Saturday, 14 October 2023
Remembrance Wall
ABOUT OUR REMEMBRANCE SINGERS:
Fredi Nester Esterhuizen (25 Maart 1959 – 3
Julie 2015) was 'n Afrikaanse liedjieskrywer en sanger. Hy het 14
albums en een DVD oor sy loopbaan opgeneem. Van sy populêre liedjies
sluit in: Getoor, Sê My, Meer En Meer, Hey DJ en Bly Net Naby My. Sy verhoognaam, Fredi Nest, is 'n kombinasie van sy voornaam en eerste gedeelte van sy middelste naam.
Fredi is op 25 Maart 1959 in Johannesburg, Suid-Afrika, gebore en was die oudste van vyf kinders. Hy het al van kleintyd af gesing en kitaar gespeel, maar het eers in sy laat dertigs besluit om musiek sy loopbaan te maak.
In 1995 is sy debuutalbum, Memory Train, uitgereik. 'n Jaar later het hy die IBA-prys vir Listen To Me, as die mees gespeelde liedjie op gemeenskapradiostasies ontvang. Hy het sy deurbraak in die Afrikaanse musiekbedryf in 1999 met die album Wie is jy gemaak.
Nest het in Cullinan naby Pretoria gewoon, waar hy vir homself 'n ateljee gebou het wat ook vir CD-opnames en produksies gebruik is.
'n Breingewas is in Mei 2015 by hom gediagnoseer, waarna hy behandeling by die Steve Biko Akademiese Hospitaal in Pretoria ontvang het. Die kanker het egter vinnig na die res van sy liggaam versprei. Hy is op 3 Julie 2015 by 'n plaaslike hospice oorlede
Steven De Groote (1953—1989) was a South African classical pianist.
Steven De Groote was born in Johannesburg, South Africa into a Belgian family in which, for three generations, almost every member had been a professional musician. His grandmother was a recipient of the Prix de Rome in Belgium, and his father the conductor of the Cape Town University Symphony. As a youngster, De Groote toured South Africa performing trios with his father on violin and brother on cello.
He trained with Lamar Crowson in Cape Town, and with Eduardo del Pueyo at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, graduating in 1971 with first prize in piano.
In 1972, De Groote entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where he studied with Rudolf Serkin, Mieczysław Horszowski, and Seymour Lipkin. He graduated in 1975.
In 1976, De Groote took honours in the Leventritt Competition in New York City. In May 1977, he won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. In September of that year, he was awarded the Grand Prize at the Van Cliburn Competition in Fort Worth, Texas. In that same competition, he also took prizes for Best Performance of a Commissioned Work and Best Performance of Chamber Music, the only winner in the history of the competition to take all prizes.
De Groote was an amateur pilot. In 1985 he survived a severe crash while attempting to land near Phoenix. His lung and aorta were punctured. After extensive surgery and rehabilitation, De Groote recuperated and resumed flying and piano playing. His miraculous recovery was essayed on CBS News Sunday Morning by Charles Kuralt.
In 1989 he returned to South Africa to visit family and for a concert tour. There, he was hospitalized with tuberculosis and pneumonia. He died in Johannesburg on 22 May 1989 from multiple organ failure due to AIDS.
Louise Carver (born 10 January 1979) is a South African folk rock singer-songwriter and pianist.
Carver was born in Cape Town, and holds dual citizenship in South Africa and the United Kingdom. She began playing piano at the age of 11, and received her first recording contract at the age of 15. She matriculated at the Rustenburg School for Girls, matriculating in 1996. She earned an honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Cape Town in 2002.Carver released her first single, It Don’t Matter (1996) when she was 17. The single topped the South African National Campus Charts. It spent 11 weeks on the South African National Top 40 Charts, where it peaked at the number three position.At age 18 she followed the single with her debut album, Mirrors and Windows (1998).
First for Women, a South African insurance company, sponsored Carver's 2008 Home TourChannel24 gave a favorable review of Carver in 2009. In June 2010, the City Press said that Carver's Look to the Edge album "has an edgy electronic/pop sound with infusions of South African rhythms and percussion, [and] will appeal to South African and global audiences alike... This 12-track album is unique and diverse. It’s easy listening and has something for everyone.
Danny Williams (7 January 1942 – 6 December 2005) was a South African pop singer. Williams earned the nickname, "Britain's Johnny Mathis", for his smooth and stylish way with a ballad.He is best known for singing his UK number 1 version of "Moon River" in 1961 and his US top ten hit, "White on White".
Born in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa,Williams won a talent contest at the age of 14 and joined a touring show called Golden City Dixies that played throughout South Africa. In 1959, the show came to London where Williams impressed EMI's Norman Newell, who signed the young singer to a recording contract. He was to spend most of his life in the United Kingdom, where at first he made a few moderately successful singles, mainly popular ballads, before scoring a Number One hit with his cover version of "Moon River" in 1961.To this day it remains his most famous record which he re-recorded for a self-titled album "Danny Williams" issued in the UK by Contour Records in 1972. It led to his appearance in a film about a pop group, directed by Michael Winner, called Play It Cool (1962) which starred Billy Fury. In 1963, Williams joined a 20-city tour which starred Helen Shapiro and featured the Beatles as a support act on the bill; like many other ballad singers of the day, he was swept away by the new beat group era.
Williams had no more major British hits, even though "White On White" became popular abroad and was his only US Top Ten hit, charting in 1964. He continued to record for HMV until 1967 while working the nightclub circuit. In 1968, he had a nervous breakdown and was declared bankrupt two years later. However, he resumed his singing career in the early 1970s, achieving a Top 30 success with "Dancin' Easy" in 1977.In the early 1990s he recorded for Prestige Records and subsequently starred in a Nat "King" Cole tribute show which made several British tours.Compilations of his early recordings, including "Moon River", have been issued on CD.
He died in December 2005 of lung cancer, at the age of 63. Williams was married three times, and is survived by his two daughters (Natali and Melody Williams) and two sons, the actor Anthony Barclay and Michael Stewart.
Bles Bridges (22 July 1947, Viljoensdrif, Free State) – 24 March 2000), born Lawrence John Gabriel Bridges, was a South African singer. He became known as Bles Bridges, as his Irish grandfather called him "Bles" (meaning "bald" in Afrikaans), due to his very thin hair from an early age.
He released his first album in 1982, Onbekende Weermagman (Unknown Soldier). His professional career began in 1984, with the release of his second album, Bles, which went gold in under a month (25,000 copies) and included Maggie, one of his better-known songs. The album had sold twice that by the time his third album was released. At the time of his death, Bles had sold more than two and a half million albums (records and CDs).
Soon Bles Bridges began alternating between Afrikaans and English language albums, to great acclaim. He also began working with Eurovision South Africa. In 2000, he began recording an album with his friends in the music industry. The first song - a duet with Patricia Lewis (and his last song as it turned out, as he died within a week of finishing it) - was "The First Kiss Goodnight" by Dennis East; it was recorded on 21 March 2000. His biggest hit was "Ruiter van die Windjie" (Rider of the Wind), which was released in 1986.
