. The lead single, "We Found Love", topped charts in twenty-seven countries worldwide, peaking in the top ten in thirty countries and breaking many records worldwide. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 for ten non-consecutive weeks, becoming Rihanna's longest-running number one single and the longest-running number one of 2011. The song was later named the 24th biggest hit of all time on the Billboard Hot 100. "You Da One" and the title track featuring Jay Z were released as the second and third singles from the album to moderate success. "Where Have You Been", the fifth single, successfully charted worldwide, reaching number five in the US and six in the UK. "Cockiness (Love It)" was released as the album's sixth and final single in a remixed form featuring rapper ASAP Rocky.

2012-2014: Battleship and Unapologetic

In early 2012, two collaborations featuring Rihanna were released: Coldplay's "Princess of China" from the album Mylo Xyloto and Drake's "Take Care" from his album of the same name. In February 2012, Rihanna won her third Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2012 Grammy Awards, and was voted the Best International Female Solo Artist at the 2012 BRIT Awards for the second consecutive year. March 2012 saw the simultaneous release of collaborations between Rihanna and Chris Brown: remixes of her song "Birthday Cake" and his "Turn Up the Music". The recordings received mainly negative responses due to the pair's history of domestic violence. In September 2012, "We Found Love" won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year, making Rihanna the first woman to receive the accolade more than once.

Rihanna starred as Petty Officer (GM2) Cora Raikes in her first theatrical feature film Battleship, which was released on May 18, 2012. Loosely based on the game of the same name, both the film and Rihanna's performance received mixed-to-negative reviews; The New York Times said she was "just fine in the rather generic role". On August 19, 2012, Rihanna appeared in the first episode of the second season of Oprah Winfrey's American prime time television show Oprah's Next Chapter. The episode scored the second-highest ratings in the history of the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Rihanna's seventh studio album, Unapologetic, was released in November 2012. In the United States, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with sales of 238,000, marking Rihanna's first number one album in the country. The album was Rihanna's third consecutive number one album in the United Kingdom and fifth in Switzerland. The lead single from the album, "Diamonds", reached number one in more than twenty countries worldwide, including on the US Billboard Hot 100, her twelfth number one on the chart. The album's second single, "Stay", featuring Mikky Ekko, reached the top five in over twenty countries, including number three on the Billboard Hot 100. As promotion prior to the album's release, Rihanna embarked on the 777 Tour, a mini tour of seven shows in seven countries in seven days.

In February 2013 at the 55th Grammy Awards, Rihanna won her sixth Grammy Award, in the category Best Short Form Music Video for "We Found Love" (2011). Also that month, the Official Charts Company announced that Rihanna had sold 3,868,000 records in the past year in the UK alone, ranking at number one in the list of 2013 BRIT Awards artist nominees. Rihanna's fifth headlining concert tour, the Diamonds World Tour, began in March 2013 in support of Unapologetic. Rihanna appeared in the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg comedy film This Is the End, released in June 2013. That same month, American hip hop artist Wale released a remixed version of his single "Bad" featuring Rihanna.

In October 2013, Eminem released his Rihanna-assisted single, "The Monster", the fourth release from his eighth studio album The Marshall Mathers LP 2 (2013). With the song entering the UK Singles Chart at number one, Rihanna joined Elvis Presley and The Beatles as just one of three acts to have scored a number one single each year over seven consecutive years in the chart's history. The song also peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which marked Rihanna's thirteenth chart topper. Rihanna appeared on Shakira's single, "Can't Remember to Forget You", which was released in January, 2014.

2015-present: Anti and acting career

Following the release of Unapologetic and its accompanying tour, Rihanna aimed to take a hiatus from recording music stating; "I wanted to have a year to just do whatever I want artistically, creatively.? In January 2014, Rihanna began working on her eighth studio album. In May 2014, Rihanna left Def Jam to sign fully with Roc Nation, who had managed her career since October 2010. A year after Rihanna began working on the album she released the single, "FourFiveSeconds", featuring Kanye West and Paul McCartney. Two further singles followed its release: "Bitch Better Have My Money" and "American Oxygen"; both did not make the final track listing for her eighth studio album.

In March 2015, Rihanna released a concept album based around the 3D animated film Home, which she starred in, alongside Jim Parsons, Steve Martin and Jennifer Lopez. "Towards the Sun" was released as the first single from the album. In late 2015, inked a $25 million contract with Samsung that would see Rihanna promoting Samsung's Galaxy line of products whilst Samsung would sponsor the release of Anti and its supporting tour. The Anti World Tour was announced in November 2015 and began in March 2016, with Travis Scott supporting in North America, and The Weeknd and Big Sean supporting at selected European dates.

On January 28, 2016, Rihanna released her eighth studio album Anti exclusively through streaming service Tidal. The album peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200, becoming Rihanna's second number one and eighth top ten album on the chart. The album was supported by the release of four singles including the lead single "Work" featuring Drake, which topped the Billboard Hot 100. Further platinum singles "Needed Me" and "Love on the Brain" both peaked inside the top ten of the Hot 100. In 2016, Rihanna was featured on several singles. The first collaboration was Calvin Harris' "This Is What You Came For," which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two in the United Kingdom. Rihanna was also featured on Drake's "Too Good" from his album Views and Mike Will Made It's single, "Nothing Is Promised". On June 27, 2016, Rihanna released "Sledgehammer", the lead single from the Star Trek Beyond soundtrack. On August 28, Rihanna was honored with the MTV Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.

As of February 2017, Rihanna played the recurring role of Marion Crane in the fifth and final season of Bates Motel. The show received universal acclaim from critics.

Upcoming projects

In 2015, it was announced that she would have a major role in the upcoming Luc Besson film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, an adaptation of the comic book series Valérian and Laureline, which is scheduled for a 2017 release. In August 2016, Rihanna joined the all-female spin-off of the Ocean's Eleven franchise, called Ocean's Eight directed by Gary Ross, opposite Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Anne Hathaway and Awkwafina.

Artistry

Music and voice

Rihanna possesses a mezzo-soprano vocal range of three octaves and two notes. While recording tracks for her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna took vocal lessons from Ne-Yo. Speaking of the experience she stated, "I've never had vocal training, so when I'm in the studio, he'll tell me how to breathe and stuff... He'll call out these big fancy words: 'OK, I want you to do staccato.' And I'm like, 'OK, I don't know what that is.'" Her vocal performance on Loud (2010) received positive reviews from music critics. James Skinner from BBC praised Rihanna's vocals on the song "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" and wrote that her voice is powerful and that "it is Rihanna's vocal - at once commanding, soulful and vulnerable - that anchors the song, and Loud itself". Andy Gill from The Independent feels that "California King Bed" features her best vocal performance. In a review of Unapologetic, Billboard magazine wrote, "Diamonds finds Rihanna doing one of her throatiest, most impassioned vocals to date, on this inspirational pop ballad." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times stated, "over the years, as her game face froze in place, her voice cured into a weapon of emotional chill and strategic indifference. It's decidedly unfriendly, made to give orders".

Rihanna's music has encompassed a broad range of genres; including dancehall, reggae and soca, as well as pop, R&B, dubstep, hip hop and electronic dance music. Some of her songs are also inspired through record sampling from other artists. With its provocative subject matter and lyrics, her musical career has been an experiment with new musical ideas and stated that she wants "to make music that could be heard in parts of the world that I'd never been to". Growing up in Barbados, she wasn't exposed to a lot of music, mainly reggae, hip-hop, and soca music. At the time of her debut, she recorded songs that were inspired by her Caribbean roots and described her early sound as "a fusion of reggae, hip-hop and R&B, with a little something different thrown in". Her early dancehall roots can be found on her debut album, Music of the Sun (2005), and its follow-up, A Girl like Me (2006). When she moved to the United States, she became exposed to a lot of American music "rock being one of them, and I fell in love with it. [Now] I love rock music."

Music of the Sun demonstrates the influence of Rihanna’s musical heritage of the Caribbean. Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times complimented its combination of dancehall and reggae, who said, "Dancehall reggae sometimes seems like a furiously insular form of music, but ... Rihanna is only the latest singer to discover how versatile the genre's spring-loaded electronic rhythms can be". Her debut single, "Pon de Replay" features a dancehall-pop mixture that infuses a reggae style, while "If It's Lovin' that You Want" talks about a girl seducing a guy to be her boyfriend. Aiming for artistic growth, A Girl like Me expresses personal experiences that typical 18-year-old girls go through with ballads that were described as elegant and mature. During a review for Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine to write that Rihanna "finally figured out that she's a dance artist and the majority of the album is comprised of uptempo dance-pop" songs like "Push Up On Me" and "Don't Stop the Music". It represents a departure from the Caribbean sound of her previous albums, and is described as a turning point in her career. While the first half of the record shares a lot of 1980s pop influences with songs like "Don't Stop the Music" and "Shut Up and Drive", the second half retreats into standard R&B.

Recorded after the assault by her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown, Rated R (2009) had a much darker tone and was filled with various emotions she experienced throughout 2009. In Loud (2010), Rihanna reflects on the fun and energetic vibe she had while recording the album. The album is a mixture of ballads, party anthems, and empowering love songs. Talk That Talk (2011) was similar to Rated R, as both contain hip hop, R&B, dancehall, and dubstep genres. Loud and Talk That Talk saw her explore sexuality in her work ("S&M" and "Birthday Cake") and return to her dancehall roots ("Man Down" and "Watch n' Learn"). She also branched out into house music with tracks like "We Found Love", "Only Girl (In the World)" and "Complicated."

Influences

Rihanna has named Madonna as her idol and biggest influence. She said that she wanted to be the "black Madonna" and praised the singer for being able to constantly reinvent herself successfully throughout her career. "I think that Madonna was a great inspiration for me, especially on my earlier work. If I had to examine her evolution through time, I think she reinvented her clothing style and music with success every single time. And at the same time remained a real force in entertainment in the whole world." Another major influence on Rihanna's music and career has been Mariah Carey, whose song "Hero" she performed when Rihanna was still a teenager at her high school talent show. She revealed that Carey's song "Vision of Love" "was the song that made [her] want to do music" and that "everything Mariah did, [she] would try to do." She grew up watching videos of reggae legend Bob Marley on television because that's what they would play in the Caribbean. She stated, "He's one of my favourite artists of all time - he really paved the way for every other artist out of the Caribbean". She built a shrine in her home dedicated to the reggae legend and has covered Marley's "Is This Love" and Bob Marley & The Wailers' "Redemption Song" during her concert tours.

During her childhood, she would go around singing Whitney Houston songs and "A Whole New World" into her hairbrush so much that her neighbors started calling her "Robyn Redbreast". She also stated that one of the first songs she remembers falling in love with was Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You" and that it "was really inspiring, and it made me develop a passion for music, so really, she’s partly responsible for me being here in this industry." Rihanna commented that Janet Jackson "was one of the first female pop icons that I could relate to" and that late R&B singer Aaliyah has a huge impact on her style and also complimented on the singers artistry as well. Watching Beyoncé on television with Destiny's Child also inspired Rihanna's musical career, who was chosen along with R&B recording artists Amerie and Teairra Marí, to give a tribute performance to the female group at the 2005 World Music Awards. Other musical influences and idols include Celine Dion, Grace Jones, Alicia Keys, Prince, Fefe Dobson, and Brandy.

Rihanna takes influence from the different types of music she discovered when she came to America and revealed that rock music was one of the first genres she fell in love with. She commented, "as I grow older, I want to know more about music. I want to discover more types of music". She cited Brandy's fourth studio album, Afrodisiac (2004), as her main inspiration for her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007). In her early career, her music contained strong influences of Caribbean music, including reggae and dancehall. The music video of the song "Rude Boy" featured images inspired by her Caribbean roots.

