1.
Billboard (magazine)
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
2.
Nielsen Audio
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Nielsen Audio is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio broadcasting audiences. It was founded as the American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with Los Angeles-based Coffin, Cooper, the companys initial business was the collection of broadcast television ratings. The company changed its name to Arbitron in the mid‑1960s, the namesake of the Arbitron System, deployed in New York City, it gave instant ratings data on what people were watching. A reporting board lit up to indicate which homes were listening to which broadcasts, on December 18,2012, The Nielsen Company announced that it would acquire Arbitron, its only competitor, for US$1.26 billion. The acquisition closed on September 30,2013, and the company was re-branded as Nielsen Audio, as a condition of the deal to allow a monopoly, Nielsen must license its ratings data and technology to a third party for eight years. The term commonly used in the industry for these ratings is Arbitron book. More specifically, in the diary-measured markets these reports were called the Spring book, Summer book, Fall book, between these books, Arbitron releases interim monthly reports called Arbitrends, which contain data from the previous three months known as rolling average reports. The two interim reports would be known, for example, as Spring, Phase I and Spring, Arbitron recruits diary survey respondents to note their listening habits in a seven-day paper diary and mail it back to Arbitron. The respondents are paid a cash incentive for their participation. Turnaround time for release of data from the end of the period is approximately three weeks. After collection, the data is marketed to radio broadcasters, radio networks, cable TV companies, advertisers, advertising agencies, out-of-home advertising companies, and the online radio industry. Major ratings products include cume, average quarter hour, time spent listening, and market breakdowns by age, gender and it is important to understand that the cume only counts a listener once, whereas the AQH is a product of cume and time spent listening. For example, if you looked into a room and saw Fred and Jane, the cume would be 3 and the AQH would be 2. The PPM is a portable device, much like a pager or mobile phone. Arbitron recruits and compensates a cross-section of consumers to wear the meter for an average of one year, the audience estimates generated from each monthly survey is used as the buy/sell currency for radio stations and advertisers/agencies. By 2010,48 markets are being measured using the PPM. S, radio Markets Audio interview of Ernest H. Clay, ARBs Research and Production Director on WGNs discussion show Your Right To Say It
3.
Rock music
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It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of genres such as electric blues and folk. Musically, rock has centered on the guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse-chorus form, like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. Punk was an influence into the 1980s on the subsequent development of subgenres, including new wave, post-punk. From the 1990s alternative rock began to rock music and break through into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the visually distinctive goth and emo subcultures and this trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, Hammond organ and synthesizers. The basic rock instrumentation was adapted from the blues band instrumentation. A group of musicians performing rock music is termed a rock band or rock group, Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple unsyncopated rhythms in a 4/4 meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies are often derived from older musical modes, including the Dorian and Mixolydian, harmonies range from the common triad to parallel fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock, because of its complex history and tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition. These themes were inherited from a variety of sources, including the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music and rhythm, as a result, it has been seen as articulating the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality, according to Simon Frith rock was something more than pop, something more than rock and roll. Rock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with the concept of art as artistic expression, original. The foundations of music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music, with country. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, debate surrounds which record should be considered the first rock and roll record. Other artists with rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis
4.
End of the Road
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End of the Road is a single recorded by American R&B group Boyz II Men for the Boomerang soundtrack. It was released in 1992 and written and produced by Kenneth Babyface Edmonds, L. A. Reid, the song achieved overwhelming domestic and international success. In the United States, End of the Road spent a record breaking 13 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Whitney Houston would later break this record in the year, with I Will Always Love You. Boyz II Men would later match, and break Houstons record, internationally, End of the Road reached #1 in Australia, United Kingdom and the Hot 100 Eurochart, among others. Due to the success of the single, Boyz II Mens debut album Cooleyhighharmony was re issued in 1992 and 1993 to include the song. At the 1993 Grammy Awards, End of the Road was nominated for two Grammys, winning both, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Best R&B Song, End of the Road is considered one of the most successful songs of all time. It was the #1 single of 1992 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 1992 and it is ranked by Billboard as the sixth most successful song of the decade 1990–1999. End of the Road was released on June 30,1992 and it was released as a single from the Boomerang soundtrack and did not originally appear on Boyz II Mens debut album, CooleyHighHarmony. It was released after all singles from their debut had been released, End of the Road debuted at #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 18,1992. Within 4 weeks, it reached #1, holding the position for 13 consecutive weeks from August 15,1992 - November 7,1992 and it also spent four weeks atop of the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It was also performed by guitarist Paul Jackson Jr. on his 1993 album A River In The Desert, bassist Michael Manson covered the song from his 2008 album Up Front. Marcela Morelo recorded a Spanish version of the song in her 2009 album Otro plan, south Korean boy group U-KISS did an a cappella version of the hit song. Westlife covered this on a cappella, in addition, Boyz II Men included a Spanish-language version on their Spanish-language compilation Evolución. During the series finale of the sitcom A Different World, Whitley led everyone in singing End of the Road at hers, American Idol season ten contestant Stefano Langone performed the song during Idol Goes to the Movies week. An a cappella version was re-recorded for Boyz II Mens 2007 album, Motown, another re-recorded version appears on Boyz II Mens 2011 album, Twenty. A reggae cover was recorded by Frankie Paul in 1996 for his Jet Star album, keyshia Cole sampled the song on her single Trust and Believe, from her 2012 album, Woman to Woman. JLS sang this on their last tour, Goodbye – The Greatest Hits, in Muppets Most Wanted, the song is covered by the Gulag prisoners
5.
