Showing posts with label Singers. Show all posts
Lady Gaga
STEFANI JOANNE ANGELINA GERMANOTTA (born
March 28, 1986), known by her stage name LADY GAGA, is an American
singer-songwriter, record producer, activist, businesswoman, fashion designer
and actress. Born and raised in New York City, where she lives, Lady
Gaga primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly
attended New York University's Tisch School of the Artsbefore
withdrawing to focus on her musical career. She soon began performing in the
rock music scene of Manhattan's Lower East Side. By the end of 2007,
record executive and producer Vincent Herbert signed her to his label
Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. Initially working as
a songwriter at Interscope Records, her vocal abilities captured the attention
of recording artist Akon, who also signed her to Kon Live
Distribution, his own label under Interscope.
In 2008, Lady Gaga came to prominence with her debut studio
album, The Fame, which was a critical and commercial success. The
record included the international number-one tracks "Just Dance" and
"Poker Face". In 2009, her extended play, The Fame
Monster, was released to a similar reception, and produced the hit singles
"Bad Romance", "Telephone", and "Alejandro". Its
accompanying Monster Ball Tour became one of thehighest-grossing
concert tours of all time. Lady Gaga's second album, Born This Way (2011),
topped albums charts in most major markets and generated chart-topping songs
"Born This Way", "Judas", and "The Edge of Glory".
Her third album, Artpop, is planned for release on November 11th,
2013.
Influenced by David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna,
and Queen, Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse and outré
contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances and music
videos. As of October 2011, she had sold an estimated 23 million albums and 64
million singles worldwide and her singles are some of the best-selling
worldwide. Her achievements include five Grammy Awards and
13 MTV Video Music Awards. Lady Gaga has consecutively appeared on Billboard magazine's
Artists of the Year (scoring the definitive title in 2010), ranked fourth inVH1's
list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, is the fourth best selling digital singles
artist in US according to RIAA, is regularly placed on lists composed
by Forbes magazine, including The World's 100 Most
Powerful Women from 2010 to 2013, and was named one of the most
influential people in the world by Time magazine. Besides
her musical career, she involves herself with humanitarian causes
and LGBT activism.
Continually experimenting with new musical ideas and images,
Gaga's musical and performance style is the subject of much analysis and
scrutiny from critics. She professes that she is "liberating" herself
by constantly reinventing her sound and image, insisting that she has been
drawn to such a practice since her childhood. Vocally, Gaga possesses the
range of a contralto and exhibits "overwhelming expression,
instinctive vocal phrasing, '80s rock reminiscent chest belts and animalistic
vocal ticks" while being able to move through 2.7 octaves. Refusing
to lip sync, Gaga – whose range is frequently compared to those of Madonna
and Gwen Stefani – has manipulated her vocal style over the course of
her career yet considers Born This Way (2011) "much more
vocally up to par with what I've always been capable of." In
summation of her voice, Entertainment Weekly wrote,
"There's an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she uses her
voice. Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal ability,
recognizing instead that artistry is to be found in nuance rather than lung
power."
The structure of her music is said to echo classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. Her
debut album The Fame (2008) provoked The Sunday Times to
assert "in combining music, fashion, art and technology, Gaga evokes
Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa 'Hollaback Girl', Kylie Minogue 2001 or
Grace Jones right now" and a critic from The Boston Globe to
comment that she draws "obvious inspirations from Madonna to Gwen
Stefani... in her girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats." Music
critic Simon Reynolds wrote that "Everything about Gaga came
from electroclash, except the music, which wasn't particularly 1980s, just
ruthlessly catchy naughties pop glazed with Auto-Tune and undergirded
with R&B-ish beats." The follow-up The Fame Monster (2009),
saw Gaga's taste for pastiche, drawing on "Seventies arena glam,
perky ABBA disco and sugary throwbacks like Stacey Q"
while Born This Way (2011) also draws on the records of her childhood
and still has the "electro-sleaze beats and Eurodisco chorus chants"
of its predecessor but includes genres as diverse as opera, heavy metal, disco,
and rock and roll. "There isn't a subtle moment on the album,
but even at its nuttiest, the music is full of wide-awake emotional
details," wrote Rolling Stone, who concluded: "The more
excessive Gaga gets, the more honest she sounds."Although her early lyrics
have been criticized for lacking intellectual stimulation, "Gaga does
manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace." She
admits that her songwriting has been misinterpreted; her friend and
blogger Perez Hilton articulated her message in a clearer way:
"you write really deep intelligent lyrics with shallow concepts."
Gaga opined, "Perez is very intelligent and clearly listened to my record
from beginning to end, and he is correct." "I love songwriting.
It's so funny – I will just jam around in my underwear or I could be washing my
dishes. I wrote several songs just at the piano," she confesses. Gaga
believes that "all good music can be played at a piano and still sound
like a hit." She has covered a wide variety of topics in her songs:
while The Fame (2008) meditates on the lust for stardom, The
Fame Monster (2009) expresses fame's dark side through monster
metaphors. Born This Way (2011) is sung in English, French,
German and Spanish and includes common themes in Gaga's controversial
songwriting like love, sex, religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation,
sexuality, freedom and individualism.
Tag :
Singers
Anup Jalota
ANOOP JALOTA,
also ANUP JALOTA, (born 29 July 1953) is an Indian singer
and musician, best known for his performances in the Hindu devotional
music bhajan and the Urdu form of poetry, ghazal.
He is popularly known as the "Bhajan Samraat" (Emperor
of Bhajans). Padma
Shri for 2012 has been conferred upon him in the field of Art-Indian
Classical Music- Vocal by Government of India.
Anup Jalota was born in Nainital, Uttarakhand to
Purushottam Das Jalota, a renowned exponent of bhajan and hails from
the Sham Chowrasi Gharana of Punjab. He was educated in Lucknow. Anup's
brother, Ajay Jalota, currently lives in California. He has one elder
brother Anil Jalota and two sisters Anjali Dhir and Anita Mehra.
