1.
Billboard (magazine)
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
2.
Reba McEntire
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Reba Nell McEntire is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She began her career in the industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band, on local radio shows with her siblings. While a sophomore in college, she performed the National Anthem at the National Rodeo in Oklahoma City and caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall who brought her to Nashville and she signed a contract with Mercury Records a year later in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five studio albums under the label until 1983. The album brought her success, bringing her a series of successful albums. She has sometimes referred to as The Queen of Country. And she is one of the artists of all time. In the early 1990s, McEntire branched into film starting with 1990s Tremors, Reba Nell McEntire was born March 28,1955, in McAlester, Oklahoma, to Jacqueline and Clark Vincent McEntire. She was named for her maternal grandmother Reba Estelle Smith, Reba Smith was the daughter of Byron Williams B. W. Her father, and her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, were both champion steer ropers and her father was a World Champion Steer Roper three times, John McEntire was the son of Clark Stephen McEntire and Helen Florida McEntire. Her mother had wanted to be a country-music artist but eventually decided to become a schoolteacher. Reba reportedly taught herself how to play the guitar, Reba played guitar in the group and wrote all the songs. The group sang at rodeos and recorded The Ballad of John McEntire together, released on the indie label Boss, the song pressed one thousand copies. In 1974, McEntire attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University planning to be a school teacher. While not attending school, she continued to sing locally. That same year she was hired to perform the anthem at the National Rodeo in Oklahoma City. Country artist Red Steagall, who was performing that day, was impressed by her vocal ability and agreed to help her launch a country-music career in Nashville. After recording a tape, she signed a recording contract with Mercury Records in 1975
3.
Ciara
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Ciara Princess Wilson, known mononymously as Ciara, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. It was at this time Ciara was noticed for her songwriting, in 2002, Ciara met music producer Jazze Pha. With his help, she signed a deal with LaFace Records. In 2004, Ciara released her studio album Goodies, which spawned three hit singles, Goodies,1,2 Step, and Oh. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. She released her studio album, Ciara, The Evolution, in 2006 which spawned the hit singles Get Up, Promise. The album reached number one in the U. S. and was certified platinum and her third studio album, Fantasy Ride, released in 2009, was considerably less successful than Ciaras first two albums. However, it produced the international top-ten single Love Sex Magic featuring Justin Timberlake, the following year, Ciara released her fourth studio album Basic Instinct, which was met with low sales and continued a downward trend in her commercial performance. In 2011, she signed a new deal with Epic Records. In 2015, Ciara released her sixth album Jackie, which included the singles I Bet, the album debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 and sold 19,000 copies, which made it her lowest first-week album sales to date. Ciara has also transitioned into acting in 2006 she made her film debut it All Youve Got, followed by Mama, I Want to Sing. in 2013, Ciara had a recurring role in the US TV series, The Game. Since making her debut in 2004, Ciara has attained eight Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles. She has also earned awards and accolades, including three BET Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three MOBO Awards, and one Grammy Award. To date, Ciara has sold over 23 million records worldwide, Ciara was born in Austin, Texas on October 25,1985, the only child of Jackie Harris and Carlton Harris. An army brat, she grew up in Germany, New York, Utah, California, Arizona and she was named after the Revlon fragrance Ciara which was introduced in 1973 and is still sold today. During her teens, Ciara and her family moved to Atlanta, in her mid-teens, Ciara formed the all-girl group Hearsay with two of her friends. The group recorded demos, but as time went on, they began to have differences, despite this setback, Ciara was still determined to reach her goal and signed a publishing deal as a songwriter. Her first success was the song, Got Me Waiting for R&B singer Fantasia Barrinos debut album and it was when she was writing songs that she met music producer, Jazze Pha, whom she called her music soulmate
4.
Fergie (singer)
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Fergie Duhamel is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She is the female vocalist for the hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas, in 2001, she left the group and in the subsequent year began to team up with The Black Eyed Peas. With The Black Eyed Peas, she enjoyed a series of hits, the Black Eyed Peas enjoyed further success with the release of their third album with Ferguson, The E. N. D. they attained their first string of Billboard Hot 100 number one songs. She began touring in 2009/2010 with her group and she launched her fragrance, Outspoken. She continued success with The Black Eyed Peas and they released the album The Beginning, Ferguson was born in Hacienda Heights, California, the daughter of devout Roman Catholic school teachers Theresa Ann and Jon Patrick Ferguson. Her ancestry includes Irish, Scottish, English, Mexican and Native American and she was raised Roman Catholic and attended Mesa Robles Middle School and Glen A. Wilson High School. She was a cheerleader, straight-A student and spelling bee champion, from 1984 to 1989, she starred on the TV show Kids Incorporated and was the longest running cast member, she starred in the first six of the shows nine seasons. Ferguson was a member of the female trio Wild Orchid, which she fronted with Stefanie Ridel, by 1992, the girls began meeting with record labels, but they still could not get a recording contract. They eventually signed a publishing deal with Sony Publishing before signing a record contract with RCA Records in 1994. In April 2007, she gave an interview in which she admitted that she went on a sex and drugs spree when she turned eighteen, saying, I wont say how many men Ive had sex with—but I am a very sexual person. Wild Orchids first single, At Night I Pray, debuted on the Billboard charts in September 1996, in March 1997, the band released their self-titled debut album, which debuted at number one. In September 1998, they released their album, Oxygen. From June 16 to August 28,1999, they opened for Chers Do You Believe, Tour alongside Cyndi Lauper, which took them to 52 cities across the United States and Canada. They completed an album, which their record label declined to release. In 2006, Ferguson told Entertainment Weekly that both frustrations with the image and personal drug problems led her to leave Wild Orchid. The Black Eyed Peas were recording their album, Elephunk. She got the gig and instantly bonded with the trio, going on to five additional songs on the album. From Elephunk came Where is the Love, which became The Black Eyed Peas first major hit, it peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in several other countries
5.
Taylor Swift
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Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. One of the most popular contemporary female recording artists, she is known for songs about her personal life. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at age 14 to pursue a career in country music and she signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest artist ever signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. Her eponymous debut album in 2006 peaked at five on Billboard 200. The albums third single, Our Song, made her the youngest person to single-handedly write, Swifts second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop success of the singles Love Story and You Belong with Me. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest Album of the Year winner, Swift was the sole writer of her 2010 album, Speak Now. It debuted at one in the United States and the single Mean won two Grammy Awards. Her fourth album, Red, yielded the successful singles We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, with her fifth album, the pop-focused 1989, she became the first act to have three albums sell a million copies within one week in the United States. Its singles Shake It Off, Blank Space and Bad Blood reached number one in the US, Australia, the album received three Grammy Awards, and Swift became the first woman and fifth act overall to win Album of the Year twice. The 2015 eponymous concert tour for 1989 became one of highest-grossing of the decade, as a songwriter, Swift has received awards from the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift is one of the artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums—including 27.1 million in the US—and 130 million single downloads. She has appeared in Times 100 most influential people in the world, Forbes top-earning women in music, Forbes 100 most powerful women and she was the youngest woman to be included in the third of these and ranked first in Celebrity 100. Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13,1989, in Reading and her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, was a financial advisor, and her mother, Andrea Gardner Swift, was a homemaker who worked previously as a mutual fund marketing executive. She has a brother named Austin. Swift spent the years of her life on a Christmas tree farm in Cumru Township. She attended preschool and kindergarten at the Alvernia Montessori School, run by Franciscan nuns, the family then moved to a rented house in the suburban town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School. At the age of nine, Swift became interested in musical theater and she also traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons
6.