Boyz II Men
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Boyz II Men is an American R&B vocal group, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formerly a quartet including bass Michael McCary, they are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris alongside tenors Wanya Morris, during the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet. McCary left the group in 2003 due to issues and contractual agreements. During the 1990s, Boyz II Men gained international success and this began with the release of the number one single End of the Road in 1992, which reached the top of charts worldwide. End of the Road would set a new record for longevity, staying at one on the Billboard Hot 100 for thirteen weeks. Ill Make Love to You also topped the charts in Australia, as of 2016, One Sweet Day still holds the all-time record with sixteen weeks at the top of the Hot 100. Consequently, Boyz II Men are top ranking members with regard to time spent at one in Billboard history. Furthermore, when On Bended Knee took the one spot away from Ill Make Love to You. These achievements were enough to earn Boyz II Men recognition as Billboard magazines fourth most successful group of the 1990s. Boyz II Men continue to perform worldwide, as a trio and their most recent studio album, Collide, was released in 2014. In 1987, Wanya Morris, who sang in the choir along with the members of Unique Attraction, joined the group. In 1988 Baldi, Shoats, and Walker all left the group due to graduation and they then recruited Shawn Stockman after seeing him perform a solo in the schools choir. Now with a permanent lineup of members the group would rehearse in the schools bathrooms, due to the excellent acoustics. They found inspiration in New Editions harmonies and routines, and eventually renamed the group Boyz II Men, after one of New Editions songs, Boys to Men, from their 1988 album Heart Break. After they sang New Editions Can You Stand The Rain for him, Bivins and he gave the group his number and told them to give him a call. Nate eventually called Bivins, and he agreed to manage and helped produce the group and this song, released as a single on June 30,1992, would become Boyz II Mens biggest hit. It reached the one position on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 22, remaining there for a record-setting 13 weeks. The success of End of the Road instantly transformed Boyz II Men from up-and-coming R&B stars into mainstream music celebrities
6.
No Scrubs
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No Scrubs is a song recorded by girl group TLC for their third studio album FanMail. It was released as the albums first single on January 23,1999, the song was written by Kevin Shekspere Briggs alongside former Xscape members, Kandi Burruss and Tameka Tiny Cottle. The single version containing self-written rap by Lisa Left Eye Lopes was not included on the album FanMail, No Scrubs was the first time for Rozonda Chilli Thomas taking the sole lead vocals on any TLC single. No Scrubs was met with international success and it became TLCs third number-one single and eighth top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100. It also earned them their second Grammy nomination for Record of the Year, No Scrubs is one of TLCs signature songs and was the second-biggest Hot 100 single of 1999 in the U. S. only behind Chers Believe, according to Billboards Year-End Charts. On the decade end chart for 1990-1999, No Scrubs was ranked at #33, the single was certified 2x platinum in the UK and platinum in New Zealand. In 1999, the song was listed on The Village Voices annual poll Pazz & Jop at number one, the song also came in at number two in the NME Top Tracks of 1999 and number 45 in the NME100 Best Songs Of The 1990s. Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 10 in their list of the 50 Best Songs of the Nineties. Additionally, VH1 listed the song at number 22 in their list of the 40 Greatest R&B Songs of the 90s, No Scrubs climbed into the U. S. top ten as an airplay only song and jumped to number one upon the single release. The single stayed at one on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks from April 10,1999. The single stayed in the top-10 of the Billboard Hot 100 for 17 consecutive weeks, No Scrubs airplay was at the time astonishing, it was the very first song to peak with over 140 million audience impressions and was crowned the Top Airplay Song of 1999. It holds the record for most weeks at number 1 on the Rhythmic Top 40 with 15 weeks, in Australia, No Scrubs was a huge success, spending seven consecutive weeks at the summit of the Australian Singles Chart from May 2,1999 - June 20,1999. In the United Kingdom, No Scrubs peaked at three on the UK Singles Chart, becoming TLCs highest-charting single in Britain. The song was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, each member had a set in the video. The video also has a sequence where the women dance in front of the TLC logo. The Main Mix is used in the video instead of the album version, the video features the women in three different outfits, white, black, silver and Left Eye in blue. When there are shots of the women together they have two different outfits, black and silver, t-Bozs hair is fuchsia in the video. It also features a scene of Chilli on a swing singing and it also features T-Boz dancing as well as Left Eye
7.