In the 1980s, he held a concert in support of the Volkshulpskema (People's Help Scheme) of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, a far right paramilitary organisation, which raised R10,000.
He had cancer during the 1980s and gave generously to charity for cancer research after his recovery. His wife Leonie was his sound engineer and the composer and/or songwriter of most of his songs, including most of his biggest hits, including "Maggie" and "I am the Eagle, you're the Wind", among others. It was his custom to hand out roses to some of the female audience members in the front row at his concerts.
His career highlight was when he performed to a soldout Superbowl at Sun City, five times on one weekend, becoming the first and only artist to do so, as feature artist on 14 and 15 May 1987. He actually managed to draw a bigger crowd than Frank Sinatra did when he opened the Super Bowl in 1982.
Bles died in a motorcar accident on 24 March 2000,leaving behind his wife, Leonie, and children Sunette and Victor. More than 15,000 mourners turned up for his funeral.
Ek sien 'n sterDit is so ver, nooit sal ek ooit daaraan kan raak nie
Dit is so hoog, die Hemel sit bo, ek sal dit nooit tot daar kan maak nie
Ek moet probeer, nog net een keer, dan sal eers vir seker weet
Of ek tot hoog daarbo kan kom, en dan verby tot by die son
Waar ek elke dag, tot laat in die nag, vir liefde wag
Ek kyk na die ster en niks is ooit vir my te ver nie
Liefde in my lewe laat my ook op plekke swewe
Iets om na te strewe want dit is my hele lewe
Ek wil aan jou vertel, maar ek dink tog jy weet dit wel
Jy is my lewe
'n Arend se vlug, hoog in die lug
Niemand kom by waar hy gaan sit nie
Hy is nie bang, want niks kan hom vang
Niks kan tog beter as dit wees nie
Nou dat ek weet, sal ek nooit vergeet
Dat ek moet lewe en laat lewe
Dat liefde nooit weer sal vergaan
Dat dit vir ewig sal bestaan
Dat daar van my 'n deel sal kan bly, my hele lewe
Ek kyk na die ster en niks is ooit vir my te ver nie
Liefde in my lewe laat my ook op plekke swewe
Iets om na te strewe want dit is my hele lewe
Ek wil aan jou vertel, maar ek dink tog jy weet dit wel
Jy is my lewe
Ek kyk na die ster en niks is ooit vir my te ver nie
Liefde in my lewe laat my ook op plekke swewe
Iets om na te strewe want dit is my hele lewe
Ek wil aan jou vertel, maar ek dink tog jy weet dit wel
Jy is my lewe
International Music
ABOUT International Music
Andrea Bocelli
Andrea Angel Bocelli, OMRI, OMDSM is an Italian tenor, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Born with poor eyesight, he became blind at the age of twelve following a football accident.
Since winning the Newcomers section of the Sanremo Music Festival in 1994,(6) Bocelli has recorded fourteen solo studio albums, of both pop and classical music, three greatest hits albums, and nine complete operas, selling over 80 million records worldwide. Thus, he is the biggest-selling artist in the history of classical music and has caused core classical repertoire to "cross over" to the top of international pop charts and into previously uncharted territory in popular culture.
Widely regarded as both the most popular Italian and classical singer in the world, Bocelli was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 2006, and on March 2, 2010, was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to Live Theater
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew Williams was an American popular music singer. He recorded 44 albums in his career, 15 of which have been gold-certified(1) and three of which have been platinum-certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a television variety show, from 1962 to 1971, and numerous TV specials. The Andy Williams Show garnered three Emmy awards. The Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, is named after the song he is most known for singing-Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini's "Moon River". He sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 10.5 million certified units in the United States.
Avicii
Tim Bergling known professionally as Avicii was a Swedish DJ, remixer, and record producer. Bergling was ranked third on DJ Mag in 2012 and and has been nominated twice for a Grammy Award, once for his work on "Sunshine" with David Guetta in 201 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".
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, musician,
and producer with a career that has spanned more than 50 years. His hit
recordings include "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana
(At the Copa)".
He has recorded and released 47 Top 40 singles, including 12 that hit
number one and 27 of which appeared within the top ten, and has released
many multi-platinum albums.
Ben E. King
Ben E. King, was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He was perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me" - a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name), a number one hit in the UK in 1987, and no. 25 on the RIAA's list of Songs of the Century - and as one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group the Drifters notably singing the lead vocals of one of their biggest global hit singles (and only U.S. #1 hit) "Save the Last Dance for Me".
Billy Gilman
William Wendell Gilman III is an American singer. Starting as a young country artist, he is known for his debut single "One Voice", a top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2000. He has released five albums, including three for Epic Nashville. In 2016, Gilman auditioned for season 11 of the US edition of The Voice and competed as part of Team Adam Levine, finishing as runner-up for the season.
Billy Joel
Joel recorded many popular hit songs and albums from 1973 (beginning with the single "Piano Man") to his retirement from recording pop music in 1993. He is one of the very few rock or even pop artists to have Top 10 hits in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he has sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide and is the sixth best selling artist in the United States, according to the RIAA. Joel's induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (Class of 1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Class of 1999), and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (Class of 2006) has further solidified his status as one of America's leading music icons. He has continued to tour occasionally (sometimes with Elton John) in addition to writing and recording classical music.
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark warm bass-baritone voice made him the best-selling recording artist of the 20th century, having sold over one billion records, tapes, compact discs and digital downloads around the world.
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton is an American country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The now Platinum-certified debut album also produced two more top 20 entries ("All Over Me" and "Ol' Red"). The New York Times described Shelton as "the most important and visible ambassador from Nashville to the American mainstream."
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician who became an international musical and cultural icon, blending mostly reggae, ska and rocksteady in his compositions. Starting out in 1963 with the group the Wailers, he forged a distinctive songwriting and vocal style that would later resonate with audiences worldwide. The Wailers would go on to release some of the earliest reggae records with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry.
Bob Seger
Robert Clark Seger is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s. With a career spanning six decades, Seger has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. Seger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin was born Walden Robert Cassotto on May 14, 1936. Growing up in a rough section of the Bronx, New York, Bobby barely survived several serious bouts of rheumatic fever that left him with a damaged heart (which undoubtedly contributed to his early death). Bobby's ambition was to become a legend by the time he was 25. Thinking that his damaged heart would eventually kill him, he planned to live life as fully as he could. In 1958, after several forgettable recordings, Bobby came up with his first big hit, "Splish Splash", which he claimed took only 12 minutes to write. "Mack the Knife", climbed to the top-ten music charts the following year. Bobby moved to Hollywood in 1960, and met and later married his wife Sandra Dee. He was in the process of making a comeback when he died in 1973, at the age of 37, following open-heart surgery.
Bobby McFerrin
On the 11th of March, 1950, Bobby McFerrin was born. His parents were classical singers and he began to study music theory early on in his life. His family then moved to Los Angeles. During high school and then in College, UCSC, he focused on the piano. Once he finished college, Bobby McFerrin toured with numerous bands including the Ice Follies.
Bryan Adams
Bryan Guy Adams, OC OBC is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record
producer, guitarist, photographer, philanthropist and activist.