Videos and stage

Rihanna has worked with music video director Anthony Mandler on more than a dozen music videos, the first being "Unfaithful" (2006). "We've done 16 videos together; they're not all tough, [...] Yeah, I mean, I'm known for the 'Disturbia's and the 'Russian Roulette's and things like that, but 'Only Girl (In the World)' is certainly an ethereal kind of empowering, beauty-filled video," Mandler said. Jocelyn Vena of MTV wrote, "Rihanna, like Madonna, also has a tendency to make truly thought-provoking music videos that fit the songs they represent. Smattered in between glitzier, more glamorous clips, Madge and Ri want us to think about bigger issues". Jon Bream of the Star Tribune commented "[i]n the tradition of Madonna and Janet Jackson, Rihanna has become the video vixen of the '00s ... Rihanna has perfected the pout, the long-legged strut and trend-setting hairdos that keep women and men alike checking her out on YouTube." George Epaminondas of InStyle considers Rihanna's music videos to be "cinematic" due to her "blend of lush island rhythms and swinging pop and ... mischievous sensuality." Tamar Anitai from MTV Buzzworthy listed "Disturbia" at number five on the "Buzzworthy's Top 5 Most Paranoid Music Videos" and said that "Paranoia never looked so supernaturally sexy!".

Many of her music videos were shot as short films exploring issues such as love triangles, abuse, and substance abuse romance, including "We Found Love" and "Man Down". Her music video for "Umbrella" shows Rihanna's transition into adulthood and her newly adopted image. The "dark, creepy" scenes of "Disturbia" have been compared to Michael Jackson's Thriller. The video for "Russian Roulette" features Rihanna in a padded room playing a game of russian roulette with her partner. A scene of Rihanna being approached by a speeding car at night was compared to the altercation with Chris Brown. The Caribbean-inspired music video for "Rude Boy" was compared to rapper M.I.A.'s video "Boyz" by many critics for its colorful aesthetic similarities. In 2011, she released three controversial music videos about sadomasochism, rape, and domestic violence. "Man Down", which features Rihanna shooting a man in a train station, was criticized by the Parents Television Council. "We Found Love", which shows Rihanna and her love interest in a drug-filled unhealthy relationship, sparked criticism from the Rape Crisis Centre for its inappropriate message. But Charne Graham of the Houston Press defended the singer, asking, "Why should Rihanna's music videos get everyone riled up when others' equally sexual and controversial videos are in rotation? [...] she just like[s] to make music videos that give us something to talk about." She is the first woman to pass two billion cumulative views on the music video website VEVO. As of December 2016, she has accumulated over 10 billion views on the site.

Denis Armstrong of Canadian Online Explorer commented on her performance at the Ottawa Bluesfest, saying "her show was a Disney-esque choreographed fantasy of non-stop hip-swiveling, sassy attitude and personal endearments and a string of funky, sugar-free hits." Her performance of "Disturbia" at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards was ranked tenth best on the MTV Video Music Awards, according to a Billboard poll. Her revealing leather costumes during her Good Girl Gone Bad Tour were highly criticized by Malaysia's conservative Islamic party, who recommended that her concert tour should be banned. Whilst commenting on her third album's accompanying tour, The Times compared Rihanna's stage wardrobe styling to that of Janet Jackson and called her "a vision of Ann Summers couture in thigh-high boots and a few scraps of black PVC." In the October 2011 issue of British Vogue, Rihanna said her performance outfits and appearances are all an act; "[t]hat's not me. That's a part I play. You know, like it's a piece of art, with all these toys and textures to play with".

Image

Public profile

Known for reinventing her style and image, Rihanna's music and fashion sense are noted by the media. In 2009, New York magazine described Rihanna's early look as that of a cookie-cutter teen queen, noting she has the ability to shift looks dramatically and with great ease. Around the time of the release of her second studio album, A Girl like Me (2006), many critics felt that Rihanna's style, sound, and musical material were too similar to those of Beyoncé. In an interview with Look magazine, Rihanna spoke about comparisons to Beyonce: "Beyoncé is a great artist and I feel honored to be mentioned in the same sentence, but we're different performers with different styles". She revealed during Oprah's Next Chapter that Def Jam's pop-princess blueprint made her feel claustrophobic during her early years with the label. According to Rihanna, "I felt like they were giving me a blueprint. [...] They had a brand, they had an idea of what they wanted me to be without figuring out who I was." With the release of her third album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007), Rihanna dismissed her innocent image for an edgier look with a new hairstyle, which was inspired by Charlize Theron's bob cut in the science fiction thriller Æon Flux (2005). She followed the likes of recording artists Janet Jackson and Christina Aguilera who also shed their innocent image for an edgier look and sound.

Nico Amarca of Highsnobiety magazine wrote "over the course of her now 10-year career, [Rihanna] has undergone one of the most significant aesthetic metamorphoses the world has ever seen". Her image and fashion has changed several times with different hairstyles since the release of her third album. She commented that as a child she "used to watch her [mother] get dressed" and that her love and admiration for fashion started with her mom. When putting together her own wardrobe she stated, "It's become more about taking a risk ... I always look for the most interesting silhouette or something that's a little off." Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian wrote that "Rihanna's wardrobe is the most talked-about, influential and dissected in pop right now" and that whatever she wears "is immediately reproduced on the high street, because it sells". Country singer Miranda Lambert admires Rihanna's fashion and style stating, "I don't necessarily get inspired by the whole no-bra thing, but I love that you never know what she's going to wear. It always keeps you guessing, which makes her sassy and interesting."

In an interview with Alexa Chung during Vogue Festival 2015, Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing praised Rihanna by stylistically comparing her to some of the biggest fashion icons in music history, such as Madonna, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, and Prince. Commenting on the cultural expectation for pop stars to be role models, she said "[being a role model] became more of my job than I wanted it to be. But no, I just want to make music. That's it". In a May 2013 interview with MTV, The Vagina Monologues writer and feminist Eve Ensler praised the singer, saying, "I'm a huge Rihanna fan, I think she has a kind of agency over her sexuality and she's open about her sexuality, she has enormous grace and she's immensely talented."

Appearance

Described as one of the sexiest women of her generation, she revealed that being a sex symbol is not a priority and that "it's definitely flattering, but also uncomfortable." Emily Hewett from Metro wrote, "Rihanna is quite possibly [the] most sexiest woman in the world. The 25-year-old songbird can grind like no other, pull off a provocative pose better than a Playboy pro." Her appearance has landed her on the cover of magazines such as Maxim, FHM, Rolling Stone and GQ. She has appeared in the top ten on Maxim's Hot 100 list and on FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World" several times. In 2007, she was tagged Venus Breeze's "Celebrity Legs of a Goddess" by Gillette, and was ranked second on People magazine's list of "10 Best Dressed Stars" the following year.

In 2009, Glamour ranked her at number 17 on the 50 Most Glamorous Women and Esquire named her the Sexiest Woman Alive of 2011. In December 2012, Rihanna became the first woman to be featured on the cover of GQ magazine's "Men of the Year" issue and ranked fifth on Complex list of "100 Hottest Female Singers of All Time". The following year, VH1 placed Rihanna second on their list of "100 Sexiest Artists".

Rihanna is well known for having a wide collection of small tattoos around her body. The 21 in total include two musical notes on the front of her ankle (now covered), a skull with a pink hair bow on the back of her ankle, a Pisces sign behind her right ear, a Sanskrit prayer going down her hip, a star in her left ear, the word "love" on her left middle finger, an Arabic phrase meaning "Freedom in Christ" on her ribcage area, a trail of stars going down the back of her neck, the phrase "shhh..." on her right index finger, the date 11.4.86 in Roman numerals on top of her left shoulder, a henna-style tribal dragon claw including hibiscus flowers inside her right hand/wrist, and a handgun under her right armpit. A gun tattoo was planned to be placed just below her shoulders but was ultimately located on her rib cage. In late 2009, Rihanna had the phrase, "Never a failure, always a lesson" inked onto her chest backwards as she wanted to be able to read it in the mirror; it is her "motto in life for everything". In mid-2010, the phrase "rebelle fleur" was tattooed onto the singer's neck. In 2012, a Christian cross was tattooed on her collarbone, the word "lover" in Tibetan above her left buttock. Rihanna covered the music notes on her ankle with a gun-shaped Egyptian falcon design. As a tribute to her late grandmother, Dolly, the singer had the Egyptian goddess, Isis, inked on her chest. In 2013, she had the Ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti tattooed on the side of her left rib cage. In 2015, Rihanna had "1988" (her year of birth) inked above her right ankle. In 2016, whilst with Drake in Miami, she had a shark inked above her left ankle. Drake had the same tattoo inked on his right forearm.

Legacy

Rihanna's first albums established her as a "Pop/R&B Princess" by media outlets. Nick Levine of Digital Spy described her third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad, as "the closest thing to a Thriller that 2007/08 is likely to produce". Her single "Umbrella", famous for its "ella ella" hook, is considered by Rolling Stone to be one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Her 2011 single "We Found Love" was ranked by Billboard as the 24th biggest US Billboard Hot 100 hit of all time. The music video won a Grammy as Best Short Form Music Video and MTV's Video of the Year.

Time magazine included Rihanna on its 100 Most Influential People in the World issue in 2012. Stella McCartney writes "She's one of the coolest, hottest, most talented, most liked, most listened to, most followed, most impressive artists at work today, but she does it in her own stride. She works hard, very hard. She gives to her fans, friends and foundation not just herself but her energy and spirit." On June 2, 2014, Rihanna was presented with Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), a special prize reserved for "an individual whose style has made a significant impact on popular culture on an international stage". In August 2013, Rihanna is placed at number 13 on Billboard's "Greatest Of All Time Hot 100 Artists" list, being its highest ranking newcomer. Billboard also ranked Rihanna the top Hot 100 artist of the 2010s decade. In 2014, Time magazine's pop stardom ranking metric, ranked Rihanna second in history, based on all-time chart performance and contemporary significance.

Rihanna's work has directly influenced a number of contemporary artists such as Little Mix, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Ellie Goulding, Tegan and Sara, Jessie J, Cover Drive, Fifth Harmony, Demi Lovato, Alexandra Stan, Grimes, Cher Lloyd and Willow Smith. Rihanna has an honorary title of Ambassador for Culture and Youth in Barbados. Additionally, Rihanna has become a dominating figure in social media and internet streaming, ranking at number one on Forbes' 2012 list of Social Networking Superstars. In 2013, Rihanna was also named the most influential pop star in the United Kingdom by UK channel 4Music.

In February 22, 2008, former Barbados Prime Minister, David Thompson, launched the national "Rihanna Day" in their country. Although it is not a bank holiday, Barbadians celebrate it every year to honor Rihanna's success in the music industry.

Achievements

Rihanna has received numerous awards throughout her career such as 8 Grammy Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, 12 American Music Awards, 8 People's Choice Awards, among others. Rihanna received the "Icon Award" at the 2013 American Music Awards and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards. She has sold over 230 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. In the United States, Rihanna has sold over 10 million albums, while Nielsen SoundScan ranked her as the best-selling digital artist in the country, breaking a Guinness World Record for digital single sales of over 58 million as of 2012. On July 1, 2015 the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced that Rihanna had surpassed more than 100 million Gold & Platinum song certifications. In doing so Rihanna has the most digital single awards and is the first and only artist to surpass RIAA’s 100 million cumulative singles award threshold. In the United Kingdom, she has sold over seven million albums, making her the third best selling female artist this century.

Rihanna has accumulated fourteen number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for the third most number ones in the chart's history. She has been named the top Mainstream Top 40 chart artist of the past twenty years by Billboard; she ranks first with most entries (36), most top tens (23), and most number ones (10). As of March 2014, Rihanna has sold over 18 million singles and six million albums in the United Kingdom. She is the tenth best-selling and the second best-selling female singles artist in the country, only behind Madonna and is second only to The Beatles for the most million-selling singles in the UK of all time. Her collaboration with Eminem, "Love the Way You Lie", together with "Umbrella", "Disturbia", "Only Girl (In the World)", "We Found Love", and "Diamonds", are some of the best-selling singles of all time worldwide. According to Billboard, her total album sales stand at 54 million copies sold worldwide. In February 2017, Rihanna surpassed Elvis Presley as the best-selling solo artist of all time in certified units.