Jalota started his musical career as a chorus singer in All
India Radio. He is usually backed by a santoor player, dholak player, sarod player, sarangiplayer, violinist, sitar player, tabla player
and guitarist. Some of his popular bhajans include: Aisi Lagi Lagan, Main
Nahi Makhan Khayo, Rang De Chunariya, Jag Me Sundar Hai Do Naam, and Chadariya
Jhini Re Jhini. He was also the presenter of the program Dharam Aur Hum,
telecast in Star Plus during 2002 - 05 period.
He met Jagadguru Shree Kripaluji Maharaj in Mumbai and
agreed to release several CDs of his compositions. In 2008 he recorded the
title song "Golden Memorable Yaadein" for the CD "Noorani
Chehra" produced by Shaukat (Sam) Kassam to commemorate the Golden Jubilee
of HH the Aga Khan.
Anup Jalota's first two marriages ended in divorce. One of his
marriages was with Sunali Rathod, wife of Roop Kumar Rathod
Currently, Anup Jalota is married to Medha Jalota, niece of former
Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral. They have a son Aryamann (born in
1996), who is studying in Mumbai.
Tag :
Singers
Alka Yagnik
ALKA YAGNIK (born 20 March 1966 in Kolkata, West Bengal,
India) is amongst the best-known playback singers of Hindi cinema
with a career spanning three decades. She is a record seven-time winner
from a record of 35 nominations of the Filmfare Award for Best Female
Playback Singer, a two-time recipient of the National Film Award as
well as several other music awards listed below. Further, as many as 20 of her
tracks feature in BBC's "Top 40 Bollywood Soundtracks of all time"
review.
Alka Yagnik was
born in Kolkata on 20 March 1966 in a Brahmin family. Her
mother Shubha Yagnik was a singer of Indian classical music. She received
her school education from Modern High School for Girls. In 1972 at the age
of 6, she started singing for Akashvani (All India Radio), Calcutta. At
age 10, her mother brought her to Mumbai as a child singer. She was
advised to wait until her voice matured, but her mother remained determined. On
a subsequent visit, Alka got a letter of introduction to Raj Kapoor from
his Kolkata distributor. Kapoor heard the girl and sent her with a letter to
noted music director Laxmikant. Impressed, Laxmikant gave her two
alternatives – an immediate start as a dubbing artist or a later break as a
singer;they settled for the latter.
Alka Yagnik is classically trained. She began singing bhajans for
Akashvani (All India Radio), Calcutta. at the age of six. Her first song
was for the film Payal Ki Jhankaar in (1980), followed byLaawaris (1981)
with the song "Mere Angane Mein", followed by the film Hamari
Bahu Alka (1982). She got her big break with the song "Ek Do
Teen" from the film Tezaab (1988). The song won her
a Filmfare Best Female Playback Award.
She has sung in many languages other than Hindi,
including Gujarati, Oriya, Assamese, Manipuri, Nepali, Rajasthani, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, English and Malayalam.
She has worked with Indian composers such as Kalyanji-Anandji, Rahul
Dev Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Rajesh Roshan, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin
Lalit, Anu Malik, A. R. Rahman, Anand-Milind,Himesh Reshammiya, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy, Ismail
Darbar, Aadesh Shrivastava, Viju Shah, M. M. Keeravani, Sajid-Wajid, Bappi
Lahiri, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sandesh Shandilya and many
others.
She has sung maximum duets with Udit Narayan & Kumar
Sanu. She has also sung many duets with Abhijeet Bhattacharya, Vinod
Rathod, Sonu Nigam & Shaan.
She has also sung in many albums such as "Tum Yaad
Aaye", as well as "Tum Aaye" and "Shairana" in which
she worked in close collaboration with award-winning lyricist Javed Akhtar and
singer Hariharan. She has also rendered the Hanuman Chalisa and various
devotional songs.
Alka shares the title with Asha Bhosle for the greatest
number of Filmfare Awards won (7) by a single female playback
singer. Alka has also been the judge of various Sa Re Ga Ma Pa
Challenge shows, and Star Voice of India, both singing
competition shows, in which children or adults of various age groups compete
with one another to win the award for best vocals. In addition to this, her
song "Chamma Chamma" from China Gate was featured in
the song "Hindi Sad Diamonds" from the soundtrack of the film Moulin
Rouge!. She has also been performing in live concerts around the world.
In 2012 she along with Sonu Nigam sang a song 'Shiksha
Ka Suraj' as part of National Literacy Mission of India for which she was
felicitated by Union Minister For Human Resource DevelopmentKapil Sibal. Further
in 2012, on occasion of 100 years of Hindi Cinema, her song "Taal Se Taal
Mila" from the movie Taal was voted as the best song of
the century in a poll conducted by DesiMartini, Hindustan Times and Fever
104. Also her song "Choli Ke Peeche" from the movie Khalnayak was
voted as the hottest song of the century in a poll conducted by Sanona. [
She has also been involved in various projects pertaining to
empowerment of the girl child.
Tag :
Singers
Udit Narayan
UDIT NARAYAN JHA popularly known as Udit Narayan, is a Nepali playback
singer singing Bollywood in commercial. He has sung in around 32
language including Hindi, Bhojpuri, Nepali, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Urdu,
Garhwali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Oriya, Assamese,Maithili and Bengali language
cinema. He has won three National Film Awards and five Filmfare
Awards. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government
of India and also awarded the Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu by the
late King of Nepal 'Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev' .
Udit Narayan Jha was born on 1 December 1955 in a village
called Bhardaha in the Saptari district, Nepal. His
father was Hare Krishna Jha and his mother was Bhuwaneshwari Devi.
Narayan studied at P.B. School, Rajbiraj, where he passed
his S.L.C. (class 10) and later obtained his intermediate from Ratna
Rajya Laxmi Campus, mostly known as RR campus Kathmandu.