Adams rose to fame in North America with his 1983 album Cuts Like a
Knife and turned into a global star with his 1984 album Reckless, which
produced some of his best known songs, including "Run to You" and
"Summer of '69". In 1991, he released "(Everything I Do) I Do It for
You" from the album Waking Up the Neighbours and the song became a
worldwide hit which went to number 1 in many countries, including 16
consecutive weeks in the United Kingdom, a new record. Adams also had
the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Heaven", "All for Love"
and "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woma
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam, commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is
a British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His 1967 debut
album reached the top 10 in the UK, and the album's title song "Matthew
and Son" charted at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
Stevens' albums Tea for the Tillerman (1970) and Teaser and the Firecat
(1971) were both certified triple platinum in the US by the RIAA. His
musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and Islamic music.
CeeLo Green
Thomas DeCarlo Callaway better known by his stage name CeeLo Green
(sometimes rendered as Cee Lo Green), is an American singer,
songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor.
Green came to initial prominence as a member of the Southern hip hop
group Goodie Mob and later as part of the soul duo Gnarls Barkley, with
record producer Danger Mouse. Subsequently he embarked on a solo
career, partially spurred by YouTube popularity.
Charlie Puth
Charles Otto Puth Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. His initial exposure came through the viral success of his song videos uploaded to YouTube. Puth's debut studio album, Nine Track Mind, was released in January 2016, and was preceded by the singles "One Call Away" and "We Don't Talk Anymore", which peaked at number 12 and number nine, respectively on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2017, he released two songs, "Attention" and "How Long" from his second studio album, Voicenotes, with the former peaking at number five on Billboard Hot 100.
Chris Tomlin
Christopher Dwayne Tomlin is an American contemporary Christian music artist, worship leader, and songwriter from Grand Saline, Texas, United States who has sold over 7 million records. He was awarded Male Vocalist of the Year at the 2006, 2007 (along with Artist of the Year), and 2008 GMA Dove Awards, and a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album in 2012.
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (June 7, 1917 - December 25, 1995), born Dino Paul Crocetti, was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "Mambo Italiano", "Sway", "Volare" and smash hit "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?". Nicknamed the "King of Cool", he was one of the members of the "Rat Pack" and a major star in four areas of show business: concert stage/night clubs, recordings, motion pictures, and television.
Duke Ellington
Born 29 April 1899 in Washington DC, composer, bandleader, and pianist Edward Kennedy ("Duke") Ellington was recognized in his lifetime as one of the greatest jazz composers and performers. Nicknamed "Duke" by a boyhood friend who admired his regal air, the name stuck and became indelibly associated with the finest creations in big band and vocal jazz. A genius for instrumental combinations, improvisation, and jazz arranging brought the world the unique "Ellington" sound that found consummate expression in works like "Mood Indigo," "Sophisticated Lady," and the symphonic suites Black, Brown, and Beige (which he subtitled "a Tone Parallel to the History of the Negro in America") and Harlem ("a Tone Parallel to Harlem").
Ed Sheeran
Edward Christopher Sheeran, MBE is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk. He attended the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey, as an undergraduate from the age of 18 in 2009. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (read as "plus"), was released on 9 September 2011 and has since been certified seven-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act.
Elton John
Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (unsuccessfully) as lead singer for the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Gentle Giant. Dwight teamed up with lyricist Bernie Taupin and changed his name to Elton John (merging the names of saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry). The duo wrote songs for Lulu and Roger Cook. In the early 1970s, he recorded the concept album "Tumbleweed Connection." He became the most successful pop artist of the 1970s, and he has survived many different pop fads including punk, the New Romantics and Britpop to remain one of Britain's most internationally acclaimed musicians.
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on Tuesday, January 8, 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi. In September 1948 when Elvis was 13, he and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from Humes High School in Memphis, Elvis took odd jobs working as a movie theater usher and a truck driver for Crown Electric Company. He began singing locally as "The Hillbilly Cat", then signed with a local recording company, then in 1955 with RCA. He did much to establish early rock and roll music, bringing black blues singing into the white, teenage mainstream. Teenage girls became hysterical over his blatantly sexual gyrations, particularly the one that got him nicknamed "Elvis the Pelvis" (TV cameras were not permitted to film below his waist). At the time of his death, he had sold more than 600-million singles and albums.
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (born May 8, 1975), better known as Enrique Iglesias, is a Spanish pop music singer-songwriter. Iglesias started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa. This helped turn him into one of the most popular artists in Latin America and in the Hispanic or Latino market in the United States, and the biggest seller of Spanish language albums of that decade. Before the turn of the millennium, he made a crossover into the mainstream English language market, signing a unique multi-album deal with Universal Music Group for an unprecedented US$48,000,000, with Universal Music Latino to release his Spanish albums and Interscope to release English albums. In 2010, he parted with Interscope and signed with another Universal Music Group label, Universal Republic.
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time" He was also named number five in Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009.
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra has been called the greatest popular singer of the century. Whether that is true, in a century that also offers us Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and many others is, of course, a matter of personal emotional choice and, therefore, unknowable. What can be said is that under the intense and fickle scrutiny of the pop marketplace for nearly two-thirds of a century, Sinatra's music was in the air the world breathed and fell out of fashion only long enough for the deserters either to grow up or recognize that what was offered in its place was almost always trash by comparison.
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962), best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at #2 in the US country album chart while climbing to #13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart. Brooks' integration of rock elements into his recordings and live performances has earned him immense popularity. This progressive approach allowed him to dominate the country single and album charts while quickly crossing over into the mainstream pop arena, exposing country music to a larger audience.
Hank Williams
Hank Williams (September 17, 1923 - January 1, 1953), born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most important country music artists of all time. In the short period from 1947 until his death, at 29, on the first day of 1953, Williams recorded 35 singles (five of which were released posthumously) that would place in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including eleven that ranked number one.
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and social activist. One of the most successful African-American pop stars in history, he was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style (originating in Trinidad & Tobago) with an international audience in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) is the first million-selling LP by a single artist. Belafonte is perhaps best known for singing "The Banana Boat Song", with its signature lyric "Day-O".
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Lenox, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina.(2) He owns a house in the Berkshire County town of Washington, Massachusetts. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Taylor achieved his major breakthrough in 1970 with the #3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first #1 hit the following year with "You've Got a Friend", a recording of Carole King's classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 12 million US copies. Following his 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements declined slightly until a big resurgence during the late 1990s and 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums (including Hourglass, October Road and Covers) were released.
Jason Mraz
Jason Thomas Mraz is an American singer-songwriter who first came to prominence in the San Diego coffee shop scene in 2000. In 2002, he released his debut studio album, Waiting for My Rocket to Come, which contained the hit single "The Remedy (I Won't Worry)". With the release of his second album, Mr. A-Z, in 2005, Mraz achieved major commercial success. Mraz has won two Grammy Awards and received two additional nominations, and has also won two Teen Choice Awards, a People's Choice Award and the Hal David Songwriters Hall of Fame Award.
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cockerwas an English singer and musician. He was
known for his gritty voice, spasmodic body movement in performance and
definitive versions of popular songs of varying genre.