TLC (group)
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TLC is an American girl group whose original line-up consisted of Tionne T-Boz Watkins, Lisa Left Eye Lopes and Rozonda Chilli Thomas. Formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1991, the group was successful during the 1990s and early 2000s in spite of numerous spats with the law, each other. They scored nine hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number-one singles Creep, Waterfalls, No Scrubs. TLC also became the first R&B group in history to receive Million certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan for FanMail, having sold over 65 million records worldwide, TLC is the best-selling American girl group and second worldwide to the English group Spice Girls. VH1 ranked TLC as the greatest female group, placing them at number 12 on the list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, Billboard magazine ranked TLC as one of the greatest musical trios, as well as the seventh most successful act of the 1990s. The groups accolades include five career Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, twenty years after their debut, TLC was honored with Outstanding Contribution to Music at the 17th MOBO Awards and Legend Award at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. All three members of TLC are considered irreplaceable by the members, and each of them have contributed equally to the group. Following Lopes death in 2002, instead of replacing her, the members chose to carry on as a duo. In 2017, they are set to release their album as TLC. Jones put out a call for two girls to join her in this trio. Calling the group 2nd Nature, Jones, Watkins, and Lopes began working with producers Jermaine Dupri, impressed by the girls, Reid renamed the group TLC-Skee, with TLC being an Initialism for the names Tionne, Lisa, and Crystal. Reid arranged an audition for them with local record label LaFace Records, run by Kenneth Babyface Edmonds and Reids then-husband, Antonio Reid saw potential in Watkins and Lopes as performers, but felt that Jones should be replaced. According to Jones, things began to unravel for her after Pebbles denied the group the opportunity to take home the contracts that Pebbitone had drafted, Jones did not want to sign before having the contract reviewed by others and perhaps a lawyer. In contrast, Watkins recollection of Jones departure is that both she and Lopes asked Jones to leave the group before their contracts were negotiated. On February 28,1991, Watkins and Lopes signed production, management, as they looked for a replacement for Jones, the two-member TLC-Skee made its first recorded appearance on a track for LaFace act Damian Dames self-titled 1991 LP. Pebbles found the third member in Rozonda Thomas, one of Damian Dames part-time backup dancers, Thomas was signed to the act in April 1991, at about which time the groups name was shortened to TLC. To maintain TLCs name as an acronym for the names, Watkins became T-Boz, Lopes became Left-Eye. The girls were signed to LaFace in May through the production deal with Pebbitone
8.
Keith Sweat
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Keith Douglas Sweat is an American R&B and soul, singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, radio personality, and an innovator of new jack swing. Keith Sweat was born in Harlem, New York to Juanita Thompson, a hairdresser, and Charles Sweat, Juanita raised their five children alone after Charles Sweats death. He worked as a stock boy at Macys and then a mailroom clerk at Paine Webber. In just four years he worked his way up to a brokerage assistant job on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Sweat worked as a supervisor for the New York Mercantile Exchange, Sweat started his musical career as a member of a Harlem band called Jamilah in 1975. With the help of Jamilah, Sweat was able to hone his craft as a singer by performing regionally throughout the tri-State area of New York, New Jersey. The group was started by bassist Larry Peoples, guitarist Michael Samuels, additional members of the group included Peter DaCosta, Joseph McGeachy, Dwight Banks, and Kenneth Varner. After leaving the group in 1984 to begin a career, he sang at nightclubs throughout New York City and landed a chance to record for the independent label. One of GQs original members is his uncle, Keith Sabu Crier, on November 25,1987, Sweat released his debut solo studio album Make It Last Forever, which sold three million copies. Sweat reached the charts again with his second album Ill Give All My Love to You which hit #6 on the Billboard 200 chart and he released his third album, Keep It Comin in 1991, which debuted in the top 20 of the album chart. Sweat then moved from New York to Atlanta, where he founded the Keia Records label that would feature Silk & Kut Klose. In 1992, Sweat discovered the group Silk, and helped craft their debut album, Lose Control, the albums single Freak Me hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 1,1993. In 1993, Sweat discovered the Atlanta-based female R&B group Kut Klose, Sweat also produced the groups debut album Surrender, which produced their biggest hit single I Like, peaking to #8 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. Sweat released his fourth album Get Up on It in the summer of 1994, both albums reached the top ten on the Billboard 200. The single co/produced and written by Eric McCaine Twisted featuring R&B group Kut Klose hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Nobody hit #3, the song Just A Touch, with Traci Hale providing background vocals, has earned a regular spot on radio playlists. Just A Touch was a cover of the 1979 song Just a Touch of Love by Slave, in the fall of 1997, Sweat discovered the group Ol Skool and helped with their self-titled debut. He was on their biggest single, Am I Dreaming, which featured R&B group Xscape, Sweat also formed the R&B supergroup LSG with Gerald Levert and Johnny Gill, and released their self-titled debut Levert. Sweat. Gill in 1997. That album featured My Body, which became a hit single, the album was certified double platinum and reached #4 on the U. S. Billboard 200
9.
Freak Me
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Freak Me is a song by American R&B group Silk. It was released in February 1993 as the single from their debut album. It was co-written and co-produced by Keith Sweat, for whom Silk was an opening act. The song was the groups highest charting hit, reaching number-one on both the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, and the U. S, Hot R&B Singles chart for eight weeks. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, two versions of the music video for Freak Me were produced, the first was directed by Bronwen Hughes, while the second was directed by Lionel C. The latter became the better known video of the two and it was released on 6 July 1998 as the second single from the bands self-titled debut album. This version reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, usurping Billies Because We Want To and it was produced by Fitzgerald Scott, Cutfather and Joe, it was the seventeenth biggest-selling boy band single of the 1990s in the UK, selling over 415,000 copies
10.