Katy Perry
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Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer and songwriter. After singing in church during her childhood, she pursued a career in music as a teenager. Perry signed with Red Hill Records and released her studio album Katy Hudson under her birth name in 2001. She moved to Los Angeles the following year to venture into music after Red Hill ceased operations and she subsequently began working with producers Glen Ballard, Dr. Luke. After adopting the stage name Katy Perry and being dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group and Columbia Records, the album became the first by a female artist to produce five number-one songs in the U. S. and the second overall after Michael Jacksons album Bad. In March 2012, she re-issued the album as Teenage Dream, The Complete Confection and her fourth album, Prism, was released in 2013, and is influenced by pop and dance. She became the first artist with multiple videos to one billion views on Vevo with the videos for its songs Roar. Perry has received awards, including four Guinness World Records, a Brit Award, and a Juno Award. Her estimated net worth as of 2016 is $125 million and she is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold 100 million records globally throughout her career. In film, she released a documentary titled Katy Perry, Part of Me in 2012. Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson was born in Santa Barbara, California, to Pentecostal pastors Mary Christine and her parents are born again Christians, each having turned to religion after a wild youth. Perry has English, German, Irish, and Portuguese ancestry, through her mother, she is a niece of film director Frank Perry. She has a brother named David, who is a singer. From ages 3 to 11, Perry often moved across the country as her parents set up churches before settling again in Santa Barbara. Growing up, she attended schools and camps, including Paradise Valley Christian School in Arizona. Her family struggled financially, sometimes using food stamps and eating from the bank intended to feed the congregation at her parents church. Growing up, Perry and her siblings were not allowed to eat Lucky Charms as the term luck reminded their mother of Lucifer, Perry primarily listened to gospel music, as secular music was generally discouraged in the familys home. She discovered popular music through CDs she sneaked from her friends, while not strictly identifying as religious, Perry has stated, I pray all the time – for self-control, for humility
7.
Pink (singer)
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Alecia Beth Moore, known professionally as Pink, is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. She was signed to her first record label with original R&B girl group Choice in 1995, the label, LaFace Records saw potential in only Pink, offering her a solo deal. Pink rose as an artist with her solo album, Cant Take Me Home. It was certified double-platinum in the United States and spawned two Billboard Hot 100 top-ten hits, There You Go and Most Girls and she gained further recognition with the Moulin Rouge. Soundtrack Lady Marmalade, which gave Pink her first Grammy Award as well as her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, Pink took control in early 2001 insisting she wanted to work with her childhood hero, Linda Perry. Pink took more control and pursued a pop direction for her second album. It sold more than 15 million copies worldwide and yielded three United States top-ten singles, Get the Party Started, Dont Let Me Get Me, Pinks third album, Try This, generated considerably lower sales, but earned her the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Pink revived her popularity with her fourth and fifth albums, Im Not Dead and Funhouse, with the latter containing her second United States number-one hit. Pink concluded the first decade of her career with the compilation album Greatest Hits, so Far. which featured Fuckin Perfect and the chart-topping single Raise Your Glass. In 2014 Pink recorded an album, Rose Ave. with Canadian musician Dallas Green under a folk music duo named You+Me. Recognized for her signature vocals and acrobatic performances, Pink has sold over 60 million albums worldwide. Her career accolades include three Grammy Awards, a Brit Award, a Daytime Emmy Award and six MTV Video Music Awards, in 2009, Billboard named Pink the Pop Songs Artist of the Decade. Pink was also the second most-played female solo artist in the United Kingdom during the 2000s decade, vH1 ranked her number 10 on their list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music, while Billboard awarded her the Woman of the Year award in 2013. At the 63rd annual BMI Pop Awards, she received the BMI Presidents Award for her achievement in songwriting and global impact on pop culture. Alecia Beth Moore was born on September 8,1979, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to nurse Judy and insurance salesman Jim Moore and she has described her background as Irish-German-Lithuanian-Jew. Although a healthy baby at birth, she developed asthma that plagued her through her early years. Pink attended Central Bucks High School West, when Moore was a toddler, her parents began having marital problems, and before she was 10 her parents had divorced. Pink developed her voice early in life, in high school, Pink joined her first band, Middleground, but it disbanded upon losing a battle of the bands competition
8.
Lady Gaga
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Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She performed initially in theater, appearing in school plays. From there, Akon noticed her vocal abilities and helped her to sign a joint deal with Interscope Records and her debut album The Fame was a critical and commercial success that produced international chart-topping singles such as Just Dance and Poker Face. A follow-up EP, The Fame Monster, was met with a reception and Bad Romance, Telephone. Her second full-length album Born This Way was released in 2011, topping the charts in more than 20 countries, including the United States, the album produced the number-one single Born This Way. Her third album Artpop, released in 2013, topped the US charts, in 2014, Gaga released a collaborative jazz album with Tony Bennett titled Cheek to Cheek, which became her third consecutive number one in the United States. For her work in the television series American Horror Story, Hotel, with her fifth studio album Joanne, she became the first woman to have four US number one albums in the 2010s. In February 2017, Gaga headlined the Super Bowl LI halftime show which had an audience of over 150 million across various platforms worldwide. With global album and single sales of 27 million and 146 million respectively, as of January 2016 and her achievements include twelve Guinness World Records, three Brit Awards, and six Grammy Awards. She is also the first artist to win the Songwriters Hall of Fames Contemporary Icon Award, in 2013, Gaga finished second on Times readers poll of the most influential people of the past ten years, while in 2015, she was named Billboards Woman of the Year. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born on March 28,1986 and she is the elder daughter of Cynthia Louise Cindy and Internet entrepreneur Joseph Joe Germanotta. Gaga has three Italian grandparents and one American grandparent, as well as French Canadian ancestry, Gagas sister Natali is a fashion student. From age 11, she attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart and she described her academic life in high school as very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined but also a bit insecure. I used to get made fun of for being too provocative or too eccentric. I didnt fit in, and I felt like a freak, in 2014, Gaga said she was raped at the age of 19. She stated, I went through some things that Im able to laugh now, because Ive gone through a lot of mental and physical therapy. Gaga later said that she suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder because of the rape, and that support from doctors, family, and friends really saved my life. Gaga began playing the piano at the age of four, wrote her first piano ballad at 13 and she performed lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
9.
Colbie Caillat
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Colbie Marie Caillat is an American singer, songwriter, actress, guitarist and pianist from Malibu, California. Caillat rose to fame through social networking website Myspace, at that time, she was the number-one unsigned artist of her genre. In 2008, she recorded a duet with Jason Mraz, Lucky, in August 2009, she released Breakthrough, her second album, which became her first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA, Breakthrough was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2010 Grammy Awards. She was also part of the group that won Album of the Year at the 2010 Grammy Awards for her background vocals, in July 2011, she released her third studio album, All of You. In October 2012, she released her first Christmas album, Christmas in the Sand, Caillat has sold over six million albums worldwide and over 10 million singles. In 2009, she was named Billboard magazines 94th-best-selling music artist of the 2000s, Caillat was born in Malibu, California, and grew up in Newbury Park, California. Her father, Ken Caillat, co-produced Fleetwood Macs Rumours and Tusk albums, when she was an infant, her parents gave her the nickname Coco, which she would later name her debut album. Caillat took piano lessons as a child, but lacked significant inspiration until she turned 11 years old and she realized that she wanted to be a singer, and began taking vocal lessons, performing onstage for the first time in sixth grade. Since then she has covered the Roberta Flack song Killing Me Softly, which had previously covered by Lauryn Hill. Caillat soon met producer Mikal Blue, who hired her to sing on techno songs used at fashion shows, Caillat began playing the acoustic guitar at age 19, and Blue helped her record her first song. She auditioned for American Idol but was rejected at the stage and was unable to sing for the judges. The second time she auditioned for the show, she sang her own song, Bubbly. However, Caillat expressed gratitude at the decision, saying I was shy. I wasnt ready for it yet, I was glad, when I auditioned, that they said no. The popularity of Caillats MySpace profile led her to become the number-one unsigned singer in her genre for four consecutive months, Caillats debut album, Coco, was released on July 10,2007 in Australia and Asia and a week later in North America. Its deluxe edition was released on September 3,2008 in Japan, the album was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA with shipments to U. S. retailers of 2,000,000 units. The albums first single, Bubbly, peaked at five on the US Billboard Hot 100
10.