Cocker's cover of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends"
reached number one in the UK in 1968. He performed the song live at
Woodstock in 1969 and performed the same year at the Isle of Wight
Festival, and at the Party at the Palace concert in 2002 for the Golden
Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. His version also became the theme song
for the TV series The Wonder Years. His 1974 cover of "You Are So
Beautiful" reached number five in the US. Cocker was the recipient of
the 1983 Grammy Award for his US number one "Up Where We Belong", a duet
with Jennifer Warnes.
John Denver
John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, activist, and humanitarian, whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk music groups during the late 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, he was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists. By 1974, he was firmly established as one of America's best-selling performers, and AllMusic has described Denver as "among the most beloved entertainers of his era
John Legend
John Roger Stephens known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor.
Prior to the release of Legend's debut album, he collaborated with
already established artists. At various points in his career, Legend has
sung in Magnetic Man's "Getting Nowhere," Kanye West's "Blame Game,"
on Slum Village's "Selfish," and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other
collaborative appearances include Jay-Z's "Encore", backing vocals on
Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name," the Kanye West remix of
Britney Spears' "Me Against the Music," and Fort Minor's "High Road".
Legend played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything".
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and author. He is widely considered one of the most influential popular musicians of the 20th century and is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 90 million records worldwide. Although primarily remembered as a country music icon, his genre-spanning songs and sound embraced rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, folk, and gospel. This crossover appeal won Cash the rare honor of multiple inductions in the Country Music, Rock and Roll, and Gospel Music Halls of Fame.
Josh Groban
Joshua Winslow "Josh" Groban is an American singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and record producer. His four solo albums have been certified at least multi-platinum, and in 2007, he was charted as the number one best selling artist in the United States with over 21 million records in this country. To date, he has sold over 24 million albums worldwide.
Groban originally studied acting but as his voice changed, it developed into a "significant instrument". The event that changed Groban's life was when his vocal coach, Seth Riggs, submitted a tape of Josh singing, "All I Ask of You", from The Phantom of the Opera, to Riggs' friend, renowned producer, composer and arranger David Foster. Foster called him to stand in for an ailing Andrea Bocelli to rehearse a duet, "The Prayer," with Celine Dion at the rehearsal for the Grammy Awards in 1998. Groban, being shy, reluctantly agreed. Rosie O'Donnell was so impressed that she immediately invited him to appear on her daytime talk show. He got another big break when Foster asked him to sing at the California Governor's Gray Davis' 1999 inauguration.
Justin Bieber
Born in Stratford, Ontario in Canada on March 1, 1994, Justin Drew Bieber quickly became the teenage heart throb for 2009. Before he was famous, Justin Bieber enjoyed playing sports - especially hockey because he's from Canada. His parents were young when they had him, and broke up when he was a young child. Many of Justin Bieber's friends growing up didn't even know he could sing - he didn't exactly advertise it.
Justin used to sit outside a theatre in Stratford Ontario, famous for the Shakespeare Festival, and play the guitar and sing for crowds that would gather. He always had either one of his grandparents or mom with him as he was too young to hang out there alone. Bieber had many videos of himself singing at various venues on youtube - his mom videotaped all his performances along the way. When people would call and ask about managing his career, his mom was reluctant because of the horror stories everyone hears about young stars.
Justin was discovered singing on youtube.com by his agent, who quickly arranged for him to fly to Georgia to meet with Usher. Just a short time later, the young star, who has two top tens on youtube, signed with Island Records.
Justin Timberlake
Pop singer. Born Justin Randall Timberlake on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee. Raised a Baptist, Timberlake grew up singing in the church choir. From 1993 to 1995, he performed with The Mickey Mouse Club along with popsters Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and JC Chasez. Afterward, Timberlake and Chasez, along with Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick, formed the all-male singing group 'N Sync. The boy band would go on to become one of the hottest pop groups of the 1990s, releasing No Strings Attached in 2000 and Celebrity in 2001.
Kenny Loggins
Kenneth Clark Loggins is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His early songwriting compositions were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970 which led to seven albums, performing as the group Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. As a solo artist, Loggins experienced a string of soundtrack successes, including an Academy Award nomination for "Footloose" in 1984. His early soundtrack contributions date back to the film A Star Is Born in 1976, and for much of the 1980s and 1990s, he was known as "The Soundtrack King". Finally Home was released in 2013, shortly after Loggins formed the group Blue Sky Riders with Gary Burr and Georgia Middlema
Lionel Richie
A founder member of the Commodores, Lionel Richie's debut solo album was a U.S. #3 hit in 1982, and "Truly," a ballad from that album, reached #1, winning him a Grammy. He performed one of his most popular hits, "All Night Long" (1983), at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and co-wrote the famine relief song "We Are the World" with Michael Jackson in 1993.
A founder member of the Commodores, his debut solo album Lionel Richie (1982) was a US number 3 hit, and 'Truly', a ballad from that album, reached US number 1, winning him a Grammy award. He performed one of his most popular hits, 'All Night Long' (1983), at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Richie co-wrote the famine relief song 'We Are The World' with Michael Jackson in 1993.
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (usually pronounced 'Louee' in the French pronunciation with a silent s) (also known by the nicknames Satchmo and Pops) was an American jazz musician. Armstrong was a charismatic, innovative performer whose musical skills and bright personality transformed jazz from a rough regional dance music into a popular art form. Probably the most famous jazz musician of the 20th century, he first achieved fame as a trumpeter, but towards the end of his career he was best known as a vocalist and was one of the most influential jazz singers.
Known for his brilliant improvisation techniques both onstage and during recordings, Louis Armstrong became one of the Jazz movement's most important musicians. As his trumpet would cease, his voice would shine. Able to perform and improvise with his voice as much as with his trumpet, he laid the foundation for a long-lasting, ideal and charismatic career.
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, including "Ain't That Peculiar", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and duet recordings with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross and Tammi Terrell, later earning the titles "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul".
Mel Torme
Melvin Howard Tormé, nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American
musician, best known as a singer of jazz standards. He was also a jazz
composer and arranger, drummer, an actor in radio, film, and
television, and the author of five books. He composed the music for
"The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and
co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells.
Tormé wrote more than 250 songs, several of which became standards. He
often wrote the arrangements for the songs he sang. He collaborated with
Bob Wells on his most popular composition, "The Christmas Song"
(1946), which was recorded first by Nat King Cole.
Michael Buble
Multi-platinum artist Michael Buble grew up near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was introduced to swing music and old standards by his grandfather, who offered his services for free as a professional plumber to musicians who were willing to let Michael sing a couple of songs with them on stage.
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson, one of the most widely beloved entertainers and profoundly influential artists of all-time, leaves an indelible imprint on popular music and culture.
Five of Jackson's solo albums - "Off the Wall," "Thriller," "Bad," "Dangerous" and "HIStory," all with Epic Records - are among the top-sellers of all time and "Thriller" holds the distinction as the largest selling album worldwide in the history of the recording industry with more than 70 million units sold. Additionally, singles released from the Thriller album sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, another all time record.