You Make Me Wanna...
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You Make Me Wanna. is a song by American recording artist Usher. It was released by LaFace Records and Arista Records as the single from Ushers second studio album. You Make Me Wanna. was written by Usher along with Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal, an R&B, soul and pop ballad in C minor, it makes use of acoustic guitar, hi-hat and bell instrumentation. The record received favorable reviews from critics, and won a Billboard Music Award, a Soul Train Music Award, and a WQHT Hip Hop Award, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. You Make Me Wanna. appeared on record charts, topping the UK Singles Chart. It also reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, US Pop Songs, Canadian Singles Chart, Dutch Top 40 and ARIA Singles Chart. An accompanying music video, directed by Bille Woodruff, shows Usher dancing in various colored rooms and backgrounds, Usher wrote You Make Me Wanna. with Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal, who also produced and played musical instruments on the tune. Phil Tan was in charge of recording the song at the Somewhere in College Park recording studio, in College Park, Tan and Dupri mixed the record with assistance from John and Brian Frye at Studio LaCoCo, in Atlanta, Georgia. Draws from the genres of R&B, soul and pop, and heavily utilizes the acoustic guitar, while also incorporating hi-hat and bell instrumentation. According to Universal Music Publishing Groups sheet music published at Musicnotes. com, Ushers voice extends from the low note of B♭3 to the high note of C6. The ballad has a sequence of Cm–Fm7–A♭–G–G/B as its chord progression. In the song, Usher attempts to seduce his partners best friend, the songs lyrics are written in second-person narrative, and its hook is the pick-up line, You make me wanna leave the one Im with and start a new relationship with you. Usher told Rolling Stone that the song was inspired by one of his own memories of juggling three women and you Make Me Wanna. was distributed by LaFace Records and Arista Records. It was released via maxi single on August 5,1997, a remixes maxi single was made available in the United States on September 9,1997, and in Germany on October 13,1997. You Make Me Wanna. was released via cassette single, CD single and 12 vinyl in the UK on January 12,1998, the vinyl was made available in the US on April 24,2001. Unauthorized copies of the song were distributed in Europe before its release, serves as the opening track to Ushers second studio album, My Way, while an extended version concludes the album. Robert Christgau noted You Make Me Wanna. as one of the best tracks from My Way, entertainment Weeklys Whitney Pastorek gave the song an A- rating, and complimented its minimal production. According to Ann Powers of The New York Times, the song put the back in the word relationship
11.
Usher (musician)
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Usher Raymond IV is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. Born in Dallas, Texas but raised and lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee until moving to Atlanta, at the age of 12, his mother put him in local singing competitions, before catching the attention of a music A&R from LaFace Records. In 1994 he released his debut album, Usher. 8701 produced the number-one singles U Remind Me and U Got It Bad and it sold 8 million copies worldwide and won his first two Grammy Awards as Best Male R&B Vocal Performance in 2002 and 2003. Confessions established him as one of the musical artists of the 2000s decade. Bolstered by its four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, Burn, Confessions Part II, and My Boo, it has been certified Diamond by the RIAA. Here I Stand and Raymond v. Raymond, debuted atop of the Billboard 200, the EP, Versus, also produced the Hot 100 top-five single DJ Got Us Fallin in Love. Looking 4 Myself, also debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, Raymond v. Raymond and Looking 4 Myself received Grammy Awards for R&B singles There Goes My Baby and Climax. Hard II Love peaked at five of the Billboard 200 albums chart. Usher has sold 23.8 million albums and 38.2 million digital songs in the United States, to date, his worldwide sales stand at 43 million albums and 75 million records overall, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Usher has won awards and accolades including 18 Billboard Music Awards and 8 Grammy Awards. Billboard also placed him at number 6 on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years, Usher has attained 9 US Hot 100 number-one singles. Considered an icon and sex symbol, he was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, in 2008, he started his own record label Raymond-Braun Media Group, a joint venture with talent manager Scooter Braun that includes Canadian singer Justin Bieber. Usher was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Jonetta Patton, from Tennessee, Usher spent the majority of his young life in Chattanooga, his father left the family when Usher was a year old. Usher grew up with his mother, then-stepfather, and half-brother, while in Atlanta, Usher attended North Springs High School. At age 10, Usher joined an R&B local quintet called the NuBeginnings, Usher recorded 10 songs with the group in 1991, and the ensuing album, Nubeginning Featuring Usher Raymond IV, was only made available regionally and by mail order. However, Patton took him out because, according to her, the album was re-released nationally in April 2002 by Hip-O Records. At age 13, Usher would meet A. J, alexander at local talent show in Atlanta
12.