Jazmine Sullivan
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Jazmine Marie Sullivan is an American singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Elements of R&B, reggae, dub, pop, jazz, neo soul, Jazmine cites singers Brandy, Changing Faces, Kim Burrell, Lauryn Hill, and Dorinda Clark-Cole as her main influences and inspirations. Jazmine Sullivan was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and her mother Pam is a former backup singer for Philadelphia International Records. When she was five years old, her father landed a position as a curator for the citys Historic Strawberry Mansion in the Strawberry Mansion section and she is a 2005 graduate of the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts where she was a vocal music major. Sullivan began singing as a contralto in the choir, then a few years later in the adult choir. Sullivans exposure to music was initially limited, I was doing solos in church and someone wanted me to sign to a gospel label when I was eleven but I wasnt ready to do that. Then when McDonalds had a competition for kids in cities, I got a chance to perform Accept What God Allows on Its Showtime at the Apollo. She sang with Stevie Wonder at his grandsons birthday at the age of 13, Sullivan was initially signed to Jive records at the age 15. There, she recorded an album, but the album was never released. Sullivan was eventually dropped from the label, while unsigned, Sullivan took songwriting into her own hands, and would later re-team with Elliott for her first two studio albums after being signed to J Records in 2007. Sonically, Sullivan alternates between modern productions and an 1980s sound which gives her old school sound, shes a singer with a contralto vocal range and takes vocal inspiration from singers Kim Burrell, Lauryn Hill, and Brandy particularly their thundering voices and smooth runs. Jazmine has a voice with a metallic and raspy ring to it in her upper chest, the lower register remains warm and airy, while still being supported. Her range spans all the way to an A2, while still being clearly audible, jazmines versatility is also surprising considering how thick her tone is. She can carry all her weight up to G5, while doing some extremely complicated runs, shes often mistaken for a Mezzo Soprano due to her dark, rich and slightly androgynous voice in the lower register. Nonetheless, the register remains bright but fragile. She describes her style as flashbacks, in reference to her songs about failed relationships that were both physically and emotionally abusive. Her music displays her responses to these relationships famously with the song Bust Your Windows and she writes just how she is feeling, which in turn, taking a day or up to a month to complete. During the recording of the album Reality Show, Sullivan spent so much time revising and re-recording, but this only contributes to her perfectionist personality that she puts in the composition of her songs
11.
Nicki Minaj
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Onika Tanya Maraj, known professionally as Nicki Minaj, is a Trinidadian-born American rapper, singer, songwriter and model. Born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago and raised in South Jamaica, Queens, New York and she has been signed to Young Money Entertainment since 2009. In 2010, Minaj became the first female solo artist to have seven singles simultaneously charting on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100. Her third studio album, The Pinkprint, was preceded by its single, Anaconda. Minaj made her debut in the 2012 animated film Ice Age, Continental Drift, followed by supporting roles in The Other Woman and Barbershop. In 2013, she was a judge on the season of American Idol. Minaj was the first female artist included on MTVs Annual Hottest MC List, in 2016, Minaj was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Her rapping is distinctive for its fast flow and the use of alter egos and accents, early in her career, Minaj was known for her colorful costumes and wigs. According to Billboard, Minaj has the most Hot 100 entries for a female artist in the charts history and she has further endorsed Adidas, MAC Cosmetics and Pepsi. She has sold 20 million singles as a lead artist, and 60 million singles as a featured artist worldwide, Onika Tanya Maraj was born on December 8,1982, in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago. Her father, Robert Maraj, a executive and part-time gospel singer, is of Indo-Trinidadian and Afro-Trinidadian descent. Her mother, Carol Maraj, also a singer, is of Afro-Trinidadian ancestry. Carol worked in payroll and accounting departments during Minajs youth, Minajs father was addicted to alcohol and other drugs, and had a violent temper, burning down their house in December 1987. As a small child, Minaj and a sibling lived with her grandmother in Saint James and her mother, who had moved to The Bronx, New York to attend Monroe College, brought the family to Queens, New York, when Minaj was 5. By then the family had a house on West 147th Street, Minaj recalled, I don’t think I had a lot of discipline in my household. My mom motivated me, but it wasn’t a strict household, I kind of wanted a strict household. Minaj successfully auditioned for admission to LaGuardia High School in Manhattan, after graduation, Minaj wanted to become an actress, and she was cast in the Off-Broadway play In Case You Forget in 2001. At the age of 19, as she struggled with her career, she worked as a waitress at Red Lobster in the Bronx
12.
Carly Rae Jepsen
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Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actress. In 2007, she placed third in Canadian Idol season fives competition, Jepsen independently released her debut album, Tug of War, in 2008. In 2011, she released the single Call Me Maybe, which was followed in 2012 by her debut EP, Curiosity, Call Me Maybe reached number one in 18 countries during 2012 and was the years best-selling single worldwide. Jepsens third album, Emotion, was released in 2015, the album was heavily influenced by songs from the 1980s and received critical acclaim. Its lead single I Really Like You reached the top 5 in the United Kingdom, as of May 2015, Jepsen has sold over 20 million records worldwide. Jepsen was born in Mission, British Columbia, the daughter of Alexandra and Larry Jepsen and she attended Heritage Park Secondary School in Mission, where she pursued her early passion for musical theatre by appearing in student productions of Annie, Grease, and The Wiz. She studied musical theatre at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, after graduating from school, Jepsen held several minimum wage jobs, and worked as a barista and a bartender. She placed third in the show and was part of the Canadian Idol Top 3 concert tour, after the conclusion of the tour, Jepsen returned to British Columbia to focus on writing, recording and completing her band. Her demo recording attracted the attention of music manager Jonathan Simkin, Jepsen struck an independent record deal with MapleMusic Recordings and distribution via Fontana North. In June 2008, Jepsen released her single and another single. Jepsens debut album, Tug of War, was released in September 2008 through MapleCore/Fontana North, the album was produced in its entirety by Ryan Stewart and includes the song Sweet Talker, which Jepsen previously performed at her first Canadian Idol audition. Tug of War was re-released via Jonathan Simkins label 604 Records, with distribution from Universal Music Group, and has since sold 10,000 copies in Canada according to Nielsen SoundScan. The title track Tug of War was released the month as the album and received radio airplay in Canada, followed by the singles Bucket and Sour Candy. The former two singles reached the top 40 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart, in early 2009, Jepsen toured western Canada with Marianas Trench and Shiloh. She then went on a tour with Marianas Trench, The New Cities. Jepsen began recording material for her album in 2011 with Josh Ramsay, Ryan Stewart. The release of Jepsens second album was postponed to allow Call Me Maybe to spread in popularity, although 604 Records issued a six-track EP, Curiosity, Call Me Maybe peaked at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, making Jepsen the fourth Canadian artist to top the chart. In the United States, the single spent nine weeks at one on the Billboard Hot 100
13.
Ariana Grande
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Ariana Grande-Butera, known as Ariana Grande, is an American singer and actress. She began her career in the Broadway musical 13, before landing the role of Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon television series Victorious in 2009, the show ended after four seasons, and Grande starred on the spinoff, Sam & Cat, which ended in 2014. She has also appeared in theatre, television and film roles. Grandes music career began with the soundtrack Music from Victorious and she signed a recording contract with Republic Records and released her debut studio album, Yours Truly in 2013, which debuted at No.1 on the US Billboard 200. The albums lead single, The Way, debuted in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, Grandes second studio album, My Everything, debuted at No.1 in the US and charted in the top 10 in various other countries. In 2015, Grande promoted My Everything with her first world tour, The Honeymoon Tour, and guest-starred in the Fox comedy horror television series, Scream Queens. She also released the single Focus, which debuted at No.7 in the US, and a holiday EP album, Christmas & Chill, in 2016, she released her third studio album, Dangerous Woman, as well as several songs from the album. The title track debuted at No.10 on the Billboard Hot 100, the album debuted at No.2 on the Billboard 200. As of January 2017, Grandes music videos had been viewed a total of more than 7 billion times online, All three of her albums have been certified platinum or better by the RIAA. In 2016, Time named Grande one of the 100 most influential people in the world on the annual Time 100 list, Grande has a large following on social media, including the 2nd most followed Instagram account. In 2017, Grande is touring in North America and then Europe and her name was originally inspired by Princess Oriana from Felix the Cat. She has an older half-brother, Frankie Grande, who is an actor, dancer and producer, Grandes family moved from New York to Florida when her mother was pregnant with Grande, and her parents separated when she was around 8 or 9 years old. As a child, Grande performed with the Fort Lauderdale Childrens Theater, playing her first role as Annie, as well as performing in the musicals The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and she attended Pine Crest School and North Broward Preparatory School. By age 13, she became serious about pursuing a music career, who is going to buy a 14-year-olds R&B album. In 2008, Grande was cast in the role of cheerleader Charlotte in the musical 13 on Broadway. When she joined the musical, Grande left her school, North Broward Preparatory School. The school sent materials to her so she could study with tutors and she also sang various times at the New York City jazz club, Birdland. Grande auditioned for the Nickelodeon television show Victorious in New York along with 13 co-star Elizabeth Gillies in 2009, in this sitcom set in a performing arts high school, Grande was cast as Cat Valentine
14.
