1.
Kendrick Lamar
–
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an American hip hop recording artist and songwriter. He began to gain recognition in 2010, after his first retail release, the following year, Lamar independently released his first studio album, Section.80, which included his debut single, HiiiPoWeR. By that time, he had amassed a large Internet following and collaborated with artists in the hip hop industry, including The Game, Snoop Dogg. Lamar secured a record deal with Aftermath and Interscope Records. His major-label debut, good kid, m. A. A. d city, was released in October 2012 to critical success and it debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The record contained the top 40 singles Swimming Pools, Bitch, Dont Kill My Vibe, Lamar won his first Grammy Award for i, lead single from his critical acclaimed third album To Pimp a Butterfly. The album drew on jazz, funk, soul, and spoken word, debuted atop the charts in the US and the UK. In 2016, Lamar released untitled unmastered, a collection of unreleased demos that originated during the recording sessions for Butterfly. Lamar has received a number of accolades over the course of his career, in early 2013, MTV named Lamar the number one Hottest MC in the Game, on their annual list. Time named Lamar one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California, the son of a couple from Chicago, Illinois. His first name was given to him by his mother in honor of American singer-songwriter Eddie Kendricks and he grew up on welfare and section 8 housing. As a child, Lamar attended McNair Elementary in the Compton Unified School District, as a teenager, Lamar went on to attend Centennial High School in Compton, where he was a straight-A student. In 2004, at the age of 16, Lamar released his first full-length project, the mixtape was released under Konkrete Jungle Muzik and garnered local recognition for Lamar. The mixtape led to Lamar securing a contract with Top Dawg Entertainment. He began recording material with the label and subsequently released a 26 track mixtape two years later, titled Training Day. Throughout 2006 and 2007, Lamar would appear alongside other up-and-coming West Coast rappers, such as Jay Rock and Ya Boy, under the moniker K-Dot, Lamar was also featured on The Games songs The Cypha and Cali Niggaz. Lamar garnered further recognition after a video of a performance of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced. Lamar did not hesitate and began rapping a verse over the instrumental to Miilkbones Keep It Real, after receiving a co-sign from Lil Wayne, Lamar released his third mixtape in 2009, titled C4, which was heavily themed around Waynes Tha Carter III LP
2.
Tottenham
–
Tottenham is an area in the London Borough of Haringey, in north London, England. It is situated 8.2 miles north-north-east of Charing Cross, Tottenham is believed to have been named after Tota, a farmer, whose hamlet was mentioned in the Domesday Book, hence Totas hamlet became Tottenham. It was recorded in the Domesday Book as Toteham, there has been a settlement at Tottenham for over a thousand years. It grew up along the old Roman road, Ermine Street, when the Domesday Book was compiled in 1086, about 70 families lived within the area of the manor, mostly labourers working for the Lord of the Manor. A humorous poem entitled the Tournament of Tottenham, written around 1400, in 1894, Tottenham was made an urban district and on 27 September 1934 it became a municipal borough. As from 1 April 1965, the borough formed part of the London Borough of Haringey. The River Lea was the boundary between the Municipal Boroughs of Tottenham and Walthamstow. It is the ancient boundary between Middlesex and Essex and also formed the boundary of the Viking controlled Danelaw. Today it is the boundary between the London Boroughs of Haringey and Waltham Forest, a major tributary of the Lea, the River Moselle, also crosses the borough from west to east, and often caused serious flooding until it was mostly covered in the 19th century. From the Tudor period onwards, Tottenham became a popular recreation, Henry VIII is known to have visited Bruce Castle and also hunted in Tottenham Wood. A rural Tottenham also featured in Izaak Waltons book The Compleat Angler, the area became noted for its large Quaker population and its schools Tottenham remained a semi-rural and upper middle class area until the 1870s. In late 1870, the Great Eastern Railway introduced special workmans trains and fares on its newly opened Enfield, Tottenhams low-lying fields and market gardens were then rapidly transformed into cheap housing for the lower middle and working classes, who were able to commute cheaply to inner London. The workmans fare policy stimulated the early development of the area into a London suburb. An incident occurred on 23 January 1909, which was at the known as the Tottenham Outrage. Two armed robbers of Russian extraction held up the wages clerk of a works in Chesnut Road. They made their getaway via Tottenham Marshes and fled across the Lea, on the opposite bank of the river they hijacked a Walthamstow Corporation tramcar, hotly pursued by the police on another tram. The hijacked tram was stopped but the robbers continued their flight on foot, after firing their weapons and killing two people, Ralph Joscelyne, aged 10, and PC William Tyler, they were eventually cornered by the police and shot themselves rather than be captured. Fourteen other people were wounded during the chase, the incident later became the subject of a silent film
3.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
4.