I'll Make Love to You
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Ill Make Love to You is a 1994 number-one hit single by R&B group Boyz II Men for the Motown label. The song, which was written by Babyface, was the single from their second album II. The single was a commercial success. It held the one position on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks. At the time, the song tied a record for the most weeks at one that had been set by Whitney Houstons I Will Always Love You in late 1992. Boyz II Men would later break their own record in 1996 with One Sweet Day, a collaboration with Mariah Carey, Ill Make Love to You also topped the U. S. R&B and adult contemporary charts for nine and three weeks, respectively, in 1994. It sold 1,627,000 copies domestically, earning a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of one million copies. It also peaked at number 5 in the United Kingdom, Ill Make Love to You won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and two American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Single and Favorite Soul/R&B Single. It ranks at number 19 on Billboards All-Time Top 100 Songs, the music video featured a woman and a man. The man, whose name is Duane, installs a security system in the womans house and she later invites him to have a drink, but hes busy. It turns out that she likes him, likewise as he likes her too. While reading the letter, he begins to take off his clothes. In the end, he writes her a letter, she receives it and reads it, it is a love letter, Duane Martin was also featured in the music video. The Red Phantom with Juliet on background vocals, the lyrics Ill make love to you like you want me to / And Ill hold you tight, baby, all are sung by a group of penguins in the animated film Happy Feet. The song is featured on the video game Karaoke Revolution Volume 2, jenna mentions she is going to sing a duet of this song with her mother Verna in the episode of 30 Rock named after her. Featured in a scene on the movie Cant Hardly Wait, featured on the American Reunion soundtrack. Part of the song is sung by The Barden Bellas in the movie Pitch Perfect, JLS sang a cover of this on The X Factor in the live finals. In Upper Montclair, NJ near, the intersection of Valley Rd and Bellevue Ave, there is a radio station
13.
Fantasy (Mariah Carey song)
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Fantasy is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey from her fifth studio album Daydream, released in September 12,1995 by Columbia Records as the lead single from Daydream. The song was written by Carey and Dave Hall, both serving as primary producers alongside Sean P. Diddy Combs, the song heavily samples Tom Tom Clubs 1981 song Genius of Love and incorporates various other beats and grooves arranged by the former. The songs lyrics describe a woman who is in love with a man, the remix for the song features rap verses from Ol Dirty Bastard, something Carey arranged to assist in her crossover into the hip-hop market. The song was released to music critics, many of whom complimented its clever use of the Genius of Love hook as well as Careys vocal performance. Fantasy experienced strong commercial success worldwide, especially in the United States and it became the second song in Billboard history, and the first by a female, to debut atop the Billboard Hot 100. Carey performed Fantasy live on television and award show appearances around the world. Carey performed the song at the 23rd annual American Music Awards, additionally, it was performed live on British music chart program Top of the Pops and on French television. The cover of the single was shot by top fashion photographer Steven Meisel, the cover for her album Daydream is a cropped version of the single cover. Carey directed the video for Fantasy, making it her directorial debut. Carey created the concept and chose the filming location. After being disappointed with the result in many of her previous videos. The video showed Careys roller blading through an amusement park, singing and enjoying herself, midway through the video, Ol Dirty Bastard makes a cameo appearance as a clown. The video concludes with Carey dancing atop the sunroof of a car, with many others present and enjoying the music, with Daydream, Carey began incorporating urban R&B and hip hop into her music, something very noticeable in Fantasy. After Carey began writing songs for her new album Daydream, she decided to include the hook from the Tom Tom Club song Genius of Love into an up-tempo song, afterwards, Carey and Hall began incorporating the sample into the lyrics and melody she had already produced. Carey described how the idea to sample the song became a reality, I was listening to the radio and heard Genius of Love, and I hadnt heard it in a long time. It reminded me of growing up and listening to the radio, I initially told Dave about the idea, and we did it. We called up the Tom Tom Club and they were really into it, Carey recalled how the writers of the song were really intrigued by the idea of Carey sampling the song, and immediately signed over the rights. After Carey presented Hall with the sample, the chorus and beat, after they completed the song, Careys husband and CEO of Columbia, Tommy Mottola listened to Fantasy and agreed to include it on the album
14.