Other ventures

Endorsements

Rihanna has ventured into other businesses and industries. In October 2005, Rihanna struck an endorsement deal (her first of many) with Secret Body Spray. In 2010, Rihanna featured in the Optus commercial, in conjunction with Optus supporting Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour. The same year Rihanna also featured in the Kodak commercial along with rapper Pitbull. In October 2010, the singer released an eponymous book. The book, featured photos from Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth Tour and served as an accompaniment to her fourth studio album Rated R (2009). Rihanna's first fragrance, "Reb'l Fleur", was released in January 2011. The product became highly successful, according to Rolling Stone, Reb'l Fleur was a financial success and was expected to gross US$80 million at retail by the end of 2011. In 2011, Nivea celebrated its "100 Years of Skincare" festivities which featured several performances from Rihanna. Rihanna's song "California King Bed" was featured as a part of the "100 Years of Skincare" commercial campaign. Rihanna also became the face of Vita Coco in 2011.

Rihanna's second fragrance, "Rebelle", was released in February 2012. The promotional campaign for Rebelle, was shot by director, Anthony Mandler, who also shot the promotional campaign for Reb'l Fleur. In November 2012, Rihanna released her third fragrance, "Nude". In 2013, the singer collaborated with MAC Cosmetics and released her own summer, fall and holiday lines of makeup called "RiRi hearts MAC". In July 2013, lager production company Budweiser announced that Rihanna had become a part of their global "Made For Music" campaign, also co-starring Jay Z. A commercial video was released featuring the singer and song "Right Now". Rihanna's fourth women's fragrance, titled Rogue was released on September 14, 2013. The singer announces to release a men's version the following year. It was announced on August 1, 2014 that September 2014 will see the release Rihanna's first fragrance for men, "Rogue Man". Also in July 2015, she announced her latest fragrance, RiRi by Rihanna. The scent features notes of passion fruit extract, rum absolute, sparkling cassis, and Italian mandarin and arrive at retailers in September 2015.

Business endeavours

On March 30, 2015, it was announced that Rihanna is a co-owner, with various other music artists, in the music streaming service Tidal. The service specialises in lossless audio and high definition music videos. Jay Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015. Including Beyoncé and Jay Z, sixteen artist stakeholders (such as Kanye West, Beyoncé, Madonna, Chris Martin, Nicki Minaj and more) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. "The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value", stated Jay Z on the release of Tidal.

In November 2015, Rihanna and Benoit Demouy launched a beauty and stylist agency named Fr8me. The business based in Los Angeles was set up in order to assist artists in booking commercials, editorial shoots, ad campaigns, and red-carpet appearances. Speaking on the venture Rihanna stated "Hair, makeup and styling play an important role in creativity, I am very involved with that part of my process, so this agency was an organic thing for me to do." The roster includes Rihanna’s makeup artist Mylah Morales, wardrobe stylist Jason Bolden, hairstylist Patricia Morales, and Marcia Hamilton. In addition to Fr8me, Rihanna opened a photo agency called "A Dog Ate My Homework", which represents photographers Erik Asla and Deborah Anderson.

Under her PUMA collection, she released the "Puma Creepers". Then in 2016, she released the PUMA Fenty Trainer, which premiered in red, white, and black, and then was scheduled to release in a grey "Quarry" colorway at midnight on June 14 via Packer Shoes; they sold for $180. The "Fenty Trainers" were available on June 15 in-store at both Packer Shoes locations.

Fashion

Early in her career, Rihanna made clear her interest in fashion and desire to work in the clothing design industry. In November 2011, Rihanna announced her first fashion venture with Armani. In February 2013, Rihanna presented her first women's spring fashion collection at London Fashion Week for British street fashion brand River Island, collaborating with her personal stylist Adam Selman. They published two more collections for the brand, a summer edition released on May 25, 2013 and an autumn edition released on September 10, 2013. The fourth and last collection for River Island, the winter edition was released on November 7, 2013. Rihanna went on to collaborate with numerous fashion house's including Dior, Stance and Manolo Blahnik.

In December 2014, it was confirmed that Rihanna would become the creative director of the fashion sportswear Puma, overseeing the brand’s women’s line which will include collaborations in apparel and footwear. In the fall of 2015, Rihanna released her first trainer with Puma, the sneaker sold out online with three hours of its pre-sale launch. Over the next two years Rihanna released various other footwear in different colour ways and styles which were all met to positively by both critics and buyers. 2016 saw Rihanna debut her first clothing line in collaboration with Puma at New York Fashion Week, the collection was met with rave reviews from fashion critics. In the spring of that year, Rihanna debuted her second collection at Paris Fashion Week and was met with critical acclaim. Vogue Magazine praised the collection and Rihanna stating "Sometimes when a famous person tries his or her hand at another discipline, the results can be uneven. And yet there are those special cases when making the switch leads to a good surprise. Judging by the collection she showed today, we can add Rihanna to that list."

Rihanna herself has become an fashion icon her. On June 2, 2014, Rihanna "will receive the Fashion Icon Award at the 2014 Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Awards" at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. and said regarding it "Fashion has always been my defense mechanism". Mexican singer Becky G has stated Rihanna is one of style icons to Latina magazine. In March 2015, it was announced that Rihanna was chosen as the new face of Dior; this makes her the first black woman to be the face of Dior. She has also branded into other fashion ventures. Her first television program, Styled to Rock, premiered in the UK in August 2012 on Sky Living. In the ten-week series, Rihanna, Nicola Roberts, Lysa Cooper, and Henry Holland assist up-and-coming British designers with their clothing lines. Meanwhile, the US version of Styled to Rock premiered on October 25, 2013 on Bravo.

Philanthropy

In 2006, she created her Believe Foundation to help terminally ill children. In 2007, Rihanna was named as one of the Cartier Love Charity Bracelet Ambassadors, with each celebrity representing a different global charity. To help raise awareness and combat HIV/AIDS, Rihanna and other public figures designed clothing for the February 2008 H&M Fashion Against AIDS line.

In 2008, Rihanna performed a series of charity concerts entitled A Girl's Night Out to benefit the Believe Foundation. The concerts were made free for the public. Money from sponsors and advertisers were to be donated to provide medical supplies, school supplies and toys to children in need. In September 2008, Rihanna contributed to the song "Just Stand Up!" with fifteen other female artists, who shared the stage to perform the song live on September 5, 2008, during the "Stand Up to Cancer" television special. The proceeds from the single were given to the fundraiser. The television special helped raise $100 million for cancer research.

Rihanna founded the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) in 2012, in honor of her grandparents, Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. Current programs include the Clara Braithwaite Center for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados, and education programs. The CLF host an annual Diamond Ball?charity fundraiser event. The inaugural event in 2014 raised over $2 million, with the second raising over $3 million.

On February 12, 2012, Rihanna performed a benefit show at the House of Blues to raise money for the Children's Orthopaedic Center and The Mark Taper-Johnny Mercer Artists Program at Children's Hospital. In November 2012, Rihanna gave $100,000 to food bank donation for Hurricane Sandy, On January 3, 2014 Rihanna was part of the MAC Viva Glam campaign, which benefits women, men, and children living with HIV/AIDS.

In February 2017, Rihanna was named Harvard University's "Humanitarian of the Year" by the Harvard Foundation.

Personal life

On February 8, 2009, Rihanna's scheduled performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards was cancelled. Reports surfaced that then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown had physically assaulted her. He was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats. On March 5, 2009, Brown was charged with assault and making criminal threats. Due to a leaked photograph from the police department obtained by TMZ.com?which revealed that Rihanna had sustained visible injuries?an organization known as STOParazzi proposed "Rihanna's Law", which, if enacted, would "deter employees of law enforcement agencies from releasing photos or information that exploits crime victims." Gil Kaufman of VH1 reported the "nonstop coverage of the Rihanna/Brown case has brought up a number of issues regarding the privacy of alleged victims of domestic violence, including the decision by almost all major news outlets to divulge the identity of the victim?which is not typically done in domestic-violence cases" and discussed the controversial distribution of the leaked photograph. Rihanna was subpoenaed to testify during a preliminary hearing in Los Angeles on June 22, 2009. On June 22, 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault. Brown received five years probation and was ordered to stay fifty yards (46 meters) away from Rihanna, unless at public events, which then would be reduced to ten yards (nine meters). In February 2011, at the request of Brown's lawyer and with Rihanna's consent, Judge Patricia Schnegg modified the restraining order to a "level one order", which allows the singers to appear at awards shows together in the future.

From December 2009 to 2010, Rihanna dated Dodgers baseball player Matt Kemp. Canadian rapper Drake has also dated the singer. In a January 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Rihanna confirmed that she had rekindled her relationship with Chris Brown, though he remained under probation for the 2009 domestic violence incident. The confirmation followed persistent media speculation throughout 2012 regarding the pair's reunion. In a May 2013 interview, Brown stated that he and Rihanna had broken up again. In 2015, Rihanna briefly dated Travis Scott, a rapper from Missouri City, Texas.

Rihanna has stated that she believes in God and that she focuses on obeying God and reading her Bible. She is a fan of Protestant charismatic minister Joyce Meyer. In 2015, Rihanna told Harper's Bazaar that her faith in God has helped her throughout her career.

During her performance at the NCAA March Madness Music Festival, Rihanna expressed her disagreement with Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act that allows companies and individuals to use their religious beliefs as protection, in case of being accused of discrimination against LGBT people. Rihanna along with numerous other high-profile celebrities featured in an online video entitled "23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You Are Black in America". The video was released in partnership with the We Are Here Movement and called for action against police brutality.

According to the New York Post, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against Peter Gunis and the firm Berdon LLP for $35 million but settled out of court for more than $10 million. Forbes began reporting on Rihanna's earnings in 2012, calculating that she earned $53 million between May 2011 and May 2012, for her music, tour, and endorsements. In 2013, Rihanna came in at number 13 on the list with a total earning of $43 million due to endorsements such as vita coco. In 2015 Rihanna earned $26 million, which resulted in her net worth rising to $160 million by 2016. In July 2016, Forbes magazine placed Rihanna at number 13 on their list of highest paid celebrities, earning $75 million between 2015 and 2016. Rihanna currently lives in Manhattan, New York City and owns a penthouse there that is worth $14 million.

Discography

• Music of the Sun (2005)
• A Girl like Me (2006)
• Good Girl Gone Bad (2007)
• Rated R (2009)
• Loud (2010)
• Talk That Talk (2011)
• Unapologetic (2012)
• Anti (2016)

Filmography

• Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006)
• Battleship (2012)
• Coldplay Live 2012 (2012)
• Katy Perry: Part of Me (2012)
• This Is the End (2013)
• Annie (2014)
• Home (2015)
• Bates Motel (2017)
• Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
• Ocean's Eight (2018)

Tours

• Rihanna: Live in Concert Tour (2006)
• Good Girl Gone Bad Tour (2007-2009)
• Last Girl on Earth Tour (2010-2011)
• Loud Tour (2011)
• Diamonds World Tour (2013)
• The Monster Tour (with Eminem) (2014)
• Anti World Tour (2016)

See also

• Culture of Barbados
• Honorific nicknames in popular music
• List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
• List of Billboard Hot 100 chart achievements and milestones
• Music of Barbados
• List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna
• Artists with the most number-ones on the U.S. Hot 100
• Artists with the most number-ones on the U.S. dance chart
• Rihanna (given name)

References

External links

• Official website
• Rihanna at the Internet Movie Database

Source : Wikipedia

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:35:00 +0000 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/adele-15 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/adele-15 Adele Laurie Blue Adkins MBE (/??d?l/; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. After graduating from the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in 2006, Adele was given a recording contract by XL Recordings after a friend posted her demo on Myspace the same year. In 2007, she received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award and won the BBC Sound of 2008 poll. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 to commercial and critical success. It is certified seven times platinum in the UK, and three times platinum in the US. An appearance she made on Saturday Night Live in late 2008 boosted her career in the US. At the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

She released her second studio album, 21, in early 2011. The album was critically well received and surpassed the success of her debut, earning the singer numerous awards in 2012, among them a record-tying six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year; two Brit Awards, including British Album of the Year, and three American Music Awards. The album has been certified 16 times platinum in the UK, and is the fourth best-selling album in the UK of all time. In the US, it has held the top position longer than any album since 1985, and is certified diamond. The album has sold over 31 million copies worldwide. The success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in the Guinness Book of World Records. She is the first woman in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three simultaneous top 10 singles as a lead artist, and the first female artist to simultaneously have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. 21 is the longest-running number one album by a female solo artist in the history of the UK and US Album Charts.