Halsey (singer)
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Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, known professionally as Halsey, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2014, she signed her first recording contract with Astralwerks and released her debut EP and her debut studio album, Badlands, was released in 2015. Her professional name, Halsey, is a reference to the Halsey Street station of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn as well as an anagram of her first name, Halsey was born as Ashley Frangipane in Clark, New Jersey, where she was raised. She is the daughter of Nicole, who works for security in a hospital, and Chris Frangipane and she is of Italian, Hungarian, and Irish descent on her mothers side and African-American on her fathers side. Halsey has two brothers, Sevian and Dante. Growing up, Halsey played the violin, viola, and cello until moving onto the guitar when she was 14. In one of her first interviews, Halsey stated she was diagnosed bipolar disorder around the age of 16 or 17. When she was 18, Halsey encountered financial trouble and music became a way to pay her rent and she played numerous acoustic shows in different cities under various stage names. She chose Halsey as her moniker because it is an anagram of her name as well as a street in Brooklyn where she spent a lot of time as a teenager. Halsey originally planned on going to college to major in fine arts, in an interview, Halsey allegedly used the term tri-bi to identify herself, although she has since distanced herself from it, claiming she was misquoted. Halsey began her career by posting cover songs on YouTube under her real name, in 2012, she recorded a parody of Taylor Swifts I Knew You Were Trouble called The Haylor Song about Swifts relationship with One Direction member Harry Styles, and posted it on her Tumblr account. In 2014, Halsey recorded a song called Ghost and posted it on SoundCloud, the song gained Halsey attention and she signed with the Astralwerks record label. She subsequently released her debut EP titled Room 93 on October 27,2014, four of the five songs on the extended play contained an accompanying video. Halsey toured with The Kooks in 2014 as the opening act, at South by Southwest in 2015, Halsey was the most talked about performer of the festival on Twitter. Through March and April 2015, Halsey led a tour with Young Rising Sons. She also supported Imagine Dragons on the Smoke + Mirrors Tour during the North American leg between June and August 2015 and her debut album, Badlands, was released on August 28,2015. In an interview, Halsey described Badlands as an angry feminist record, in an interview with Billboard in June 2015, Halsey announced that she had already begun writing material for her second studio album. To promote her music, Halsey has been featured in a few interviews and performances, including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the album included three singles, with the third Colors released on 7 and as a five track remix EP Complementary Colors
15.
Alessia Cara
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Alessia Caracciolo, professionally known as Alessia Cara, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is signed to EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings and released her single, Here, from the debut studio album, Know-It-All. A sleeper hit, the reached the top five in the United States. Prior to her work for Def Jam, she produced acoustic covers on YouTube, in 2016, Cara found greater success in the release of her third single, Scars to Your Beautiful. The single reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, in 2017, Cara collaborated with producer Zedd to create the single Stay, which has since reached number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. Caracciolo is from Brampton, Ontario where she attended Cardinal Ambrozic Catholic Secondary School and she is of Italian descent from Calabria, her father was born in Canada to Italian parents, and her mother is an Italian immigrant. As a child, she wrote poetry and did theatre and she began playing guitar at the age of 10 and taught herself how to play various songs. At the age of 13 she began her own YouTube channel where she posted covers of songs that she performed, Caras singing and writing style has been compared to singers such as Lorde, Amy Winehouse, Rihanna, and Norah Jones. She also appeared on radio stations, including 15 Seconds of Fame on Mix 104.1 Boston. In 2015, she signed a deal with EP Entertainment imprint, in April 2015, Cara released her official debut single, through Def Jam. Titled Here, it was described as a song for everyone who secretly hates parties by MTV, produced by Pop & Oak and Sebastian Kole, the song is her personal experience with going to a party before realizing how much she hated parties. On May 5,2015, the song was chosen as the track by Spin. The song was named one of the best Canadian songs of April by Complex. Rolling Stone later ranked Here at number 21 on its year-end list of the 50 best songs of 2015, on July 29,2015, Cara made her first-televised debut performing her single, Here on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Here then received a nomination for the Original Song at the Streamy Award and she released the EP Four Pink Walls, containing five songs, including her debut single, Here. Her debut album Know-It-All was released on November 13,2015 and she was short-listed for the BBC Music Sound of. Award for 2016 and finished as the runner-up, Cara was awarded as Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2016 Juno Awards. On March 7,2016, the video for Wild Things was released
16.
Hayley Williams
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Hayley Nichole Williams is an American singer and songwriter. She serves as the lead vocalist, occasional keyboardist and primary songwriter of the rock band Paramore, Hayley Williams was born to Joey and Cristi Williams, in Meridian, Mississippi. She has two half sisters. As a result of her parents divorcing in 2002, Williams moved to Franklin and she met former band members Josh and Zac Farro in her new school. While still at school she tried out for a funk cover band, The Factory. Williams was discovered in 2003 by managers Dave Steunebrink and Richard Williams, at the time she was writing pop songs with songwriters in Nashville. Williams was introduced to Atlantic Records A&R Tom Storms through Richard Williams attorneys Jim Zumwalt and Kent Marcus, and then signed to the label by Jason Flom. The labels original plan for their new artist was to make her a pop artist but Williams objected to this, saying that she wanted to be part of a band. Atlantic decided to go along with her wishes, and she then formed Paramore with Josh Farro, Zac Farro and they instead released their music through a cooler niche label, Fueled by Ramen. The bands debut album, All We Know Is Falling, was released in 2005 when Hayley was only 16 years old, Paramore has since released three more studio albums, Riot. Brand New Eyes, and the self-titled Paramore, in June 2009, the band welcomed Taylor York as an official member, although he had already been playing as a touring member with the band since 2007. In December 2010, two of the members of Paramore left the band. The news was posted by Williams on Paramores web site, with Josh later posting a blog post confirming their departure. In 2007, she and the rest of Paramore made an appearance in the video for Kiss Me by New Found Glory. She also appears as a character in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour after completing Misery Business in the vocalist campaign. Williams wrote and recorded the song Teenagers, which was featured in the soundtrack for the feature film Jennifers Body, after the release of Teenagers, Williams stated that she had no plans to establish herself as a solo artist. In 2010, she appeared on the tracks Airplanes and Airplanes, Part II from alternative rapper B. o. Bs debut album, B. o. B Presents, The Adventures of Bobby Ray. When it was released as a single, Airplanes peaked within the top ten in nineteen countries, including the one position in the United Kingdom
17.
Lana Del Rey
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Elizabeth Woolridge Grant, better known by her stage name Lana Del Rey, is an American singer, songwriter, and model. Her music has been noted for its style, its preoccupation with themes of tragic romance and melancholia. Del Rey received further recognition after her major-label debut Born to Die peaked at two on the United States charts and was the fifth best-selling album of 2012. Three of the EPs tracks were featured in her short film Tropico, in 2014, Del Rey released her third studio album, Ultraviolence, which received positive critical and commercial reception, it became her first number-one record in the United States. In 2015, following a North American tour with Courtney Love and Grimes, Del Rey released her studio album. It also received critical and commercial response, the album had the fourth highest first week sales by a female artist in 2015. Del Rey is set to release her studio album, titled Lust for Life. She has one sister, Caroline Grant, and one brother. Her paternal grandfather, Robert England Grant, Sr. was a Kidder, Peabody & Co. investment banker, a president for Plough, Inc and Textron. Del Rey grew up in rural Lake Placid, New York, and attended a Catholic elementary school and for one year and she began singing in her church choir when she was a child, where she was the cantor. At age fifteen, she was sent to Kent School by her parents to deal with her rampant alcohol abuse, her uncle, before becoming a singer, Del Rey wanted to be a poet. As a child, her father wrote country songs for personal enjoyment, while her mother was interested in singing, during this time, Del Reys uncle taught her how to play guitar, and she realized could probably write a million songs with those six chords. Shortly after, she began writing songs and performing in nightclubs around the city under various names such as Sparkle Jump Rope Queen and Lizzy Grant, I was always singing, but didnt plan on pursuing it seriously, Del Rey said. The following fall, she enrolled at Fordham University where she majored in philosophy, Del Rey said she chose to study the subject because it bridged the gap between God and science. I was interested in God and how technology could bring us closer to finding out where we came from, according to Del Rey, she had trouble making friends in boarding school and college, and said, that was when my musical experience began. I kind of people for myself. After college, she moved to Brooklyn, where she resided for four years. On April 25,2005, a compact disc was registered under Elizabeth Woolridge Grant with the United States Copyright Office
18.
