Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in McComb and raised in Kentwood, she appeared in stage productions and television series, before signing with Jive Records in 1997. Spears's first two studio albums... Baby One More Time and Oops!... I were global successes and made her the best-selling teenage artist of all-time. Referred to as the "Princess of Pop", Spears was regarded as a pop icon and credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Spears adopted more mature and provocative themes for her next two studio albums, Britney and In the Zone, made her feature film debut in a starring role in Crossroads. Following a series of publicized personal struggles and erratic public behavior, Spears's career was interrupted, before the release of her fifth studio album Blackout, critically referred to as her best work, her erratic behavior and hospitalizations led Spears to be placed on a still ongoing conservatorship. She returned to the top of record charts with her sixth and seventh studio albums and Femme Fatale, respectively.
In 2012, Forbes reported that Spears was the highest paid female musician of the year, with earnings of $58 million, having last topped the list in 2002. During the promotion of her eighth and ninth studio albums, Britney Jean and Glory, Spears embarked on a four-year concert residency, Britney: Piece of Me, at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, which became one of the highest-grossing residencies of all-time. In 2019, Spears announced an indefinite career hiatus due to her father's unstable health. Spears scored six number one albums on the Billboard 200, making her the third best performing female artist on the chart. Five of Spears's singles have reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100: "... Baby One More Time", "Womanizer", "3", "Hold It Against Me" and "S&M". Other singles, "Oops!... I Did It Again" and "Toxic", topped Canadian charts. With "3" in 2009 and "Hold It Against Me" in 2011, she became the second artist after Mariah Carey in the Hot 100's history to debut at number one with two or more songs.
Spears has earned numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award, seven Guinness World Records, six MTV Video Music Awards, including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, seven Billboard Music Awards, including the Millennium Award, the inaugural Radio Disney Icon Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, becoming the youngest recording artist to receive the honor, at age 21. Billboard ranked her as the eighth biggest artist of the 2000s decade. One of the world's best-selling music artists, Spears has sold over 150 million records worldwide and more than 70 million records in United States, including 36.9 million digital singles and 33.6 million digital albums. In the United States, Spears remains the fourth best-selling female album artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era, as well as the best-selling female albums artist of the 2000s. In 2004, she launched a perfume brand with Elizabeth Arden, Inc. from which sales exceeded US$1.5 billion, as of 2012. The singer serves as one of the few artists in history to have a number one single and studio album in the US during each of the three decades of their career—1990s, 2000s, 2010s.
Spears has topped the list of most searched celebrities seven times in 12 years, a record since the inception of the internet. Spears was born in McComb, the second child of Lynne Irene Bridges and James Parnell Spears, her maternal grandmother, Lillian Portell, was English, one of Spears's maternal great-great-grandfathers was Maltese. Her siblings are Jamie Lynn. Britney was born in the Bible Belt, where conservative evangelical Protestantism is a strong religious influence. Spears was baptized into the Southern Baptist Convention, but in life studied Kabbalist teachings, she sang in a Baptist church choir as a child. At age three, she started attending dance lessons in her hometown of Kentwood and was selected to perform as a solo artist at the annual recital. Spears made her local stage debut at age five, singing "What Child Is This?" at her kindergarten graduation. During her childhood, she attended gymnastics and voice lessons, won many state-level competitions and children's talent shows.
She said about her ambition as a child, "I was in my own world, I found out what I'm supposed to do at an early age". At age eight and her mother Lynne traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to audition for the 1990s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club. Casting director Matt Casella rejected her as too young, but introduced her to Nancy Carson, a New York City talent agent. Carson was impressed with Spears's singing and suggested enrolling her at the Professional Performing Arts School. Spears was hired for her first professional role as the understudy for the lead role of Tina Denmark in the Off-Broadway musical Ruthless!. She appeared as a contestant on the popular television show Star Search and was cast in a number of commercials. In December 1992, she was cast in The Mickey Mouse Club alongside Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, Keri Russell. After the show was canceled in 1996, she returned to Mississippi and enrolled at McComb's Parklane Academy. Although she made friends with most of her classmates, she compared the school to "the opening scene in Clueless with all the cliques.
I was so bored. I was the point guard on the basketball team. I had my boyfriend, I went to homecoming and Christmas formal, but I wanted more."In
Edele Lynch
Edele Claire Christina Edwina Lynch is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and actress. She is best known as the lead singer of Irish girl group B*Witched, of which her twin sister Keavy is a member, their brother Shane is a member of boy band Boyzone. In 1997, Edele and her twin sister Keavy formed the girl group Butterfly Farm with their friend Sinéad O'Carroll; the trio began writing and recording together, but soon realised that there was "someone missing". Upon Keavy's suggestion, they asked Armaou to come for an audition and she played a tape recording of a song she had written; the other girls liked it and Lindsay became the fourth member of the group, who changed their name to B*Witched. After the split, Edele joined for the songwriting/production team Xenomania, she co-wrote "Some Kind of Miracle" for Girls Aloud's debut album Sound of the Underground, "Buster", "Situation's Heavy" and "Twisted" for the Sugababes' third album Three. In 2006, Edele and Keavy created a duo group going by the name of Ms Lynch, until December 2009 when they were rebranded as "Barbarellas".