Michael W. Smith
Michael Whitaker Smith is an American musician, who has charted in
both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success
in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in this World" hit No. 6 on
the Billboard Hot 100. Over the course of his career, he has sold more
than 18 million albums.
Smith is a three-time Grammy Award winner, an American Music Award
recipient, and has earned 45 Dove Awards.[In 1999, ASCAP awarded him
with the "Golden Note" Award for lifetime achievement in songwriting,[6]
and in 2014 they honored him as the "cornerstone of Christian music"
for his significant influence on the genre. He also has recorded 31 No. 1
Hit songs, fourteen gold albums, and five platinum albums.
Nat King Cole
American musician hailed as one of the best and most influential pianists and small-group leaders of the swing era. Cole attained his greatest commercial success, however, as a vocalist specializing in warm ballads and light swing.
Neil Diamond
Singer and songwriter. Born Neil Leslie Diamond on January 24, 1941, in New York City, USA, Diamond began writing songs while studying at New York University. Neil Diamon is best known as successful pop music singer who scored a number of hits during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s -- including writing the hits "I'm A Believer" (1966) and "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (1967) for the Monkees. He had his own first number 1 hit with "Cracklin' Rose" (1970).
Diamond's albums include Jonathon Livingston Seagull (1974), Headed for the Future (1986), Tennessee Moon (1996), and 12 Songs (2005). His songs have been taken up by many recording artists, including The Hollies, Elvis Presley, and UB40.
Diamond's musical contributions will be honored when he'll be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.
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Female Solo Performers with vocal harmony arrangements
Adele
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, better known simply as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Adele was offered a recording contract from XL Recordings after a friend posted her demo on Myspace in 2006. The next year she received the Brit Awards "Critics' Choice" award and won the BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut album, 19, was released in 2008 to much commercial and critical success. The album is certified four times platinum in the UK, and double platinum in the US. Her career in the US was boosted by a Saturday Night Live appearance in late 2008. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook was born in January 25, 1981, in Manhattan, New York, USA. She is better known by her stage name Alicia Keys. Alicia Keys is an American recording artist, musician, song writer and actress. Alicia Keys was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. When she was 7 years old, Alicia Keys began to play classical music on the piano. She decided to attend the Professional Performing Arts School and she graduated when she was just 16 years old as valedictorian. Later on, she attended Columbia University but she dropped out to follow a musical career. Not long after this, Alicia Keys released her first album with J Records.
Amy Grant
Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, media personality and actress, best known for her Christian music. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop". As of 2009, Grant remains the best-selling contemporary Christian music singer ever, having sold over 30 million units worldwide.
Grant has won six Grammy Awards, 25 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, and had the first Christian album ever to go Platinum. Heart in Motion is her highest selling album, with over five million copies sold in the United States alone. She was honored with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005 for her contributions to the entertainment industry.
Amy Winehouse
She was born Amy Jade Winehouse, on September 14, 1983, in Enfield, London, England to a Jewish family with Russian ancestry on her mother's side. Her father, Mitchell Winehouse, was a taxi driver; her mother, Janis Winehouse (nee Seaton), was a pharmacist. Her family shared her love of theater and music. Amy was brought up on jazz music; she played her brother's guitar and received her own guitar at age 13. Young Amy Winehouse was a rebellious girl. At age 14, she was expelled from Sylvia Young Theatre School in Marylebone, London. At that time she pierced her nose and tattooed her body. She briefly attended the BRIT School in Croydon, and began her professional career at 16, performing occasional club gigs and recording low cost demos. At age 19, she recorded her debut, Frank (2003), a jazz-tinged album that became a hit and earned her several award nominations. During the next several years, she survived a period of personal upheaval, a painful relationship, and has been struggling with substance abuse. Her 2006's album 'Back on Black' was an international hit, and 'Rehab' made No. 9 on the US pop charts.
Ann Hampton Callaway
Pop/jazz singer and songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway is the daughter
of television journalist John Callaway and vocal coach Shirley
Callaway, and the sister of Broadway performer Liz Callaway. She was
born and raised in Chicago. Her earliest recordings were on a series of
releases by Ben Bagley's Painted Smiles label
In 1999, Streisand recorded Callaway's "I've Dreamed of You" and
released it on her A Love Like Ours album in September; Callaway
released her own Easy Living album on Sindrome in October; and she
starred on Broadway in the musical Swing! beginning in December. The
21st century found Callaway signing with Shanachie Records, which
released Signature in 2002 and Slow in 2004. Switching to Telarc
Records, she released Blues in the Night in 2006. At Last followed in
2009.
Anna Kendrick
Anna Cooke Kendrick (born August 9, 1985) is an American actress and
singer. She began her career as a child actor in theater productions.
Her first prominent role was in the 1998 Broadway musical High Society,
which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a
Musical. She made her film debut in the musical comedy Camp (2003).
Kendrick rose to prominence for her supporting role as Jessica Stanley
in The Twilight Saga (2008-12). She received an Academy Award nomination
for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the comedy-drama Up
in the Air (2009). She achieved further recognition for starring as
Beca Mitchell in the musical comedy film series Pitch Perfect
(2012-2017).
Annie Lennox
Ann "Annie" Lennox, OBE is a Scottish singer, songwriter, political
activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the
late 1970s as part of the new wave band The Tourists, she and fellow
musician David A. Stewart went on to achieve major international success
in the 1980s as Eurythmics. With a total of eight Brit Awards,
including Best British Female Artist six times, Lennox has won more than
any other female artist. She has also been named the "Brits Champion
of Champions".
To date, she has released six solo studio albums and a compilation
album, The Annie Lennox Collection (2009). Aside from her eight Brit
Awards, she has also collected four Grammy Awards and an MTV Video Music
Award. In 2002, Lennox received a Billboard Century Award; the highest
accolade from Billboard Magazine In 2004, she won both the Golden
Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Into the West",
written for the soundtrack to the feature film The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King.
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer and songwriter. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at the church of her father, minister C. L. Franklin's church. In 1960, at the age of 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as "Respect", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Spanish Harlem" and "Think". By the end of the 1960s decade she had gained the title "The Queen of Soul".
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande-Butera, better known as Ariana Grande is an American
singer and actress. She began her career in 2008 in the Broadway
musical 13, before playing the role of Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon
television series Victorious, and in the spinoff Sam & Cat until
2014. She has also appeared in other theatre and television roles and
has lent her voice to animated television and films.
Grande's music career began in 2011 with the soundtrack Music from
Victorious. In 2013, she released her first studio album Yours Truly,
which entered atop the US Billboard 200. The album's lead single, "The
Way", opened in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with critics
comparing her wide vocal range to that of Mariah Carey.
Avril Lavigne
Avril Lavigne was born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada on September 27, 1984. At 16, she moved to Manhattan and began work on her debut album. She dropped out of high school after the 11th grade when she secured a record deal. When Avril was almost 18, she released "Complicated" from her debut album titled: "Let Go," which went 6x platinum. As a petite skater girl from a small town, Avril has shown she is independent, full of confidence and determination, providing a good combination to make "Complicated" and Avril a musical breakthrough. "Complicated" went to number #1 on Billboards Top 100 while also earning her 5 Grammy nominations, MTV music awards, MTV European music awards and many more.