Kesha
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Kesha Rose Sebert is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. In 2005, at age 18, Kesha was signed to producer Dr. Lukes label Kemosabe Records and her breakthrough came in early 2009 after appearing on American rapper Flo Ridas number-one single Right Round. Her debut album, Animal, and her first extended play, Keshas music and image propelled her to immediate commercial success, with Animal debuting as the number-one album in the United States. She also achieved two number-one singles, Tik Tok and We R Who We R, and a string of singles from the album. At the same time, she continued to write songs for other artists, Warrior, her second studio album, was released in 2012, spawning Keshas eighth top-ten single with Die Young, and her ninth and tenth Top 40 hits with CMon and Crazy Kids. Tik Tok is among the digital singles in history, selling over 14 million units internationally. Influenced by various genres and artists, Kesha primarily draws inspiration from music of the 1980s, Madonna, Queen, after experimenting with country, pop rock, and electronic music, Kesha stuck with the latter. Thematically, her music generally revolves around escapism, partying, individuality, supernatural moments, rebellion, Kesha has been involved with animal rights and LGBT activism. She has received awards and nominations, including her win for MTV Europe Music Award for Best New Act in 2010. As of November 2013, she has sold over 33 million records in the United States and 60 million records worldwide. Her recorded output has been curtailed since 2013 due to a dispute with her former producer Dr. Luke. Kesha alleged physical and emotional abuse and employment discrimination against Dr. Luke, while Dr. Luke claims breach of contract, Kesha was born in Los Angeles, California. Pebe, a mother, struggled financially while supporting herself, Kesha. When Kesha was an infant, Pebe would often have to look after her onstage while performing, Kesha says she has no knowledge of her fathers identity, though she has speculated that he may be Mick Jagger. Her mother is of German and Hungarian descent, one of Keshas great-grandfathers was Polish. Pebe moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1991 after securing a new publishing deal for her songwriting, Pebe frequently brought Kesha and her brothers along to recording studios and encouraged Kesha to sing when she noticed Keshas vocal talent. Kesha attended Franklin High School and Brentwood High School, but claimed that she did not fit in and she played the trumpet and later the saxophone in the marching band in school, and described herself in an interview with NPR as being a diligent student. After attaining a score on her SATs, she was offered a full scholarship at Barnard College
19.
Fifth Harmony
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Fifth Harmony is an American girl group formed on the second season of The X Factor US in July 2012. The group consists of members Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jauregui and previously, Camila Cabello, whose departure was announced on December 18,2016. In January 2013, they signed a joint deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell, in December 2016, it was reported that all group members are also individually signed to Epic Records. Following their exit from The X Factor, they released their debut single Miss Movin On and its music video won the group the MTV Video Music Award for Artist to Watch. Their debut extended play, Better Together, had a first week position of six on the US Billboard 200. The group released their studio album Reflection in 2015, debuting at number five on the Billboard 200. The album included the platinum singles Boss, Sledgehammer and Worth It, the latter achieved triple platinum certification in the United States and reached the top-ten in thirteen countries. Work from Home, the single from their second album 7/27, became the groups first top-ten single on the US Billboard Hot 100. As of December 2016, Fifth Harmony has sold a total of 424,000 albums, seven million digital songs and earned 1.6 billion on-demand streams in the United States, according to Nielsen Soundscan. On July 27,2012, they were formed as a group at the end of bootcamp by Simon Cowell and Demi Lovato, originally, the groups name was LYLAS, but another group called The Lylas claimed that the show stole their name. Thereafter, LYLAS changed their name to 1432, which was announced on the first live show on October 31,2012, Simon Cowell and L. A. Reid were critical of the new name, and Cowell suggested that the group be renamed again. During the first live show on November 1,2012,1432 performed Skyscraper by Demi Lovato in a sing-off with Sister C. Cowell decided to send 1432 through to the Top 12 and he announced that they would be renamed by the viewers online, the name chosen by the public was announced, Fifth Harmony. In the semi-finals stage of the show, they performed Ellie Gouldings Anything Could Happen as well as Shontelles Impossible and their performance of Anything Could Happen was a finals-caliber performance according to L. A. Reid and described as magic by Britney Spears. Their performance of Impossible received mostly negative reviews from the judges because the group had performed the song at Simon Cowells home. Three members of the group sang parts of the song in fluent Spanish, the following nights public vote results advanced Fifth Harmony to the final 3 along with Tate Stevens and Carly Rose Sonenclar. On the Top three live show, Fifth Harmony performed Ellie Gouldings Anything Could Happen for the time as their Song of the Series song. Their second song was a duet with The X Factor judge Demi Lovato singing Give Your Heart a Break and their final song of the night was Let It Be by The Beatles, billed as their $5 million song
20.
Iggy Azalea
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Iggy Azalea is an Australian rapper, singer, songwriter, model and director. Born in Sydney and raised in Mullumbimby, Azalea moved to the United States at the age of 16 to pursue a career in hip hop music and she earned public recognition after releasing music videos for her songs Pu$$y and Two Times on YouTube. She signed a contract with American rapper T. I. s Grand Hustle Records imprint in 2012, after gaining attention from her first full-length project. Azaleas debut studio album, The New Classic, peaked among the top five of charts worldwide. It topped the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums making Azalea the first non-American female rapper to reach the summit of the chart, the album was preceded by her debut single Work, and generated the U. S. She also went on to three top ten hits simultaneously on the Hot 100 with the aforementioned songs along with the fifth single from the album, Black Widow. Azaleas second studio album Digital Distortion is due in early 2017 and its lead single, Team, was released on 18 March 2016. Amethyst Amelia Kelly was born in Sydney and brought up in Mullumbimby and her father, Brendan Kelly, was a European-Australian painter and comic artist, while her mother, Tanya, cleaned holiday houses and hotels. Azalea lived in a house that her father built by hand from mud-bricks, according to Azalea, she has some Aboriginal ancestry, My family came to Australia on the First Fleet. My familys been in country for a long time, over 100 years. If your familys lived in Australia for a time, everyone has a little bit of. I know my family does because we have an eye condition that only Aboriginal people have, Azalea has also said that her father made her look at as a teenager, which has always influenced her life and work. She began rapping at age 14, before embarking on a solo career, Azalea formed a group with two other girls from her neighbourhood, I was like, I could be the rapper. Azalea eventually decided to disband the group because the girls werent taking it seriously. In pursuit of her desire to move to America, Azalea dropped out of high school and she worked and saved the money she earned by cleaning hotel rooms and holiday houses with her mother. She claims to have hated school, which, apart from art class and she also said she had no friends and was teased for her homemade outfits. Azalea travelled to the United States in 2006, shortly before she turned 16 and she recalled, My mum was crying, saying, Just be safe. I was thinking, Im going by myself, after her arrival in the U. S. she received her GED, and resided in the country on a visa waiver for six years, returning to Australia every three months to renew it
21.
Selena Gomez
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Selena Marie Gomez is an American actress and singer. Having appeared as a child in the television series Barney & Friends. Due to the success of the series, Gomez worked on films, television shows. Gomez also formed her own company in 2008, titled July Moon Productions, she serves as an executive producer on the Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why. She signed a contract with Hollywood Records in 2008 and subsequently formed her band Selena Gomez & the Scene the following year. The band released three albums by 2011. Gomez hoped to focus on her career by transitioning into film work, earning starring roles in films such as Ramona and Beezus. Gomez hoped to achieve a mature image with a role in the exploitation film Spring Breakers. The album debuted atop the Billboard 200 in the United States, Gomez embarked on her Stars Dance Tour, though it was later canceled due to personal and medical struggles. In 2014, Gomez fired her parents as her managers and signed with the WME, during this time, she signed a new recording contract with Interscope Records, releasing a compilation album as her fifth and final release through Hollywood Records. Gomez released her studio album, Revival, in October 2015. The album debuted at one on the Billboard 200, while the first three singles Good for You, Same Old Love and, Hands to Myself all topped the Mainstream Top 40 chart in the United States. She embarked on her worldwide Revival Tour in 2016, like her previous tour, Gomez is currently working on her third solo studio album. Aside from her solo releases, Gomez has collaborated with American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth on the song We Dont Talk Anymore, outside of entertainment, Gomez released her own clothing line through Kmart in 2010 and a self-titled fragrance in 2013. She has worked with charitable organizations for years and became a UNICEF ambassador at the age of seventeen. Since the start of her career, Gomez has gone on to sell over 7 million albums and 22 million singles worldwide, as of November 2016, Gomez is the most-followed Instagram user in the world. Selena Marie Gomez was born in Grand Prairie, Texas on July 22,1992, to Ricardo Joel Gomez, Gomez was named after Tejano singer and actress Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, who died in 1995. Her father is of Mexican descent while her mother, who was adopted, has some Italian ancestry, regarding her Hispanic heritage, Gomez has stated, My family does have Quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church
22.
