1.
Birmingham
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Birmingham is a major city and metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England lying on the River Rea, a small river that runs through Birmingham. It is the largest and most populous British city outside London, the city is in the West Midlands Built-up Area, the third most populous urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2,440,986 at the 2011 census. Birminghams metropolitan area is the second most populous in the UK with a population of 3.8 million and this also makes Birmingham the 8th most populous metropolitan area in Europe. By 1791 it was being hailed as the first manufacturing town in the world, perhaps the most important invention in British history, the industrial steam engine, was invented in Birmingham. From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. The damage done to the infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive demolition. Today Birminghams economy is dominated by the service sector and its metropolitan economy is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121. 1bn, and its six universities make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. Birmingham is the fourth-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors, Birminghams sporting heritage can be felt worldwide, with the concept of the Football League and lawn tennis both originating from the city. Its most successful football club Aston Villa has won seven league titles, people from Birmingham are called Brummies, a term derived from the citys nickname of Brum. This originates from the citys name, Brummagem, which may in turn have been derived from one of the citys earlier names. There is a distinctive Brummie accent and dialect, Birminghams early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centres of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible river valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon. The area of modern Birmingham lay in between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden. Birmingham as a settlement dates from the Anglo-Saxon era, within a century of the charter Birmingham had grown into a prosperous urban centre of merchants and craftsmen. By 1327 it was the third-largest town in Warwickshire, a position it would retain for the next 200 years, by 1700 Birminghams population had increased fifteenfold and the town was the fifth-largest in England and Wales. The importance of the manufacture of goods to Birminghams economy was recognised as early as 1538. Equally significant was the emerging role as a centre for the iron merchants who organised finance, supplied raw materials. The 18th century saw this tradition of free-thinking and collaboration blossom into the phenomenon now known as the Midlands Enlightenment
2.
Indie rock
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Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Originally used to independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. In the mid-1980s, the term began to be used to describe the music produced on punk and post-punk labels. Some prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980s, during the 1990s, Grunge bands broke into the mainstream, and the term alternative lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term indie rock became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status, by the end of the 1990s indie rock developed subgenres and related styles including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the industry and in music technology enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. In the early 2000s, a new group of bands played a stripped-down. The commercial breakthrough from these scenes was led by four bands, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, emo also broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s. By the end of the 2000s the proliferation of bands was being referred to as indie landfill. The term indie rock, which comes from independent, describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released, the influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, psychedelia, post-punk and country. Allmusic identifies indie rock as including a number of varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes, in fact, there is an everlasting list of genres and subgenres of indie rock. Many countries have developed a local indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside the respective country. However, there are still indie bands that start off locally, Indie rock has been identified as a reaction against the macho culture that developed in alternative rock in the aftermath of Nirvanas success. However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels. The BBC documentary Music for Misfits, The Story of Indie pinpoints the birth of indie as the 1977 self-publication of the Spiral Scratch EP by Manchester band Buzzcocks, Indie pop and indie were originally synonymous. In the mid-1980s, indie began to be used to describe the music produced on post-punk labels rather than the labels themselves. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the rock that dominated college radio playlists. In the United States, the term was associated with the abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds of the Pixies, Hüsker Dü, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr
3.
Pop music
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
4.
Contemporary R&B
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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
5.
Singing
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Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of sustained tonality, rhythm, and a variety of vocal techniques. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist, Singers perform music that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir of singers or a band of instrumentalists, Singers may perform as soloists, or accompanied by anything from a single instrument up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Singing can be formal or informal, arranged or improvised and it may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual, as part of music education, or as a profession. Excellence in singing requires time, dedication, instruction, and regular practice, if practice is done on a regular basis then the sounds can become more clear and strong. Professional singers usually build their careers around one specific genre, such as classical or rock. They typically take voice training provided by teachers or vocal coaches throughout their careers. Though these four mechanisms function independently, they are coordinated in the establishment of a vocal technique and are made to interact upon one another. During passive breathing, air is inhaled with the diaphragm while exhalation occurs without any effort, exhalation may be aided by the abdominal, internal intercostal and lower pelvis/pelvic muscles. Inhalation is aided by use of external intercostals, scalenes and sternocleidomastoid muscles, the pitch is altered with the vocal cords. With the lips closed, this is called humming, humans have vocal folds which can loosen, tighten, or change their thickness, and over which breath can be transferred at varying pressures. The shape of the chest and neck, the position of the tongue, any one of these actions results in a change in pitch, volume, timbre, or tone of the sound produced. Sound also resonates within different parts of the body and an individuals size, Singers can also learn to project sound in certain ways so that it resonates better within their vocal tract. This is known as vocal resonation, another major influence on vocal sound and production is the function of the larynx which people can manipulate in different ways to produce different sounds. These different kinds of function are described as different kinds of vocal registers. The primary method for singers to accomplish this is through the use of the Singers Formant and it has also been shown that a more powerful voice may be achieved with a fatter and fluid-like vocal fold mucosa. The more pliable the mucosa, the more efficient the transfer of energy from the airflow to the vocal folds, Vocal registration refers to the system of vocal registers within the voice. A register in the voice is a series of tones, produced in the same vibratory pattern of the vocal folds
6.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
7.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
8.
Mercury Records
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Mercury Records is an American-based record label owned by Universal Music Group. In the United States, it operates through Island Records, in the UK, Mercury Record Corporation was formed in the American city of Chicago in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams, Ray Greenberg and Arthur Talmadge. They were a force in jazz and blues, classical music, rock and roll. Early in the history, Mercury opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St. Louis, Missouri. With the use of presses and providing 24-hour turnaround, they went into direct competition with major recording labels such as Columbia, Decca, Capitol. By hiring two promoters, Tiny Hill and Jimmy Hilliard, they penetrated the pop market with such as Frankie Laine, Vic Damone, Tony Fontane. Rather than rely on radio airplay, Mercury initially relied on jukeboxes to promote their music, some early Mercury recordings featured a caricature of him as its logo. In 1947 Jack Rael, a musician and publicist/manager, persuaded Mercury to let Patti Page record a song that had planned to be done by Vic Damone. The budget was too small for them to hire a second singer to provide the parts to Page. The company released a number of recordings under the Mercury label as well as its subsidiaries. In addition, they leased and purchased material by independent labels, under their own label, Mercury released a variety of recording styles from classical music to psychedelic rock. However, its subsidiaries focused on their own specialized categories of music, Mercurys jazz division had two distinct and important fathers. John Hammond brought his expertise and connections when Mercury bought Keynote Records in the late 1940s, and Mercury was the issuing company and distributor for Norman Granzs pre-Norgran/Verve recordings. Although both Hammond and Granz had departed Mercury by the mid-1950s, they established the company in the jazz world, by the early 1960s, Mercury was releasing jazz under the flagship label and was an early leader in the new stereo sound releases. Highlights of the early and mid-1960s included albums by Quincy Jones, Buddy Rich, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Max Roach, in the early 1950s, Norman Granz started his own record company, Norgran, which later became Verve. In an ironic twist, both Mercury and Verve are now owned by Universal Music Group and Mercurys jazz library falls under the Verve division. Since the early 1990s, Verve has reissued many Mercury jazz titles on CD, often taking care to use original master tapes, in 1962, Mercury began marketing a line of phonographs made by Philips bearing the Mercury brand name. In July 1967, Mercury Records became the first U. S. record company to release cassette music tapes, in 1969, Mercury changed its corporate name to Mercury Record Productions Inc. while its parent Conelco became North American Philips Corp after Philips brought control of the company
9.
GOOD Music
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GOOD Music, Inc. is an American record label founded in 2004, by hip hop artist and record producer Kanye West. The label has housed several successful recording artists throughout the years, such as Big Sean, Pusha T, Common, John Legend, Tyga, Kid Cudi, Desiigner, Teyana Taylor and Mos Def, among others. Their roster of producers include Travis Scott, Southside, Hit-Boy, Hudson Mohawke, Q-Tip, Jeff Bhasker. The label has released 10 albums certified gold or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America, Kanye West founded GOOD Music in 2004, in conjunction with Sony BMG, shortly after releasing his debut album, The College Dropout. John Legend, Common, and West were the labels inaugural artists, legends Get Lifted was the labels first album release - this received eight nominations and three wins at the 2006 Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Best R&B Album. In October 2006, Legend released his album, Once Again. Commons Be, the second release, was the recipient of four Grammy Award nominations. The label later added GLC, Really Doe, Malik Yusef, Tony Williams, Wests second studio album, Late Registration, included featured guest appearances by every artist signed to GOOD Musics roster at the time of its release in August 2005. In May 2007, Detroit rapper Big Sean signed to the label, in 2008, West signed British singer-songwriter Mr Hudson, after hearing A Tale of Two Cities. He also signed then up-and-coming rapper Kid Cudi, after hearing his work from producer and manager Plain Pat. Kid Cudis debut album, Man on the Moon, The End of Day was released under GOOD Music on September 15,2009, the album earned three Grammy nominations and was certified Gold by the RIAA. A month later Mr Hudsons solo debut, Straight No Chaser, was released, the label held a cypher for the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards in June, that featured West, Common, Big Sean and new signee Cyhi the Prynce. In late 2010, West released several tracks featuring himself, and others members of the GOOD Music roster, in a free weekly giveaway known as, G. O. O. D. In September 2010, West signed Brooklyn rapper Mos Def to GOOD Music. and shortly afterwards Consequence released a diss track, the following month Pusha T announced his signing. Late in 2010, Kid Cudi released his studio album Man on the Moon II, The Legend of Mr. Rager. In April 2011, West signed American rapper and producer Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, Kanye West also signed producer Hit-Boy, to Very G. O. O. D. In 2011, West signed Nigerian artists Dbanj and Don Jazzy, in June 2011, GOOD Music signed their first distribution agreement, with Def Jam Recordings. Big Seans debut Finally Famous was the first album released by GOOD Music with distribution by Def Jam, in late 2011, plans were announced for a release of a compilation album, later entitled Cruel Summer
10.