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand is one of the most commercially and critically successful entertainers in modern entertainment history, with more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best-selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list, the only female recording artist in the top ten, and the only artist outside of the rock and roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an acting Oscar and also recording a number-one single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Bette Midler
Gloriously flamboyant American entertainer Bette Midler was born in Honolulu, HI, to the only Jewish family in the neighborhood. After dropping out of a drama class at the University of Hawaii, she took a tiny role in the 1966 film Hawaii, playing a seasick boat passenger (though it's hard to see her when viewing the film). Training for a dancing career in New York, Midler made the casting rounds for several months before finally winning a chorus role, and then the featured part of Tzeitel, in the long-running Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof.
During her more than forty-year career, Midler has been nominated for two Academy Awards; and won four Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a special Tony Award.
Beyonce
Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Beyonce performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of the R&B girl-group Destiny's Child. Managed by her father, Mathew Knowles, the group became one of the world's best-selling girl groups in history. Their hiatus saw Beyonce's theatrical film debut in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) and the release of her debut album, Dangerously in Love (2003). The album established her as a solo artist worldwide, earned five Grammy Awards, and featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy".
Billie Holiday
Considered by many to be the greatest jazz vocalist of all time, Billie Holiday lived a tempestuous and difficult life. Her singing expressed an incredible depth of emotion that spoke of hard times and injustice as well as triumph. Though her career was relatively short and often erratic, she left behind a body of work as great as any vocalist before or since.
With Hammond’s support, Holiday spent much of the 1930s working with a range of great jazz musicians, including Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster, and most importantly, the saxophonist Lester Young. Together, Young and Holiday would create some of the greatest jazz recordings of all time. They were close friends throughout their lives—giving each other their now-famous nicknames of “Lady Day” and the “Prez.” Sympathetic to Holiday’s unique style, Young helped her create music that would best highlight her unconventional talents. With songs like “This Year’s Kisses” and “Mean To Me,” the two composed a perfect collaboration.
Carly Rae Jepsen
Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actress. She performed in several lead roles in her high school's musical productions, eventually pursuing musical theatre at the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Upon completing her studies, Jepsen moved to Vancouver's west side where she honed her songwriting craft. In 2007, she placed third on Canadian Idol - season five and subsequently recorded her folk-influenced debut, Tug of War.
Carly Simon
She was raised in the Riverdale section of New York City with two sisters and a brother. Her father, Richard Simon, played Chopin and Beethoven on the piano. Three of her uncles gained distinction in various fields of music. George, as an authority on Jazz, Henry, as a Musicologist and book editor and Alfred as the music director of a classical radio station.
She met her first husband James Taylor as a child when their parents had summered near one another on Martha's Vinyard. She married Taylor in 1971 and they later divorced. She has been married to writer Jim Hart since 1981 and they live on Martha's Vineyard, Mass. She has a son and daughter from her marriage to James Taylor.
Carole King
King's career began in the 1960s when she, along with her then husband Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists, many of which have become standards. She has continued writing for other artists since then. King's success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, when she sang her own songs, accompanying herself on the piano, in a series of albums and concerts. After experiencing commercial disappointment with her debut album Writer, King scored her breakthrough with the album Tapestry, which topped the U.S. album chart for 15 weeks in 1971 and remained on the charts for more than six years.
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005.
Underwood has since become a multi-platinum selling recording artist, a multiple Grammy Award winner, a member of the Grand Ole Opry, a Golden Globe Award nominee, a three-time Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Female Vocalist winner, a GMA Dove award winner, and a two time ACM Entertainer of the Year. She is the first-ever female artist to win back-to-back Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards for Entertainer of the Year (2009/10).
CeCe Winans
The eighth of ten siblings in the musical Winans family, CeCe Winans
(born Priscilla) performed most often with her brother, BeBe, in a duo
which recorded gospel material with R&B settings and proved to be
the most commercially successful of the Winans groupings (which also
includes her older brothers Marvin, Carvin, Ronald, and Michael in the
Winans and her parents in Mom & Pop Winans). Born in Detroit, she
worked with BeBe in a duo called the PTL Singers until 1987, when they
released their self-titled debut album
Four albums followed during the next seven years (two of which hit gold)
plus 1991's platinum Different Lifestyles. After 1994's Relationships,
CeCe began recording her very first solo album. Released in 1995,
Alone in His Presence found her working her way back to traditional
gospel, singing standards like "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," "Blessed
Assurance," and "I Surrender All." His Gift followed in 1998, and a
year later Winans returned with Alabaster Box.
Celine Dion
Hailing from the small town of Charlemagne, Quebec, Celine Dion has become one of the all-time greatest singers. Celine was born in 1968, the youngest of 14 children. Early in childhood, she sang with her siblings in a small club owned by her parents. From these early experiences, Celine gained the know-how to performing live. At the age of 12, Dion composed a song in her native French and sent it to a record company, where it garnered the attention of Rene Angelil, a respected manager. Angelil believed in Celine so much that he actually mortgaged his house in order to finance her debut album. Already very popular and successful internationally, Celine burst onto the U.S. stage when she recorded the theme song to Disney's hit Beauty and the Beast (1991). The song garnered a Grammy and an Oscar, and from this point Celine has brought forth hit after hit.
Charli XCX
Charlotte Emma Aitchison, better known by her stage name Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She released her debut single independently in 2008 and initially performed at warehouse raves in London. She signed to Asylum Records in 2010 and released two mixtapes in 2012, Heartbreaks and Earthquakes and Super Ultra. In April 2013, XCX released her major label debut album, True Romance; it contained a number of singles which were previously released, including "Nuclear Seasons", released in 2011, and "You're the One", released under Warner Music in 2012.
Christina Aguilera
Christina Maria Aguilera was born on December 18, 1980, in Staten Island, New York. Her parents divorced when she was young and she lived with her mother, although they moved around quite a bit. Christina's goal almost since birth was to be a singer, and at age 12 she was invited to audition for "The All New Mickey Mouse Club" (1989). She wound up getting the part and stayed there for a few years, until the show ended. In 1999 she had her breakthrough hit, "Genie in a Bottle". Since then she's made millions of fans, sold millions of records and has won many awards, including a Grammy for best new female artist. She has even made a Latin album and will be working on a second one. A Christmas album has also been released.
Christina Perri
Christina Judith Perri is an American singer and songwriter from
Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After her debut single "Jar of Hearts" was
featured on the television series So You Think You Can Dance in 2010,
Perri signed with Atlantic Records and released her debut extended
play, The Ocean Way Sessions. Her debut studio album, Lovestrong
(2011), followed soon after and has since been certified platinum by
the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Perri also gained recognition for writing and recording "A Thousand
Years", the love theme for the film The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn –
Part 2 (2012), which appears on the accompanying soundtrack. The song
went on to sell over 4 million copies in the United States, being
certified 4× platinum. She later released her second extended play, A
Very Merry Perri Christmas (2012), followed by her second studio album,
Head or Heart
Colbie Caillat
Colbie Marie Caillat is an American singer and songwriter from Malibu, California. Caillat rose to fame through social networking website Myspace. Caillat has sold over six million albums worldwide and over 10 million singles. In 2009, she was named Billboard magazine's 94th-best-selling music artist of the 2000s
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. Her career has spanned over 30 years.Her debut solo album She's So Unusual (1983) was the first debut female album to chart four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100-"Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through the Night"-and earned Lauper the Best New Artist award at the 27th Grammy Awards in 1985. Her success continued with the soundtrack for the motion picture The Goonies and her second record True Colors (1986). This album included the number one single "True Colors" and "Change of Heart", which peaked at number 3.