Udit Narayan began his career in Nepal singing for Radio
Nepal as a staff artist for Maithili and Nepali folk
songs. He sang many popular Nepali folk, modern songs on Radio Nepal. His
first film playback singing was for Nepali film Sindur. It was
a comedy song for famous Nepali comedians GopalRaj Mainali (Chankhe) and
Basundhara Bhushal (Nakkali). It was a duet song with Sushma Shrestha —
now known as Poornima in Hindi films. After eight years in that role, the
Indian embassy offered him the chance to study classical music at a prestigious
school in Bombay, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, on a music scholarship. He moved to
Bombay in 1978.
Udit Narayan has sung more than 25,000 songs in more than 34
languages. He is one of the most acclaimed singers of the present generation.
He got his first break in 1980, when noted music director (composer) Rajesh
Roshan asked him to playback for the Hindi film Unees Bees and
was given the opportunity to sing with the veteran Mohammed Rafi. He
provided playback for a number of films, the most notable being Sannata (1981), Bade
Dil Wala (1983) and Tan-Badan (1986). The success
story of his career began in 1988 when Anand-Milind gave him the
opportunity to sing all the songs for the successful Bollywood movie Qayamat
Se Qayamat Tak, earning him a Filmfare Award. The film also
brought actor Aamir Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and playback
singer Alka Yagnik to stardom. After the success of Qayamat
Se Qayamat Tak, he became one of the leading playback singers in the Indian
film industry.
Narayan is a resident of Mumbai. He has married twice: to
Ranjana Narayan Jha and Deepa Narayan Jha. His second wife, Deepa Narayan, whom
he married in 1985, is a singer. The two recorded an album together
titled Dil Deewana. They have son, Aditya Narayan, who is a
former child actor, singer and television presenter. Aditya Narayan started his
singing for child artists in Nepali film with his father before starting his
singing career in Hindi movies in the 1990s and also acted in a few films.
Tag :
Singers
Atif Aslam
ATIF ASLAM (born in Wazirabad, Punjab, Pakistan as Muhammad
Atif Aslam) is a Pakistani pop singer and film actor,
and makes cameo appearances in Bollywood (Indian) films. His debut as
an actor was in the 2011 film Pakistani movie Bol. He has generated
numerous chart-topping songs, and is known for his vocal belting technique. Atif
is a recipient for the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, one of Pakistan's highest
civilian decorations.
Atif was born
into a Muslim family in Wazirabad, Punjab, Pakistan. He
began his education in kindergarten at Kimberley Hall School, Larkana.
In 1991 he then moved to Rawalpindi where he continued his studies in
St. Paul's Cambridge School, Satellite Town, Rawalpindi. Atif returned
to Lahore in 1995 where he continued his studies in Divisional
Public School, Lahore. He continued onwards to his FSC in PAF Inter
College Lahore. Atif eventually graduated with a Bachelor's degree.
Even though Atif always admired Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Abida
Parveen. his first love was for cricket and he dreamed of representing his
nation as a cricketer. He was a fast bowler and his passion for the sport saw
him being selected for the national Under 19 cricket team trials. At one stage
Atif was training to represent his country in the U-19 World Cup. However destiny
had other plans.
Spurred on by his friends he began to sing in public during his
days in college and recorded his first single "Aadat" with his pocket
money. Within a matter of weeks "Aadat" went viral online and soon he
became a household name on the basis of just that one song. On 17 July 2004 the
first album titled Jal Pari. by Atif Aslam was released. On
the outset, the album stood on the success of “Aadat” but as the weeks progressed,
everyone began to recognize that Atif was blessed with incredible talent and
was not merely a one hit wonder.
Blessed with prodigious raw talent and a passion for music, Atif's
decision to pursue music as a career was certainly a brave one as he had no
formal musical training nor did he come from a musical family. Despite his
positive outlook, music and lyrics his massive success and popularity with the
massess was hard for many to fathom. He faced his fair share of critical
commentaries and judgements, however he used all these factors to his advantage
and was courageous enough to continue singing in his own style without giving
an ear to his detractors. In an industry where releasing independent albums
were not the norm, the courage and passion he displayed in his first album
became a solid foundation for his future success.Several songs from his debut
album such as “Bheegi Yaadein”, “Ehsaas”, “Mahi Ve”, “Ankhon Sey” along with
the title track “Jalpari” went on to become major hits and charted across
countries in the subcontinent. Atif Aslam with his dynamic presence and
powerful voice presented his own unique sound. A true original artist, there
was no reference point to his sound at the time. His ability to connect to the
hearts of his listeners backed up with vocal capabilities and memorable
melodies swiftly elevated him to stardom across Pakistan and won him millions
of hearts across India. Many believe this album to be a youth anthem of Pakistan,
encouraging the youth to pursue their dreams and represent their nation in a
positive light.
Following the massive success of Jal Pari, he released
two more solo albums, "Doorie" & "Meri Kahani". Both
albums were massive successes. According to Tips music his solo albums have
sold more than 9 million units globally.
Even as Atif continued to record solo albums he soon found huge
appreciation and acceptance for his talent in India. Within a span of 3 years
he went on to record over two dozen chartbusters for top Bollywood films and
for his work on the movie Race, was nominated for the prestigious Filmfare
Award. He continues to work on top productions and his growing popularity has
seen filmmakers create special music videos to promote their films with his
songs.
Constantly developing as an artist, Atif soon evolved himself into
an exciting concert performer. Following sold out concerts and electrifying
performances throughout his country the demand to watch Atif Aslam perform live
grew across the world with legions of loyal fans growing across nations. People
were amazed to experience the dynamic vocal range Atif was able to deliver in a
live performance. His energy on stage, with charming charisma and a natural
ability to work the crowd swiftly made him the most sought after live performer
in Pakistan and numerous countries across Asia. The artist started performing
to sellout crowds on a regular basis. Fans came to recognize a true artist. The
energy level never reduced but the crowd kept on increasing.
Tag :
Singers
Suresh Wadkar
SURESH ISHWAR WADKAR (born 7 August 1954) is an
Indian playback singer. He performs in both Hindi and Marathi films.He
has sung songs in some Bhojpuri films and in Konkani.