Mr Hudson and the Library
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Mr Hudson and the Library were a British music group active from 2006 to 2007 and composed of Mr Hudson, Joy Joseph, Torville Jones, Robin French and Wilkie Wilkinson. The members hailed from Birmingham and London and their first EP entitled Bread & Roses, came out in October 2006. This was followed by hit single Too Late Too Late, the band played two songs Too Late Too Late and Brave the Cold on Later with Jools Holland on 8 December 2006. Their debut album, A Tale of Two Cities was released on 5 March 2007 on Mercury Records, the album crosses genres, combining Mr Hudson’s songwriting with hip hop influenced drum patterns, folky acoustic guitar, reggae influenced bass guitar, classical piano and West Indian steelpan. Two of the tracks from A Tale of Two Cities are covers, On The Street Where You Live from My Fair Lady and Everything Happens to Me was popularised by Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker. They appeared at many UK festivals, including Glastonbury, T in the Park, The Big Chill, V Festival, Godiva Festival, on their own UK tour, they were supported by Cheap Hotel - their singer Anna Calvi went on to acclaimed solo success. In October 2007, Mr Hudson and the Library played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in support of The Police and they also supported Kanye West on his Europe leg of his Glow in the Dark Tour, performing in Dublin, Belfast and other European cities. In 2008, the band disbanded and Mr Hudson began recording as a solo artist, releasing his first solo album Straight No Chaser in 2009
11.
Kanye West
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Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Intent on pursuing a career as a rapper, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to widespread critical and commercial success. He went on to pursue a variety of different styles on subsequent albums Late Registration, Graduation, and 808s & Heartbreak. In 2010, he released his fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy to rave reviews from critics, West released his abrasive sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. His seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016, Wests outspoken views and life outside of music have received significant mainstream attention. He has been a frequent source of controversy for his conduct at award shows, on social media and he is the founder and head of the creative content company DONDA. His 2014 marriage to television personality Kim Kardashian has also been subject to media coverage. He has won a total of 21 Grammy Awards, making him one of the most awarded artists of all time, three of his albums have been included and ranked on Rolling Stones 2012 update of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. He has also included in a number of Forbes annual lists. Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2005 and 2015, West was born on June 8,1977 in Atlanta, Georgia. His parents divorced when he was three years old, after the divorce, he and his mother moved to Chicago, Illinois. His father, Ray West, is a former Black Panther and was one of the first black photojournalists at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ray West was later a Christian counselor, and in 2006, opened the Good Water Store and Café in Lexington Park, Maryland with startup capital from his son. West, was a professor of English at Clark Atlanta University, West was raised in a middle-class background, attending Polaris High School in suburban Oak Lawn, Illinois after living in Chicago. At the age of 10, West moved with his mother to Nanjing, China, according to his mother, West was the only foreigner in his class, but settled in well and quickly picked up the language, although he has since forgotten most of it. When asked about his grades in school, West replied, I got As. West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age and his mother recalled that she first took notice of Wests passion for drawing and music when he was in the third grade. Growing up in Chicago, West became deeply involved in its hip hop scene and he started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists
12.
N-Dubz
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N-Dubz were a British hip hop group from Camden Town, London. The group consisted of members Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer, N-Dubz were previously signed to Polydor Records before joining All Around the World Records. They had eight top 40 hits on the UK Singles Chart, the most successful being I Need You and their debut album Uncle B was released on 17 November 2008 and debuted at number eleven on the UK Albums Chart. The album has since been certified platinum for shipments of over 300,000 in the UK and their second album Against All Odds was released on 16 November 2009, which debuted at number 6 in the UK. It went platinum within two months of release. The group announced they would be entering a hiatus in 2011 to concentrate on solo careers, All three members of N-Dubz were born in Camden Town, north London, and two of them are of Greek-Cypriot heritage. Performing as the Lickle Rinsers Crew, they released the singles Bad Man Riddim, after Lickle Rinsers Crew, they then became NW1. This originated from the phrase Hakuna Matata and they were originally intended to be Hukuna Matata after they changed from the Lickle Rinsers Crew, but due to copyright from Disney, they decided to change to No Worries instead. It wasnt until 2007s Feva Las Vegas that the group appeared on the UK charts, each member appeared on the second series of Channel 4s Dubplate Drama after they began to get noticed as a group. In mid-2007, Dappy released Love for my Slum with fellow UK artist Baker Troble, the Independent wrote, His lyrics combine jealousy with anger, You got too much to lose / Youre in a great position. You wouldnt last a minute where Im from / Youd go missing / So appreciate what you got / cos Im still wishing, and then he grabs the rich kid by his coat, pulls him toward him, and punches him in the face. The silent boy falls instantly to the pavement and they then went on to put Do scenes like these suggest that music videos are encouraging their viewers to indulge in criminality. Despite vowing he would not return to the show, he appeared for a time on the guest team on 4 December 2008 and for a third time, on Phills team. In May 2008, a song entitled Ouch surfaced along with a music video, the video for Ouch attracted over 4 million viewers on networking site YouTube in just over a month after release. On 6 August 2008, it was announced that the group had left Polydor Records and had signed to All Around the World records, the label predominantly specialises in dance music, however, they have occasionally released hip hop records such as Ice Cubes You Can Do It. The press release stated that the label would be releasing Ouch as the groups first single on the label in September 2008, the groups first album, Uncle B, was released on 17 November 2008. The album includes You Better Not Waste My Time, I Swear, Feva Las Vegas, Love for My Slums, Ouch, Defeat You, the song charted for five weeks in the UK Singles Chart, peaking highest at number 24. Group member Dappy was featured in Tinchy Stryders 2009 No.1 single tentatively titled Number 1, due to the success of their debut album, the group embarked on their first headlining tour, Uncle B Tour
13.
808s & Heartbreak
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808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by American recording artist Kanye West. It was released on November 24,2008, by Roc-A-Fella Records, West recorded the album during September and October 2008 at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, with the help of producers No I. D. 808s & Heartbreak debuted at one on the Billboard 200. Despite varying responses from listeners, the received positive reviews from most critics and was named one of 2008s best records in several year-end lists. Four singles were released to promote the record, including the hit singles Love Lockdown, by 2013, it had sold 1.7 million copies in the United States. Following the release of his studio album Graduation, the remainder of 2007. On November 10,2007, Wests mother Donda West died due to complications arising following cosmetic surgery involving a tummy tuck, months later, West and fiancée Alexis Phifer ended their engagement and their long-term intermittent relationship, which had begun in 2002. At the same time, West struggled to adapt to his pop star status he had once striven to achieve. The loss, loneliness and longing for companionship and a sense of normality served to inspire 808s & Heartbreak, West stated that This album was therapeutic – its lonely at the top. A photograph taken by Danny Clinch of West kissing his mother on the cheek was included in the booklet liner notes. West felt that his emotions could not be expressed simply through rapping. There were melodies that were in me, he explained, what was in me I couldnt stop. Either call it pop or pop art, either one Im good with, the album was recorded over a span of approximately three weeks from September to October 2008. Recording sessions took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and at Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, as implied by its title, 808s & Heartbreak prominently features the Roland TR-808 drum machine. West utilized the sounds created by the 808 and manipulated its pitch to produce a distorted, electronic sound and he felt the characteristic of the sound was representative of his state of mind. According to West, the fact that Hawaiis area code was 808 was coincidental, the realization inspired him to pursue his direction with the album, however. In terms of direction, Wests intentions, according to Mike Dean, were to go against the typical sound of hip hop beat. Overall, West maintained a minimal but functional approach towards the studio production
14.
Jay-Z
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Shawn Corey Carter, known professionally as Jay Z, is an American rapper, businessman, and investor. He is one of the musicians of all time, having sold more than 100 million records. MTV ranked him the Greatest MC of all time in 2006, Rolling Stone ranked three of his albums—Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint, and The Black Album —among the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2014, Forbes estimated his net worth at nearly $520 million, Jay Z co-owns the New York 40/40 Club sports bar, and is the co-creator of the clothing line Rocawear. He is the president of Def Jam Recordings, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records. He also founded the sports agency Roc Nation Sports and is a certified NBA, as an artist, he holds the record for most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 with 13. He has also had four number ones on the Billboard Hot 100, in 2009, he was ranked the tenth-most successful artist of the 2000s by Billboard as well as the fifth top solo male artist and fourth top rapper behind Eminem, Nelly, and 50 Cent. He was also ranked the 88th-greatest artist of all time by Rolling Stone, Jay Z married Singer-Songwriter Beyoncé in 2008. Shawn Carter was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Marcy Houses and he and his three siblings were raised by their mother, Gloria Carter after their father, Adness Reeves abandoned the family. Reeves would later meet and reconcile with Jay Z before dying from liver failure in 2003, Jay Z claims in his lyrics that in 1982, at the age of 12, he shot his older brother in the shoulder for stealing his jewelry. Along with future rapper AZ, Carter attended Eli Whitney High School in Brooklyn until it was closed down, according to his interviews and lyrics, during this period he sold crack cocaine and was shot at three times. According to his mother, Carter used to wake up his siblings at night banging out drum patterns on the kitchen table and she bought him a boom box for his birthday, sparking his interest in music. He began freestyling and writing lyrics, known as Jazzy around the neighborhood, Carter later adopted the showbiz/stage name Jay-Z in homage to his mentor Jaz-O. He would drop the hyphen in 2013, Jay Z can be briefly heard on several of Jaz-Os early recordings in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including The Originators and Hawaiian Sophie. Jay Z became embroiled in several battles with rapper LL Cool J in the early 1990s and he first became known to a wide audience on the posse cut Show and Prove on the 1994 Big Daddy Kane album Daddys Home. When I would leave the stage to go change outfits, I would bring out Jay Z and Positive K and let them freestyle until I came back to the stage. The young Jay Z appeared on a song by Big L, Da Graveyard, and on Mic Geronimos Time to Build. His first official rap single was called In My Lifetime, for which he released a music video, an unreleased music video was also produced for the B-side I Cant Get with That
15.