British soul
–
British soul, Brit soul, or the British soul invasion, is soul music performed by British artists. In the 1970s, soul gained more popularity in the UK during the disco era. British soul artists began gaining popularity in the United States in the late 2000s, leading to talk of another British Invasion, widespread British interest in soul music developed after the advent of rock and roll from the mid-1950s and the subsequent interest in American music. Most of these were popular with members of the Mod subculture, out of which grew the northern soul movement, britain produced a handful of soul acts in the 1960s, most significantly the blue-eyed soul singers Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield. Dusty in Memphis is one of the few albums by a British performer considered among the great soul recordings, in 1964 Springfield became the first non Beatles act of the British Invasion to chart well in the US. A string of US and British hits followed, in 1965 Springfield hosted a television show The Sound of Motown which has been widely credited with introducing what was called The Sound of Young America to British audiences. A handful of British artists continued to perform soul-inspired music in the 1970s and these included David Bowie, whose Plastic soul on his Young Americans album, helped keep the sound in the British mainstream. Kung Fu Fighting in particular sold eleven million records worldwide, other British soul acts working with Biddu at the time included The Outriders and Jimmy James. Maxine Nightingale had a smash in late 1975 and early 1976 with Right Back Where We Started From. In the 1980s, the situation began to change radically, with a wave of nostalgia for 1960s soul music, britains post-disco sound contributed some new black artists to the emerging Contemporary R&B sound, originating in the U. S. For the first time since the 1960s, there were also notable acts who specialised in soul and these included George Michael, who reinvented himself a white soul singer with the multi-platinum album Faith. Also significant were Sade, Simply Red, Loose Ends, and toward the end of the decade, Lisa Stansfield, and Soul II Soul. The latters breakthrough hits Keep on Movin and Back to Life in 1989 have been seen as opening the door to the mainstream for black British soul, in the 1990s, the British soul-influenced acts included Omar and acid jazz bands Incognito and Brand New Heavies. Particularly noticeable was the proliferation of British female black singers, many, like American artists of the 1950s and 1960s and these included Mica Paris, Caron Wheeler, Gabrielle, Desree, Beverley Knight and Heather Small. Other British artists who gained success during the 1990s include Eternal, Damage, MN8, Mark Morrison, Shola Ama, Honeyz and Another Level. In the early 2000s, a number of British Asian Underground artists began creating music that combines contemporary R&B with Indian music, particularly Punjabi bhangra. British soul in the 2000s has been dominated by singers, most notably Amy Winehouse, Estelle, Joss Stone, Duffy, Paloma Faith, Florence Welch, Adele. They have enjoyed success on the American charts, leading to talk of another British Invasion, in 2008, Amy Winehouse won 5 Grammy Awards, then more than any British female artist had won in one night
5.
Contemporary R&B
–
Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
6.