In 2012, Adele released "Skyfall", which she co-wrote and recorded for the James Bond film of the same name. The song won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, as well as the Brit Award for British Single of the Year. After taking a three-year break, Adele released her third studio album, 25, in 2015. It became the year's best-selling album and broke first week sales records in the UK and US. 25 was her second album to be certified diamond in the US and earned her five Grammy Awards, including her second Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and four Brit Awards. The lead single, "Hello", became the first song in the US to sell over one million digital copies within a week of its release. Her third concert tour, Adele Live 2016, visited Europe, North America and Oceania, and will conclude with four finale concerts at Wembley Stadium in mid-2017.

In 2011, 2012 and 2016, Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year. In 2012, she was listed at number five on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music. Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2016. With sales of more than 100 million records, Adele is one of the best-selling recording artists in the world.

Early life

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on 5 May 1988 in Tottenham, London, to an English mother, Penny Adkins, and a Welsh father, Marc Evans. Evans left when Adele was two, leaving her mother to raise her. She began singing at age four and asserts that she became obsessed with voices. Growing up, Adele spent most of her time singing rather than reading; the last book she read was Roald Dahl's Matilda when she was six years old. In 1997, at the age of nine, Adele and her mother, who by then had found work as a furniture maker and an adult-learning activities organiser, relocated to Brighton on the south coast of England.

In 1999, two years later, she and her mother moved back to London; first to Brixton, and then to neighbouring district West Norwood, in south London. West Norwood is the subject of Adele's first record, "Hometown Glory", which she wrote and composed in 2004, when she was 16. Adele graduated from the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon in May 2006, where she was a classmate of Leona Lewis and Jessie J. Adele credits the school with nurturing her talent even though, at the time, she was more interested in going into A&R and hoped to launch other people's careers.

Career

2006-2010: Beginnings and 19

Four months after graduation, she published two songs on the fourth issue of the online arts publication PlatformsMagazine.com. She had recorded a three-song demo for a class project and given it to a friend. The friend posted the demo on Myspace, where it became very successful and led to a phone call from Richard Russell, boss of the music label XL Recordings. She doubted if the offer was real because the only record company she knew was Virgin Records, and she took a friend with her to the meeting.

Nick Huggett, at XL, recommended Adele to manager Jonathan Dickins at September Management, and in June 2006, Dickins became her official representative. September was managing Jamie T at the time and this proved a major draw for Adele, a big fan of the British singer-songwriter. Huggett then signed Adele to XL in September 2006. Adele provided vocals for Jack Peñate's song, "My Yvonne," for his debut album, and it was during this session she first met producer Jim Abbiss, who would go on to produce both the majority of her debut album, 19, and tracks on 21. In June 2007, Adele made her television debut, performing "Daydreamer" on the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland. Adele's breakthrough song, "Hometown Glory", was released in October 2007.

By 2008, Adele had become the headliner and performed an acoustic set, in which she was supported by Damien Rice. She became the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice and was named the number-one predicted breakthrough act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2008. The album 19, named for her age at the time she wrote and composed many of its songs, entered the British charts at number one. The Times Encyclopedia of Modern Music named 19 an "essential" blue-eyed soul recording. She released her second single, "Chasing Pavements", on 14 January 2008, two weeks ahead of her debut album, 19. The song reached number two on the UK Chart, and stayed there for four weeks. Adele was nominated for a 2008 Mercury Prize award for 19. She also won an Urban Music Award for "Best Jazz Act." She also received a Q Awards nomination in the category of Breakthrough Act and a Music of Black Origin nomination in the category of Best UK Female. In March 2008, Adele signed a deal with Columbia Records and XL Recordings for her foray into the United States. She embarked on a short North American tour in the same month, and 19 was released in the US in June. Billboard magazine stated of it: "Adele truly has potential to become among the most respected and inspiring international artists of her generation." The An Evening with Adele world tour began in May 2008 and ended in June 2009.

She later cancelled the 2008 US tour dates to be with a former boyfriend. She said in Nylon magazine in June 2009, "I'm like, 'I can't believe I did that.' It seems so ungrateful.... I was drinking far too much and that was kind of the basis of my relationship with this boy. I couldn't bear to be without him, so I was like, 'Well, I'll just cancel my stuff then.'" She referred to this period as her "early life crisis". She is also known for her dislike of flying and bouts of homesickness when away from her native London. By the middle of October 2008, Adele's attempt to break in America appeared to have failed. But then she was booked as the musical guest on the 18 October 2008 episode of NBC's Saturday Night Live. The episode, which included an expected appearance by then US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, earned the program its best ratings in 14 years with 17 million viewers. Adele performed "Chasing Pavements" and "Cold Shoulder," and the following day, 19 topped the iTunes charts and ranked at number five at Amazon.com while "Chasing Pavements" rose into the top 25. The album reached number 11 on the Billboard 200 as a result, a jump of 35 places over the previous week. In November 2008 Adele moved to Notting Hill, London after leaving her mother's house, a move that prompted her to give up drinking. The album was certified gold in February 2009 by the RIAA. By July 2009, the album had sold 2.2 million copies worldwide.

At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in February 2009, Adele received the award for Best New Artist, in addition to the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Chasing Pavements", which was also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Adele performed "Chasing Pavements" at the ceremony in a duet with Jennifer Nettles. In 2010, Adele received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Hometown Glory." In April her song "My Same" entered the German Singles Chart after it had been performed by Lena Meyer-Landrut in the talent show contest Unser Star für Oslo, or Our Star for Oslo, in which the German entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was determined. In late September, after being featured on The X Factor, Adele's version of Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" re-entered the UK singles chart at number 4. During the 2010 CMT Artists of the Year special, Adele performed a widely publicised duet of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" with Darius Rucker. This performance was later nominated for a CMT Music Award.

2011-2014: 21, worldwide recognition and hiatus

Adele released her second studio album, 21, on 24 January 2011 in the UK and 22 February in the US. She said that the album was inspired by the break-up with her former partner. The album's sound is described as classic and contemporary country and roots music. The change in sound from her first album was the result of her bus driver playing contemporary music from Nashville when she was touring the American South, and the title reflected the growth she had experienced in the prior two years. Adele told Spin Magazine: "It was really exciting for me because I never grew up around [that music]." 21 hit number 1 in more than 26 countries, including the UK and the US.

An emotional performance of "Someone Like You" at the 2011 Brit Awards on 15 February propelled the song to number one in the UK. Her first album, 19, re-entered the UK album chart alongside 21, while first and second singles "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You" were in the top 5 of the UK singles chart, making Adele the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top-five hits in both the Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since The Beatles in 1964. Both songs topped the charts in multiple markets and broke numerous sales performance records. Following her performance of "Someone Like You" at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, it became Adele's second number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. By December 2011, 21 sold over 3.4 million copies in the UK, and became the biggest-selling album of the 21st century, overtaking Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, with Adele becoming the first artist ever to sell three million albums in the UK in one calendar year. "Set Fire to the Rain" became Adele's third number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, as Adele became the first artist ever to have an album, 21, hold the number-one position on the Billboard 200 concurrently with three number one singles. As well, 21 had the most weeks on the Billboard 200 chart of any album by a woman.

To promote the album, Adele embarked upon the "Adele Live" tour, which sold out its North American leg. In October 2011, Adele was forced to cancel two tours because of a vocal-cord haemorrhage. She released a statement saying she needed an extended period of rest to avoid permanent damage to her voice. In the first week of November 2011 Steven M. Zeitels, director of the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, performed laser microsurgery on Adele's vocal cords to remove a benign polyp. A recording of her tour, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, was released in November 2011, debuting at number one in the US with 96,000 copies sold, the highest one-week tally for a music DVD in four years, becoming the best-selling music DVD of 2011. Adele is the first artist in Nielsen SoundScan history to have the year's number-one album (21), number-one single ("Rolling in the Deep"), and number-one music video. At the 2011 American Music Awards on 20 November, Adele won three awards; Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, and Favorite Pop/Rock Album for 21. On 9 December, Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year, Billboard 200 Album of the Year (21), and the Billboard Hot 100 Song of the Year ("Rolling in the Deep"), becoming the first woman ever to top all three categories.

Following the throat microsurgery, she made her live comeback at the 2012 Grammy Awards in February. She won in all six categories for which she was nominated, making her the second female artist in Grammy history, after Beyoncé, to win that many categories in a single night. Following that success, 21 achieved the biggest weekly sales increase following a Grammy win since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. Adele received the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist, and British Album of the Year presented to her by George Michael. Following the Brit Awards, 21 reached number one for the 21st non-consecutive week in the UK. The album has sold over 4.5 million copies in the UK where it is the fourth best-selling album of all time. In October, the album's sales surpassed 4.5 million in the UK, and in November 10 million in the US. As of 2016, the album has sold over 31 million copies worldwide. By the end of 2014, she had sold an estimated 40 million albums and 50 million singles worldwide. Adele is the only artist or band in the last decade in the US to earn an RIAA diamond certification for a one disc album in less than two years.

In October 2012, Adele confirmed that she had been writing, composing and recording the theme song for Skyfall, the twenty-third James Bond film. The song "Skyfall," written and composed in collaboration with producer Paul Epworth, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, and features orchestrations by J. A. C. Redford. Adele stated recording "Skyfall" was "one of the proudest moments of my life." On 14 October, "Skyfall" rose to number 2 on the UK Singles Chart with sales of 92,000 copies bringing its overall sales to 176,000, and "Skyfall" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 8, selling 261,000 copies in the US in its first three days. This tied "Skyfall" with Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" as the highest-charting James Bond theme song on the UK Singles Chart; a record surpassed in 2015 by Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall".

"Skyfall" has sold more than two million copies worldwide and earned Adele the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In December 2012, Adele was named Billboard Artist of the Year, and 21 was named Album of the Year, making her the first artist to receive both accolades two years in a row. Adele was also named top female artist. The Associated Press named Adele Entertainer of the Year for 2012. The 2013 Grammy Awards saw Adele's live version of "Set Fire to the Rain" win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance, bringing her total wins to nine.

On 3 April 2012, Adele confirmed that her third album would likely be at least two years away, stating, "I have to take time and live a little bit. There were a good two years between my first and second albums, so it'll be the same this time." She stated that she would continue writing and composing her own material. At the 2013 Grammy Awards, she confirmed that she was in the very early stages of her third album. She also stated that she will most likely work with Paul Epworth again.

In September 2013, Wiz Khalifa confirmed that he and Adele had collaborated on a song for his upcoming fifth studio album, Blacc Hollywood, though the collaboration did not make the final track listing. In January 2014, Adele received her tenth Grammy Award with "Skyfall" winning Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. On the eve of her 26th birthday in May 2014, Adele posted a cryptic message via her Twitter account which prompted media discussion about her next album. The message, "Bye bye 25... See you again later in the year," was interpreted by some in the media, including the Daily Mail and Capital FM, as meaning that her next album would be titled 25 and released later in the year. In 2014, Adele was nominated for nine World Music Awards. In early August, Paul Moss suggested that an album would be released in 2014 or 2015. However, in the October 2014 accounts filed with Companies House by XL Recordings, they ruled out a 2014 release.

2015-present: 25 and Adele Live 2016

On 27 August 2015, Billboard reported that Adele's label, XL Recordings, had intentions of releasing her third studio album sometime in November 2015. Danger Mouse has contributed a song, while Tobias Jesso Jr. has written a track, and Ryan Tedder is "back in the mix after producing and co-writing "Rumour Has It" on 21." At the 72nd Venice International Film Festival in early September 2015, Sia announced that her new single "Alive" was co-written by Adele, and had originally been intended for Adele's third album. On 18 October, a 30-second clip of new material from Adele was shown on UK television during a commercial break on The X Factor. The commercial teases a snippet from a new song from her third album, with viewers hearing a voice singing accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.