Young Forever
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Young Forever is the fourth single by American hip hop rapper Jay-Z from his album The Blueprint 3 off the Roc Nation label. The song was produced by Kanye West and it was released as the third official single in the United Kingdom. The song has performed several times by Jay-Z accompanied by his wife, R&B singer Beyoncé in place of Mr. Hudson. Jay-Z brought out Beyoncé as a surprise guest and performed the song of the night. The couple also performed the song on New Years Eve in 2010 at a concert at the Las Vegas Cosmopolitan Hotel, Young Forever was first released in the UK on January 11,2010. It was later serviced to Rhythm/Crossover and Top 40/Mainstream radio stations in the United States on January 26, the music video was released on December 22,2009 on Jay-Zs official YouTube channel. Directed by Anthony Mandler, the video is in black-and-white and shows various aspects of youth across America, intercut scenes of Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson performing the song. Singer Rita Ora makes a appearance in the video. Concert scenes were filmed at Alexandra Palace, London on November 4,2009, the video is produced by Andrew Listermann of Riveting Entertainment. After strong coverage on the radio throughout December 2009 and January 2010, following the release of the album, the song debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 41 due to strong digital downloads the following week. In the United Kingdom, the single entered at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart, the next week, Young Forever climbed eight places to number 19. A few weeks later, the peaked at number ten10on the chart. In Ireland, the single entered at number 36 the Irish Singles Chart, a week later, Young Forever climbed five places in the chart to number 31. The single later climbed to its peak of #14, the song was the worlds 19th most digitally sold song of the first half of 2010 with over 1,606,000 units sold, as of July 2010 it has sold 2,050,000 copies. Young Forever was certified platinum in May 2012 by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana, Young Forever JAY Z / Mr. Hudson on YouTube Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
16.
The Blueprint 3
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The Blueprint 3 is the eleventh studio album by American rapper Jay Z, released September 8,2009, on Roc Nation, through distribution from Atlantic Records. It is the installment in The Blueprint trilogy, preceded by The Blueprint and The Blueprint2. Production for the album took place during 2008 to 2009 at several recording studios and was handled by Kanye West, the Neptunes, Jeff Bhasker, Al Shux, Jerome J-Roc Harmon, The Inkredibles, Swizz Beatz, and Timbaland. This is the album in the Blueprint trilogy, as well as the first album since Vol.3. Life and Times of S. Carter, not to feature production from Just Blaze, the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 476,000 copies in its first week. It became Jay-Zs eleventh US number-one album, breaking the record he had shared with Elvis Presley. Upon its release, The Blueprint 3 received generally positive reviews music critics. The earliest hype over The Blueprint 3 came when DJ Clue released in January 2008 a mixtape song called Aint I, in the intro, Clue says, Off that Blueprint 3 baby. However, a spokesperson for Jay-Z said that it was an old, unreleased song, on July 20, Timbaland, a frequent contributor to previous Jay-Z albums, told MTV News that he would be producing the whole album. But in an interview with the Rolling Stone magazine, Jay-Z called the statement premature, in July 2009, Jay-Z confirmed The Blueprint 3 as the albums title during an interview with radio station Shade 45. By November 2008, he had finished the album but with lengthy negotiations with Def Jam, in January 2009, Jay-Z confirmed continued production of the album and admitted the leak of several songs. He also mentioned in an interview with DJ Semtex that his song on the album is Empire State of Mind. The official track list for Blueprint 3 was revealed on August 18, confirming the guest appearances from Kanye West, Rihanna, Drake, Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, J. Cole, Alicia Keys, and more. )The cover consists of a large amount of all-white instruments and recording tools stacked in a corner, with three red lines across the image. Rather than simply using photoshop, the design team carefully stacked all the equipment in a corner then used a projector to create the bars. They then painted red onto the equipment where the projection of the bars was, Blueprint 3 would be Jay-Zs first album cover that did not feature his face on it. Most of the recording sessions took place in Hawaii at Avex Honolulu Studio. Wests protégé Mr Hudson explained to The Times that he wont get bothered there compared to a city such as New York or Los Angeles. I let the music dictate the direction, however, the final track listing reveals, that West produced the majority of tracks on the album, and three done by Timbaland
17.
Straight No Chaser (Mr Hudson album)
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Straight No Chaser is the second studio album by British pop musician Mr Hudson, a follow-up to the last album released under the name Mr Hudson & The Library entitled A Tale of Two Cities. Straight No Chaser was released in the UK on 19 October 2009 and it was released in the United States on 29 June 2010. In an interview, singer Ben Hudson was asked to describe the album, My mission statement was to make a pop record and my heroes are people like Bowie and Prince and Damon Albarn. I didnt want to do anything niche and he said, Lets see if we can make you a popstar. I was like Lets have a go and its a bit more widescreen, a bit more punchy, but the eclecticism of the first records still there. Theres a tune where Im a cross between Deliverance and Sade, there Will Be Tears was the first single from Straight No Chaser, but failed to attract the attention of the media, something only Supernova achieved in chart success. Supernova was the single from Straight No Chaser. The single features American artist Kanye West, usually a rapper and it debuted at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, behind the number one single Beat Again by JLS. White Lies was the single from Straight No Chaser. The song was released on 12 October 2009 in the United Kingdom, anyone But Him is the fourth single from Straight No Chaser Straight No Chaser debuted at #25 in the United Kingdom on 25 October 2009
18.
Supernova (Mr Hudson song)
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Supernova is a song by British singer Mr Hudson, featuring American rapper Kanye West. Supernova was premiered on 13 May 2009, on Zane Lowe BBC Radio Show and then released through Mr Hudsons, the song was later remixed by Calvin Harris in a more electronic fashion. After being officially released as a single on 19 July 2009, Supernova was released to iTunes on 19 July 2009 after being able to pre-order throughout the previous week. On the Irish Singles Chart, Supernova debuted in the top ten, the song was the highest debut on the chart for that week. The following week it rose to four, and peaked at number two. It was directed by French duo Jonas & François and released on 30 June 2009 and it follows Mr Hudson and Kanye West in their pursuit of women, with R&B singer Estelle making a cameo appearance in the video as one of the love interests. Juxtaposed with these images is a sequence of a supernova, as well as a flashing light suit. CD single Supernova –3,16 UK single Supernova –3,13 Supernova –5,41 Supernova lyrics at Mr Hudsons official website Supernova Music video on YouTube Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
19.
Paloma Faith
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Paloma Faith is an English singer, songwriter and actress, known for her retro and eccentric style. Faith released her debut album Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful, in 2009, featuring the top twenty singles Stone Cold Sober and New York. The album reached number nine in the United Kingdom, and was later certified double-platinum there, in 2012 she released her second studio album Fall to Grace which reached number two in the UK and has since been certified double-platinum. The album included the top ten singles Cant Rely on You, Faith won British Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards in 2015 and has been nominated four other times. She has also made film appearances in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Dread. Faith was born to an English mother and Spanish father in Hackney and her parents divorced when she was four years old, and she was raised by her mother in Stoke Newington. As a child, she was encouraged to dance by her mother, Faiths first foray into music began when she mimicked famous soul and jazz singers including Etta James and Billie Holiday, whom she admired and cites as influences for her own work. She met her managers Jamie Binns and Christian Wåhlberg of Lateral Management in 2007, Binns had been tipped off by the producer Peanut, a client who had recently worked with her in his studio and been suitably impressed. The managers spent six months to a year helping Faith with the A&R process, setting up sessions, during her time at college Faith worked in a pub where the manager Dr Vishaal Goel asked her to front his band, which they later called Paloma and the Penetrators. During a performance with the band at a show, she was scouted by an A&R man from Epic Records. Twenty minutes into the audition, she asked the manager to turn his phone off, Epic A&R Joanna Charrington told HitQuarters When she played a showcase for us it was clear that she was a star but the material was a bit generic. She didnt have the hit songs, not being one hundred percent convinced the label executives decided to wait. During this time Charrington regularly checked Faiths MySpace page to see if she had something that had a direction or sound. After several months her attention was eventually piqued by Broken Doll, Charrington told Epic managing director Nick Raphael I think we should get this girl back in. She sounds like she is getting it now and we can help her get the songs. Faith revealed in an interview that the manager called her and offered her a contract saying he had seen many acts since and she turned down an opportunity to join Amy Winehouses band and began to write and perform her own songs. Her first recognised work was the song Its Christmas, which she recorded as a duet with singer-songwriter Josh Weller in 2008, Faiths music is influenced by soul and jazz and her singing style has been compared favourably to those of Amy Winehouse and Duffy. In mid-2009 Faith released her single, Stone Cold Sober which reached Number 17 on the UK Singles Chart
20.