Meghan Trainor
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Meghan Elizabeth Trainor is an American singer, songwriter, occasional rapper, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Trainor wrote, recorded, performed, in 2011, she signed a publishing deal with Big Yellow Dog Music, and pursued a career in songwriting. After signing a deal with Epic Records in 2014, Trainor rose to fame with the release of her major-label debut studio album. Her second major release Thank You was released in 2016, preceded by its lead single No which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, prominently influenced by the 1950s and 1960s eras in music, Trainors music has been noted for its retro style aesthetic. Common themes in her lyrics include subjects of modern womanhood, body image, Trainors work has been recognized with several awards and nominations, including a Grammy Award, Music Business Associations Breakthrough Artist of the Year accolade and two Billboard Music Awards. Meghan Elizabeth Trainor was born on December 22,1993 in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Trainor has two brothers, Ryan and younger brother Justin. Trainor began singing at age six, initially singing with her father at church and she began writing music at age 11, starting with her own arrangement of the song Heart and Soul. Trainor attributes her early career progress to being born into a musical family, Trainors father was a music teacher and musician, and plays organ in a Methodist church. Her great-uncle Bob LaPalm was in a band with Al Anderson of the rock band NRBQ. At age 11, Trainor told her father that she wanted to become a recording artist and began writing songs and she did a lot by ear, her mother recalls. Her father encouraged her to various musical genres. At age 12, Trainor began performing as part of Island Fusion, a party band which performed covers, soca music. The band included her aunt, her brother, and her father. Trainor played piano, guitar, and bongo drum, and sang with the band for four years, by age 13, Trainor had written her first original song, Give Me a Chance. When she was in the grade, the family left Nantucket. They temporarily relocated to Orleans, Massachusetts before moving to North Eastham, Massachusetts, at Nauset Regional High, Trainor studied guitar and was a substitute cheerleader. Additionally, Trainor sang and played trumpet in a band for three years. At age 15, she took lessons from former NRBQ band member Johnny Spampinato
23.
Aretha Franklin
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Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Franklin began her career singing gospel at her father, minister C. L. Franklins church as a child, 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 such as Respect, A Natural Woman. These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade, in 1998, Franklin won international acclaim for singing the opera aria Nessun dorma, at the Grammys of that year replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that same year, she scored her final Top 40 recording with A Rose Is Still a Rose, Franklin has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Franklin has been honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and she was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In August 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Barbara and Clarence LaVaughn Franklin. Her father, who went by the nickname, C. L. was an itinerant preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi, while her mother was a piano player. Alongside Franklin, her parents had three children while both C. L. and Barbara had children from outside their marriage. The family relocated to Buffalo, New York when Franklin was two, before her fifth birthday, C. L. Franklin permanently relocated the family to Detroit, Michigan where he took over the pastorship of New Bethel Baptist Church. Franklins mother died on March 7,1952, before Franklins tenth birthday, several women, including Franklins grandmother Rachel, and Mahalia Jackson took turns helping with the children at the Franklin home. During this time, Franklin learned how to play piano by ear, Franklins fathers emotionally driven sermons resulted in him being known as the man with the million-dollar voice and earning thousands of dollars for sermons in various churches across the country. Just after her mothers death, Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel, debuting with the hymn, Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me. Four years later, when Franklin was 14, her father began managing her and he helped his daughter get signed to her first recording deal with J. V. B. Records, where her first album, Songs of Faith, was issued in 1956, two singles were released to gospel radio stations including Never Grow Old and Precious Lord, Take My Hand. Franklin sometimes traveled with The Caravans and The Soul Stirrers during this time and developed a crush on Sam Cooke, after turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke to record pop music. Serving as her manager, C. L. agreed to the move and helped to produce a demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records. Franklin was signed as a five-percent artist, during this period, Franklin would be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop performances
24.
Shania Twain
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Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Twain has sold over 85 million records, making her the female artist in the history of country music. Her success garnered her several titles including the Queen of Country Pop. Twains second album, 1995s The Woman in Me, brought her widespread success selling 20 million copies worldwide, spawning hits such as Any Man of Mine and earning her a Grammy Award. Twains third album, Come On Over, became the studio album of all time by a female act in any genre. Come On Over produced several singles, including Youre Still the One, From This Moment On, I Feel Like a Woman. and earned Twain four Grammy Awards. Twain has received five Grammy Awards,27 BMI Songwriter awards, stars on Canadas Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and she is the only female artist in history to have three consecutive albums certified Diamond by the RIAA. Altogether, Twain is ranked as the 10th best-selling artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era, in 2004, Twain retired from performing and retreated to her home in Switzerland. In her 2011 autobiography, she cited a weakening singing voice as the reason for not performing publicly, when both her singing and speaking were affected, Twain consulted the Vanderbilt Dayani Center in Nashville. Specialists discovered lesions on her vocal cords and diagnosed her with dysphonia, in 2012, Twain returned to the concert stage in her critically acclaimed show Still the One, exclusively at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. In 2015, Twain returned to the road for what she has billed as her farewell tour, Twain was born Eilleen Regina Edwards in Windsor, Ontario on August 28,1965, to Sharon and Clarence Edwards. Her parents divorced when she was two and her mother moved to Timmins, Ontario with Eilleen and her sisters Jill. Sharon married Jerry Twain, an Ojibwa from the nearby Mattagami First Nation, Jerry adopted the girls, legally changing their last name to Twain. When Mark was still a toddler, the Twains adopted Jerrys baby nephew, Darryl and she also has Irish, French, and English ancestry. Through a maternal great-grandmother, she is a descendant of Zacharie Cloutier and her maternal grandmother, Eileen Pearce, emigrated from Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. Twain had a childhood in Timmins. Her parents earned little money and food was scarce in their household. Twain did not confide her situation to school authorities, fearing they might break up the family, in the remote, rugged community, she learned to hunt and to chop wood
25.
Loretta Lynn
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Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter with multiple gold albums over a career of almost 60 years. She is the most awarded female recording artist and the only female ACM Artist of the Decade. Lynn is the second of eight born to Clara Marie Clary and Melvin Theodore Ted Webb. In January 1948, 15-year-old Loretta married Oliver Doolittle Lynn and their life together inspired the music she wrote. In 1953 Doolittle bought her a $17 Harmony guitar and she often appeared at Bills Tavern in Blaine, Washington, and the Delta Grange Hall in Custer, Washington, with the Pen Brothers band and the Westerneers. She cut her first record, Im a Honky Tonk Girl and she became a part of the country music scene in Nashville in the 1960s. In 1967 she had the first of 16 number-one hits and her later hits include Dont Come Home A Drinkin, You Aint Woman Enough, Fist City, and Coal Miners Daughter. Lynn focused on womens issues with themes about philandering husbands and persistent mistresses. Country music radio stations refused to play her music, banning nine of her songs. She and contemporaries like Tammy Wynette provided a template for artists in country music to follow. Her best-selling 1976 autobiography, Coal Miners Daughter, was made into an Academy Award–winning film of the title in 1980, starring Sissy Spacek. Her album Van Lear Rose, released in 2004, was produced by the rock musician Jack White, Lynn and White were nominated for five Grammys. Lynn has received awards in country and American music. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2013, Lynn has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since joining on September 25,1962, her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was on October 15,1960. Lynn has recorded 70 albums, including 54 studio albums,15 compilation albums, and one tribute album, Lynn was born and raised in Butcher Hollow, Van Lear, Kentucky, a mining community near Paintsville. Her mother was of Scots-Irish and Cherokee ancestry, Loretta was the second of eight children. She was named after the film star Loretta Young, Ted Webb never got to see his daughter become famous, as he died in 1959 of coalworkers pneumoconiosis before Lorettas first single, Im A Honky Tonk Girl, was released. Besides her famous siblings and children who perform, she is related to the country singer Patty Loveless on her mothers side and she is also related, on her mothers side, to Venus Ramey, Miss America of 1944
26.