Back in 1968, when Suresh Wadkar was barely 13, Acharya
Jialal Vasant entrusted him with a student to initiate in Tory to teach
before you appear for your graduation in music through Prayag Sangit Samiti,
because there “Prabhakar” certificate is equivalent to B. Ed. and it authorizes
you to teach professionally. Guruji made every child studying for Senior
Diploma, to sit in the class of 1st year with an experienced teacher and learn
the process of “teaching”. Suresh successfully completed his “Prabhakar” and
joined “Arya Vidya Mandir, Mumbai as a music teacher. A lot of famous “stars”
of today had the opportunity to learn from him.
Acharya Jialal Vasant, announced during his felicitation function
organized by his students on May 1985. He said, “We continuously talk about the
benefits one enjoys when one is blessed with a good Guru. But let me tell you,
that every Guru looks for at least one student, who can take his torch forward.
I have been, I must say, very fortunate to get ‘the’ student; I have always
looked for in Suresh. I am fully confident that he will leave no stone unturned
to accomplish what I desire the most – to attain excellence both as a singer
& a teacher. I feel that my mission is fulfilled.”
He has a music school in Mumbai, India (www.ajivasan.com) and New
Jersey/New York, USA (www.sureshwadkarmusic.com) where methodical training is
given to students.
Suresh Wadkar added a new chapter in his Music life when he
started the First Online Music teaching school "SWAMA" (Suresh Wadkar
Ajivasan Music Academy) under Ace Open University.
Though groomed for Indian classical music, he entered the
Sur-Singar competition in 1976. Wadkar won the competition which was judged by
composers from the Indian film industry includingJaidev. Jaidev later offered
him the song "Seene Mein Jalan" in the film Gaman (released
in 1978). He also performed in the film Paheli (released
1977).
At the time, Lata Mangeshkar was so impressed with his
voice that she strongly recommended him to film personalities including Laxmikant-Pyarelal,
Khayyam and Kalyanji-Anandji. Laxmikant-Pyarelal,
impressed with his voice, soon recorded a duet with Lata "Chal Chameli
Bagh Mein" for Krodhi (released in 1981). Soon after, he
was given the opportunity to perform for songs in Hum Paanch, Pyaasa
Sawan ("Megha re Megha Re") and above all, his turning point
in films - Raj Kapoor's Prem Rog (released in 1982).after
that Wadkar Sang many songs under R.K. Banner and he offenly gave his voice for
Rishi Kapoor for Heena, Prem granth, and Rajeev Kapoor for Ram teri Ganga Maili
he used to sing specialy for Rishi kapoor in Numerous film Bol Radha Bol,
Vijay, and other song
Wadkar also produced the film Tanman.com. He was a judge on the
Indian TV singing show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs International and
at the 2005 Sanjeet Awards.
Suresh Wadkar has for the first time sung a song in the upcoming
Tamil film Kanden Kadhalai. This film is an adaptation of the Hindi
Blockbuster Jab We Met. The song is a ghazal type song called
"Naan Mozhi Arindhaen".
He has sung numerous devotional songs in various languages.
In 1996, Wadkar sang Channeache Rati among several other
songs in Rajendra Talak's Konkani album Daryachya Deger with Asha
Bhosle.
Wadkar is married to classical singer Padma. He has
two daughters, Ananya and Gia.
Shubha Mudgal
SHUBHA MUDGAL (born
1959) is a well-known Indian singer of Hindustani classical
music, Khayal, Thumri, Dadra, and popular Indian Pop music.
She has been awarded the 1996 National Film Award for Best
Non-Feature Film Music Direction for 'Amrit Beej', the 1998 Gold
Plaque Award for Special Achievement in Music, at the 34th Chicago
International Film Festival, for her music in the film Dance of the
Wind(1997), and the Padma Shri in 2000. She is also close to
movements like ANHAD and SAHMAT.
Born in an academic family to Skand and Jaya Gupta in Allahabad, Uttar
Pradesh. Both her parents were Professors of English Literature at Allahabad
University, with deep interest in Classical Hindustani Music and
Kathak. Her paternal grandfather, Prof. P. C. Gupta was also a Professor at Allahabad
University.
She attended St. Mary's Convent Inter College. As a
young girl she started learning Kathak in Allahabad following
the foot steps of her sister. She once replied to a dance examiner's routine
query of "Aap kis gharaane ki naachti hain? (What style/form do you
dance?)" with the retort, "Hum apne gharaane ki naachti hain (I dance
my own style)". She later switched to Hindustani Classical Music as
her vocation of choice while maintaining the same individualistic attitude. Her
first traditional teacher (guru) was Pandit Ramashreya Jha inAllahabad.
Shubha moved to New Delhi, and enrolled at the Delhi
University. She continued her musical education under Pandit Vinaya Chandra
Mudgalya at the urging of her first guru. After graduating from the University,
her training continued under Pandit Vasant Thakar in Delhi, and more
informally with other established singers as Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki, Naina
Devi and Pt. Kumar Gandharva.
Shubha Mudgal started performing as a Hindustani classical singer
in the 1980s, and gained a certain reputation as a talented singer. In the
1990s, she started experimenting with other forms of music, including pop and
fusion varieties. She says, "I believe in music. Khayal and Thumri are my
favourites, but that does not mean that I should not experiment with other
forms. Why should I curtail my musical urges?" asks the singer and adds,
"I want to allow the artist in me to come through. If you are a musician,
how can you say, 'this one is from devotional poetry, so I am not going to sing
it. In addition to her recordings and concerts, she briefly runs a website
called raagsangeet.com aimed at lovers of Classical Indian Music.
Mudgal sang the title track of Star Plus's No.1 serial Diya
Aur Baati Hum along with Kailash Kher. It is a very
soulful, classical-based Rajasthani folk song.
After graduating from University, Shubha married Pt. Mudgalya's
son Mukul Mudgal who was a promising lawyer. Shubha Mudgal however got divorced
from him, and married Aneesh Pradhan. Her only son from her previous marriage,
Dhaval, is a member of a Delhi-based band and a promising poker player.