Alex Clare
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Alexander George Alex Clare is a British singer and songwriter. Clare adopted his current stage name, Alex Clare, in 2010, replacing Alexander G. Muertos and his debut album, The Lateness of the Hour, was released in the UK on 11 July 2011 on Island Records and was produced by Mike Spencer and Major Lazer. The biggest hit from the album, Too Close, peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart, the song was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Single at the 2013 Brit Awards. Clare was born in Southwark, London, England, though Clare took up the trumpet and drums when he was young, he eventually placed an emphasis on guitar and songwriting, playing open mic nights with original material. Clare attended Bishop Challoner School in Bromley and thereafter Westminster Kingsway College from 2002, a demo earned him a deal with the Island label in the UK. His debut album, The Lateness of the Hour, produced by Mike Spencer, the first single from the album was Up All Night, followed by Too Close and Treading Water. On 19 May 2011, Reggie Yates made Alex Clares cover of Princes When Doves Cry his Song of the Day, a day later, the Dutch radio station 3FM announced single Too Close to be the 3FMs Megahit of that week. On 21 June 2011, Clare performed at the Queens College, Cambridge May Ball, on 14 August 2011, Clare performed at the Summer Well festival in Buftea, Romania. Following the disappointing performance of the album, Clare was dropped from his contract with Universal Island in the UK. In March 2012, Clares song Too Close was featured in several Internet Explorer 9 advertisements, following its use, the song debuted at number 68 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and later reached number 7, becoming his first top 10 hit. Clare saw success on the German charts too, reaching number one, on 16 May 2012, Clares song peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. Soon after the appearance in charts, Universal Republic signed Clare to a distribution deal that allowed The Lateness Of The Hour to be released in America in March 2012. In mid-2012, it was announced that Universal Republic was going defunct moving artists from its roster to Republic Records including Alex Clare. In 2012, he sang the role of Voice of Humanity on the album Jeff Waynes Musical Version of The War of the Worlds – The New Generation along with Gary Barlow, Joss Stone and Liam Neeson. In May 2014, Clare released the video for his single War Rages On as the single from his second album Three Hearts. War Rages On has also served as the sequence to the popular BBC Drama. On 8 October 2014, ASCAP named members Alex Clare and Jim Duguid Songwriters of the Year for Too Close, in October 2016, Clares first single from his debut album, Up All Night was used as the opening theme for BBC Three science-fiction series Class. In November 2016, he released the album Tail of Lions, brought up in what he has described as a very, very secular environment, Clare became a baal teshuva to Orthodox Judaism in the mid-2000s
21.
Pixie Lott
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Victoria Louise Pixie Lott is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her debut single, Mama Do, was released in June 2009 and her second single, Boys and Girls, also topped the UK Singles Chart in September 2009. Lotts debut album, Turn It Up, was released in September 2009 and it reached number six on the UK Albums Chart, spawned five consecutive top twenty singles, and sold over 1.5 million copies. Her second album, Young Foolish Happy, was released on 14 November 2011, the lead single, All About Tonight, debuted atop the UK Singles Chart, becoming her third UK number-one hit. The album also produced the top ten singles What Do You Take Me For. Lotts self-titled third studio album was released on 1 August 2014. Its lead single Nasty released on 7 March 2014 peaked at nine on the UK Singles Chart. Lott was born in Bromley, England on 12 January 1991 and initially lived in Petts Wood and then Bickley, Lott was born several months premature, and her mother gave her the nickname Pixie because she was such a tiny, cute baby who looked like a fairy. She started singing in her school and when she was five she attended the Italia Conti Associates Saturday school in Chislehurst. She went on to attend the main school – Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts – at 11, at the age of 13, Lott moved with her family to Brentwood. At the age of 14, she was part of the chorus, despite missing school time because she was recording her album, Lott says she received straight A grades in her GCSEs. In 2006, at the age of 15, Lott sang for L. A. Reid after he heard a few of her demos and he then signed her to the Island Def Jam Music Group. Lott wrote a song for Alexandra Burkes debut album, Overcome, titled You Broke My Heart and she also wrote two tracks on Lisa Loiss debut album Smoke, titled No Good For Me and Promises, Promises. Lott played her first festival concert in the Big Top at the Isle of Wight Festival 2009, during her first full British tour, Lotts debut single, Mama Do, was released on 8 June 2009. It spent one week at one,11 weeks within the top 40 and 18 weeks within the top 75. The single also had success outside the UK, reaching the top 40 in 11 other countries, including top ten peaks of number eight in Denmark. The single was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry on 28 August 2009 after selling over 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom, Lotts second lead single Boys and Girls was released on 6 September 2009 and topped the UK Singles Chart on 13 September. On 14 September, Lotts debut album, Turn It Up was released and this followed an intensive promotional tour where Lott visited the Asia-Pacific region to promote the album and Mama Do. The album debuted at six on the UK Album Chart
22.
Wretch 32
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Jermaine Scott Sinclair, better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is an English rapper and former Grime MC from Tottenham, London where he grew up the son of a local reggae DJ in the Tiverton Estate. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The Movement with Scorcher, Ghetts, Wretch released his first single Traktor in January 2011. On 6 December 2010, the BBC also announced that Wretch 32 had been nominated for the BBCs Sound of 2011 poll, in 2011, Wretch 32 had three top-five charting songs from debut album Black and White and amassed over a million record sales. In 2012 he was used by both Adidas and Coca-Cola as one of the faces of their London 2012 Olympics campaigns. On 2 September 2016, Wretch released his studio album, Growing Over Life, following the singles 6 Words, Antwi, Liberation, All a Dream, I. O. U. Continuing his MC career in 2006, Scott under the name Wretch 32 released a series of mixtapes, including Teachers Training Day – which featured guest appearances from Ghetts, Bashy and his mother was from Jamaica, where wretch meant slim or skinny. She called him Wretch as a child, and the name stuck,32 is his lucky number and he thought it would be fun to have a number as a surname, so he added 32 to the end of Wretch. His debut studio album, Wretchrospective was released in the United Kingdom during 2008, on 6 December 2010, Wretch 32 was named as one of the nominees for BBCs Sound of 2011, an annual poll which predicts artists that will progress during the upcoming year. In 2010 Wretch 32 won an Official Mixtape Award for the best hiphop mixtape of 2009, on 16 January 2011, Wretch released Traktor as the lead single from his second studio album Black and White. Through Ministry of Sound as both a download and a CD single. Unorthodox, featuring British rapper Example, was released as the single from the album on 17 April 2011. Dont Go, featuring Josh Kumra, was released as the third single on 14 August 2011. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, being Wretchs most successful single to date, on 11 December 2011, Forgiveness featuring Etta Bond was released as the albums fourth single. It charted at number 49 on the UK Singles Chart as the albums least successful single, Hush Little Baby, featuring Ed Sheeran, was released as the fifth and final single from Black and White on 27 May 2012, peaking at number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. The tours saw the debut of a new track titled Blur, the song features on the FIFA13 soundtrack, as the full tracks first appearance. In early 2012, Wretch 32 led a national TV and advertising campaign with Adidas for the London 2012 Olympics, Wretch recorded a song alongside friend and producer Wizzy Wow that was used for the Adidas #takethestage campaign and TV advert. He featured as the face of the TV advert and was also one of the key faces of the billboard. On 1 July 2012, Wretch 32 won Best International Artist at the BET Awards and he played a stripped version of his arena tour setlist, cutting out Forgiveness, Hush Little Baby, Blur and Dont Be Afraid
23.
Duran Duran
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Duran Duran are an English new wave and synthpop band formed in Birmingham in 1978. The band grew from alternative sensations in 1982 to mainstream pop stars by 1984, by the end of the decade, membership and music style changes challenged the band before a resurgence in the early 1990s. The group were a band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. They have placed 14 singles in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100, when they first emerged, they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene, along with bands such as Spandau Ballet. Soon they would shed this image, using fashion and marketing to build a more refined and they were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The video age catapulted Duran Duran into the mainstream with the introduction of the 24-hour music channel MTV, many of their videos were shot on 35 mm film, which gave a much more polished look than was standard at the time. They also collaborated with film directors to take the quality a step further. In 1984, the band were early innovators with video technology in their stadium shows. These five members featured the most commercially successful line-up, the reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the bands fans and music media. Andy Taylor left the once again in mid-2006, and guitarist Dom Brown has since been working with the band as a session player. John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in Birmingham, England in 1978, at the club they were doing jobs such as John working the door and with Nick deejaying for £10 a night. They began rehearsing and regularly playing at the venue, There were many nearby nightclubs, and the one significant one, where bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash played gigs, was called Barbarellas. They would go on to name the band after a character from Barbarella, the character, played by Milo OShea, is named Dr. Durand Durand. The bands first singer was Stephen Duffy, Simon Colley soon joined Taylor, Rhodes and Duffy. Colley was the original bass player, as John Taylor was the guitarist at this point. This was the first complete line-up of the band played live shows. For drums and percussion, a drum machine belonging to Rhodes was used. Colley left the prior to the addition of Andy Taylor
24.