Idina Menzel
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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 and her performance earned her a Tony Award nomination in 1996. She reprised the role in the musicals 2005 film adaptation, in 2003, Menzel originated the role of Elphaba in the Broadway musical Wicked, 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, the song reached number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making Menzel the first Tony Award-winning actress to reach the top 10. She ultimately won a Grammy award for the films soundtrack and her album Holiday Wishes was released in 2014 and reached number 6 on the Billboard 200 album chart, making it her highest charting album to date. Idina Kim Mentzel was born on May 30,1971 and her birthplace is varyingly reported as either Queens or Syosset. She grew up in Syosset, the daughter of Helene, a therapist, and Stuart Mentzel and she has a younger sister named Cara. Menzels family is Jewish, and her grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe, Idina changed the spelling of her surname to Menzel to better reflect the pronunciation the Mentzel family had adopted in America. She was friends with actor Adam Pascal before they worked together in Rent, in 1995, Menzel auditioned for Rent, which became her first professional theatre job and her Broadway debut. Rent opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop on January 26,1996 and her final performance in the musical was on July 1,1997. Production of Hair and appeared on Broadway as Amneris in Aida, Menzel earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for her performance as Kate in the Manhattan Theatre Clubs 2000 off-Broadway production of Andrew Lippas The Wild Party. Her other off-Broadway credits include the run of Rent and The Vagina Monologues. Menzel received the 2004 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Elphaba, during her penultimate performance of Wicked on January 8,2005, she fell through a trap door and cracked a lower rib. The injury prevented her from performing in her show on January 9. Menzel did, however, make a special appearance at that performance, performed her final song. Menzel was replaced by Elphaba standby Shoshana Bean and she reprised her Tony Award-winning role as Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked when it opened at Londons Apollo Victoria Theatre on September 7,2006. During her run, she was the highest paid performer in the West End at $30,000 per week. Menzel finished her West End run on December 30,2006 and she was succeeded by Elphaba standby Kerry Ellis
27.
Tori Kelly
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Victoria Loren Tori Kelly is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and voice actress who slowly gained recognition after starting to post videos on YouTube at the age of 14. When she was 16, Kelly auditioned for the singing television series American Idol. After being eliminated from the show, Kelly began to work on her own music, in 2012, she independently released her first EP that she produced, wrote, and mixed herself, titled Handmade Songs By Tori Kelly. The following year, Scooter Braun became her manager after seeing her videos on YouTube and introduced her to Capitol Records, Kellys second EP Foreword came out in October 2013 as her first major label release. On June 23,2015, Kellys debut album, Unbreakable Smile, was released, the lead single, Nobody Love, was released in the spring and became her first US Billboard Hot 100 appearance. Kelly was nominated for Best New Artist at the 58th Grammy Awards and she voiced a shy teenage elephant named Meena in the 2016 animated film Sing. Kelly was born in Wildomar, California and her father is of Jamaican, Trinidadian and Puerto Rican ancestry, while her mother is of Irish and German descent. Growing up, she was exposed to a variety of music by her parents, I give them a lot of credit for just playing all different genres, and no genre was off limits, she said when asked about her upbringing. Kelly has appeared on the show Star Search, with vocalist Tiffany Evans winning the title of Junior Champion in the junior singer division, she did not win the contest. In 2004 she participated on Americas Most Talented Kids, singing Christina Aguileras Keep on Singin My Song and won and she made a second appearance on the show in the Tournament of Champions, but lost to Antonio Pontarelli, a rock musician. At the age of twelve, Kelly was offered a deal with Geffen Records, which she accepted. In 2007, Kelly began posting videos to YouTube, at the age of 14, the first video she uploaded was a cover of John Wesley Work, Jr. s Go Tell It On The Mountain, which she originally performed, back in December 2004. Kelly gained recognition for her cover, with a fellow YouTuber named Angie Girl. Despite her shortcomings when she auditioned for American Idol and failing to reach the top 24, Kelly learned how to play the guitar, composed original song pieces and had them recorded through her own personal computer. In given time, Kelly had gone viral in a matter of days, Tori Kelly began sharing her performances through YouTube, and due to her musical talents, her page reached 700,000 subscribers. In 2010, Kelly auditioned for Season 9 of American Idol in Denver, Colorado and made it through to Hollywood Week and she had claimed that she was devastated but she had given it her all. Afterwards, she was asked to part in a youth version of the 1985 charity song We Are the World titled We Are the World. Although former judge Simon Cowell appeared to find Kellys voice almost annoying, on May 1,2012, she released her first EP, titled Handmade Songs by Tori Kelly, which was released on her own label, Toraay Records
28.
Charli XCX
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Charlotte Emma Aitchison, better known by her stage name Charli XCX, is a British singer, songwriter, and actress. She released her debut single independently in 2008 and initially performed at raves in London. She signed to Asylum Records with producer Tim Gonzalez in 2010, Charli XCXs major label debut album, True Romance, was released in 2013, accompanied by singles including You and Nuclear Seasons. She rose to prominence during 2013 and 2014 when she was featured on two singles, Icona Pops I Love It and Iggy Azaleas Fancy. Her 2014 single Boom Clap from the album of The Fault in Our Stars became a top ten single in a number of countries. It also preceded the release of her album, Sucker. In 2016, she released the extended play Vroom Vroom, in March 2017, she released the mixtape Number 1 Angel. Her upcoming third album is expected to be released in late 2017. Charlotte Emma Aitchison was born on 2 August 1992, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, to a Scottish father, Jon Aitchison, and a Gujarati Indian mother, Shameera and her father is an entrepreneur and former show-booker and her mother is a former nurse and air hostess. Aitchison grew up in Start Hill, near Bishops Stortford, and attended Bishops Stortford College, Aitchison also studied at UCLs Slade School of Fine Art in London, but left during the second year of her degree course. Aitchison started writing songs when she was 14 years old and began recording an album on a loan granted by her parents, in early 2008, she began posting songs from the album, as well as numerous other demos, on her official MySpace page. This caught the attention of a promoter running numerous illegal warehouse raves and parties in east London, Aitchison was billed on flyers under the stage name Charli XCX, her MSN Messenger display name when she was younger. Despite the illicit nature of the gigs, her parents were supportive of her career and she released two singles. Franchesckaar. and double A-side Emelline/Art Bitch, in late 2008 under Orgy Music. The album she recorded at this time,14, was never released, although several promotional copies were issued. After being signed to Asylum Records in 2010, she took a break from music in what she describes as a lost period, early in 2011, Alex Metric released the single End of the World which featured her vocals. When the song appeared on BBCs Radio One, her age, success, in May 2011, she released the single Stay Away, followed by Nuclear Seasons in November. Both tracks were produced by Ariel Rechtshaid and released exclusively in the United Kingdom, the singles gained attention from music website Pitchfork Media, where she earned Best New Track accolades for both, the former was eventually named to the sites Best Tracks of 2011 list. In May 2012, Charli XCX released her first mixtape, Heartbreaks and Earthquakes and she supported Santigold and Coldplay on tour during that year
29.
Missy Elliott
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Melissa Arnette Missy Elliott, often known professionally as Missy Misdemeanor Elliott, is an American rapper, dancer, and record producer. Following several collaborations and guest appearances, she launched her career in 1997 with her debut album Supa Dupa Fly. The album debuted at three on the Billboard 200, the highest-charting debut for a female rapper at the time. Elliotts following album Da Real World, produced the singles Shes a Bitch, All n My Grill, with the release of Miss E. So Addictive, Under Construction, and This Is Not a Test, Elliott established an international career that yielded hits including Get Ur Freak On, One Minute Man,4 My People, Gossip Folks, and Work It. The latter won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rap Solo Performance, Elliott went on to win five Grammy Awards, melissa Arnette Elliott was born on July 1,1971, in Portsmouth, Virginia. She is the child of mother Patricia Elliott, a power-company dispatcher, and father Ronnie. Elliott grew up in a church choir family, and singing was a normal part of her youth. At the age of four in 1975, she wanted to be a performer, in later years, she feared no one would take her seriously, because she was always the class clown. While her father was an active Marine, the family lived in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Elliott blossomed during this part of her life. She enjoyed school for the friendships she formed though she had little interest in school work and she would later get well above average marks on intelligence tests, and she was advanced two years ahead of her former class. Her move in grades caused isolation, and she purposely failed, when her father returned from the Marines, they moved back to Virginia, where they lived in extreme poverty. Life in Virginia saw many hardships, Elliott tells of domestic abuse by her father. She refused to stay over at friends homes out of fear that, on her return home, when Elliott was eight, she was molested by a cousin. In one violent incident, Ronnie Elliott dislocated his wifes shoulders and, during another, at fourteen, Elliotts mother decided to end the situation, she fled with her daughter under the guise of taking a joyride on a local bus. In reality, the pair had found refuge at a members home where their possessions were stored in a loaded U-Haul truck. Elliott tells that she feared her father would kill them both for leaving and she later stated, When we left, my mother realized how strong she was on her own, and it made me strong. It took her leaving to realize, Elliott graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1990
30.