Edele confirmed on Facebook in late 2012 that the Barbarellas project had come to an end before reuniting with B*Witched. On 28 October 2013, Edele won Celebrity Apprentice Ireland, beating journalist Amanda Brunke in the final and winning €25,000 for her chosen charity, Laura Lynn House. On 18 August 2014, Edele became the ninth housemate to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house. Edele finished 6th in Celebrity Big Brother 2014. Edele Lynch on IMDb
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American television sitcom fantasy series broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964 to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man, vows to lead the life of a typical suburban housewife; the show enjoyed great popularity, finishing as the number two-rated show in America during its debut season, staying in the top ten for its first three seasons, just missing this mark with an eleventh place ranking for both seasons four and five. The show continues to be seen on recorded media. Bewitched was created by Sol Saks under executive director Harry Ackerman, starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens. Dick Sargent replaced an ailing York for the final three seasons. In 1966, Sandra Gould took over the part of Gladys Kravitz. Annual semi-regulars included Maurice Evans as Samantha's father. In 2002, Bewitched was ranked #50 on "TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time". In 1997, the same magazine ranked the season 2 episode "Divided He Falls" #48 on their list of the "100 Greatest Episodes of All Time".
A beautiful witch named Samantha marries a mortal named Darrin Stephens. While Samantha complies with Darrin's wishes to become a normal suburban housewife, her magical family disapproves of the mixed marriage and interferes in the couple's lives. Episodes begin with Darrin becoming the victim of a spell, the effects of which wreak havoc with mortals such as his boss, clients and neighbors. By the epilogue, however and Samantha most embrace, having overcome the devious elements that failed to separate them; the witches and their male counterparts, are long-lived. To keep their society secret, witches avoid showing their powers in front of mortals other than Darrin; the effects of their spells – and Samantha's attempts to hide their supernatural origin from mortals – drive the plot of most episodes. Witches and warlocks use physical gestures along with their incantations. To perform magic, Samantha twitches her nose to create a spell. Special visual effects are accompanied by music to highlight such an action.
The main setting for most episodes is the Stephens' house at 1164 Morning Glory Circle, in an upper-middle-class suburban neighborhood, either in Westport, Connecticut or Patterson, New York as indicated by conflicting information presented throughout the series. The season 3 episode "Soap Box Derby" shows the Mills Garage in Patterson as a neighbor's son's car sponsor, the Stephens' station wagon is seen with New York plates. In the season 5 episode "Samantha's Shopping Spree", a local department store is stated as being located in Patterson, New York. However, in the season 6 episode "Just a Kid Again", the Morning Glory Circle address is stated as being in Westport, as it is again in the season 7 episodes "Samantha's Pet Warlock" and "Money Happy Returns". However, in season 7 episode "Laugh, Laugh" Darrin's car is seen with New York plates on it. Elizabeth Montgomery owned a second home in Patterson. Many scenes take place at the fictional Madison Avenue advertising agency "McMann and Tate", where Darrin works.
Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens Dick York, Dick Sargent as Darrin Stephens Agnes Moorehead as Endora David White as Larry TateDuring its run, the series had a number of major cast changes because of illness or death of the actors. In particular, the performer playing Darrin was replaced after the fifth season, during which he missed several episodes. According to Harpie's Bizarre, creator Sol Saks' inspirations for this series in which many similarities can be seen were the film I Married a Witch developed from Thorne Smith's unfinished novel The Passionate Witch, the John Van Druten Broadway play Bell and Candle, adapted into the 1958 film Bell and Candle. In I Married a Witch, Wallace Wooley is a descendant of people who executed witches at the Salem witch trials; as revenge, a witch prepares a love potion for him. She ends up falling for her enemy, her father is against this union. In the film of Bell and Candle, modern witch Gillian Holroyd uses a love spell on Shep Henderson to have a simple fling with him but genuinely falls for the man.
Both films were properties of Columbia Pictures, which owned Screen Gems, the company that produced Bewitched. Sol Saks, who received credit as the creator of the show, wrote the pilot of Bewitched though he was not involved with the show after the pilot. Creator Saks, executive producer Harry Ackerman, director William Asher started rehearsals for the pilot on Novembe
Girl group
A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who harmonize together. The term "girl group" is used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of whom were influenced by doo-wop and which flourished in the late 1950s and early 1960s between the decline of early rock and roll and start of the British Invasion. All-female bands, in which members play instruments, are considered a separate phenomenon; these groups are sometimes called "girl bands" to differentiate, although this terminology is not universally followed. With the advent of the music industry and radio broadcasting, a number of girl groups emerged, such as the Andrews Sisters; the late 1950s saw the emergence of all-female singing groups as a major force, with 750 distinct girl groups releasing songs that reached US and UK music charts from 1960 to 1966. The Supremes alone held 12 number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 during the height of the wave and throughout most of the British Invasion rivaled the Beatles in popularity.