Jimi Hendrix
JAMES
MARSHALL "JIMI" HENDRIX (born Johnny Allen
Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American musician,
singer and songwriter. Despite a limited mainstream exposure of four years, he
is widely considered one of the most influential electric guitarists in the
history of popular music and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th
century.
In 1961,
Hendrix enlisted in the US Army; he was granted an honorable discharge the
following year. In 1963, he moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and began
playing gigs on the chitlin' circuit. In 1964, he earned a spot in the
Isley Brothers' backing band and later that year he found work with Little
Richard, with whom he continued to play through mid-1965. He then joined Curtis
Knight and the Squires before moving to England in late 1966 after having
been discovered by bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals. In
1967, Hendrix earned three UK top ten hits with the Jimi Hendrix
Experience: "Hey Joe", "Purple Haze", and "The Wind
Cries Mary". Later that year, he achieved fame in the US after his
performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. The world's highest paid
performer, he headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle
of Wight Festival in 1970 before dying from barbiturate-related asphyxia at
the age of 27.
Inspired
musically by American rock and roll and electric blues, Hendrix
favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was
instrumental in developing the previously undesirable technique of guitar
amplifier feedback. He helped to popularize the use of a wah-wah pedal in
mainstream rock, and pioneered experimentation with stereophonic phasing effects
in music recordings.
Hendrix
was the recipient of several music awards during his lifetime and posthumously;
the Jimi Hendrix Experience was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Rolling
Stone ranked his three non-posthumous studio albums, Are You
Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland among
the 100 greatest albums of all time and they ranked Hendrix as the greatest
guitarist and the sixth greatest artist of all time.
Jimi
Hendrix's mixed genealogy included African American, Irish, and Cherokee ancestors.
His paternal great-great-grandmother Zenora was a full-blooded Cherokee from
Georgia who married an Irishman named Moore. They had a son Robert,
who married an African American girl named Fanny. In 1883, Robert and Fanny had
a daughter whom they named Zenora "Nora" Rose Moore, Hendrix's
paternal grandmother. The illegitimate son of a black slave woman, also
called Fanny, and her white overseer, Hendrix's paternal grandfather, Bertran
Philander Ross Hendrix (born 1866) was named after his biological father, a
grain merchant from Urbana, Ohio, and one of the wealthiest white men in
the area at the time. On June 10, 1919, Hendrix and Moore had a son they
named James Allen Ross Hendrix (died 2002); people called him Al.
In 1941,
Al met Lucille Jeter (1925–1958) at a dance in Seattle; they married on March
31, 1942. Drafted by the United States Army to serve in World War II,
Al went to war three days after their wedding. The first of Lucile's five
children, Johnny Allen Hendrix was born November 27, 1942 in Seattle,
Washington. In 1946, due to being unable to consult his father Al at the time
of birth, his parents changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix, in honor of
Al and his late brother Leon Marshall.
Stationed in Alabama at the time of Hendrix's birth, Al was denied
the standard military furlough afforded servicemen for childbirth; his
commanding officer placed him in the stockade to prevent his going AWOL to
see his infant son in Seattle. He spent two months locked up without trial, and
while in the stockade received a telegram announcing his son's
birth. During Al's three-year absence, Lucille struggled to raise their
son, often neglecting him in favor of nightlife. When Al
was away, Hendrix was mostly cared for by family members and friends,
especially Lucille's sister Delores Hall and her friend Dorothy
Harding. Al received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army on
September 1, 1945. Two months later, unable to find Lucille, Al went to
the Berkeley home of a family friend named Mrs. Champ, who had taken
care of and had attempted to adopt Hendrix, and saw his son for the first time.
After
returning from service, Al reunited with Lucille, but his difficulty finding
steady work left the family impoverished. Both he and Lucille struggled with
alcohol abuse, and they often fought when intoxicated. His parents' violence
sometimes made Hendrix withdraw and hide in a closet in their
home. Hendrix relationship with his brother Leon (born 1948) was close but
precarious; with Leon in and out of foster care, they lived with an almost
constant threat of fraternal separation. In addition to Leon, Hendrix had
three other younger siblings: Joseph, born in 1949, Kathy in 1950, and Pamela,
1951, all of whom Al and Lucille gave up to foster care and adoption. The
family frequently moved, staying in cheap hotels and apartments around Seattle.
On occasion, family would take Hendrix to Vancouver to stay at his
grandmother's. A shy and sensitive boy, he was deeply affected by these
experiences. In later years, he confided to a girlfriend that he had been
the victim of sexual abuse by a man in uniform. On December 17, 1951, when
Hendrix was nine years old, his parents divorced; the court granted Al custody
of him and Leon.
Hendrix's
recordings were originally released in North America on Reprise Records, a
division of Warner Communications, and were released internationally
on Polydor Records. Capitol Records released the Band of
Gypsys album in the US and Canada. British releases of his albums
up to and including The Cry of Love were first issued on the
independent label Track Records, which was originally created by the managers
of the Who. Polydor later absorbed the label.
In 1994,
the Hendrix family prevailed in its long standing legal attempt to gain control
of his music, and subsequently licensed the recordings to MCA Records through
the family-run company Experience Hendrix LLC, formed in 1995. In August
2009, Experience Hendrix announced that it had entered a new licensing
agreement with Sony Music Entertainment's Legacy Recordingsdivision
which would take effect in 2010.
Some of Hendrix's unfinished material was released as the 1971 title The Cry of Love. The album was well received and charted in several countries. However, the album's producers, Mitchell and Kramer, would later complain that due to contractual reasons, they were unable to make use of all the tracks they wanted due to some tracks being used for 1971's Rainbow Bridge and 1972's War Heroes. Material from The Cry of Love was re-released in 1997 as First Rays of the New Rising Sun, along with the rest of the tracks that Mitchell and Kramer wanted to include.