In a statement released three days later she confirmed that the album is titled 25, with Adele stating, "My last record was a break-up record, and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. 25 is about getting to know who I've become without realising. And I'm sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened." Adele also believes 25 will be her last album with her age as its title, believing that 25 would be the end to a trilogy. On 22 October, Adele confirmed that 25 would be released on 20 November, while the lead single from the album, "Hello" would be released on 23 October. The song was first played on Nick Grimshaw's Radio 1 Breakfast Show on the BBC on the morning of 23 October with Adele interviewed live. The video of "Hello", released on 22 October, was viewed over 27.7 million times on YouTube in its first 24 hours, breaking the Vevo record for the most views in a day, surpassing the 20.1 million views for "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift. On 28 October, BBC News reported that "Hello" was being viewed on YouTube an average one million times an hour. "Hello" went on to become the fastest video to hit one billion views on YouTube, which it achieved after 88 days. The video for "Hello" captured iconic British elements such as a red telephone box and a cup of tea. The song debuted at number one in the UK Singles Chart on 30 October, with first week sales of 330,000 copies, making it the biggest-selling number one single in three years. "Hello" also debuted at number one in many countries around the world, including Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland and Germany, and on 2 November, the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first song in the US to sell at least one million downloads in a week, setting the record at 1.11 million. By the end of 2015, it had sold 12.3 million units globally and was the year's 7th best-selling single despite being released in late October.

On 27 October, BBC One announced plans for Adele at the BBC, a one-hour special presented by Graham Norton, in which Adele talks about her new album and performs new songs. This was her first television appearance since performing at the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony, and the show was recorded before a live audience on 2 November for broadcast on 20 November, coinciding with the release of 25. On 27 October it was also announced that the singer would make an appearance on the US entertainment series Saturday Night Live on 21 November. On 30 October, Adele confirmed that she would be performing a one-night-only concert titled Adele Live in New York City at the Radio City Music Hall on 17 November. Subsequently, NBC aired the concert special on 14 December.

On 27 November, 25 debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the fastest selling album in UK chart history with over 800,000 copies sold in its first week. The album debuted at number one in the US where it sold a record-breaking 3.38 million copies in its first week, the largest single sales week for an album since Nielsen began monitoring sales in 1991. 25 also broke first week sales records in Canada and New Zealand. 25 became the best-selling album of 2015 in a number of countries, including Australia, the UK and the US, where it spent seven consecutive weeks at number one in each country, before being displaced by David Bowie's Blackstar. It was the year's best-selling album worldwide with 17.4 million copies sold in 2015 alone, and has since sold 20 million copies globally. Adele's seven weeks at the top of the UK Albums Chart took her total to 31 weeks at number one in the UK with her three albums, surpassing Madonna's previous record of most weeks at number one for a female act ever in the UK.

In November 2015, Adele's 2016 tour was announced, her first tour since 2011. Beginning in Europe, Adele Live 2016 included four dates at the Manchester Arena in March 2016, eight dates at the O2 Arena, London, with further dates in Ireland, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands among others. Her North American Tour began in July, with the opening concert in St. Paul, Minnesota on 5 July.

At the 2016 Brit Awards in London on 24 February, Adele received the awards for British Female Solo Artist, British Album of the Year for 25, British Single of the Year for "Hello", and British Global Success, bringing her Brit Award wins to eight. She closed the ceremony by performing "When We Were Young", the second single from 25. Two more singles from 25 were relesead in 2016: "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" and "Water Under the Bridge". While on stage at London's O2 Arena on 17 March, Adele announced that she would be headlining on the Pyramid Stage at the 2016 Glastonbury Festival, which was later confirmed by the festival's organizers. She appeared for a 90-minute fifteen song set at the festival on 25 June, and described the experience as "by far, the best moment of my life so far". As part of her world tour, in February and March 2017, Adele performed in Australia for the first time, playing outdoor stadiums around the country.

Adele will complete her world tour with four concerts, dubbed "The Finale", at Wembley Stadium, London on 28, 29 June and 1, 2 July 2017. She announced the shows at "the home of football" by singing the England football team's "Three Lions" anthem and also the theme song to the BBC's weekly Premier League football show Match of the Day. She added the 28 June and 2 July dates after the first two dates sold out. At the end of 2016, Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year for the third time, with the Top Billboard 200 album. 25 was the best-selling album for a second consecutive year in the US. With 140 million views, Adele's Carpool Karaoke through the streets of London with James Corden, a sketch which featured on Corden's talk show The Late Late Show with James Corden in January 2016, was the biggest YouTube viral video of 2016.

At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Adele won all five of her nominations, bringing her to fifteen. She won awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for 25, and Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Hello". She also performed a tribute to the late George Michael singing the rendition of his song "Fastlove"; due to technical difficulties which occurred during the performance Adele decided to stop and restart, explaining "I can't mess this up for him".

Artistry

Influences and favourite musicians

Adele has cited the Spice Girls as a major influence in regard to her love and passion for music, stating that "they made me what I am today". Adele impersonated the Spice Girls at dinner parties as a young girl. She stated she was left "heartbroken" when her favourite Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell aka "Ginger Spice", left the group. She has also stated that growing up, she listened to Sinéad O'Connor, The Cure, Dusty Springfield, Celine Dion, and Annie Lennox. One of Adele's earliest influences was Gabrielle, who Adele has admired since the age of five. During Adele's school years, her mother made her an eye patch with sequins which she used to perform as the Hackney born star in a school talent contest. After moving to south London, she became interested in R&B artists such as Aaliyah, Destiny's Child, and Mary J. Blige. Adele says that one of the most defining moments in her life was when she watched Pink perform at Brixton Academy in London. She states: "It was the Missundaztood record, so I was about 13 or 14. I had never heard, being in the room, someone sing like that live [?] I remember sort of feeling like I was in a wind tunnel, her voice just hitting me. It was incredible."

In 2002, aged 14, Adele discovered Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald as she stumbled on the artists' CDs in the jazz section of her local music store. She was struck by their appearance on the album covers. Adele states she then "started listening to Etta James every night for an hour," and in the process was getting "to know my own voice." Adele credits Amy Winehouse and her 2003 album Frank for inspiring her to take up the guitar, stating, "If it wasn't for Amy and Frank, one hundred per cent I wouldn't have picked up a guitar, I wouldn't have written "Daydreamer" or "Hometown [Glory]" and I wrote "Someone Like You" on the guitar too." She also states that her mother, who is very close to her, exposed her to the music of Aaliyah, Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige, and Alicia Keys, all of whom inspired her as well. She is also a fan of Lana Del Rey, Grimes, Chvrches, FKA Twigs, Alabama Shakes, Kanye West, Rihanna, Frank Ocean, Stevie Nicks, and Beyoncé. In 2017, she described Beyoncé as a particular inspiration, calling her album Lemonade "so monumental". She said Beyoncé was "my artist of my life" and added "the other artists who mean that much to me are all dead." Adele cited Madonna's album Ray of Light as a "chief inspiration" behind her album 25.

Musical style and vocals

Adele's first album, 19, is of the soul genre, with lyrics describing heartbreak and relationship. Her success occurred simultaneously with several other British female soul singers, with the British press dubbing her a new Amy Winehouse. This was described as a third British Musical Invasion of the US. However, Adele called the comparisons between her and other female soul singers lazy, noting "we're a gender, not a genre". AllMusic wrote that "Adele is simply too magical to compare her to anyone." Her second album, 21, shares the folk and soul influences of her debut album, but was further inspired by the American country and Southern blues music to which she had been exposed during her 2008-09 North American tour An Evening with Adele. Composed in the aftermath of the singer's separation from her partner, the album typifies the near dormant tradition of the confessional singer-songwriter in its exploration of heartbreak, self-examination, and forgiveness. Having referred to 21 as a "break-up record", Adele labelled her third studio album, 25, a "make-up record", adding it was about "Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did." Her yearning for her old self, her nostalgia, and melancholy about the passage of time, is a feature of 25, with Adele stating, "I've had a lot of regrets since I turned 25. And sadness hits me in different ways than it used to. There's a lot of things I don't think I'll ever get 'round to doing."

Adele possesses a contralto vocal range. Rolling Stone reported that following throat surgery her voice had become "palpably bigger and purer-toned", and that she had added a further four notes to the top of her range. Initially, critics suggested that her vocals were more developed and intriguing than her songwriting, a sentiment with which Adele agreed. She has stated: "I taught myself how to sing by listening to Ella Fitzgerald for acrobatics and scales, Etta James for passion and Roberta Flack for control." Her voice has received acclaim from critics. In a review of 19, The Observer said, "The way she stretched the vowels, her wonderful soulful phrasing, the sheer unadulterated pleasure of her voice, stood out all the more; little doubt that she's a rare singer". BBC Music wrote, "Her melodies exude warmth, her singing is occasionally stunning and, ...she has tracks that make Lily Allen and Kate Nash sound every bit as ordinary as they are." For their reviews of 21, The New York Times' chief music critic Jon Pareles commended the singer's emotive timbre, comparing her to Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, and Annie Lennox: "[Adele] can seethe, sob, rasp, swoop, lilt and belt, in ways that draw more attention to the song than to the singer". Ryan Reed of Paste magazine regarded her voice as "a raspy, aged-beyond-its-years thing of full-blooded beauty", while MSN Music's Tom Townshend declared her "the finest singer of [our] generation".

Personal life and other ventures

It was reported in January 2012 that Adele had been dating charity entrepreneur and Old Etonian Simon Konecki since the summer of 2011. In June 2012, Adele announced that she and Konecki were expecting a baby. Their son was born on 19 October 2012. On the topic of becoming a parent, Adele has since observed that she "felt like [she] was truly living. I had a purpose, where before I didn't". Adele and Konecki brought a privacy case against a UK-based photo agency that published paparazzi images of their son taken during family outings in 2013. Lawyers working on their behalf accepted damages from the company in July 2014.

In early 2017, tabloids started speculating that Adele and Konecki had secretly got married when they were spotted wearing matching rings on their ring fingers. During her acceptance speech at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Adele confirmed their marriage by calling Konecki her husband when thanking him. She subsequently clarified her marital status in March 2017, telling the audience at a concert in Brisbane, Australia, "I'm married now". In March 2017, Adele and Konecki purchased a home in East Grinstead, West Sussex.

Born in Tottenham, north London, and raised in West Norwood, south London, Adele has a working-class London accent that Rolling Stone magazine says has only softened slightly over the years. Politically she is a supporter of the Labour Party, stating in 2011 that she was a "Labour girl through and through." In May 2011, she advocated a lower tax rate for high-income earners; a view counter to that of the Labour Party. In 2015, Adele stated "I'm a feminist, I believe that everyone should be treated the same, including race and sexuality".

She is regarded as an icon for the LGBT community. On 12 June 2016 an emotional Adele dedicated her show in Antwerp, Belgium to the victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, earlier that day, adding "The LGBTQ community, they're like my soul mates since I was really young, so I'm very moved by it."

Philanthropy

Adele has performed in numerous charity concerts throughout her career. In 2007 and 2008 she performed at the Little Noise Sessions held at London's Union Chapel, with proceeds from the concerts donated to Mencap which works with people with learning disabilities. In July and November 2008, Adele performed at the Keep a Child Alive Black Ball in London and New York City respectively. On 17 September 2009 she performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, for the VH1 Divas event, a concert to raise money for the Save The Music Foundation charity. On 6 December, Adele opened with a 40-minute set at John Mayer's 2nd Annual Holiday Charity Revue held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2011, Adele gave a free concert for Pride London, a registered charity which arranges LGBT events in London. The same year, Adele took part in the UK charity telethon Comic Relief for Red Nose Day 2011, performing "Someone like You".