In eras, the girl group template would be applied to disco, contemporary R&B, country-based formats, as well as pop. A more globalized music industry saw the extreme popularity of dance-oriented pop music led by major record labels; this emergence, led by the US, UK, South Korea, Japan, produced popular acts, with eight groups debuting after 1990 having sold more than 15 million physical copies of their albums. Since the late 2000s, South Korea has had a significant impact, with 8 of the top 10 girl groups by digital sales in the world originating there. One of the first major all-female groups was the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce, an American trio who toured England and parts of Europe in 1927, recorded and appeared on BBC radio – they toured the US variety and big-time theaters extensively, changed their stage name to the Three X Sisters; the ladies were together from 1923 until the early 1940s, known for their close harmonies, as well as barbershop style or novelty tunes, utilized their 1930s radio success.
The Three X Sisters were especially a notable addition to the music scene, predicted girl group success by maintaining their popularity throughout the Great Depression. The Boswell Sisters, who became one of the most popular singing groups from 1930 to 1936, had over twenty hits; the Andrews Sisters started in 1937 as a Boswell tribute band and continued recording and performing through the 1940s into the late-1960s, achieving more record sales, more Billboard hits, more million-sellers, more movie appearances than any other girl group to date. The Andrews Sisters had musical hits across multiple genres, which contributed to the prevalence and popularity of the girl group form; the rise of girl groups appeared out of and was influenced by other musical movements of the time period. Vaudeville created an environment of entertainment in which the appearance of the girl group was not unfriendly, musical forms like a cappella and barbershop quartet singing provided inspiration for the structure of the songs and types of harmonies sung by initial girl groups.
The first successful girl groups of this era were white, but capitalized on using music such as ragtime that had originated in the African American community. This era was advantageous to the beginnings of girl group music because of the newfound prevalence of the radio as well, which allowed this style of music to spread; as the rock era began, close harmony acts like the Chordettes, the Fontane Sisters, the McGuire Sisters and the DeCastro Sisters remained popular, with the first three acts topping the pop charts and the last reaching number two, at the end of 1954 to the beginning of 1955. The Lennon Sisters were a mainstay on the Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 on. In early 1956, doo-wop one-hit wonder acts like the Bonnie Sisters with "Cry Baby" and the Teen Queens with "Eddie My Love" showed early promise for a departure from traditional pop harmonies. With "Mr. Lee", the Bobbettes lasted for 5 1/2 months on the charts in 1957, building momentum and gaining further acceptance of all-female, all-black vocal groups.
However, it was the Chantels' 1958 song "Maybe" that became "arguably, the first true glimmering of the girl group sound." The "mixture of black doo-wop and roll, white pop" was appealing to a teenage audience and grew from scandals involving payola and the perceived social effects of rock music. However, early groups such as the Chantels started developing their groups' musical capacities traditionally, through mediums like Latin and choir music; the success of the Chantels and others was followed by an enormous rise in girl groups with varying skills and experience, with the music industry's typical racially segregated genre labels of R&B and pop breaking apart. This rise allowed a semblance of class mobility to groups of people who could not otherwise gain such success, "forming vocal groups together and cutting records gave them access to other opportunities toward professional advancement and personal growth, expanding the idea of girlhood as an identity across race and class lines." The group considered to have achieved the first sustained success in girl group genre is the Shirelles, who first reached the Top 40 with "Tonight's the Night", in 1961 became the first girl group to reach number one on the Hot 100 with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", written by songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King at 1650 Broadway.
The Shirelles solidified their success with five more top 10 hits, most 1962's number one hit "Soldier Boy", over the next two and a half years. "Please Mr. Postman" by the Marvelettes became a major indication of the racial integration
Blame It on the Weatherman
"Blame It on the Weatherman" is a song by Irish girl group B*Witched. It was released as the fourth single from their self-titled debut studio album. Like the other three singles from the album, "Blame It on the Weatherman" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart. With this, B*Witched became the first act to have their first four singles all debut at number one in the UK and today remain the only girl group to do so. Though it plummeted to number nine the following week and remains one of the biggest drops from number one in the UK. Despite its success in the UK, it underperformed in Ireland, reaching number nine, it became. The single was certified Silver in the UK with sales of 200,000; the song was included on the 2003 Charmed soundtrack as a bonus track, having been featured in the season 5 episode "A Witch's Tail". The music video was directed by Michael Geoghegan, it features the band floating on a large upside-down articulated lorry through the flooded city of London, picking up numerous floating items from the water and rescuing a puppy.