Paper Gods
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Paper Gods is the fourteenth studio album from British new wave band Duran Duran on Warner Bros. The record was announced on 15 June 2015 via a press release posted on their website. The first single, Pressure Off, features vocals from American singer Janelle Monáe. Duran Duran promoted the album through the Paper Gods on Tour. The album cover, designed by artist Alex Israel, is his 2013 painting titled, Sky Backdrop, the deluxe physical copy of the record comes with sixteen stickers of Duran Duran iconography to mirror the album cover. The band announced a tour of the United States and the United Kingdom to coincide with the albums release, the lead single from the album, Pressure Off, was released in the United States on 19 June, first via Microsofts Xbox Music. The song subsequently appeared on Google Music, on 3 October 2015, the album entered the Billboard 200 at number 10 and became their first top 10 album since 1993s Duran Duran. In its second week, the fell to number 76. In the UK it hit number 5, in Italy it hit number 2. The album reentered the Billboard 200 at #45 during the week of January 12,2016
25.
Future (rapper)
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Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, known professionally as Future, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Wilburn first became involved in music as part of the Dungeon Family collective, where he was nicknamed the Future. After amassing a series of mixtapes between 2010 and 2011, Future signed a record label deal with Epic Records and A1 Recordings. He subsequently released his album, Pluto, in April 2012 to positive reviews. Futures second album, Honest, was released in April 2014, between late 2014 and early 2015, he released a trio of mixtapes, Monster, Beast Mode, and 56 Nights. His next releases, DS2, What a Time to Be Alive, EVOL, FUTURE, the latter two made him the first artist to debut to two albums consecutively at the top of that chart. Future has also released several singles certified gold or higher by the RIAA, including Turn On the Lights, Move That Dope, Fuck Up Some Commas, Where Ya At, Jumpman, nayvadius DeMun Wilburn was born on November 20,1983 in Atlanta, Georgia. He began using his name while performing as one of the members of the musical collective The Dungeon Family. His first cousin, record producer and Dungeon Family member Rico Wade, encouraged him to sharpen his writing skills, Future voices his praise of Wades musical influence and instruction, calling him the mastermind behind his sound. He soon came under the wing of Atlantas own Rocko who signed him to his label A-1 Recordings, since then his work ethic has driven him to his success. From 2010 to early 2011, Future released a series of mixtapes including 1000, Dirty Sprite, the latter included the single Tony Montana, in reference to the Scarface film. During that time, Future was also partnering with a fellow rapper Gucci Mane on their collaborative album Free Bricks, and co-wrote YCs single Racks. Future signed a label recording contract with Epic Records fellow American rapper Rockos A1 Recordings, in September 2011, days before the release of his next mixtape. The mixtape was described by XXL magazine as ranging from simple and it would almost feel antiquated if Future werent amassing hits, or if he werent bringing some subtle new dimensions to the micro-genre. Though Future had told MTV that Streetz Calling would be his final mixtape prior to the release of his studio album, another mixtape. In December 2011, Future was featured on the cover of Issue #77 of The FADER, before his album being released in April 2012. Future was selected to the annual XXL Freshmen list in early 2012 and his debut album Pluto, originally planned for January, was eventually released on April 17. It included remixes of Tony Montana featuring Drake and Magic featuring T. I, according to Future, Magic was the first record T. I. jumped on when he came outta jail
26.
DJ Snake
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William Sami Etienne Grigahcine, known professionally as DJ Snake, is a French DJ and record producer. DJ Snake is a Grammy-nominated producer and artist who debuted into the scene with singles Bird Machine. Bird Machine is a collaboration with fellow French act Alesia, the single was picked up by Mad Decent, a Los Angeles-based record label run by Diplo, and released in February 2013. In June 2013, DJ Snake was invited by Diplo to do a mix on his radio show, Diplo & Friends. On 30 April 2014, DJ Snake was labeled as an Artist to Watch by FoxWeekly and he and Dillon Francis were announced as alternating supporting artists for the summer Mothership Tour 2014 with Skrillex. DJ Snake was born to Algerian parents in a Banlieue district outside Paris and he cites French film La Haine as well as hip-hop artists KRS-One and Cypress Hill as early influences. In his youth, DJ Snake produced graffiti art, earning him the moniker Snake because he was able to evade the police. Of his name, DJ Snake says When I started DJing, everyone called me ‘Snake’ in my city first, I was like ‘DJ Snake, OK let’s go for it. ’ The name sucks, but it’s too late now. He started DJ-ing at age 14, and later producing at 19 years old, in his early career, DJ Snake performed at clubs including Les Bains Douches in Paris. In 2005, he met his manager Steve Goncalves, who encouraged DJ Snake to begin creating his own music, in 2011, DJ Snake produced for Lady Gaga’s album Born This Way. This earned him a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year in February 2012, DJ Snake was co-producer for the song Government Hooker, which was voted best song by Lady Gaga fans after the release of the album. This song was supposed to be released as a single before Interscope Records decided to stop the marketing of the album after its release and he remixed Kanye Wests New Slaves, AlunaGeorges You Know You Like It, Duck Sauce’s Its You and Major Lazers Bubble Butt. Junior Senior sampled Michael Jackson for their track Move Your Feet, DJ Snake remixed the song in 2013. In 2013, DJ Snake produced three songs with Paul DJ White Shadow Blair on Lady Gaga’s album ARTPOP including Applause, Sexxx Dreams, DJ Snake and Dillon Francis were alternating supporting artists on the Mothership Tour 2014 with Skrillex. He performed at the 2015 Coachella Music Festival with guest appearances by AlunaGeorge and MØ, Lean On and DJ Snakes remix of AlunaGeorges You Know You Like It were both top 10 Shazamed songs from Coachella 2015. In October 2015, DJ Snake and fellow electronic producer Tchami were injured in a car crash, in January 2016, Forbes named him one of their 30 Under 30 In Music for the year. In December 2013, Turn Down for What, DJ Snakes collaboration with Lil Jon, was released on Columbia Records, the song was featured in a commercial for the Sol Republic DECK, a wireless speaker, which aired in October 2013. Turn Down for What entered the top ten of the Billboard Dance/Electronic chart during the last week of December, in January 2014, the single entered the top 5 on the Dance/Electronic chart and debuted No.38 on the Billboard Hot 100
27.
Vic Mensa
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Victor Kwesi Mensah, better known by his stage name Vic Mensa, is a Grammy-nominated American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. He is currently signed to Roc Nation and was a member of the group Kids These Days and he released his first solo mixtape Innanetape. Mensa is also founder of the hip-hop collective Savemoney which includes frequent collaborator Chance the Rapper and his debut single Down on My Luck was released in June 2014 by Virgin EMI. Victor Kwesi Mensahs father is from Ghana and his mother is white American, Vic grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. He attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and while a freshman, when announcing a tour for 2015, Mensa said that he has plans to collaborate with Albarn sometimes in the near future. On September 18,2013, it was announced, that Mensa would be joining J. Cole and Wale on the What Dreams May Come Tour. Following the end of the tour, he toured Europe with Danny Brown, for the beginning of February 21,2014, to cap off his rise to stardom, Mensa was chosen to be on the cover of XXL for the Freshman Class of 2014. On May 12,2014, his first official single Down on My Luck was serviced to contemporary radio in the United Kingdom. On the same day, the video for the song was released. Down on My Luck was then released for download in international markets on June 6,2014. It was released as his first single from his debut EP, on February 12,2016, Kanye West debuted a track, titled Wolves from his upcoming album, The Life of Pablo. The song featured Vic Mensa, along with Sia at his adidas Originals showcase, Mensa later performed Wolves alongside West and Sia on Saturday Night Lives 40th Anniversary Celebration on February 15,2015. On April 10,2015, Vic Mensa released another collaboration with Kanye West, the song is said out to be his second single for his upcoming debut album, titled Traffic. On April 21,2015, Roc Nation announced that Vic had signed to its label, Jay also tweeted an iTunes link to Mensas new Kanye-featured single in the process. He has stated, that the album is around 80-90% done, in July 2015, Mensa released a new song, titled No Chill onto Apple Music. It was produced by Skrillex and Jahlil Beats, on the same month, he released a remix of Codeine Crazy, by Future, titled Codeine Crazy on SoundCloud. On August 14,2015, Mensa released a new song, in 2015, Mensa received a nomination for Best Rap Song at the 58th Grammy Awards as a songwriter for co-writing Kanye Wests single All Day. On February 8,2016 it was announced that Mensa, along with Travis Scott and iLoveMakonnen, on May 17,2016, Mensa was revealed to have teamed up in the studio with British virtual band Gorillaz to collaborate for a track on the groups upcoming studio album
28.