In 2010, Legacy Recordings and Experience Hendrix LLC launched the 2010 Jimi Hendrix Catalog Project, starting with the release of Valleys of Neptune in March. Legacy has also released deluxe CD/DVD editions of the Hendrix albums Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland and First Rays of the New Rising Sun, as well as the 1968 compilation album Smash Hits. Hendrix's rough demos for a concept album, Black Gold, are now in the possession of Experience Hendrix LLC, but as of 2013 no official release date has been announced.
Although the details of his last day and death are unclear and widely disputed, Hendrix had spent much of September 17 in London with Monika Dannemann, the only witness to his final hours. Dannemann stated that she had prepared a meal for them at her apartment in the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent,Notting Hill, sometime around 11 p.m., when they shared a bottle of wine. She drove Hendrix to the residence of an acquaintance at approximately 1:45 a.m., where he remained for about an hour before she picked him up and drove them back to her flat at 3 a.m. Dannemann said they talked until around 7 a.m., when they went to sleep. She awoke around 11 a.m., and found Hendrix breathing, but unconscious and unresponsive. She called for an ambulance at 11:18 a.m.; they arrived on the scene at 11:27 a.m. Paramedics then transported Hendrix to St Mary Abbot's Hospital where Dr. John Bannister pronounced him dead at 12:45 p.m. on September 18, 1970.
To determine the cause of death, coroner Gavin Thurston ordered a post-mortem examination on Hendrix's body, which was performed on September 21 by Professor Robert Donald Teare, a forensic pathologist. Thurston concluded the inquest on September 28, and concluded that Hendrix aspirated his own vomit and died of asphyxia while intoxicated with barbiturates. Citing "insufficient evidence of the circumstances", he declared an open verdict. Dannemann later stated that Hendrix had taken nine of her prescribed Vesparax sleeping tablets, 18 times the recommended dosage.
On September 29, Hendrix's body was flown to Seattle, Washington. After a service at Dunlop Baptist Church on October 1, he was interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Renton, Washington, the location of his mother's gravesite. Hendrix's family and friends traveled in twenty-four limousines. More than two hundred people attended the funeral, including several notable musicians such as original Experience members Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, as well as Miles Davis,John Hammond and Johnny Winter.
Tag :
Singers
Madonna
MADONNA LOUISE CICCONE ( born
August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, author, director,
entrepreneur and philanthropist. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to
New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance and performed in the
music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy. In 1982, Madonna signed
with Sire Records (an affiliate of Warner Bros. Records) and
released herself-titled debut album the following year. She has since
released a series of successful albums, including the Grammy Award winners Ray
of Light (1998) and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005).
Many of her songs peaked atop record charts, including "Like a Virgin",
"Into the Groove", "Papa Don't Preach", "Like a Prayer",
"Vogue", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up",
and "4 Minutes".
Madonna is known for continuously reinventing both her music and
image, and for retaining a standard of autonomy within the recording industry.
She attained immense popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in
mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a
fixture on MTV. Critics have praised her diverse musical productions which
have also been known to induce controversy.
Madonna received generally positive reviews for her role in Desperately
Seeking Susan (1985), though her later film appearances received mixed
commentary. She received critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award for Best
Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Evita (1996),
but has received harsh feedback for other performances. She has been recognized
as an acclaimed businesswoman, involving herself in fashion design, writing
children's books, and film directing and producing. In 1992, she founded
entertainment company Maverick as a joint venture with Time
Warner, which also included the label Maverick Records. In 2007, she
signed a US $120 million record, touring and merchandising 360° deal with Live
Nation, resulting in her leaving Warner Bros., her label since 1982.
Madonna's music has been the subject of much analysis and scrutiny
by critics. Robert M. Grant, author of Contemporary Strategy
Analysis (2005), commented that what has brought Madonna success is
"certainly not outstanding natural talent. As a vocalist, musician,
dancer, songwriter, or actress, Madonna's talents seem modest." He
asserts Madonna's success is in relying on the talents of others, and that her
personal relationships have served as cornerstones to the numerous reinventions
in the longevity of her career.
Madonna's approach was far from the music industry wisdom of
"Find a winning formula and stick to it." Her musical career has been
a continuous experimentation with new musical ideas and new images and a
constant quest for new heights of fame and acclaim. Grant concluded that
"having established herself as the queen of popular music, Madonna did not
stop there, but continued re-inventing."Musicologist Susan McClary wrote
that "Madonna's art itself repeatedly deconstructs the traditional notion
of the unified subject with finite ego boundaries. Her pieces explore, varios
ways of constituting identities that refuse stability, that remain fluid, that
resist definition."
Mark Bego, author of Madonna: Blonde Ambition, called
her "the perfect vocalist for lighter-than-air songs", despite not
being a "heavyweight talent." Madonna has always been
self-conscious about her voice, especially in comparison to her vocal idols
such asElla Fitzgerald, Prince and Chaka Khan. According to
Freya Jarman-Ivens, Madonna's talent for developing
"incredible" hooks for her songs allows the lyrics to
capture the attention of the audience, even without the influence of the music.
As an example, Jarman-Ivens cites the 1985 single "Into the Groove"
and its line "Live out your fantasy here with me, just let the music set
you free; Touch my body, and move in time, now I know you're
mine." Madonna's lyrics often suggest an identification with
the gay community. Santiago Fouz-Hernández believes that when Madonna
sings "Come on girls, do you believe in love?" in "Express
Yourself", she is addressing both the gay audience and the heterosexual
female. Even in the Erotica era, with its often
adult-oriented lyrics, the songs appear free-flowing and gullible ("So
won't you go down, where it's warm inside" — "Where Life Begins"
from Erotica).