For the video, they wore a mixture of their trademark denim and leather, designed by Scott Henshall, who dressed them for their Royal Variety Performance in 1999. UK CD1 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 3:33 "Together We'll Be Fine" - 3:18 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 3:31International CD Single & UK CD2 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 3:33 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 7:10 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 5:01UK Cassette "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 3:33 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 3:31UK 12" Vinyl Promo "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 7:10 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 7:06 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 5:01US 12" Vinyl Promo "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 3:33 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 7:10 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 5:01 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 7:06 "Blame It on the Weatherman" - 3:31Limited Edition CD Single Blame It On The Weatherman Together We'll Be Fine Blame It On The Weatherman Blame It On The Weatherman Blame It On The Weatherman Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of a boy, including wearing masculine clothing and engaging in games and activities that are physical in nature and are considered in many cultures to be unfeminine or the domain of boys. Tomboy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "has been connected with connotations of rudeness and impropriety" throughout its use; the OED dates the first use of the term to 1592, but an earlier use is recorded in Ralph Roister Doister, believed to date from 1553, was published in 1567. Author Michelle Ann Abate stated that, in nineteenth-century American culture, the usage of the word tomboy came to refer to a specific code of conduct that permitted young girls to exercise, wear "sensible clothing", to eat a "wholesome diet"; because of the emphasis on a healthier lifestyle, tomboyism grew in popularity during this time period as an alternative to the dominant feminine code of conduct that had limited women's physical movement.
Abate stated that this mode of behavior was planned to enhance the power and durability of the country's coming brides and child-bearers and the progeny that they birthed. She said that tomboyism was more than a new fostering method or gender statement for the country's young women. In her 1898 book Women and Economics, feminist writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman lauds the health benefits of being a tomboy as well as the freedom for gender exploration: "not feminine till it is time to be". Joseph Lee, a playground advocate, wrote in 1915 that the tomboy phase was crucial to physical development between the ages of eight and thirteen. Tomboyism remained popular through World War I and World War II in society and film. During the twentieth century, Freudian psychology and backlash against LGBT social movements resulted in societal fears about the sexualities of tomboys, this caused some to question if tomboyism leads to lesbianism. Throughout history, there has been a perceived correlation between tomboyishness and lesbianism.
For instance, Hollywood films would stereotype the adult tomboy as a "predatory butch dyke". Lynne Yamaguchi and Karen Barber, editors of Tomboys! Tales of Dyke Derring-Do, argue that "tomboyhood is much more than a phase for many lesbians", it "seems to remain a part of the foundation of who we are as adults". Many contributors to Tomboys! Linked their self-identification as tomboys and lesbians to both labels positioning them outside "cultural and gender boundaries". Psychoanalyst Dianne Elise's essay reported that more lesbians noted being a tomboy than straight women. However, while some tomboys reveal a lesbian identity in their adolescent or adult years, behavior typical of boys but displayed by girls is not a true indicator of one's sexual orientation. Gender scholar Judith Halberstam states that while the defying of gender roles is tolerated in young girls, adolescent girls who display masculine traits are repressed or punished. However, the ubiquity of traditionally female clothing such as skirts and dresses has declined in the Western world, where it is no longer considered a male trait for girls and women not to wear such clothing.
An increase in the popularity of women's sporting events and other activities that were traditionally male-dominated has broadened tolerance and lessened the impact of tomboy as a pejorative term. Instead, as sociologist Barrie Thorne suggested, some "adult women tell with a hint of pride as if to suggest: I was independent and active. There have been few studies of the causality of women's behavior and interests when they do not match the female gender role. One report from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children suggests that preschool girls engaging in masculine-typical gender-role behavior, such as playing with toys preferred by boys, is influenced by genetic and prenatal factors. Tomboys have been noted to demonstrate a stronger interest in science and technology. Effeminacy Geek girl Gender variance Girly girl Sissy Tomboys and sissies: Androgynous children? Tomboys! Feisty Girls and Spirited Women A film by Julie Akeret and Christian McEwen
Rollercoaster (B*Witched song)
"Rollercoaster" is a song recorded by Irish pop girl group B*Witched for their debut album, B*Witched. It was written by group members Lindsay Armaou, Edele Lynch, Keavy Lynch and Sinead O'Carroll along with Ray "Madman" Hedges, Martin Brannigan and Tracey Ackerman, it was produced by Hedges and Ackerman, with additional production by Cutfather & Joe. On 29 September 1998, the group released "Rollercoaster" as their second single from the album, following "C'est la Vie" four months earlier; the track peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart in October 1998 for two weeks and reached number one in Australia and New Zealand in November. Official music video on YouTube Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