Handsworth, West Midlands
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Handsworth is now an inner city, urban area of northwest Birmingham in the West Midlands. Handsworth lies just outside the Birmingham City Centre, the name Handsworth originates from its Saxon owner Hondes and the Old English word weorthing, meaning farm or estate. Historically in the county of Staffordshire, it remained a village from the 13th century to the 18th century. Accommodation was built for workers, the village quickly grew. In that year, work began to build St James Church, later St Michaels Church was built as a daughter church to St James. In the census of 1881, the town was recorded as having approx, by the census of 1911, this had more than doubled to 68,610. Handsworth has two grammar schools – Handsworth Grammar School and King Edward VI Handsworth School, St Andrews Church is a listed building in Oxhill Road which also held Sunday school classes in a small building on the corner of Oxhill Road and Church Lane. The 1901 Red Lion public house was grade II* listed in 1985, Handsworth parish was transferred from Staffordshire to Warwickshire, and became part of Birmingham, in 1911. The redbrick building with the clocktower in the photograph was originally the offices of the council on Soho Road. During World War II, West Indians had arrived as part of the war effort. In the post-war period, a rebuilding programme required much unskilled labour and Birminghams industrial base expanded, during this time, there was direct recruitment for workers from the Caribbean and the area became a centre for Birminghams Afro-Caribbean community. A tram depot was erected near Birmingham Road, next to the border with West Bromwich, during the 1880s, although it has since been demolished, a replica of the depot was created later in the 20th century at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley. The West Indian population in Birmingham numbered over 17,000 by the 1961 census count, by the early 1960s, there was much racial tension in the country and a great deal of this was being felt in Handsworth. Matthew Boultons Soho Manufactory was set up on the edge of Handsworth. It operated from 1766-1848 and was demolished in 1863, boulton commissioned Samuel Wyatt to design his nearby house Soho House, which is now a museum. In 1790, Heathfield Hall, also designed by Wyatt, was built for Boultons business partner, Watt died in the house in 1819, and was buried at nearby St Marys Church. In the 1880s engineer George Tangye bought the hall and lived there until his death in 1920, from 1927 the hall was demolished and the lands redeveloped. What was the Heathfield Estate is now the land that comprises West Drive, watts workshop from the house was dismantled and rebuilt in the Science Museum, London
29.
King Edward's School, Birmingham
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King Edwards School is an independent day school for boys in Edgbaston, an area of Birmingham, England. Founded by King Edward VI in 1552, it is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham and it was ranked 7th in England in the Secondary school league tables in 2013. It is a school, although it shares the site. Whilst the two schools are run separately, dramatic arts, societies, music and other events are often shared. The shared area is called Winterbourne after the nearby Winterbourne Botanic Garden, the Foundation was created on 2 January 1552 by Royal Charter of King Edward VI together with £20 per annum returned by The Crown for educational purposes. The Guild of the Holy Cross in Birmingham had no school, the charter of the free Grammer Schole of King Edward VI was issued on 2 January 1552, and the school came into being in the former guild building on New Street. By the 1680s there were neer 200 boys in the school, in the latter part of the 18th Century four separate elementary schools and a girls school were set up by the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI. The school remained relatively stagnant after this until Francis Jeune was appointed Headmaster in 1835 and he erected a new building on the same site, in the Gothic Style of architecture. This was designed by Charles Barry, who employed Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin for aspects of the design, generally held to be Big School and, less certainly. From within this new building came several changes in the curriculum. Sports became an important feature, through games afternoons, and the dominance of Classics was lessened by the introduction of mathematics, ironically, the temporary buildings erected on the new site in 1936 burnt down. The school was forced to move, if only for a time, to the University of Birminghams Great Hall. The move was complicated by the outbreak of the Second World War, by 1940 enough of the new buildings designed by Holland W. Hobbiss had been built for the school to begin lessons. In 1945 the schools became direct grant grammar schools, which meant that the Governors had to some control over the running of the school. In 1976 the two became, once again, independent schools, due to the termination of the Direct Grant scheme by the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. The school remains independent and is still on the Edgbaston site, in 2010 the school replaced A levels with the International Baccalaureate diploma. The chapel, a Grade II* listed building, was part of the upper corridor of the 1838 New Street school. It was moved brick by brick to Edgbaston by Holland W Hobbis, another glory of the School, the great desk of the Chief Master, with Sapientia inscribed over it survives from Barrys New Street school, and is still in daily use in Big School
30.
English literature
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However, until the early 19th century, it only deals with the literature of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It does not include literature written in the languages of Britain. The English language has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years, the earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the fifth century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible as well as the Great Vowel Shift. Through the influence of the British Empire, the English language has spread around the world since the 17th century. 450, after the withdrawal of the Romans, and ending soon after the Norman Conquest in 1066. These works include such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons, Bible translations, legal works. In all there are about 400 surviving manuscripts from the period, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English, from the 9th century, that chronicle the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The poem Battle of Maldon also deals with history and this is a work of uncertain date, celebrating the Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking invasion. Oral tradition was strong in early English culture and most literary works were written to be performed. Epic poems were popular, and some, including Beowulf, have survived to the present day. Beowulf is the most famous work in Old English, and has achieved national status in England. The only surviving manuscript is the Nowell Codex, the date of which is debated. Beowulf is the title, and its composition is dated between the 8th and the early 11th century. Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known, and it is also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustained poetry in a Germanic language. The poem, The Dream of the Rood, was inscribed upon the Ruthwell Cross, Two Old English poems from the late 10th century are The Wanderer and The Seafarer. Classical antiquity was not forgotten in Anglo-Saxon England, and several Old English poems are adaptations of late classical philosophical texts, the longest is King Alfreds 9th-century translation of Boethius Consolation of Philosophy. After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the form of the Anglo-Saxon language became less common. Under the influence of the new aristocracy, French became the language of courts, parliament
31.
St Anne's College, Oxford
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St Annes College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Formerly a womens college, it has been coeducational since 1979, the college is known for its progressive outlook, its academic strength in both the humanities and the sciences, its mix of architecture, and its library – the largest college library in Oxford. In October 2016 it was announced that former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Helen King had been elected to the position of Principal upon her retirement from the police and she will take up her appointment in April 2017, succeeding Tim Gardam. The 2013–14 annual review valued the colleges endowment at £37 million, in 1942, it became the St Annes Society, and received a university charter to be founded as a women-only college in 1952. While it remains a myth that it is built on land donated by St Johns College. The annual magazine for alumni of the college is known as The Ship, when it was still known as the Society for Home Students, the college had its first common room in Ship Street, located in central Oxford. Its grounds are bounded by Woodstock Road and Banbury Road to the west and east respectively and they extend as far south as 48 Woodstock Road on the west, and 27 Banbury Road on the east side. These grounds house all of the administrative and academic buildings, undergraduate accommodation, as well as the hall. St Annes can accommodate undergraduates for three years of study, undergraduates at St Annes are housed in 14 Victorian houses owned by the college and six purpose-built accommodation blocks. The Victorian houses include 1 –10 Bevington Road, 58/60 Woodstock Road and these houses also contain the college bar, teaching rooms, college gym, and a laundrette. The Hartland House, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was the first purpose-built college building and it now houses the Library, the junior and senior common rooms, and administrative offices. The Ruth Deech Building, completed in 2005, is the most recent college building and it houses extensive conference facilities on the lower ground floor, in addition to the new College Lodge on the upper ground floor, and 113 en-suite student rooms. The new library and academic centre, scheduled for completion in 2016, is on the site of the former Founders Gatehouse, the Claire Palley Building, completed in 1992 and named after former Principal Claire Palley, was the first accommodation block to have en-suite rooms. It also houses the Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre, Trenaman House, built in 1995, holds student rooms as well as communal college facilities on the ground floor and, since 2008, the St Annes Coffee Shop. It was named after Nancy Trenaman, the sixth Principal of the college, the Dining Hall, built in 1959, is amongst the largest in Oxford with a capacity of 300. Three meals are served daily in hall apart from on weekends when only brunch is served and it is also used for college collections and, on occasion, college bops. The Eleanor Plumer House houses the Middle Common Room, and attached facilities including a study room and kitchen. Four additional Victorian houses hold teaching rooms, seminar rooms, music practice rooms, the Robert Saunders House, built in 1996, provides 80 rooms for post-graduate students in Summertown, an area in the north of Oxford
32.
Later... with Jools Holland
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With Jools Holland is a contemporary British music television show hosted by Jools Holland. A spin-off of The Late Show, it has been running in short series since 1992 and is a part of BBC Twos late-night line-up, the show is considered an institution, having notched up millions of fans around the world. It is currently broadcast in America on MTV Live, previously it has shown on Ovation, BBC America, Fuse. The Ovation and Fuse broadcasts leave out several performances to air commercials within a one-hour timeslot, the 200th programme was broadcast on 1 February 2008. The 250th edition was broadcast in September 2010, draws from a diverse palette of both popular and world music, and each show features around five bands with a variety of styles performing for each other and a small studio audience. Jools Holland introduces the show and interviews one or more of the performers, a unique feature is the short jam session that begins each show, involving all of his invited guests, along with Holland on piano. This beginning jam session also best shows the layout of the set – all the bands are arrayed in a circle with the audience filling in the gaps between them. On 1 April 2008, a new format was debuted, featuring a 30-minute, fully live show broadcast on a Tuesday, Later Live. with Jools Holland, followed by the original hour-long pre-recorded show, with Jools Holland, broadcast on a Friday. The Friday show features the recorded on a Tuesday as well as others recorded during the session for the live show. The HD broadcasts use Dolby Digital 5.1, which adds to the ambience of the studio environment. After the 2012 closure of BBC Television Centre, production from April 2013 moved to The Maidstone Studios, close to Hollands home in Cooling, occasional special editions of the show showcase a major artist under the Later. The bands in question play for the duration of the hour-long show, despite the different name, the show is still introduced by Jools Holland and takes place in a similarly set-up studio. The special episode featuring M People in 1998 was later released on video, also, a selection of the songs from the programme have been released on the limited edition of The Best of M People album and as a b-side to the single Dreaming. Special editions broadcast on New Years Eve each year are referred to as Jools Hollands Hootenanny and are advance-recorded, in 2003 a Spring Hootenanny was broadcast, which proved to be a one-off. Repeated excerpts from the show were broadcast under the title A Little Later as fill-in programmes on BBC HD and he also argued all the artists it breaks are essentially the same, MOR singer-songwriters. Executive producer Mark Cooper responded to this comment in 2013, claiming, we’re not thinking, Oh no, we’ve never had Def Leppard on, we owe them one. Cooper acknowledged that the series had not had much metal but denied accusations that it was snobby about pop acts. In 2000, the series was ranked at number 81 in the British Film Institutes list of the BFI TV100, numerous albums containing performances from the show have been released over the course of the shows run
33.