Madonna has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. She
started her musical career with songs that she described as "soulful pop
music". Madonna recalled in a 1983 interview with Island magazine
that she had wanted to grow up as a black kid. "First of all, all the
black girls in my neighborhood had these dances in their yard where they had
these little turntables with 45 records and they'd play all this Motown stuff
and they would dance, just dance, all of them dancing together and none of the
white kids I knew would ever do that. They were really boring and stiff. And I
wanted to be part of the dancing. I didn't like my friends. I had to be beaten
up so many times by these little black girls before they would accept me and finally
one day they whipped me with a rubber hose till I was like, lying on the ground
crying. And then they just stopped doing it all of a sudden and let me be their
friend, part of their group."
On her 1983 debut album, Madonna's vocal abilities and personal
artistry were not fully formed. Her vocal style was similar to other pop stars
of that period like Paula Abdul, Debbie Gibson, andTaylor Dayne. The
songs on Madonna reveal several key trends that have continued
to define her success, including a strong dance-based idiom, catchy hooks,
highly polished arrangementsand Madonna's own vocal style. In songs such
as "Lucky Star" and "Borderline", Madonna introduced a
style of upbeat dance music that would prove particularly appealing to gay
audiences. The bright, girlish vocal timbre of the early years became
passé in Madonna's later works, the change being deliberate, since Madonna was
constantly reminded of how the critics had once labelled her as "Minnie
Mouse on helium", because of her early voice.
Madonna's second album, Like a Virgin (1984),
foreshadowed several trends in her later works. It contained references to
classical works (pizzicato synthesizer line that opens "Angel");
potential negative reaction from social groups ("Dress You Up" was
blacklisted by the Parents Music Resource Center); and retro styles
("Shoo-Bee-Doo", Madonna's homage to Motown). Madonna's
early style, and the change that she ushered in it, is best evident in the song
"Material Girl". It opens with Madonna using a little-girl voice, but
following the first verse, she switches to a richer, more mature voice in
the chorus. This mature artistic statement was visible in True
Blue (1986). The song "Papa Don't Preach" was a significant
milestone in her artistic career. The classical introduction, fast tempo and
the gravity in her voice were unprecedented in Madonna's œuvre at that time.
With Like a Prayer (1989), Madonna again entered
a new phase, musically. The album introduced live recorded songs and
incorporated different genres of music, including dance, R&B and
gospel music. Madonna continued to compose ballads and uptempo dance
songs for Erotica (1992) and Bedtime Stories (1994).
She tried to remain contemporary by incorporating samples, drum loops and hip
hop into her music. Her voice grew much deeper and fuller, evident in the
tracks like "Rain" and "Take a Bow". During the
filming of Evita, Madonna had to take vocal lessons, which
increased her range further. Of this experience she commented, "I studied
with a vocal coach for Evita and I realized there was a whole
piece of my voice I wasn't using. Before, I just believed I had a really
limited range and was going to make the most of it."
Continuing her musical evolution with Ray of Light,
the track "Frozen" displayed her fully formed vocal prowess and her
allusions to classical music. Her vocals were restrained and she sang the songs
in Ray of Light without vibrato. However, the intake of breath
within the songs became more prominent. With the new millennium came her
album Music in which Madonna sang in her normal voice in a
medium range, and sometimes in a higher register for the chorus. A change
was also noted in the content of the songs, with most of them being simple love
songs, but with an underlying tone of melancholy. Her next record, American
Life, was characterized by "a thumping techno rhythm, liquid keyboard
lines, an acoustic chorus and a bizarre Madonna rap", according to Q magazine. The
"conventional rock songs" of the album were suffused with dramatic
lyrics about patriotism and composition, including the appearance of a gospel
choir in the song "Nothing Fails".
Musically, things changed with Confessions on a Dance
Floor, which returned Madonna to pure dance songs, infusing club beats and
retro music, but the lyrics continued to be about paradoxicalmetaphors and
reference to her earlier works. In her studio album, Hard Candy,
she mixed R&B and hip hop music with dance tunes. The album also had songs
whose lyrics were autobiographical and expressed support for helping
Africa. Fouz-Hernández commented that "Throughout her career,
Madonna's manipulation of her voice shows us that, by refusing to be defined in
one way, she has in fact opened up a space for new kinds of musical
analysis." With MDNA, Madonna returned to the electropop genre
she flirted with on Like a Prayer andMusic. Neil
McCormick of The Daily Telegraph noted the attempt was feeble,
compared to her previous classics in the genre.
Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and
is recognized as the best-selling female recording artist of all time by Guinness
World Records. Time considered her to be one of the
"25 Most Powerful Women of the Past Century" for being an influential
figure in contemporary music. Madonna is the best-selling female rock
artist of the 20th century and the second best selling female artist in
the United States, with 64.5 millioncertified albums. Considered by Forbes and
other publications as a cultural icon, she is often referred by the
international press as the "Queen of Pop".
In 2008, Billboard ranked her at number two,
behind only The Beatles, on the Billboard Hot 100
All-Time Top Artists, making her the most successful solo artist in the history
of the chart. She was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
the same year. In 2012, she was crowned the "Greatest Woman In Music"
by VH1. As of 2013, some sources report that Madonna's net worth has
crossed over one billion dollars.
In The Madonna Companion, biographers Allen Metz and
Carol Benson noted that more than any other recent pop artist, Madonna had used
MTV and music videos to establish her popularity and enhance her recorded
work. According to them, many of her songs have the imagery of the music
video in strong context, while referring to the music. Cultural critic Mark
C. Taylor in his book Nots (1993) felt that the postmodern
art form par excellence is video and the reigning "queen of
video" is Madonna. He further asserted that "the most remarkable
creation of MTV is Madonna. The responses to Madonna's excessively provocative
videos have been predictably contradictory". The media and public
reaction towards her most-discussed songs such as "Papa Don't Preach",
"Like a Prayer", or "Justify My Love" had to do with the
music videos created to promote the songs and their impact, rather than the
songs themselves.Morton felt that "artistically, Madonna's songwriting is
often overshadowed by her striking pop videos."