Jessie J
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Jessica Ellen Cornish, known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11 and she studied at the BRIT School before signing with Gut Records and striking a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing where she wrote for artists including Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus. After signing with Universal Republic, Jessie J came to following the release of her debut single Do It Like a Dude. Her next song Price Tag topped the charts in nineteen countries including the UK and was followed by the release of her debut album Who You Are, which charted at number two in the UK. Domino also resulted in further international success, peaking at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100. In 2012 Jessie J performed at the Queens Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace in June and her second album Alive reached the top 5 in the UK Albums Chart and also included the top-five hit songs Wild and Its My Party. The release of her third album Sweet Talker was preceded by the single Bang Bang which debuted at one in the UK. The album made the top 5 in the UK and reached number 10 on the US Billboard 200, as of January 2015, Jessie J had sold over 20 million singles and 3 million albums worldwide. Citing various influences, Jessie J is recognized for a musical and performance style that mixes soul vocals with contemporary R&B, pop, electropop. Jessie J has garnered awards and nominations for her music, including the 2011 Critics Choice Brit Award. Jessie J has supported charitable causes, and has appeared on the UK charity telethons BBC Children in Need. She has served as coach and mentor on the television shows The Voice UK, Jessica Ellen Cornish was born in London, to Rose and Stephen Cornish. She was educated at Mayfield High School in the London Borough of Redbridge and she attended Colins Performing Arts School and as an 11-year-old she was cast in Andrew Lloyd Webbers West End production of Whistle Down the Wind. She subsequently joined the National Youth Music Theatre and appeared in their 2002 production of The Late Sleepers, Cornish has two sisters, who are five and seven years older than she is, who were both head girls at school. Unlike her academic sisters, Cornish has stated she was never really good at anything. She said, At school they were like oh, youre a Cornish girl and they kind of expected me to be the same as my sisters. Give me something to draw or an outfit to pick for someone, or hair, make-up, acting, write a song, Im fine with it and she also said she never based her intelligence on her exam results. She also said she was good at singing and it was her thing
31.
Brittany Howard
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Brittany Howard is an American musician, best known as lead vocalist and guitarist of American rock bands Alabama Shakes and Thunderbitch. Howard was born in Athens, Alabama to a white mother, the family house was in a junk yard. She learned to write poetry and play the piano from her older sister Jamie and her father left the family soon after. She began playing the guitar at age 13, and later attended East Limestone High School and she worked for the United States Postal Service until becoming a full-time musician as lead singer of Alabama Shakes. Brittany Howard is best known as the singer and guitarist for the American rock band Alabama Shakes. The band formed under the name The Shakes when Howard and bassist Zac Cockrell began playing covers, guitarist Heath Fogg later rounded out the lineup, and the band began playing shows at bars in Alabama and recording their debut album, Boys & Girls. They went on to sign a deal with ATO Records. In April 2015, Alabama Shakes released their album, Sound & Color. It debuted at one on the Billboard 200, and received favorable reviews from the music press. The band went on to perform on multiple late night shows, including Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Howard was featured in the musical medley alongside Mavis Staples, Stephen Colbert, Ben Folds, at Lollapalooza in 2015, Howard was invited on stage to perform a duet of Get Back with Paul McCartney. Howard also performed at the ceremony for Eddie Murphys Mark Twain Prize, in 2015, Howard was named the recipient of Billboards Women in Music Powerhouse Award. Howard is also the singer of the rock band Thunderbitch, formed in Nashville in 2012 with members of Clear Plastic Masks. The band surprise-released a self-titled album in September 2015, the band rarely makes live appearances, but played a rare set at ATO Records CMJ Music Marathon showcase in October 2015. Boys & Girls Sound & Color Thunderbitch Darkness and Light
32.
Andra Day
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Cassandra Monique Andra Batie, known professionally as Andra Day, is an American singer and songwriter from San Diego, California who is currently signed to Warner Bros. Her debut album, Cheers to the Fall, was released in 2015, the album was nominated for Best R&B Album and the albums main single, Rise Up, was nominated for Best R&B Performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards. Day also notably appeared alongside Stevie Wonder, who is credited for her discovery. Her Cheers to the Fall Tour began in November 2016, Day was born in Spokane, Washington on December 30,1984, but moved to Southern California at age 3. She grew up in and around San Diego, California with her family and began singing at an age at the First United Methodist Church in Chula Vista. Day also began taking lessons at age 5. She attended Valencia Park Elementary School which she credits with fostering her interest in performing arts. At age 12, Day was introduced to the sounds of prominent jazz vocalists like Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Day attended the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts where she graduated in 2003. After high school, Day worked about 20 different jobs including one as a childrens entertainer, in 2010, Stevie Wonders then wife, Kai Millard, noticed Day performing at a strip mall and brought her to the attention of her husband. Day received a call from Wonder himself soon after, no immediate partnership was formed, but the two reconnected around a year later. Wonder introduced Day to producer Adrian Gurvitz at that time, Gurvitz would eventually collaborate on Days debut album a few years later. Her covers include Jessie Js Mamma Knows Best, Eminems Lose Yourself, during that time, Day was also working with Gurvitz on around 40 original songs. Other producers and contributors to what would become her debut studio album included Raphael Saadiq, Questlove, James Poyser, DJ Jazzy Jeff. Day performed at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and caught the eye of director and he volunteered to direct the video for her single, Forever Mine. Day has also performed at the 2015 BET Awards, the ceremonies of the 2015 Special Olympics, the Essence Music Festival. Good Morning America, and numerous others and she also performed Nina Simones Mississippi Goddam for the soundtrack for the Netflix documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone. Her first studio album, Cheers to the Fall, was released on August 28,2015, the album was nominated for Best R&B Album and Rise Up was nominated for Best R&B Performance at the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016. The album also peaked at number 48 on the Billboard 200 list, in September 2015, Rise Up was used in an advertisement for Beats by Dre that featured tennis player, Serena Williams
33.
Award
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An award is something given to a person, a group of people, or an organization to recognize their excellence in a certain field, a certificate of excellence. Awards are often signified by trophies, titles, certificates, commemorative plaques, medals, badges, pins, an award may carry a monetary prize given to the recipient, for example, the Nobel Prize for contributions to society or the Pulitzer Prize for literary achievements. An award may also simply be an acknowledgment of excellence. Awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award usually depends on the status of the awarder, usually, awards are given by an organization of some sort, or by the office of an official within an organization or government. This is the case for the World Quality Selections organized by Monde Selection and these international awards are assigned to beverages, foods, cosmetics and diet products, which stand out for their quality. Generally, recognition by a set of peers, acknowledging quality of work, some prestigious and authentic awards include, Golden Globes – The statuettes are manufactured by the New York firm Society Awards. MTV Video Music Award – The moonman is manufactured by the New York firm Society Awards, academy of Country Music Awards – The “hat” trophy is manufactured by the New York firm Society Awards. Billboard Music Award – The trophy is manufactured by the New York firm Society Awards, the Asian Awards – The worlds only pan-Sector, pan-Asian Awards ceremony. NAACP Image Award – The trophy is manufactured by the New York firm Society Awards, the Nigeria Safety Award for Excellence Hall of Fame – 9jaSAFE Award is Nigeria most recognize Health Safety and Environment Award. One common type of award in the United States is the Employee of the Month award, mock awards, which typically recognize failures or atypical achievements, are also popular. They are usually given by people and organizations of lower or average prestige, such as comical organizations, darwin Awards, given to people who seem to improve the human gene pool by accidentally killing or sterilizing themselves during a foolish or careless mistake. A common mock award is the wooden spoon, given to an individual or team which has come last in a competition. A more common last place, mock award is the Half Fast award, some awards are given only after a fee is paid by the recipient, such as the German Design Award. The Kentucky Derby Trophy is an award worth $70,000 with an estimated 1000 man hours of labor, an honorable mention is an award or recognition given to something that does not make it to a higher standing but is worth mentioning in an honorable way. Award ceremony List of prizes, medals, and awards SME One Asia Awards