Acoustic guitar
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An acoustic guitar is a guitar that produces sound acoustically—by transmitting the vibration of the strings to the air—as opposed to relying on electronic amplification. The sound waves from the strings of an acoustic guitar resonate through the guitars body and this typically involves the use of a sound board and a sound box to strengthen the vibrations of the strings. The main source of sound in a guitar is the string. The string vibrates at a frequency and also creates many harmonics at various different frequencies. The frequencies produced can depend on string length, mass, gitterns, a small plucked guitar were the first small guitar-like instruments created during the Middle Ages with a round back like that of a lute. Modern guitar shaped instruments were not seen until the Renaissance era where the body, the earliest string instruments that related to the guitar and its structure where broadly known as the vihuelas within Spanish musical culture. Vihuelas where string instruments that were seen in the 16th century during the Renaissance. Later, Spanish writers distinguished these instruments into 2 categories of vihuelas, the vihuela de arco was an instrument that mimicked the violin, and the vihuela de penola was played with a plectrum or by hand. When it was played by hand it was known as the vihuela de mano, vihuela de mano shared extreme similarities with the Renaissance guitar as it used hand movement at the sound hole or sound chamber of the instrument to create music. The real production of guitars kicked off in France where the popularity, the production became so large that early famous creators such as Gaspard Duyffooprucgars instruments were being sold as copies by other guitar makers in Lyon. Benoist Lejeune, a maker, offered and sold guitar copies of Duyffoprucgars instruments and was later imprisoned for using his mark and work. During this time, the production was increasing tremendously but it was not until Robert and Claude Denis appeared overproducing the early Renaissance guitar in Paris, as father and son, Robert and Claude produced hundreds of guitars that increased the popularity of the instrument greatly. Because of them and the great many guitar inventors of this time, by 1790 only six-course vihuela guitars were being created and had become the main type and model of guitar used in Spain. Most of the older 5-course guitars where still in use but were also being modified to a six-coursed acoustical guitar, by the 19th century, coursed strings where evolved into 6 single-stringed instruments much like that of the guitar today. It had evolved into the modern look except for size, retaining a smaller frame, the acoustic guitars soundboard, or top, also has a strong effect on the loudness of the guitar. No amplification actually occurs in this process, because no energy is added to increase the loudness of the sound. All the energy is provided by the plucking of the string, but without a soundboard, the string would just cut through the air without actually moving it much. The soundboard increases the surface of the area in a process called mechanical impedance matching
34.
Steelpan
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Steelpans is a musical instrument originating from Trinidad and Tobago. Steel pan musicians are called pannists, the modern pan is a chromatically pitched percussion instrument made from 55 gallon industrial drums that formerly contained chemicals. Steel pans are the instruments made to play in the Pythagorian musical cycle of fourths and fifths. The pan is struck using a pair of straight sticks tipped with rubber, some musicians use four pansticks, holding two in each hand. This skill and performance have been shown to have grown out of Trinidad. The pan is the instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. The celebration of carnivale had arrived with the French, slaves, who could not take part in carnival, formed their own, parallel celebration called canboulay. Stick-fighting and African percussion music were banned in 1880, in response to the Canboulay Riots and they were replaced by bamboo sticks beaten together, which were themselves banned in turn. In 1937 they reappeared in Laventille, transformed as an orchestra of frying pans, dustbin lids and these steelpans are now a major part of the Trinidadian music scene and are a popular section of the Canboulay music contests. In 1941, the United States Navy arrived on Trinidad, the pannists, who were associated with lawlessness and violence, helped to popularize steelpan music among the soldiers, which began its international popularization. The first instruments developed in the evolution of steelpan were Tamboo-Bamboos and these were hit onto the ground and with other sticks in order to produce sound. Tamboo-Bamboo bands included percussion of a bottle and spoon, by the mid-1930s, bits of metal percussion were being used in the tamboo bamboo bands, the first probably being either the automobile brake hub iron or the biscuit drum boom. The former replaced the gin bottle-and-spoon, and the latter the bass bamboo that was pounded on the ground, by the late 1930s their occasional all-steel bands were seen at carnival, and by 1940 it had become the preferred carnival accompaniment of young underprivileged men. The 55-gallon oil drum was used to make steelpans from around 1947, the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra, formed to attend the Festival of Britain in 1951, was the first steelband whose instruments were all made from oil drums. Members of TASPO included Ellie Mannette and Winston Spree Simon and they were featured on an album with him. Steelpans are built using sheet metal with a thickness between 0.8 and 1.5 mm. Historically, steelpans have been built from used oil barrels. Nowadays, many instrument makers do not rely on used steel containers and get the resonance bodies manufactured according to their preferences, in a first step, the sheet metal is stretched into a bowl shape. This process is usually done with hammers, manually or with the help of air pressure, the note pattern is then marked onto the surface, and the notes of different sizes are shaped and molded into the surface
35.
Electronic drum
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An electronic drum consists of an electronic or digital sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds and one or more electric sensors to trigger the sounds. Like regular drums, the sensors are struck by drum sticks or by the hands, the drum pads themselves are either discs or shallow drum shells made of various materials, often with a rubber/silicone or cloth-like coated playing surface. Each pad has a sensor that generates a signal when struck. The sound signal from the module can be plugged into a keyboard amp or PA system for use in a live band performance or listened to with headphones for silent practice. Since digital drums have more popular, companies have started selling digital electronic drum files. The Acetone rhythm box was designed by Ikutaro Kakehashi, who later founded Roland Corporation Japan, as with all rhythm boxes and later drum computers, before a human feel was developed by introducing subtle variation and swing, the Acetone rhythm boxes had a metronomic, machine-like sound. In Vissers modification, the Acetone box was extended with a flat board holding 12 printed circuit boards of approximately 4 ×4 inches. The copper traces formed the touch surfaces for the sounds generated by the Acetone box, each touch pad was sensed by an electronic circuit driving high-speed Siemens computer relays he found in surplus shops. These were connected to the drum and percussion sounds of the rhythm box, although it was a crude way of playing electronic drum sounds by hand, it worked and added a human feel. Vissers approach enabled drummers to have new type of virtuosity, the unit was used in Frans Peters studio in radio city Hilversum, Netherlands. The system was over-sensitive to humidity, The circuits would be triggered by the touch pads, just breathing over them would do the job. After all wed just left the dark ages of electronic music, the first electronic drum was created in the early 1970s by Graeme Edge, drummer of The Moody Blues, in collaboration with Sussex University Professor Brian Groves. The device was used in the song Procession from the 1971 album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, question - One of the strangest pieces was Procession, which featured the pioneering work of Graeme Edges electronic drum kit. Graeme - Id got in touch with the professor of electronics at Sussex University and we worked up an electronic drum kit, a marvellous idea. I had the panel in front of me, its old hat now. There were pieces of rubber with silver paper on the back with a coil that moved up and down inside a magnet that produced a signal. I had 5 snares across the top and then ten tom-toms and then a whole octave of bass drums underneath my feet and then four lots of 16 sequencers, there was a gap — to play a space — a tambourine, ebony stick, snare and three tom-toms. This was pre-chip days, back then you did it all with transistors, so it had something like 500 transistors
36.
A Tale of Two Cities
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A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. In 1775, a man flags down the nightly mail-coach on its route from London to Dover, the man is Jerry Cruncher, an employee of Tellsons Bank in London, he carries a message for Jarvis Lorry, a passenger and one of the banks managers. Mr. Lorry sends Jerry back to deliver a response to the bank. The message refers to Alexandre Manette, a French physician who has released from the Bastille after an 18-year imprisonment. Once Mr. Lorry arrives in Dover, he meets with Dr. Manettes daughter Lucie, Lucie has believed her father to be dead, and faints at the news that he is alive, Mr. Lorry takes her to France to reunite with him. In the Paris neighborhood of Saint Antoine, Dr. Manette has been given lodgings by his former servant Ernest Defarge and his wife Therese, owners of a wine shop. He does not recognize Lucie at first but does see the resemblance to her mother through her blue eyes and long golden hair. Mr. Lorry and Lucie take him back to England, in 1780, French émigré Charles Darnay is on trial for treason against the British Crown. The key witnesses against him are two British spies, John Barsad and Roger Cly, who claim that Darnay gave information about British troops in North America to the French, with Barsads eyewitness testimony now discredited, Darnay is acquitted. In Paris, the hated and abusive Marquis St. Evrémonde orders his carriage driven recklessly fast through the streets, hitting and killing the child of a peasant. The Marquis throws a coin to Gaspard to compensate him for his loss, as the Marquiss coach drives off, the coin is flung back into his coach by an unknown hand, enraging the Marquis. Arriving at his country château, the marquis meets with his nephew and heir, Out of disgust with his aristocratic family, Darnay has shed his real surname and adopted an anglicized version of his mothers maiden name, DAulnais. The following passage records the Marquis principles of aristocratic superiority, Repression is the only lasting philosophy. The dark deference of fear and slavery, my friend, observed the Marquis, will keep the dogs obedient to the whip, as long as this roof, looking up to it, shuts out the sky. That night, Gaspard, who followed the Marquis to his château by riding on the underside of the carriage, stabs, Gaspard leaves a note on the knife saying, Drive him fast to his tomb. After nearly a year on the run, he is caught, in London, Darnay gets Dr. Manettes permission to wed Lucie, but Carton confesses his love to Lucie as well. Knowing she will not love him in return, Carton promises to embrace any sacrifice for you, Stryver, the barrister who defended Darnay and with whom Carton has a working relationship, considers proposing marriage to Lucie, but Mr. Lorry talks him out of the idea. On the morning of the marriage, Darnay reveals his name and family lineage to Dr. Manette
37.