Adele has been a major contributor to MusiCares, a charity organisation founded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for musicians in need. In February 2009, Adele performed at the 2009 MusiCares charity concert in Los Angeles. In 2011 and 2012, Adele donated autographed items for auctions to support MusiCares. When on tour, Adele requires all backstage visitors to donate a minimum charitable contribution of $US20 for the UK charity SANDS, an organisation dedicated to "supporting anyone affected by the death of a baby and promoting research to reduce the loss of babies' lives". During the UK and European leg of her Adele Live tour, she collected $US13,000 for the charity.

Awards and achievements

At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009, Adele won awards in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. She was also nominated in the categories of Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The success of her debut album 19 saw Adele nominated for three Brit Awards in the categories of Best British Female, Best British Single and Best British Breakthrough Act. Then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a thank-you letter to Adele that stated "with the troubles that the country's in financially, you're a light at the end of the tunnel."

Adele's second album, 21, earned her a record-tying six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year; two Brit Awards, including British Album of the Year. The success of the album saw her receive numerous mentions in the Guinness Book of World Records. With 21 non-consecutive weeks at number 1 in the US, Adele broke the record for the longest number-1 album by a woman in Billboard history, beating the record formerly held by Whitney Houston's soundtrack The Bodyguard. 21 spent its 23rd week at number one in March 2012, making it the longest-running album at number one since 1985, and it became the fourth best-selling album of the past 10 years in the US. The best selling album in the UK of the 21st century, and the best selling album by a female in UK chart history, 21 is also the fourth best-selling album in the UK of all time. 21 was her first album certified diamond in the US. On 6 March, 21 reached 30 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Australian ARIA Chart, making it the longest-running number one album in Australia in the 21st century, and the second longest-running number one ever.

In February 2012, Adele was listed at number five on VH1?s 100 Greatest Women in Music. In April 2012, Time magazine named Adele one of the 100 most influential people in the world. People named her one of 2012 Most Beautiful at Every Age. On 30 April 2012, a tribute to Adele was held at New York City's (Le) Poisson Rouge called Broadway Sings Adele, starring various Broadway actors such as Matt Doyle. In July 2012, Adele was listed at number six in Forbes list of the world's highest-paid celebrities under the age of 30, having earned £23 million between May 2011 and May 2012.

On the week ending 3 March 2012, Adele became the first solo female artist to have three singles in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time, and the first female artist to have two albums in the top 5 of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. Adele topped the 2012 Sunday Times Rich List of musicians in the UK under 30 and made the Top 10 of Billboard magazine's "Top 40 Money Makers". Billboard also announced the same day that Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" is the biggest crossover hit of the past 25 years, topping pop, adult pop and adult contemporary charts and that Adele is one of four female artists to have an album chart at number one for more than 13 weeks (the other three artists being Judy Garland, Carole King, and Whitney Houston).

At the 2012 Ivor Novello Awards in May, Adele was named Songwriter of the Year, and "Rolling in the Deep" won the award for Most Performed Work of 2011. At the 2012 BMI Awards held in London in October, Adele won Song of the Year (for "Rolling in the Deep") in recognition of the song being the most played on US television and radio in 2011. In 2013, Adele won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the James Bond theme "Skyfall". This is the first James Bond song to win and the fifth to be nominated (after "For Your Eyes Only" (1981), "Nobody Does It Better" (1977), "Live and Let Die" (1973), and "The Look of Love" (1967)). "Skyfall" won the Brit Award for Best British Single at the 2013 Brit Awards.

Released in 2015, Adele's third album, 25, became the year's best-selling album and broke first week sales records in a number of markets, including the UK and the US. 25 was her second album to be certified diamond in the US and earned her five Grammy Awards, including her second Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and four Brit Awards for British Female Solo Artist, British Album of the Year, British Single of the Year for "Hello", and British Global Success. Adele's seven weeks at the top of the UK Albums Chart took her total to 31 weeks at number one in the UK with her three albums, surpassing Madonna's previous record of most weeks at number one for a female act in the UK. The lead single, "Hello", became the first song in the US to sell over one million digital copies within a week of its release.

In June 2013, Adele was appointed a MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for services to music, and she received the award from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace on 19 December 2013. In February 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. In April 2016, Adele appeared for the second time on the Time 100 list of most influential people.

In 2014, Adele was already being regarded as a British cultural icon, with young adults from abroad naming her among a group of people that they most associated with UK culture, which included William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth II, David Beckham, J. K. Rowling, The Beatles, Charlie Chaplin and Elton John.

Discography

• 19 (2008)
• 21 (2011)
• 25 (2015)

Filmography

Television

Concert tours

• An Evening with Adele (2008-2009)
• Adele Live (2011)
• Adele Live 2016 (2016-2017)

See also

• Culture of England
• List of one-word stage names
• Honorific nicknames in popular music
• List of Billboard Social 50 number-one artists
• Billboard Music Award
• List of artists who reached number one in the United States

References

External links

• Official website
• Adele at DMOZ
• Adele at the Internet Movie Database
• "Adele collected news and commentary". The Guardian. 
• Adele at MTV

Source : Wikipedia

]]> Tue, 25 Apr 2017 12:35:00 +0000 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/bruno-mars-16 https://www.the-foxy-affect-radio.radio-site.com/artists/bruno-mars-16 Peter Gene Hernandez (born October 8, 1985), known professionally as Bruno Mars (/?m??rz/), is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and choreographer. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age and performed in various musical venues in his hometown throughout his childhood. He graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career. After being dropped by Motown Records, Mars signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 2009.

In 2009, he co-founded the production team The Smeezingtons, responsible for the singles "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy. He featured on the hooks for both singles, becoming recognized as a solo artist. His debut studio album Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010) included the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles "Just the Way You Are" and "Grenade", as well as the number-four single "The Lazy Song". His second album, Unorthodox Jukebox (2012), peaked at number one in the United States. The album spawned the international singles "Locked Out of Heaven", "When I Was Your Man" and "Treasure". In 2014, Mars lent his vocals to Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk". In 2016, he released his third studio album 24K Magic with the lead single of the same title released on October 7, 2016. To date, he has sold over 115 million singles and 9 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. Mars has landed six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 since his career launched in 2010, attaining his first five faster than any male artist since Elvis Presley.

Mars has received many awards and nominations, including five Grammy Awards, and was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2011. In December 2013, he ranked number one on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Mars is known for his stage performances and retro showmanship. He is accompanied by his band, The Hooligans, who play a variety of instruments such as electric guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, drums and horns, and also serve as backup singers and dancers. Mars performs in a wide range of musical styles.

Life and career

1985-2003: Early life and musical beginnings

Peter Gene Hernandez was born on October 8, 1985, in Honolulu, Hawaii to Peter Hernandez and Bernadette San Pedro Bayot, and was raised in the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu.

His father is of half Puerto Rican and half Ashkenazi Jewish descent (from Ukraine and Hungary), and is originally from Brooklyn, New York. His mother emigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii as a child, and was of Filipino, and some Spanish, ancestry. His parents met while performing in a show in which his mother was a hula dancer and his father played percussion. At the age of two, he was nicknamed "Bruno" by his father, because of his resemblance to professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino.

Mars is one of six children and came from a musical family which exposed him to a diverse mix of genres including: reggae, rock, hip hop, and R&B. His mother was both a singer and a dancer, and his father performed Little Richard rock and roll music. Mars' uncle was an Elvis impersonator, and also encouraged three-year-old Mars to perform on stage. Mars performed songs by artists such as Michael Jackson, The Isley Brothers, and The Temptations. At age four, Mars began performing five days a week with his family's band, The Love Notes, and became known on the island for his impersonation of Presley. In 1990, Mars was featured in MidWeek as "Little Elvis", and later appeared in a cameo role in the film Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), and performed in the halftime show of the 1990 Aloha Bowl.

The time Mars spent impersonating Presley had a major impact on his musical evolution and performing techniques. He later began playing guitar after being inspired by Jimi Hendrix. In 2010, he also acknowledged his Hawaiian roots and musical family as an influence, explaining: "Growing up in Hawaii made me the man I am. I used to do a lot of shows in Hawaii with my father's band. Everybody in my family sings, everyone plays instruments...I've just been surrounded by it." When he attended President Theodore Roosevelt High School he performed in a group called The School Boys. In 2003, shortly after graduating from high school at the age of 17, Mars moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a musical career. He adopted his stage name from the nickname his father gave him, adding "Mars" at the end because: "I felt like I didn't have [any] pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I’m out of this world, so I was like I guess I'm from Mars." Moreover, the adoption of his stage name was also due to "the music industry tried to pigeonhole him as another Latino artist, and even convinced him to sing in Spanish."

2004-10: Production work and It's Better If You Don't Understand

Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Mars signed with Motown Records in 2004, in a deal that "went nowhere", and had a conversation with Will.i.am's management which turned out to be fruitless. However, Mars' experience with Motown proved to be beneficial to his career when he met songwriter and producer Philip Lawrence, who was also signed to the label.

After Mars was dropped by the label less than a year of being signed, he stayed in Los Angeles and landed a music publishing deal in 2005 with Steve Lindsey and Cameron Strang at Westside Independent.

Lindsey showed Jeff Bhasker and Mars the ins and outs of writing pop music, and acted as a mentor helping him to hone his craft. Bhasker, met Mars through Mike Lynn (the A&R at Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment who first heard Mars' demo tape through his sister and flew him to LA), who explained: "He’d mentor us, and kind of give us lectures as to what a hit pop song is, because you can have talent and music ability, but understanding what makes a hit pop song is a whole other discipline." Mars played cover songs around Los Angeles in a band with Bhasker and Eric Hernandez, (Mars' brother), who is now The Hooligans' drummer.

When Lawrence was first told he should meet Mars he was reluctant to do so since he did not even have money for bus fare. Keith Harris, drummer for The Black Eyed Peas, told him: "Whatever it costs you to get out here, I'll reimburse you." Lawrence responded: "Just give me five dollars back for the bus." The pair began collaborating, writing songs for Mars, but they received many rejections from labels. On the verge of giving up, they received a call from Brandon Creed, who was looking for songs for a reunited Menudo. He liked their song "Lost", which was written for Mars. The duo did not want to give the song away, but when they were offered $20,000 for it they agreed. The sale of this song allowed them to continue working, and Mars and Lawrence decided that they would write and produce songs together for other artists.

In 2006, Lawrence introduced Mars to his future A&R manager at Atlantic Records, Aaron Bay-Schuck. After hearing him play a couple of songs on the guitar, Bay-Schuck wanted to sign him immediately, but it took roughly three years for Atlantic records to finally sign Mars to the label, because they felt it was too early and that he still needed to develop as an artist.

Before becoming a successful solo artist, Mars was an acknowledged music producer, writing songs for Alexandra Burke, Travie McCoy, Adam Levine, Brandy, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida. He also co-wrote the Sugababes' hit song "Get Sexy" and provided backing vocals on their album Sweet 7. His first recorded appearance as a singer was on Far East Movement's second studio album Animal, on the track "3D". He was also featured on pastor and hip hop artist Jaeson Ma's debut single "Love" in August 2009. He reached prominence as a solo artist after being featured on, and co-writing, B.o.B's "Nothin' on You" and Travie McCoy's "Billionaire"; both songs peaked within the top ten on many charts worldwide.

He said of them: "I think those songs weren't meant to be full-sung songs. If I'd sung all of "Nothin' on You", it might've sounded like some '90s R&B." Following this success, Mars released his debut extended play (EP), titled It's Better If You Don't Understand, on May 11, 2010. The EP peaked at number 99 on the Billboard 200 and a music video was released for the song "The Other Side" featuring singers Cee Lo Green and B.o.B. Mars collaborated with Green once more in August 2010 composing his single "Fuck You" with The Smeezingtons.