Darlene Love
Darlene Wright, known by her stage name, Darlene Love is an American popular music singer and actress. She gained prominence in the 1960s for the song "He's a Rebel," a No. 1 American single in 1962, and was one of the artists who performed on the celebrated Christmas album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, produced by Phil Spector in 1963. She is ranked number 84 among Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers.
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ross rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group The Supremes, which, during the 1960s, became Motown's most successful act, and is to this day the United States' most successful vocal group, as well as one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. Ross' success as lead singer of The Supremes helped to make it possible for future African-American R&B and soul acts to find mainstream success. The group released a record-setting twelve number-one hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100, including "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Come See About Me", "Stop! In the Name of Love", "You Can't Hurry Love", "You Keep Me Hangin' On", "Love Child", and "Someday We'll Be Together".
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and television show
host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and
Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health.
Having been in a partnership with songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal
David, Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock
era, based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. She is second
only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female vocalist of all time,
with 56 of Warwick's singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962
and 1998 an
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, actress,
author, businesswoman, and humanitarian, known primarily for her work
in country music.
Parton is the most honored female country performer of all time.
Achieving 25 RIAA certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards,
she has had 25 songs reach No. 1 on the Billboard Country charts, a
record for a female artist. She has 41 career top 10 country albums, a
record for any artist, and she has 110 career charted singles over the
past 40 years. All-inclusive sales of singles, albums, hits collections,
and digital downloads during her career have topped 100 million
worldwide. She has garnered eight Grammy Awards, two Academy Award
nominations, ten Country Music Association Awards, seven Academy of
Country Music Awards, three American Music Awards, and is one of only
seven female artists to win the Country Music Association's Entertainer
of the Year Award. Parton has received 46 Grammy nominations, tying her
with Bruce Springsteen for the most Grammy nominations and placing her
in tenth place overall.
Doris Day
Doris Day (is an American actress, singer, and animal welfare
activist. After she began her career as a big band singer in 1939, her
popularity increased with her first hit recording "Sentimental Journey"
(1945). After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to embark on a
solo career, she recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967, which
made her one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th
century.
Day's film career began with the 1948 film Romance on the High Seas, and
its success sparked her twenty-year career as a motion picture
actress. She starred in a series of successful films, including
musicals, comedies, and dramas. She played the title role in Calamity
Jane (1953), and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too
Much (1956) with James Stewart. Her most successful films were the
"pioneering" bedroom comedies she made co-starring Rock Hudson and
James Garner, such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Move Over, Darling (1963),
respectively. After her final film in 1968, she went on to star in the
CBS sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–73).
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, better known as Dusty
Springfield, was an English pop singer and record producer whose career
extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive
sensual mezzo-soprano sound, she was an important blue-eyed soul singer
and at her peak was one of the most successful British female
performers, with six top 20 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 and
sixteen on the UK Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989. She is a member of
the US Rock and Roll and UK Music Halls of Fame. International polls
have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time.
Born in West Hampstead to a family that enjoyed music, Springfield
learned to sing at home. In 1958 she joined her first professional
group, The Lana Sisters, and two years later formed a pop-folk vocal
trio, The Springfields, with her brother Tom Springfield and Tim Field.
The Springfields became the UK's top selling act. Her solo career began
in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit, "I Only Want to Be with You".
Ella Fitzgerald
Dubbed "The First Lady of Song," Ella Fitzgerald was the most popular female jazz singer in the United States for more than half a century. In her lifetime, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold over 40 million albums.
Her voice was flexible, wide-ranging, accurate and ageless. She could sing sultry ballads, sweet jazz and imitate every instrument in an orchestra. She worked with all the jazz greats, from Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Nat King Cole, to Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie and Benny Goodman. (Or rather, some might say all the jazz greats had the pleasure of working with Ella.)
Ellie Goulding
Ella Jane Goulding is an English singer and songwriter. Her career
began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she
was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who later became her manager and
A&R. After signing to Polydor Records in July 2009, Goulding
released her debut extended play, An Introduction to Ellie Goulding,
later that year.
In 2010, she became the second artist to top the BBC's annual Sound
of... poll and win the Critics' Choice Award at the Brit Awards in the
same year. She released her debut studio album, Lights, in 2010; it
debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and has sold over 850,000
copies in the UK. Her cover of Elton John's "Your Song" reached number
two in the UK in December 2010 and on 29 April 2011 she performed the
song at the wedding reception of Prince William and Catherine Middleton
at Buckingham Palace. The album's title track, "Lights", was released
in the US in March 2011, and peaked at number two on the US Billboard
Hot 10
Enya
Eithne Padraigín Ní Bhraonain, better known professionally as Enya, is an Irish singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. Born into a musical family and raised in the Irish speaking area of Gweedore in County Donegal, Enya began her music career when she joined her family's Celtic band Clannad in 1980 on keyboards and backing vocals. She left in 1982 with their manager and producer Nicky Ryan to pursue a solo career, with Ryan's wife Roma Ryan as her lyricist. Enya developed her distinct sound over the following four years with multi-tracked vocals and keyboards with elements of new age, Celtic, classical, church, and folk music. She has sung in ten languages.
Etta James
Etta James was an American singer who performed in various genres, including blues, R&B, soul, rock and roll, jazz and gospel. Starting her career in 1954, she gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower", "At Last", "Tell Mama", "Something's Got a Hold on Me", and "I'd Rather Go Blind". She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse, and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch.
Eva Cassidy
Eva Marie Cassidy was an American vocalist and guitarist known for
her interpretations of jazz and blues. In 1992, she released her first
album, The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown,
followed by the 1996 live solo album titled Live at Blues Alley.
Although she had been honored by the Washington Area Music Association,
she was virtually unknown outside her native Washington, DC. She died
of melanoma in 1996.
Two years after her death, Cassidy's music was brought to the attention
of British audiences, when her versions of "Fields of Gold" and "Over
the Rainbow" were played by Mike Harding and Terry Wogan on BBC Radio 2.
Following the overwhelming response, a camcorder recording of "Over
the Rainbow", taken at Blues Alley in Washington by her friend Bryan
McCulley, was shown on BBC Two's Top of the Pops 2. Shortly afterwards,
the compilation album Songbird climbed to the top of the UK Albums
Charts, almost three years after its initial release.
Faith Hill
Faith Hill (born Audrey Faith Perry; September 21, 1967) is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated 8 number-one singles and 3 number-one albums on the U.S. Country charts.