My Fair Lady
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My Fair Lady is a musical based on George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, the original Broadway, London and film versions all starred Rex Harrison. The musicals 1956 Broadway production was a critical and popular success. It set a record for the longest run of any show on Broadway up to that time and it was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals. My Fair Lady has frequently called the perfect musical. Act I On a rainy night in Edwardian London, opera patrons are waiting under the arches of Covent Garden for cabs, Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, runs into a young man called Freddy. She admonishes him for spilling her bunches of violets in the mud and she then flies into an angry outburst when a man copying down her speech is pointed out to her. The man explains that he studies phonetics and can identify anyones origin by their accent and he laments Elizas dreadful speech, asking why so many English people dont speak properly and explaining his theory that this is what truly separates social classes, rather than looks or money. He declares that in six months he could turn Eliza into a lady by teaching her to speak properly, the older gentleman introduces himself as Colonel Pickering, a linguist who has studied Indian dialects. The phoneticist introduces himself as Henry Higgins, and, as both have always wanted to meet each other, Higgins invites Pickering to stay at his home in London. He distractedly throws his change into Elizas basket, and she and her friends wonder what it would be like to live a comfortable, Elizas father, Alfred P. Doolittle, and his drinking companions, Harry and Jamie, all dustmen, stop by the next morning. He is searching for money for a drink, and Eliza shares her profits with him, Pickering and Higgins are discussing vowels at Higginss home when Mrs. Pearce, the housekeeper, informs Higgins that a young woman with a ghastly accent has come to see him. It is Eliza, who has come to take speech lessons so she can get a job as an assistant in a florists shop, Pickering wagers that Higgins cannot make good on his claim and volunteers to pay for Elizas lessons. An intensive makeover of Elizas speech, manners and dress begins in preparation for her appearance at the Embassy Ball, Higgins sees himself as a kindhearted, patient man who cannot get along with women. To others he appears self-absorbed and misogynistic, Alfred Doolittle is informed that his daughter has been taken in by Professor Higgins, and considers that he might be able to make a little money from the situation. Doolittle arrives at Higginss house the morning, claiming that Higgins is compromising Elizas virtue. Higgins is impressed by the natural gift for language and brazen lack of moral values. He and Doolittle agree that Eliza can continue to take lessons, Higgins flippantly recommends Doolittle to an American millionaire who has written to Higgins seeking a lecturer on moral values
38.
Frank Sinatra
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Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the music artists of all time. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and he released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatras professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas and his career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice n Easy. Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own label, Reprise Records. It was followed by 1968s collaboration with Duke Ellington, using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra forged a successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm and he appeared in various musicals such as On the Town, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey, winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he associated with playing detectives. Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B, on television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a natural, intuitive understanding of it, a perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname Ol Blue Eyes, Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976, Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him the greatest singer of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12,1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the child of Italian immigrants Antonino Martino Marty Sinatra
39.
Chet Baker
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Chesney Henry Chet Baker, Jr. was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, and vocalist. Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals, Jazz historian Dave Gelly described the promise of Bakers early career as James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one. His well-publicized drug habit also drove his notoriety and fame, Baker was in and his maternal grandmother, Randi Moser, was Norwegian. Baker notes that due to the Great Depression, his father, though talented, had to quit as a musician, Baker began his musical career singing in a church choir. His father introduced him to brass instruments with a trombone, which was replaced with a trumpet when the trombone proved too large, peers later described Baker as a natural musician, and that playing came effortlessly to him. Baker received some education at Glendale Junior High School. He was posted to Berlin, where he joined the 298th Army band, after leaving the army in 1948, he studied theory and harmony at El Camino College in Los Angeles. He dropped out in his year, however, re-enlisting in the army in 1950. Baker became a member of the Sixth Army Band at the Presidio in San Francisco, but was spending time in San Francisco jazz clubs such as Bop City. In 1952, Baker once again obtained a discharge from the army to pursue a career as a professional musician, in 1952, Baker joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which was an instant phenomenon. Several things made the Mulligan/Baker group special, the most prominent of which being the interplay between Mulligans baritone sax and Bakers trumpet, the Quartets version of My Funny Valentine, featuring a Baker solo, was a hit, and became a tune with which Baker was intimately associated. With the Quartet, Baker was a performer at Los Angeles jazz clubs such as The Haig. The Quartet found success quickly, but lasted less than a year because of Mulligans arrest and imprisonment on drug charges. Baker formed his own quartet with pianist and composer Russ Freeman in 1953, along with bassists Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon, and Jimmy Bond and drummers Shelly Manne, Larry Bunker, and Bob Neel. The Chet Baker Quartet found success with their sets. In 1953 and 1954, Baker won the Down Beat and Metronome magazines Readers Jazz Polls, down Beat readers also voted Baker as the top jazz vocalist in 1954. In 1956, Pacific Jazz released Chet Baker Sings, a record that increased his profile but alienated traditional jazz fans, Bakers chiseled features led to an approach by Hollywood studios, and he made his acting debut in the film Hells Horizon, released in the fall of 1955. He declined an offer of a contract, preferring life on the road as a musician
40.
Amy Winehouse
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Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of genres, including soul, rhythm and blues. Winehouses debut album, Frank, was a success in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. She also won the 2007 Brit Award for Best British Female Artist, having nominated for Best British Album. Winehouse died of poisoning on 23 July 2011, aged 27. Her album Back to Black posthumously became, for a time, Amy Winehouse was born in Chase Farm Hospital in north London, to Jewish parents. Her father, Mitchell Mitch Winehouse, was a window panel installer then a driver, her mother, Janis Winehouse. Winehouses ancestors were Russian and Polish Jewish immigrants to London, Amy had an older brother, Alex, and the family lived in Londons Southgate area, where she attended Osidge Primary School. Many of Winehouses maternal uncles were professional jazz musicians, Amys paternal grandmother, Cynthia, was a singer and dated the English jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott. She and Amys parents influenced Amys interest in jazz and her father Mitch often sang Frank Sinatra songs to her, and whenever she got chastised at school she would sing Fly Me to the Moon before going up to the headmistress to be told off. Winehouses parents separated when she was nine, and she lived with her mother and stayed with her father and his girlfriend in Hatfield Heath, Essex on weekends. In 1992 her grandmother Cynthia suggested she attend the Susi Earnshaw Theatre School, Winehouse was allegedly expelled at 14 for not applying herself and also for piercing her nose. Sylvia Young has denied this—She changed schools at 15—Ive heard it said she was expelled, id never have expelled Amy—as has Mitch Winehouse. After toying around with her brother Alexs guitar, Winehouse bought her own when she was 14 and began writing music a year later. Soon after, she working for a living, including, at one time, as an entertainment journalist for the World Entertainment News Network. Amys best friend, soul singer Tyler James, sent her demo tape to an A&R person, Winehouse signed to Simon Fullers 19 Management in 2002 and was paid £250 a week against future earnings. While being developed by the management company, she was kept as an industry secret although she was a regular jazz standards singer at the Cobden Club. When he asked who the singer was, the manager told him he was not allowed to say, having decided that he wanted to sign her, it took several months of asking around for Beese to eventually discover who the singer was
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Paolo Nutini
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Paolo Giovanni Nutini is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley. Nutinis debut album, These Streets, peaked at three on the UK Albums Chart. Its follow-up, Sunny Side Up, debuted at one on the UK Albums Chart. Both albums have been certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. After 5 years, Nutini released his studio album, Caustic Love. The album received reviews from music critics. Caustic Love debuted at one on the UK Album Charts and was certified platinum by the BPI in June 2014. In late July 2014, he was referred to by the BBC as arguably Scotlands biggest musician right now, Nutini was born in Paisley, Scotland and has a younger sister. His father, Alfredo, is a Scot of Italian descent while his mother and he was expected to follow his father into the family fish and chip shop business. He was first encouraged to sing by his grandfather, Giovanni Jackie Nutini, and a teacher at his school, St Andrews Academy. Nutini left school to work as a roadie and to sell t-shirts for Scottish band Speedway and he spent three years learning the music business and performing live. He later worked as a hand at Glasgows Park Lane Studio. It was here, where he started demo-ing songs, writing with Jim Duguid and the drummer of Speedway. His big chance came when his family member signed him up to his first live show 102.5 Clyde 1 for David Sneddons return to his home town of Paisley at the beginning of 2003. Sneddon was delayed, and as the winner of a pop quiz. The favourable reaction of the crowd impressed another member of the audience, Brendan Moon, Mike Bawden continues to manage Nutini. At 17, Nutini moved to London and performed regularly at The Bedford pub in Balham with local Singer/Songwriter Charlie Wallis. Other radio and live appearances followed, including two live acoustic spots on Radio London, The Hard Rock Cafe, and support slots for The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Nutini became known for singing with his eyes closed during his entire performances
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