Mariah Carey
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Mariah Carey is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. In 1990, Carey rose to fame with the release of Vision of Love from her eponymous debut album, the album produced four chart-topping singles in the US and began what would become a string of commercially successful albums which solidified the singer as Columbias highest selling act. Carey and Boyz II Men spent a record sixteen weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in 1995–1996 with One Sweet Day, following a contentious divorce from Sony Music head Tommy Mottola, Carey adopted a new image and traversed towards hip hop with the release of Butterfly. In 1998, she was honored as the worlds best-selling recording artist of the 1990s at the World Music Awards, Carey parted with Columbia in 2000, and signed a record-breaking $100 million recording contract with Virgin Records America. In the weeks prior to the release of her film Glitter and its soundtrack in 2001. The project was received and led to a general decline in the singers career. Careys recording contract was out for $50 million by Virgin. After a relatively unsuccessful period, she returned to the top of music charts with The Emancipation of Mimi, Carey once again ventured into film with a well-received supporting role in Precious, and was awarded the Breakthrough Performance Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Throughout her career, Carey has sold more than 200 million records worldwide, according to the RIAA, she is the third-best-selling female artist in the United States, with 63.5 million certified albums. With the release of Touch My Body, Carey gained her 18th number-one single in the United States, in 2012, the singer was ranked second on VH1s list of the 100 Greatest Women in Music. Mariah Carey was born in Huntington, New York, to Patricia and her mother is of Irish descent, while her father had African-American and Afro-Venezuelan ancestry. The surname Carey was adopted by her Venezuelan grandfather, Francisco Núñez, Patricia was an occasional opera singer and vocal coach before she met Alfred in 1960. As he began earning a living as an engineer, the couple married later that year. After their elopement, Patricias family disowned her for marrying a black man, Carey later explained that she felt neglected by her maternal family while growing up, which affected her greatly. In the years between the births of Careys older sister Alison and herself, the Carey family struggled within the community due to their ethnicity, Careys name was derived from the song They Call the Wind Maria, originally from the 1951 Broadway musical Paint Your Wagon. When Carey was three, her parents divorced, after their separation, Alison moved in with her father, while the other two children, Mariah and brother Morgan, remained with their mother. Carey grew apart from her father and would stop seeing him altogether. By age four, she recalled that she had begun to sneak the radio under her covers at night, during elementary school, she excelled in subjects that she enjoyed, such as music, art, and literature, but did not find interest in others
15.
Lollipop (Lil Wayne song)
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Lollipop is the first single from American rapper Lil Waynes sixth studio album, Tha Carter III. The track features American singer Static Major and is produced by Deezle and it interpolates the theme song from the 2007 film 28 Weeks Later and heavily utilizes the Auto-Tune vocal effect. The song was released digitally on March 13,2008, Lollipop is Lil Waynes and Static Majors most successful to date, spending five non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Static Major died two weeks before the release of the song, making the song the eighth to hit number one after the death of a credited artist, there are various versions of the song. The single was certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA for selling five million units in the United States and was ranked the number one hip hop song of 2008 by MTV, the song reached number one on the 2008 issue of Notarized by BET. The song was ranked at one on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008. With 9.1 million copies sold as of January 2009, the music video was directed by Gil Green and filmed in Las Vegas at Gavin Maloofs residence in the Southern Highlands Golf Club. The video premiered via BETs Access Granted on March 12,2008 and it also reached number one on TRL in April on MTV. The limousine in the video that Wayne and Static get into is an International XT, the video is the most-viewed video on Music Choices video on demand service. Jim Jonsin, Tyga, Birdman and Mack 10 make cameos in the video, the song won a Grammy Award in February 2009 for Best Rap Song. Static Major died unexpectedly during a procedure on February 25,2008. His previous highest-charting position as a lead artist was with Go D. J. which peaked at number 14 in 2004, the following week, it reached a new peak of number 7 on the Hot 100. The single reached a new peak of number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 17,2008, for the week of May 3,2008, Lollipop reached the number-one spot on the Hot 100, his first number one on the chart. It is also Waynes first number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, it is the first rap song to reach number one since Ludacris Money Maker in 2006. After one week, it slipped away from top spot, the week after the release, Wayne and Mariah Carey became the number one most added and greatest gainer at both radio formats with a total of 138 adds. Lollipop has become a hit on mainstream radio, as it became his first top 40 hit as a lead artist, entering at number 36. It is his first top ten on the Pop 100, where it has reached number two and it returned to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second time on May 22,2008. The song has become a top ten success in Canada, peaking at number 10 as of May 29,2008, and his most successful song in the UK, where it reached number 26 on downloads alone
16.
Lil Wayne
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Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American hip hop recording artist and author from New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1991, at the age of nine, Lil Wayne joined Cash Money Records as the youngest member of the label, in 1996, Lil Wayne joined the southern hip hop group Hot Boys, with his Cash Money label-mates Juvenile, Young Turk and Lil Doogie. Hot Boys debuted with Get It How U Live. that same year, Most of the groups success came with their platinum-selling album Guerrilla Warfare and the 1999 single Bling Bling. Along with being the flagship artist of Cash Money Records, Lil Wayne is also the Chief Executive Officer of his own imprint, Young Money Entertainment. Lil Waynes solo debut album Tha Block Is Hot, was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and his subsequent albums, Lights Out and 500 Degreez, went on to be certified gold. Wayne reached higher popularity with his fourth album Tha Carter, which was led by the single Go D. J. and his appearance on Destinys Childs Top 10 single Soldier, that same year. The album was followed by Tha Carter II, as well as several mixtapes, Wayne gained more prominence with his sixth album Tha Carter III, which became his most successful album to date, with first-week sales of over one million copies in the United States. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album and includes the hit singles Lollipop, A Milli, following the success of Tha Carter III, Wayne decided to record a rock-esque album titled Rebirth. The album, released in 2010, was certified gold by the RIAA, in March 2010, Lil Wayne began serving an 8-month jail sentence in New York after being convicted of criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an incident in July 2007. Waynes eighth album I Am Not a Human Being, was released during his incarceration and his 2011 album and first following his release, Tha Carter IV, sold 964,000 copies in its first week of availability in the United States. It includes the singles 6 Foot 7 Foot, How to Love, on September 27,2012, Lil Wayne passed Elvis Presley as the male with the most entries on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with 109 songs. The record has since passed by other artists. Lil Waynes thirteenth studio album, Tha Carter V has been delayed multiple times and has no scheduled release date, Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was born on September 27,1982, and grew up in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. His mother, a cook, gave birth to him when she was 19 years old and his parents divorced when he was 2, and his father permanently abandoned the family. Although Wayne and Birdman have a relationship and Birdman calls Carter his son, Waynes biological father. Lil Wayne has also spoken about his stepfather, Rabbit. Carter has a dedicated to Rabbit, who was murdered before Carter became a star. Carter enrolled in the program of Lafayette Elementary School and in the drama club of Eleanor McMain Secondary School
17.