Hill has been honored by the Grammy Awards, the Academy of Country Music, the Country Music Association, the American Music Awards and the People's Choice Awards. Her Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 with husband McGraw became the highest-grossing country tour of all time.(1) In 2001, she was named one of the "30 Most Powerful Women in America" by Ladies Home Journal. In 2008, Faith Hill released her first Christmas album, titled Joy to the World. In 2009 Billboard named her as the #1 Adult Contemporary artist of the decade 2000-2009. Hill was ranked the 39th best artist of the 2000-10 decade by Billboard.
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan's family fled Cuba for Miami in 1959. She began her singing career in 1975 with the group Miami Sound Machine, and in 1978 married the group's keyboardist, Emilio Estefan. After several Spanish-language albums the group began releasing material in English, their breakthrough album coming in 1985 with Primitive Love, which included the catchy single "Bad Boys." The "Miami Sound Machine" label faded away as Estefan became the band's attraction. The 1987 album Let It Loose included pop hits like "Betcha Say That" and the uptempo "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You," and with Emilio Estefan as her producer and promoter, she became for a time America's leading Latin recording artist. Cuts Both Ways was another big hit album in 1989. Gloria's career was interrupted in 1990 when she was seriously injured in a bus accident. She bounced back, winning a 1993 Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album. In the 21st century she embraced her Latin roots with Spanish-language albums like Alma Carribena (2000 -- in English, "Caribbean Soul") and 90 Millas ("90 Miles," 2007).
Gloria Gaynor
Gloria Gaynor is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (Hot 100 number 1, 1979), "Never Can Say Goodbye" (Hot 100 number 9, 1974), "Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (Hot 100 number 42, 1980) and "I Am What I Am" (R&B number 82, 1983). After almost 30 years of its release, Gaynor continues to ride the success of "I Will Survive", touring the country and the world over and performing her signature song on dozens of TV shows. A few successful remixes of the song during the 1990s and 2000s along with new versions of the song by Lonnie Gordon, Diana Ross, Chantay Savage, rock group Cake and others as well as constant recurrent airplay on nearly all Soft AC and Rhythmic format radio stations have helped to keep the song in the mainstream.
Hilary Duff
An appealing actress and singer known for her spunk, Duff was only 14 when she came to prominence on the hit Disney sitcom Lizzie McGuire, which spawned a feature film in 2003. She solidified her teen-icon status with roles in a succession of popular family-oriented movies (Cheaper by the Dozen, A Cinderella Story) and a series of successful pop albums and tours, including 2005's Most Wanted, a compilation of remixed hits and a handful of new songs cowritten by her then-boyfriend, Good Charlotte frontman Joel Madden. A fashion plate and tabloid magnet, Duff's personal life was often the subject of gossip, including rumors of a long-running feud with Lindsay Lohan over their mutual ex, Aaron Carter.
Idina Menzel
Idina Kim Menzel is an American actress, singer, and songwriter.
Menzel rose to prominence when she originated the role of Maureen
Johnson in the Broadway musical Rent. Her performance earned her a Tony
Award nomination in 1996. She reprised the role in the musical's 2005
film adaptation. In 2003, Menzel originated the role of Elphaba in the
Broadway musical Wicked, a performance for which she won the Tony Award
for Best Actress in a Musical. Menzel returned to Broadway as Elizabeth
Vaughan in the 2014 musical If/Then, which earned her a third Tony
Award nomination.
Jackie Evancho
Jackie Evancho was born April 9, 2000 and started singing since she was just eight years old. She found her interest in music after watching musical "The Phantom of the Opera". She later competed in a local singing contest in his native Pennsylvania, winning the runner-up place. Living in the suburb area of Pittsburg, she then took vocal lessons, took part in other contests to enrich her experience and uploaded her rendition of music on YouTube.
In 2009, Jackie released an indie album called "Prelude to a Dream" which covered songs from the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Martina McBride. It debuted at No. 2 on iTunes and Billboard Classical Albums Chart.
A year later, Jackie entered "America's Got Talent" after winning the YouTube competition sponsored by the TV show. She received the most votes from fans to be advanced to the next round and continued to become one of the audience favorites until the finale. Making a duet with Sarah Brightman in "Time to Say Goodbye" and singing solo in "Ave Maria", she finished at the second place.
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell is one of the most highly regarded and influential songwriters of the 20th century. Her melodious tunes support her poetic and often very personal lyrics to make her one of the most authentic artists of her time. As a performer she is widely hailed for her unique style of playing guitar. Mitchell's unflinching struggle for her own artistic independence has made her a role model for many other musicians, and somewhat of a bane to music industry executives. She is critical of the industry and of the shallowness that she sees in much of today's popular music. Mitchell is also a noted painter and has created the beautiful artwork that appears on the packaging of her music albums.
Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins is an American singer and songwriter
known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records (which has
included folk music, show tunes, pop music, rock and roll and
standards) and for her social activism.
Collins' debut album A Maid of Constant Sorrow was released in 1961, but
it was the lead single from her 1967 album Wildflowers, "Both Sides,
Now" - written by Joni Mitchell - that gave Collins international
prominence. The single hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Pop Singles
chart(1) and won Collins her first Grammy Award for Best Folk
Performance.(2) She enjoyed further success with her recordings of
"Someday Soon", "Chelsea Morning", "Amazing Grace", and "Cook with
Honey".
Judy Garland
One of the brightest, most tragic movie stars of Hollywood's Golden
Era, Judy Garland was a moved-loved character whose warmth and spirit,
along with her rich and exuberant voice, kept theatre-goers entertained
with an array of delightful musicals. She is still an icon to this day
with her famous performances in The Wizard of Oz (1939), Meet Me in
St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948) and A Star Is Born (1954).
Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained
international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a
recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her
versatility, she received a juvenile Academy Award, won a Golden Globe
Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in A Star
is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961
film, Judgement at Nuremberg.
Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth "Julie" Andrews, DBE is an English actress,
singer, and author. Andrews, a child actress and singer, appeared on
the West End in 1948 and made her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend
(1954). She rose to prominence starring in Broadway musicals such as My
Fair Lady (1956), playing Eliza Doolittle, and Camelot (1960), playing
Queen Guinevere. In 1957, Andrews starred in the premiere of Rodgers
and Hammerstein's written-for-television musical Cinderella, a live,
network broadcast seen by over 100 million viewers.
Andrews has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA, five Golden Globes, three
Grammys, two Emmys, the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award,
the Kennedy Center Honors Award, and the Disney Legends Award. Apart
from her musical career, she is also an author of children's books and
has published an autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (2008)
Katy Perry
Katy Perry was born in California, the middle child of pastor parents. She has an older sister and younger brother. Raised in a deeply religious family, Perry's first experience of performing was singing in church. A passion for music grew and at the age of 15, Perry began visiting Nashville, gaining experience of song writing and recording demos.
She signed to a Christian record label, Red Hill, and recorded an album, under her birth name of Katy Hudson. The album was not a success. At age 17 she moved to Los Angeles and collaborated with producer Glen Ballard, but was not able to secure a lasting record deal. Perry did sign to Columbia Records in 2004, but again this did not prove a success, and she was dropped.
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