2010-12: Doo-Wops & Hooligans

After serving as guest vocalist on B.o.B's and Travies McCoy's singles, Mars released "Just the Way You Are" on July 19, 2010. The song was the lead single from his debut studio album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as several other charts worldwide, in September. The song holds the record as the longest-reigning debut format hit, spending twenty weeks atop Adult Contemporary. He also released two digital singles?"Liquor Store Blues" featuring Damian Marley, and "Grenade" to promote the album,?before confirming "Grenade" as the album's second single on October 21, 2010. "Grenade" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in December and was also successful on other international charts. Released digitally on October 4, and physically on October 5, 2010, the album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, selling 55,000 copies. It received generally positive reviews from music critics, and has since sold six million copies worldwide. In February 2011, "The Lazy Song" was released as the album's third single becoming the album's third consecutive top five on the Hot 100, peaking at number four on October 23, 2011.

"Marry You" followed as the fourth single from Doo-Wops & Hooligans on August 22, 2011. Although it was not released as a single in the United States, it peaked at number 85 on the Hot 100 on January 15, 2011, thanks to strong digital sales. Since then it has sold 2.2 million digital copies. In November, "Count On Me" was released as the album's fifth single in Australia and New Zealand. Additionally, it was announced on Mars' website, that he recorded and co-wrote a new song titled "It Will Rain" for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The song was released for purchase on iTunes on September 27, 2011. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. During this period, he appeared on a number of collaborative singles, including "Lighters", a duet with Bad Meets Evil released on July 5, 2011, "Mirror", released on September 13, 2011, with Lil Wayne, and "Young, Wild & Free" with Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg from the Mac & Devin Go to High School soundtrack, which was available for purchase on October 11, 2011. The songs peaked at number four, sixteen and seven on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.

On September 19, 2010, Mars was arrested in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Casino for possession of cocaine. While talking to a police officer, Mars reportedly declared that what he did was "foolish" and that "he has never used drugs before." Mars pleaded guilty to felony drug possession and in return was told that the charges would be erased from his criminal record as long as he stayed out of trouble for a year. He paid a $2,000 fine, did 200 hours of community service, and completed a drug counseling course. Nevertheless, in a cover story for GQ magazine in 2013, Mars said "I was young, man! I was in f---ing Vegas...I wasn't thinking", he added: "I was given a number one record and I'm out doing dumb sh--." Mars confessed that he lied to the authorities about having done cocaine before, saying "I don't know where that came from", adding: "I was really intoxicated. I was really drunk. So a lot of that is a big blur, and I try every day to forget and keep pushing."

He opened for Maroon 5 on the fall leg of their Hands All Over Tour starting October 6, 2010, and co-headlined with McCoy on a European tour starting October 18, 2010. From November 16, 2010, to January 28, 2012, Mars was on The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour, in support of the album.

On February 13, 2011, Mars won his first Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, having received six nominations: Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Nothin' on You", Record of the Year for "Nothin' on You" and "Fuck You", Song of the Year for "Fuck You", and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 53rd Grammy Awards. At the 54th Grammy Awards, Mars was nominated in six categories: Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Doo-Wops & Hooligans, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Grenade", and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. However, Adele won all the categories in which he was nominated and he ended up by losing to Paul Epworth for Producer of the Year.

2012-14: Unorthodox Jukebox and Super Bowl XLVIII Halftime Show

On March 22, 2012, it was announced that Mars had signed a worldwide publishing deal with BMG Chrysalis US. In September 2012, when interviewed by Billboard, Mars stated that his album would be more musically varied and refused to "pick a lane", adding: "I listen to a lot of music, and I want to have the freedom and luxury to walk into a studio and say, 'Today I want to do a hip-hop, R&B, soul or rock record' ". He announced the album title Unorthodox Jukebox along with the ten songs which would make the final cut on the album, and the title of the first single, "Locked out of Heaven", which was released on October 1, 2012. The lead single from Unorthodox Jukebox reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in Canada and charted in the top ten in several countries worldwide.

Unorthodox Jukebox was released on December 11, 2012, and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with sales of 192,000 units. The album eventually peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, almost three months after its release. The album also charted number one in Switzerland and in the United Kingdom, becoming the fastest selling album by a solo artist in 2012 in the UK. "When I Was Your Man", was released as the second single from Unorthodox Jukebox on January 15, 2013, and peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Elvis Presley the only male who has achieved five number one singles on the Hot 100 more quickly than Mars. It reached the top ten in fifteen countries. The third single "Treasure" peaked at number five in the United States but had less commercial success worldwide than the previous two. On May 24, 2013, Major Lazer released "Bubble Butt" as the fourth single from their album Free the Universe which featured Tyga, Mystic, and Mars on vocals, becoming the band's most successful single to date in the US until the release of "Lean On". In late 2013, "Gorilla" and "Young Girls" followed as the album's fourth and fifth singles, and reached the top 35 on the Hot 100.

Mars began his second headlining tour, The Moonshine Jungle Tour, on June 22, 2013. It started in North America, and continued through Europe, and Oceania, before concluding in North America on October 18, 2014, with eight shows at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas performed between December 2013 and October 2014. On September 8, 2013, the NFL announced that Mars would headline the performance at the Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show on February 2, 2014. During the performance he was joined on stage by Red Hot Chili Peppers as musical guests. It was the first Super Bowl halftime headlined by a performer under 30, and of Puerto Rican descent. The show was the second most watched halftime show in the history of the Super Bowl, drawing a record rating of 115.3 million viewers, surpassed only by Katy Perry's halftime show which had 3.2 million more viewers.

At the 56th Grammy Awards, Mars won the award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Unorthodox Jukebox and his single "Locked Out of Heaven" was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, while "When I Was Your Man" earned a nomination for Best Pop Solo Performance. Aside from his music career, Mars played the role of Roberto in the movie Rio 2 which was released in theaters on March 20, 2014. He also contributed the song "Welcome Back" to the soundtrack. Like its predecessor, Rio 2 was a financial success and panned by critics. In October 2014, Mark Ronson announced that he would release a new single on November 10, 2014, titled "Uptown Funk", featuring Mars' vocals. The song was a commercial success reaching number one in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and several other countries. According to Billboard Mars was the twelfth highest paid musician of 2013, with earnings of $18,839,681. In December 2013, he was named Artist of the Year by Billboard and ranked number one on the 2014 Forbes list 30 Under 30, a tally of the brightest stars in 15 different fields under the age of 30. In addition, he was thirteenth on the 2014 list of The World's Most Powerful Celebrities with estimated earnings of $60 million.

2015-present: Super Bowl 50 Halftime performance and 24K Magic

After ending the Moonshine Jungle Tour, Mars began working on his third studio album, 24K Magic. He wrote on his Facebook page: "Now it's time to start writing chapter 3". The artist had not come up with a date for the release, stating: "Until it's done ... It's gotta be just as good if not better". On March 25, 2015, the singer-songwriter was interviewed by that's Shanghai magazine and provided some details of the new album, confirming Mark Ronson and Jeff Bhasker as producers. He added: "I want to write better songs, I want to put on better shows, I want to make better music videos. I want my next album to be better than the first and the second". In the same year, Mars was involved in the composition of "All I Ask", a track from Adele's third studio album, 25.

On December 2, 2015, it was announced that Coldplay would be headline performers on the halftime show for Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016. Mars and Beyoncé were invited as guest acts on the show making them the third and fourth artists to have appeared on the Super Bowl halftime show twice, along with Justin Timberlake and Nelly, and surpassed only by Gloria Estefan with three appearances. Nielsen ratings confirmed that the show was watched by 111.9 million viewers, thus becoming the third most watched halftime show in its history after Katy Perry and Mars were headline performer. The 2016 Grammy Awards saw Mars' featured single with Mark Ronson, "Uptown Funk", win the Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Collaboration, and Record of the Year, bringing his total wins to four. Mars starred in the second season of Jane the Virgin as a musical guest. On May 10, 2016, Billboard reported that Mars and his manager, Brendon Creed, had split after nine years working together.

In early 2016, Rolling Stone ranked Mars' third album as one of the 20 most anticipated of 2016. The singer has been in the studio with engineer Charles Moniz, who called it "the next movement of Bruno" and confirmed the album was close to being finished in February 2016. Mars also worked with Skrillex, who stated: "what we're doing is so f--king different, awesome and next level and sounds like nothing else that's happened before." Jamareo Artis of The Hooligans, disclosed that he has been working on the album for about a year, "trying different ideas and experimenting." He added "it’s going to have a new sound...the material is very groove-oriented", set to be released this year Singer-songwriter Andrew Wyatt has also been working on the album. Mars' father confirmed the album was set to be released in March and seven songs have already been recorded, but his son's appearance at the Super Bowl halftime show led to the release being postponed for several months. Mars has also played some of his new songs to American hip hop artist Missy Elliot.

"24K Magic" was released as the lead single from 24K Magic on October 7, 2016. It was promoted with his performance on Saturday Night Live and reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, it reached the top spot in Belgium, France and New Zealand. Mars performed in Las Vegas at the MGM’s Park Theater at Monte Carlo on December 30-31, 2016. 24K Magic was released on November 18, 2016. It received positive reviews from critics and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. "That's What I Like" was released as the second single on January 30, 2017.

Artistry

Influences

As a child, Mars spent time impersonating Elvis Presley. This playact had a major impact on his musical evolution; he later reflected:

I watch the best. I'm a big fan of Elvis. I'm a big fan of 1950s Elvis when he would go on stage and scare people because he was a force and girls would go nuts! You can say the same thing for Prince or The Police. It's just guys who know that people are here to see a show, so I watch those guys and I love studying them because I'm a fan."

He also impersonated Michael Jackson and Little Richard, both of whom are major inspirations of his. Mars was raised on his father’s doo-wop collection ? ?simple four-chord songs that got straight to the point? and on Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis,and Frankie Lymon. The hip-hop productions by The Neptunes and Timbaland, that were played on the radio constantly, also influenced him.

Mars' musical style gravitated initially towards R&B since he was influenced by artists such as Keith Sweat, Jodeci, and R. Kelly. As a child he also took notice of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Boyz II Men, Teddy Riley and Babyface. At the same time, he also listened to 1950s rock 'n' roll, doo-wop music, and Motown. In high school, he listened to classic rock groups such as Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles, whose influences can be heard in Mars' work, as well as singers with high voices, like Stevie Wonder and Freddie Mercury. Bob Marley, and local bands in Hawaii, were a major influence and account for his reggae roots. Hip-hop acts like Jay-Z, The Roots, and Cody Chesnutt were among some of Mars' favourites, and have influenced his composition skills. Each of these musical genres has influenced Mars' musical style; he observed that: "It's not easy to [create] songs with that mixture of rock and soul and hip-hop, and there's only a handful of them." Mars also admires classical music.

Other artists Mars has said inspired his work include: Jimi Hendrix, Amy Winehouse, Sly Stone, Carlos Santana, George Clinton, Coldplay, and Usher. Mars has also stated that he is a fan of: Alicia Keys, Jessie J, Jack White, The Saturdays, and Kings of Leon.

Musical style and themes

Mars' music has been noted for displaying a wide variety of styles, musical genres, and influences, including pop, rock, reggae, R&B, soul, and hip hop. His debut album Doo-Wops & Hooligans, a pop record, is influence by these genres. His subsequent release, Unorthodox Jukebox, as with his debut album, is infused with different influences including dance, rock reggae and soul, as well as balladry. Lyrically, the album is different than the former, addressing traditional notions of romance, male chauvinism, and sexuality. The explicit content in the song "Gorilla" caused a controversy in the UK. Many of his songs, particularly on Doo-Wops & Hooligans, reflect "feel-good", carefree, and optimistic sentiments. However, darker subjects are addressed in his songs, detailing failed relationships and self-destructive behaviour. Mars' third album, 24K Magic, is significantly influence by. Mars has explained his writing process: "I don't sit down and think, 'I'm going to write a song', inspiration hits me always unexpectedly: on a plane, when I'm out or just before I go to bed. An idea will suddenly come to my mind, and sometimes I manage to turn it into lyrics the next day. Sometimes it'll take me one year to get something real out of it. You can’t force creativeness."