Neo soul
–
Neo soul is a genre of popular music. The term was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music emerged from soul. It has been noted by writers for its traditional R&B influences, conscious-driven lyrics. Neo soul developed during the 1980s and early 1990s, in the United States and United Kingdom and it earned mainstream success during the 1990s, with the commercial and critical breakthroughs of several artists, including DAngelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell. Their music was marketed as an alternative to the producer-driven, digitally approached R&B of the time and its mainstream presence declined during the 2000s, although newer artists emerged through more independent means of marketing their music. According to music journalist Mark Anthony Neal, neo-soul and its various incarnations has helped to redefine the boundaries, the success of DAngelos 1995 debut album Brown Sugar has been regarded by several writers and music critics as inspiration behind the terms origin. In a 2002 interview for Billboard, Massenburg said that genre classifications are often unpopular because they may be suggestive of a short-lived trend. However, although he said neo soul is still essentially soul music, neo-soul artists tried to look both backward and forward, acting in the belief that a continuum might exist. Despite some ambivalence from artists, the term received widespread use by music critics and writers who wrote about artists, African American studies professor Mark Anthony Neal has described neo soul as everything from avant-garde R&B to organic soul. A product of trying to something outside of the norm in R&B. They also infuse jazz, funk, and African musical elements into R&B, noting that most of the genres artists are singer-songwriters, writers have viewed their lyrical content as more conscious-driven and having a broader range than most other R&B artists. AllMusic calls it roughly analogous to contemporary R&B, dimitri Ehrlich of Vibe said that they emphasize a mix of elegant, jazz-tinged R&B and subdued hip hop, with a highly idiosyncratic, deeply personal approach to love and politics. Music writers have noted that neo soul artists are predominantly female, jason Anderson of CBC News called neo soul a sinuous, sly yet unabashedly earnest alternative and kind of haven for listeners turned off by the hedonism of mainstream hip-hop and club jams. Neo soul artists are associated with alternative lifestyles and fashions, including organic food, incense. In a 1998 article on neo soul, Time journalist Christopher John Farley wrote that such as Hill, DAngelo. Neo soul artists during the 1990s were heavily inspired by the sound and mellow instrumentation of Gil Scott-Herons. All About Jazz cited Jackson as one of the architects of the sound. Neo soul originated in the 1980s and early 1990s, with the work of acts such as Prince
7.
Beverley Knight
–
Beverley Knight MBE is a British recording artist, radio presenter and musical theatre actress who released her debut album, The B-Funk, in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin. Widely labelled as one of Britains greatest soul singers, Knight is best known for her hit singles Greatest Day, shoulda Woulda Coulda and Come as You Are. In 2006 Knight solidified her transmission into the mainstream by starring in the BBC music TV series Just the Two of Us, after releasing a platinum-selling compilation album in 2006, Knight went on to tour the UK with a reformed Take That. She has also hosted four series of the BBC Radio 2 show Beverleys Gospel Nights, to date the show has run for four seasons and has featured interviews with stars such as Michelle Williams and Shirley Caesar. Knight is an ambassador for many such as Christian Aid and has travelled to areas affected by disease. She is an campaigner for anti-Aids organisations such as the Stop AIDS Campaign. On Saturday,15 August 2009, she performed live at the fourth annual UK Black Pride event in Regents Park. After more than a decade in the industry, Knight was made an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in February 2007 in recognition of her charitable work, in September 2005, Knight was made an honorary Doctor of Music from the University of Wolverhampton. After receiving a host of awards, including three MOBO Awards, Knight was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 at the Urban Music Awards in London, in 2007, Knight was voted number 58 in the 100 Great Black Britons poll. Knight supported Prince during his residency at the O2 Arena and ended up performing at his after party, as a result of this, she was also flown to perform at his Oscars party in front of A-list stars and got a standing ovation from stars such as Quincy Jones. She is planning her American debut sometime in 2015, Knight sang at the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony. On 9 September 2013, Knight made her first foray into musical theatre, on 21 February 2014, it was confirmed that Knight would take on the lead role of Felicia in the musical Memphis, opening on 23 October 2014. Knight attended Woodfield Infant and Junior Schools and Highfields School in Wolverhampton, Knight was born to Jamaican parents, and she grew up in a strict Pentecostal household where church attendance was commonplace. It is here where she began her career, The first time I heard music would have been in church. My mum was called upon, Come on sister Dolores. Singing was the most natural thing in the world, I thought, doesnt everybodys mum lead the congregation at church in song. Knight continued singing in her local church throughout her childhood, due to her parents religious beliefs, secular music was largely frowned upon, but artists such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin played a big part in her childhood
8.