Static Major
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Stephen Ellis Garrett, also known as Static Major, was a Grammy Award-winning American recording artist and record producer from Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He was a member of the R&B trio Playa, Static Major gained posthumous fame for appearing on Lil Waynes 2008 album Tha Carter III on the song Lollipop. He was a songwriter for artists, including Aaliyah, Ginuwine, Pretty Ricky. Static wrote most of the lyrics on Aaliyahs self-titled 2001 album, a YouTube video featuring Static Major alongside Smoke E. Digglera of Playa was also heavily sampled on Drakes song Look What Youve Done from his 2011 album Take Care. He died unexpectedly in his room, his debut album was not released. Static started his career when he signed with M. N. I MUSIC COMPANY CALLED g. s. rSwing Mob Records. Major made a working with R&B singer Ginuwine. Major helped produce the song Pony which became a major hit and he later became a member of the Def Jam group Playa, who were most known for their hit single Cheers 2 U. Playa released an album of the name in 1997. After working with Ginuwine, Static assisted in producing songs for Nicole Wray for her 1998 debut album, Static Major would eventually become the lead songwriter for the late R&B singer Aaliyah. His songwriting collaborations with Aaliyah include, Are You That Somebody, which was featured in the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack, and the Romeo Must Die soundtrack singles Come Back in One Piece and her first and only number-one Billboard Hot 100 single Try Again. He earned Aaliyah four top 25 Billboard Hot 100 singles during his working with the late R&B star. Static was frequently a collaborator with R&B group Pretty Ricky, working with them on songs, including Juicy. His most recent work producing music was Lil Waynes Lollipop from the album Tha Carter III, suppertime is the solo album that Static Major was reportedly set to release on OG Music/Blackground in 2008. Static worked along with Rudy Sandapa in producing Fire Lovin by R&B musician Pleasure P, Static had an amount of leaked demos for Pleasure and many other artists including Aaliyah. I stay in the streets, thats where I draw my inspiration, if it cant be played in the hood, then it just doesnt work for me. And nobody can hold me on harmony and my whole aura is not your typical R&B aura. Garrett died suddenly at Baptist Hospital East in his hometown of Louisville, after a number of tests, he was diagnosed with a rare condition called myasthenia gravis, an autoimmune disorder with hallmark symptoms of muscle weakness and fatigue
18.
Shoop (song)
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Shoop is the lead single released from Salt-N-Pepas fourth studio album, Very Necessary. It was produced by Mark Sparks and group member Salt, the song features an uncredited verse by rapper Big Twan. Released late in 1993, the song one of the groups most successful singles, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Two months after its release, Shoop was certified gold by the RIAA, the success of both this single and the follow-up single, Whatta Man propelled Very Necessary to sell over five million copies in the US, becoming the groups best-selling album. This song uses a sample of the Ike Turner-penned Im Blue by The Ikettes. According to the notes for Its De Lovely - The Authentic Cole Porter Collection. The song was used in the 2016 superhero film Deadpool, as well as in the films trailer and it was also heard on Lip Sync Battle where Alison Brie sung this. The music video of the song was filmed at Coney Island, Brooklyn, cameo appearances by R. Kelly, Jodeci, Johnny Gill, A Tribe Called Quest, Blackstreet and Keith Sweat are included. Maxi single Shoop - Shoop - Shoop - Lets Talk About AIDS Shoop - Shoop - Emphatically No Ive Got AIDS -
19.