Madonna's initial music videos reflected her American and Hispanic
mixed street style combined with a flamboyant glamor. She was able to
transmit her avant-garde downtown New York fashion sense to the American
audience. The imagery and incorporation of Hispanic culture and Catholic
symbolism continued with the music videos from the True Blue era. Author Douglas
Kellner noted, "such 'multiculturalism' and her culturally
transgressive moves turned out to be highly successful moves that endeared her
to large and varied youth audiences". Madonna's Spanish look in the
videos became the fashion trend of that time, in the form of boleros and
layered skirts, accessorizing with rosary beads and a crucifix as in the video
of "La Isla Bonita".
Madonna has been honored with 20 MTV Video Music Awards—the
most for any artist—including the lifetime achievement "Video Vanguard
Award" in 1986. In 2003, MTV named her "The Greatest Music Video
Star Ever" and said that "Madonna's innovation, creativity and
contribution to the music video art form is what won her the
award." Her videos "Die Another Day", "Express
Yourself", "Bedtime Story", and "Give Me All Your Luvin'"
are some of the most expensive music videos of all time.
Madonna's emergence occurred during the advent of MTV; Chris
Nelson from The New York Times spoke of pop artists like
Madonna saying, "with its almost exclusively lip-synced videos,
ushered in an era in which average music fans might happily spend hours a day,
every day, watching singers just mouth the words." The
symbiotic relationship between the music video and lip-syncing led to a desire
for the spectacle and imagery of the music video to be transferred to live
stage shows. He added, "Artists like Madonna and Janet Jackson set
new standards for showmanship, with concerts that included not only elaborate
costumes and precision-timed pyrotechnics but also highly athletic dancing.
These effects came at the expense of live singing."Thor Christensen of
the Dallas Morning News commented that while Madonna earned a
reputation for lip-syncing during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, she has
subsequently reorganized her performances by "staying mostly still during
her toughest singing parts and leaves the dance routines to her backup
troupe ...rather than try to croon and dance up a storm at the same
time."
To allow for greater movement while dancing and singing, Madonna
was one of the earliest adopters of hands-free radio-frequency headset
microphones, with the headset fastened over the ears or the top of the head,
and the microphone capsule on a boom arm that extended to the mouth. Because of
her prominent usage, the microphone design came to be known as the
"Madonna mic". Metz noted that Madonna represents a paradox as
she is often perceived as living her whole life as a performance. While her
big-screen performances are panned, her live performances are critical
successes. Madonna was the first artist to have her concert tours as
reenactment of her music videos. Author Elin Diamond explained that
reciprocally, the fact that images from Madonna's videos can be recreated in a
live setting enhances the realism of the original videos. Thus her live
performances have become the means by which mediatized representations are
naturalized. Taraborrelli said that encompassing multimedia, latest
technology and sound systems, Madonna's concerts and live performances are
deemed as "extravagant show piece, a walking art show."
Tag :
Singers
The Beatles
THE BEATLES were an English rock band
formed in Liverpool in 1960. Their best-known lineup,
consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, became considered by many
as the greatest and most influential act of the rock era. Rooted
in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later
utilized several genres, ranging
from pop ballads to psychedelic
rock, often incorporating classical elements in innovative ways. In the
early 1960s, their enormous popularity first emerged as "Beatlemania",
but as their songwriting grew in sophistication, they came to be perceived by
fans and cultural observers as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the era's sociocultural revolutions.
Starting
in 1960, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act
and producer George Martin enhanced their musical potential. They
gained popularity in the United Kingdom after their first modest hit, "Love
Me Do", in late 1962. They acquired the nickname the "Fab Four"
as Beatlemania grew in Britain over the following year, and by early 1964 they
had become international stars, leading the "British Invasion" of the
United States pop market. From 1965 on, the Beatles produced what many critics
consider their finest material, including the innovative and widely influential
albums Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club
Band (1967), The Beatles (1968), and Abbey Road (1969). After their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful
musical careers. Lennon was shot
and killed in December 1980, and
Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001. McCartney and Starr remain
musically active.
According
to the RIAA, the Beatles are the best-selling band in the United States,
with 177 million certified units. They have had more number-one albums on the
British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act. In 2008, the
group topped Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most
successful "Hot 100" artists. As of 2013, they hold the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with 20. They have received 7Grammy
Awards, an Academy Award for Best
Original Song Score and 15 Ivor Novello Awards. Collectively
included in Time magazine's compilation of the 20th century's 100 most
influential people, the Beatles are the best-selling
band in history, with EMI Records estimating sales of over one billion
units. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Beatles as the best artist
of all-time.
Former Rolling Stone associate editor Robert Greenfield
compared the Beatles to Picasso,
as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come
up with something that was unique and original ... In the form of popular music, no one will
ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive". They not only sparked the British
Invasion of the US they became a globally influential phenomenon as well.
Their
musical innovations and commercial success inspired musicians worldwide. Many
artists have acknowledged the Beatles' influence and enjoyed chart success with covers of their songs. On radio, their arrival marked the
beginning of a new era; in 1968 the programme director of New York's WABC radio
station forbid his DJs from playing any "pre-Beatles" music.
They helped to redefine the album as something more than just a few hits
padded out with "filler",
and they were primary
innovators of the modern music video.
The Shea Stadium show with
which they opened their 1965
North American tour attracted an
estimated 55,600 people, then the largest audience in concert
history; Spitz describes the event as a "major breakthrough ... a
giant step toward reshaping the concert business." Emulation of their clothing and
especially their hairstyles, which became a mark of rebellion, had a global
impact on fashion, wrote Gould.
According
to Gould, the Beatles changed the way people listened to popular music and
experienced its role in their lives. From what began as the Beatlemania fad,
the group's popularity grew into what was seen as an embodiment of
sociocultural movements of the decade. As icons of the 1960s counterculture, Gould continues,
they became a catalyst for bohemianism and activism in various social and
political arenas, fuelling movements such as women's
liberation, gay liberation and environmentalism. 335 According
to Peter Lavezzoli, after the "more popular than Jesus" controversy
in 1966, the Beatles felt considerable pressure to say the right things and
"began a concerted effort to spread a message of wisdom and higher
consciousness."
Tag :
Singers