Joss Stone
–
Joscelyn Eve Stoker, better known by her stage name Joss Stone, is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame in late 2003 with her debut album, The Soul Sessions. She became the youngest British female singer to top the UK Albums Chart and she released her fourth album, Colour Me Free. on 20 October 2009, which reached the top 10 on Billboard. Stone released her album, LP1, on 22 July 2011. She also made her acting debut in 2006 with the fantasy adventure film Eragon. Stone was the youngest woman on the 2006 Sunday Times Rich List—an annual list of the UKs wealthiest people—with £6 million, in 2012, her net worth was estimated to be £10 million, making her the fifth richest British musician under 30. The Soul Sessions Vol.2 is her fourth album to reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200. Stone was born at Buckland Hospital in Dover, Kent and spent her years in Ashill. She is the third of four born to Wendy and Richard Stoker. Her father owns a fruit and nut import/export business, her mother worked as Stones manager until October 2004, Stone made her first public appearance at the Uffculme Comprehensive School—which she attended—in Uffculme, Devon, with a cover version of Jackie Wilsons 1957 song Reet Petite. Stone has dyslexia and left school at age sixteen with only three GCSE qualifications and it wasnt that I was stupid. Im just a little bit dyslexic and I wasnt very academic, Stone grew up listening to a wide variety of music including 1960s and 1970s American R&B and soul music performed by such artists as Dusty Springfield and Aretha Franklin. As a result, she developed a style of singing like her idols. My first CD that I owned was Aretha Franklin, Greatest Hits, and I saw the advert on TV and it was just like little clips of her songs. I had no idea who she was—I was only like 10 so, I said, Oh yeah, that looks really good, so I wrote it down and I said to my mum, Can I have that for Christmas. So she told my friend Dennis, who gets me good music anyway. So that was one of my first albums that I loved and she would later tell MTV News, I kind of clicked into soul music more than anything else because of the vocals. Youve got to have good vocals to sing soul music and I always liked it ever since I was little, after passing her audition, she sang Donna Summers On the Radio for the broadcast, and eventually won the contest
9.
Mary J. Blige
–
Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, model, record producer and actress. My Life, in particular, is considered among the greatest albums ever recorded according to Rolling Stone, Time, for her part in combining hip hop and soul in the early 1990s and its subsequent commercial success, Blige received the Legends Award at the World Music Awards. Blige made Time magazines Time 100 list of individuals around the world in 2007. As of 2013, Blige has sold more than 50 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide, Billboard ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years. The magazine also lists her 2006 song Be Without You as the top R&B song of the 2000s, in 2011, VH1 ranked Blige as the 80th greatest artist of all time. Moreover, she is ranked number 100 on the list of 100 greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, in 2012, VH1 ranked Blige at number 9 in The 100 Greatest Women in Music. Blige also earned high remarks for her work in film and she starred in the 2009 Tyler Perry box-office hit I Can Do Bad All By Myself and played a role in the film Rock of Ages. She received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her contribution to the film The Help. In partnership with the Home Shopping Network and Carols Daughter, Blige released her My Life perfume, the perfume broke HSN records by selling 65,000 bottles during its premiere. The scent went on to win two FiFi Awards, including the Fragrance Sales Breakthrough award, in 2017, she stars in the period drama film Mudbound directed by Dee Rees. Blige spent her years in Richmond Hill, Georgia, where she sang in a Pentecostal church. Blige later moved to Schlobohm Houses in Yonkers, New York, immediately north of New York City, Blige dropped out of high school in her junior year. Pursuing a musical career, Blige spent a period of time in a Yonkers band named Pride with band drummer Eddie DAprile. In early 1988, she recorded a cover of Anita Bakers Caught Up in the Rapture at a recording booth in the Galleria Mall in White Plains. Her mothers boyfriend at the later played the cassette for Jeff Redd. Redd sent it to the president and CEO of the label, Harrell met with Blige and in 1989 she was signed to the label, becoming the companys youngest and first female artist. After being signed to Uptown Records, Blige began working with record producer Puff Daddy and he became the executive producer and produced a majority of the album. Derived from Bliges past occupation as a 4-1-1 operator, it was also an indication by Blige of being the real deal, the music was described as revelatory on a frequent basis
10.