Mars claims that his work with other artists has influenced his musical style: " Nothin' on You had a Motown vibe, Billionaire was a reggae acoustic guitar-driven song, though one of my favourites is the CeeLo Green song. I don't think anyone else could've sung that song. And there's Just the Way You Are. If you know my story, you know I love all different genres of music." Mars states that growing up in Hawaii influenced his style, giving the songs a reggae sound. He explains: "In Hawaii some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. That music brings people together. It's not urban music or pop music. It's just songs. That's what makes it cross over so well. The song comes first."

Philip Lawrence, one of his music partners from The Smeezingtons, stated: "What people don't know is there's a darker underbelly to Bruno Mars." Nevertheless, most of his music is romantic and Mars himself says: "I blame that on me singing to girls back in high school".

Mars possesses a three octave tenor vocal range. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times commented that he is one of the most "versatile and accessible singers in pop, with a light, soul-influenced voice that's an easy fit in a range of styles, a universal donor", while Tim Sendra from AllMusic described Mars' vocals on Doo-Wops & Hooligans as "the kind of smooth instrument that slips into your ear like honey." Jody Rosen from Rolling Stone called Mars a "nimble, soulful vocalist" on Unorthodox Jukebox. Jim Farber of the New York Daily News praised Mars' voice due to "the purity, cream and range of mid-period Michael Jackson" in a review of a concert promoting Unorthodox Jukebox. Mars is also able to play drums, guitar, keyboard, bass, and piano. Mars usually plays the instrumentation or part of it, on his albums and on the songs he composes for other artists.

Showmanship

Mars is known for his retro showmanship which is widely acclaimed by tour critics and reviewers. A journalist from Mirrors Magazine says that "the showmanship on Bruno’s stage was like none other that I’ve ever seen" comparing him to Michael Jackson. Kevin C. Johnson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called Mars a "consummate performer." The Boston Globe music critique, Sarah Rodman, said that Mars shows an "indefatigable ecstatic approach to performing" and "classic showmanship." In the same vein, Jim Farber of the Daily News stated of the halftime show at Super Bowl XLVIII that Mars "brings old-school showmanship to dynamic performance."

Rolling Stone magazine placed Mars at number 35 on its list of 50 Best Live Acts Right Now in 2013; he is the youngest act besides Janelle Monàe and Lady Gaga on the list. They wrote: "Anyone from the age of 5 to 95 can walk out of a Bruno Mars concert feeling like the show was designed just for them. Mars walks the old-school walk and talks the sexy talk, but he also nails the hits, leads a super-energetic nine-piece soul band, and rips a mean drum solo", praising the "spectacular version" of "Gorilla". Jason Lipshutz of Billboard described Mars' performance as "entertaining ... keeping smiles plastered on the faces of his onlookers, and he does a better job at it than almost anyone working in music right now". NFL executives Sarah Moll and Tracy Perlman stated that: "If you go to his concerts, it's 11-year-old girls to 65-year-old women?it's everyone", after seeing The Moonshine Jungle tour several times during the summer of 2013.

At most of his concerts Mars is accompanied by The Hooligans, a band that includes: a guitarist, bassist, drummer, keyboardist, and a horn section. They also serve as dancers and background singers. Mars' shows feature all-band choreographed dancing arrangements, which include "fancy, slick and fantastic" footwork that is inspired by James Brown and the splits. His shows are heavily influenced by the disco era with a soul revue-inspired set. In addition, long, mellow, and soft interludes that echo the smooth Contemporary R&B style which was popular during the 1990s are also part of the show. His set list blends several genres of music such as: pop, doo-wop, funk, R&B, soul and reggae. Mars' shows usually feature pyrotechnics, strobe and laser lighting, and he typically plays the drums and guitar.

The Hooligans - Band members

Other ventures

Endorsements

On May 12, 2013, Mars tweeted a picture of himself using an electronic cigarette. On May 30, 2013, a press release was published reporting Mars' investment in the NJOY Electronic Cigarette Company, "in order to quit smoking for his mother", since the singer "believes in the product and the company's mission."

Mars decided to invest in Chromatik, which makes digital versions of sheet music for the web and iPad. Mars said: "I love that Chromatik will bring better music education into schools" ... "[a]nd I'm happy to be a part of it."

In 2014, Bruno Mars teamed up with three partners to launch the "Selvarey Rum" brand which includes Selvarey White, made of blended three and five-year aged Panamanian rums and the aged "natural cacao rum" Selvarey Cacao.

Philanthropy

On February 26, It was announced that Mars had partnered with the Hawai'i Community Foundation and the GRAMMY Foundation to establish a GRAMMY Camp Scholarship Fund, in order to support the next generation of music makers with funds to provide financial assistance for qualified needs-based applicants from Hawaii.

Mars' donated $100,000 (US) to the orphans of Bantay Bata, who were among the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, in order to raise the morale of those who lost their families and homes. Bruno Mars performed at the Make It Right gala, whose campaign goal is to "help build homes for people in need." Mars also performed at the Robin Hood Foundation's 2014 annual benefit in New York, whose goal is to "fight poverty in New York City by supporting more than 200 nonprofits with financial and technical assistance." A day before a concert in the Philippines the singer donated $100,000 (US) to the "Typhoon Yolanda" survivors.

Achievements

Bruno Mars has earned numerous awards and honors throughout his career, including five Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards and three MTV Europe Music Awards. In 2011, Mars made Time magazine's 100 list and in 2013 he was considered the sixth best songwriter of that year by Billboard. The Smeezingtons, Mars' songwriting and record producing team, have earned several accolades. In 2014, Mars became the artist with the most top five entries on the Billboard Hot 100 since his first week on the chart. Along with Adele and John Legend, Mars is the only artist who has a song that features only piano and vocals to top the Hot 100. He is the first male artist to place two titles as a lead act in the Hot 100's top 10 simultaneously. Mars was the most played artist on pop radio in 2013 according to Mediabase and became the first solo male artist whose first 13 Top 40 hits all reached the Top 10 on the American Top 40. In total, he has had six number-one singles on the Hot 100 chart.

According to the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI), "Just the Way You Are" and "Grenade" are two of the most successful digital singles of all time, with sales of 12.5 million and 10.2 million, respectively. This contributed to Mars becoming the biggest selling artist of 2012. His songs "Just The Way You Are", "Grenade", "Locked Out Of Heaven", and "When I Was Your Man" have each sold over 4 million digital copies, making him the first male artist to do so as a lead singer. Five of his singles are counted among the best-selling singles of all time. As of 2013, Mars has sold over 115 million singles and 9 million albums worldwide. Nevertheless, as a singer, featured artist, producer and songwriter his sales surpass 169 million singles worldwide.

Because of the ticket reselling that occurred during the week after the Super Bowl, and in order to limit that kind of profiteering, Hawaii Senate President Donna Mercado Kim introduced Senate Resolution 12, also known as the Bruno Mars Act. It limits all ticket purchases within 48 hours of the on-sale date to the physical box office. This ensures that anyone who comes to the box office to buy tickets for a show should almost certainly be guaranteed a ticket and discourages ticket scalping. The State Senate in Hawaii passed the law.

Personal life

Mars's brother, Eric has continuously served as the drummer for his backup band, The Hooligans. Their sisters, Tiara, Tahiti, and Presley, as well as their cousin Jaime, make up the all-girl music group The Lylas. When she was young, Jamie moved in with the siblings due to parental issues.

Relationships

Mars began dating model Jessica Caban in 2011. The two remain a couple as of 2016, residing together in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills with a Rottweiler named "Geronimo".

Mother's death

On June 2, 2013, a publicist for Atlantic Records confirmed to the Associated Press that Mars' mother had suffered a brain aneurysm. She died on Saturday, June 1, 2013, at age 55, at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. The singer only received the news when he landed in Los Angeles, he went on another plane this time flying to Hawaii. However, his mother died a day later. Later, on June 7, 2013, the singer broke his silence concerning the loss of his mother on Twitter writing: "So thankful for all the love during the most difficult time in my life. I'll be back on my feet again soon. That's what mom wants, she told me."

Legal issues

On January 28, 2014, Demetrius Orlandus Proctor filed a lawsuit, claiming he holds the copyright for the Travie McCoy and Mars' track "Billionaire". Proctor claimed he owned the copyright to the music and lyrics of the track since March 31, 2011, though the song was released a year before. As evidence, Proctor has submitted a United States Copyright Office registration certificate for "Frisky Vol. 1 to 30 (Tapes)", issued in 2000. Proctor accused the defendants of "willful and intentional" copyright infringement, seeking destruction of all copies of the recording. Proctor claims he has exclusive rights to reproduce and distribute the song. His only request: "Defendant shall destroy all copies of Plaintiffs' Recording that Defendants have downloaded onto any computer hard drive or server without Plaintiffs' authorization and shall destroy all copies of that downloaded recording transferred onto any [other] physical medium or device."

In April 2015, it was revealed that a settlement had been reached with The Gap Band's publishing company, Minder Music, to add The Gap Band and producer Lonnie Simmons as co-writers, who will receive 17% of the royalties from Mark and Mars' hit "Uptown Funk". The claim on behalf of The Gap Band and Lonnie Simmons was entered into YouTube’s content management system preventing payments to the publisher. Later, on August 12, Serbian pop artist Viktorija has also argued that "Uptown Funk" infringed on her track "Ulice Mracne Nisu Za Devojke". She stated that she had no hurry to sue them, since "these processes take a long time, and my life and career does not depend on lawsuits." She added, "for these lawsuits, there should be a lot of money, the lawyers are working on a percentage. If I still decide to sue them and I win, I have to figure out what to do with that money." "Treasure" was re-registered in ASCAP with new writing credits, which included Thibaut Jean-Marrie Michel Berland and Irfane Khan Christopher, due to the similarities with Breakbot's "Baby I'm Yours".

Controversies

Stereotypes

In a cover story for Entertainment Weekly, Mars stated that the song "Nothin' on You" was rejected by a "music industry decision-maker" (a guy he won't name) because of his race. That experience made him feel like a "mutant", and he says that was his lowest point. "Even with that song in my back pocket to seal the deal, things like that are coming out of people's mouths. It made me feel like I wasn't even in the room." In April 2013, in a cover story for GQ magazine, Mars confessed that he changed his surname because people in the music industry took him as another Latino artist, and even tried to convince him to sing in Spanish saying: "Your last name's Hernandez, maybe you should do the Latin music, this Spanish music... Enrique [Iglesias] is so hot right now?. Nevertheless, Mars used his childhood nickname Bruno and changed his surname to Mars, in an effort to "avoid being stereotyped".

Tyler, The Creator

In the song "Yonkers", Tyler, The Creator disparages numerous artists, including Bruno Mars. Tyler also disparages Mars in The Game's song "Martians vs. Goblins", in which he and Lil Wayne are featured artists. Mars, in response to the verse "stab Bruno Mars in his goddamn esophagus," said "[Tyler] has to wait in line if he wants to stab me...[Tyler's] definitely not the first guy that's said something like that to me and he's not going to be the last". On April 24, 2015, Tyler admitted to being wrong regarding Mars' talent and pointed to Mars performance of "Gorilla" at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards as evidence.

Kanye West

During a performance on November 21, 2013, Kanye West gave his opinion regarding the MTV Video Music Awards, that were held on August 25, 2013. West said, "Bruno Mars won all the motherfucking awards and shit". He continued, "What I care about is if you’re an artist and you work hard as fuck and the streets say that you deserve that shit. Then can’t no motherfucking networks try to gas everybody up so they can sell some product with the prettiest motherfucker out". Nevertheless, on February 26, 2015, he publicly apologized to Bruno Mars on Twitter while asking him to sing a hook on a song that he co-produced. West asked Tyler, the Creator to direct the music video. Mars confirmed that West called him and apologized.

Discography

• Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010)
• Unorthodox Jukebox (2012)
• 24K Magic (2016)

Filmography

• Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)
• Rio 2 (2014)

Tours and residency shows

See also

• List of Filipino Americans
• List of American Jews
• Hispanic and Latino Americans

References

External links

• Bruno Mars
• Bruno Mars discography at Discogs
• Bruno Mars at the Internet Movie Database

Source : Wikipedia

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