Usher (musician)
–
Usher Raymond IV is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. Born in Dallas, Texas but raised and lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee until moving to Atlanta, at the age of 12, his mother put him in local singing competitions, before catching the attention of a music A&R from LaFace Records. In 1994 he released his debut album, Usher. 8701 produced the number-one singles U Remind Me and U Got It Bad and it sold 8 million copies worldwide and won his first two Grammy Awards as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2002 and 2003. Confessions established him as one of the musical artists of the 2000s decade. Bolstered by its four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, Burn, Confessions Part II, and My Boo, it has been certified Diamond by the RIAA. Here I Stand and Raymond v. Raymond, debuted atop of the Billboard 200, the EP, Versus, also produced the Hot 100 top-five single DJ Got Us Fallin in Love. Looking 4 Myself, also debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, Raymond v. Raymond and Looking 4 Myself received Grammy Awards for R&B singles There Goes My Baby and Climax. Hard II Love peaked at five of the Billboard 200 albums chart. Usher has sold 23.8 million albums and 38.2 million digital songs in the United States, to date, his worldwide sales stand at 43 million albums and 75 million records overall, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Usher has won awards and accolades including 18 Billboard Music Awards and 8 Grammy Awards. Billboard also placed him at number 6 on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years, Usher has attained 9 US Hot 100 number-one singles. Considered an icon and sex symbol, he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, in 2008, he started his own record label Raymond-Braun Media Group, a joint venture with talent manager Scooter Braun that includes Canadian singer Justin Bieber. Usher was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Jonetta Patton, from Tennessee, Usher spent the majority of his young life in Chattanooga, his father left the family when Usher was a year old. Usher grew up with his mother, then-stepfather, and half-brother, while in Atlanta, Usher attended North Springs High School. At age 10, Usher joined an R&B local quintet called the NuBeginnings, Usher recorded 10 songs with the group in 1991, and the ensuing album, Nubeginning Featuring Usher Raymond IV, was only made available regionally and by mail order. However, Patton took him out because, according to her, the album was re-released nationally in April 2002 by Hip-O Records. At age 13, Usher would meet A. J, alexander at local talent show in Atlanta
11.
Destiny's Child
–
Destinys Child was an American girl group whose final and best-known line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destinys Child members began their musical endeavors as Girls Tyme comprising, formed in 1990, among others, Knowles, Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett. After years of limited success, they were signed in 1997 to Columbia Records, both Roberson and Luckett were soon replaced with Williams and Farrah Franklin, however, in 2000, Franklin left, leaving the group as a trio. Their third album, Survivor, which themes the public interpreted as a channel to the groups experience, contains the worldwide hits Independent Women, Survivor. In 2002, they announced a hiatus and re-united two years later for the release of their fourth and final album, Destiny Fulfilled. Destinys Child has sold more than sixty million records worldwide to date, in 1990, Beyoncé Knowles met rapper LaTavia Roberson while auditioning for a girl group. Based in Houston, Texas, they were joined to a group that performed rapping and dancing, Kelly Rowland, who relocated to Knowless house because of family issues, joined them in 1992. Originally named Girls Tyme, they were cut down to six members including Támar Davis and sisters Nikki. With Knowles and Rowland, Girls Tyme attracted nationwide attention, west-coast R&B producer Arne Frager flew to Houston to see them. He brought them to his studio, The Plant Recording Studios, in Northern California, with focus on Knowless vocals because Frager thought she had personality and the ability to sing. With efforts to sign Girls Tyme to a record deal, Fragers strategy was to debut the group in Star Search. However, they lost the competition because, according to Knowles, their choice of song was wrong, because of the groups defeat, Knowless father, Mathew, voluntarily dedicated his time to manage them. Mathew Knowles decided to cut the original lineup to four, with the removal of Davis and the Taylor sisters, aside from spending time at their church in Houston, Girls Tyme practiced in their backyards and at Headliners Salon, owned by Knowless mother, Tina. The group would test routines in the salon, when it was on Montrose Boulevard in Houston and their try out would be critiqued by the people inside. During their school days, Girls Tyme performed at local gigs, when summer came, Mathew Knowles established a boot camp to train them in dance and vocal lessons. After rigorous training, they began performing as opening acts for established R&B groups of that such as SWV, Dru Hill. Tina Knowles designed the groups attire for their performances, over the course of the early years in their career, Girls Tyme changed their name to Something Fresh, Cliché, the Dolls, and to Destiny. The group signed with Elektra Records with the name Destiny, but were dropped several months later before they could release an album, in 1996, they changed their name to Destinys Child, which was taken from a passage in the Book of Isaiah
12.
Europe
–
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