Salt-N-Pepa
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Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens, New York. The group, consisting of Cheryl James, Sandra Denton and originally Latoya Hanson and they won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The group entered the industry at a time when hip hop music was believed to be a fad. Many early hip hop artists recorded for independent labels, originally calling themselves Super Nature, James and Denton debuted in 1985 with the single The Showstopper, an answer record to Doug E. Freshs hit single The Show. The Showstopper was produced by Hurby Azor, the song utilized a melody from the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds. The finished recording garnered some airplay on a New York City rap radio program, the independent Pop Art Records gave it an official release, and The Showstopper became a modest R&B hit. Salt-N-Pepa made their impact on hip-hop by being one of the first all-female rap groups, with lots of concerns about sexist lyrics and video clips that objectified womens bodies in hip hop music, many feminists disliked rap and hip-hop music because of its bad portrayal of women. However, Salt-N-Pepa changed the look of hip hop and they were scantily clad in sexy clothing and were not afraid to talk about sex and their thoughts about men. Their song Lets Talk About Sex was a huge hit, with the success of Showstopper, the groups name was changed to Salt-N-Pepa and they signed to the independent Next Plateau Records to record a full-length album. Roper then joined the group as the DJ, replacing DJ Latoya Hanson as Spinderella, the album was produced by Hurby Azor, Salts boyfriend at the time and also the groups manager. Years later, the women would have issues with Azor as they accused him of paying unfair royalties. Hot, Cool & Vicious provided some moderate R&B hits with the singles My Mic Sound Nice, Tramp, but when San Francisco DJ and producer Cameron Paul created a remix to Push It, the B-side of the Tramp single, it gave the group their first major hit. Push It became a single in the United States, and a hit in several other countries. The album ultimately sold 1.4 million copies worldwide, Salt-N-Pepas next album release, 1988s A Salt with a Deadly Pepa, contained the Top Ten R&B hit Shake Your Thang, featuring the go-go band E. U. A top 20 R&B hit and a pop hit were seen in Get Up Everybody and Twist and Shout, respectively, with Twist and Shout becoming a major hit in the UK. The album sold about 800,000 copies worldwide with roughly 600,000 of those in the US, the groups third album Blacks Magic was released in March 1990, and was a personal album for the trio on many fronts. Pepa would become the first group member to become pregnant, Azor would produce some songs on the album. As he was producing other acts, he agreed to let the work with different producers to finish the album
20.
Dilemma (song)
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Dilemma is a song by American rapper Nelly, featuring American R&B singer Kelly Rowland. It was released on June 25,2002 as the single from the Nellys second studio album Nellyville. It was number one in ten countries, including the United Kingdom, the song depicts the declaration of forbidden love by a female lover in a committed relationship, and the predicament the male protagonist must face. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 45th Grammy Awards, Dilemma was accredited internationally with sixteen certifications. The song was featured on the film About Time. The song is known as an Internet meme in Hong Kong after it was parodied online. Upon hearing the beat, he began writing lyrics and then wrote a song out from it, Nelly decided to make the song a last-minute addition to his second album Nellyville, which had already been completed prior to Bam giving him the track. Once Nelly returned to the studio to record the track, his vision changed and he instantly thought of girl group Destinys Child member Kelly Rowland, whom he had met during the TRL tour in 2001. Nelly called Rowland by phone and agreed, after a few days of recording, during which Rowland rerecorded her part many times to achieve it just right, Dilemma was completed. Once Nellyville was released in the United States on June 25,2002, by July 2002, the track had reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 based on airplay alone. This prompted Nelly to release it as the second single. The single was released on July 30,2002, the decision affected the early plans for Destinys Child members, whose members were held on hiatus to pursue solo album releases. As part of their strategy, each members albums were to be staggered with member Beyoncé Knowles releasing in October 2002, Dilemma was released as the first single from the album, which served as a propeller for her solo career. Dilemma is Rowlands first international solo single away from the group, she had appeared on R&B singer Avants single Separated. Dilemma was generally received by critics. AllMusic reviewer Jason Birchmeier noted it as one of three well-calculated, standout tracks in the album, Dilemma was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards of 2003, winning the former. Dilemma is the most successful single of Rowlands career, too and its not only Rowlands most successful solo single in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom, with 800,000 copies sold as of November 2011. The single became a hit in the fall of 2002 in the United States, while Hot in Herre was peaking on the charts, radio stations already started to play Dilemma in July 2002
21.
Nelly
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Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. known professionally as Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, investor, and occasional actor from St. Louis, Missouri. Nelly embarked on his career with Midwest hip hop group St. Lunatics, in 1993. Under Universal, Nelly began his career in the year 2000, with his debut album Country Grammar. The album debuted at three on the Billboard 200 and went on to peak at number one. Country Grammar is Nellys best-selling album to date, selling over 8.4 million copies in the United States and his following album Nellyville, produced the number-one hits Hot in Herre and Dilemma. Other singles included Work It, Air Force Ones, Pimp Juice, with the same-day dual release of Sweat, Suit and the compilation Sweatsuit, Nelly continued to generate many chart-topping hits. Sweat debuted at two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 342,000 copies in its first week. On the same week of release, Suit debuted at number one, Nellys fifth studio album, Brass Knuckles, was released on September 16,2008, after several delays. It produced the singles Party People, Stepped on My Jz, in 2010, Nelly released the album 5.0. The lead single, Just a Dream, was certified platinum in the United States. It also included the singles Move That Body and Gone, Nelly won Grammy Awards in 2003 and 2004 and had a supporting role in the 2005 remake film The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. He has two clothing lines, Vokal and Apple Bottoms, on December 11,2009, Billboard ranked Nelly the number three Top Artist of the Decade. Nelly was born in Austin, Texas, where his father was serving in the military, when he was seven, his parents divorced. Nelly moved with his mother from St. Louis to University City, while still in high school, Nelly formed the St. Lunatics, a hip hop group who enjoyed local popularity with their single Gimme What Ya Got. Nelly decided to go solo, after a record deal failed to appear. He was signed to Universal Music Group by A&R Kevin Law, Nelly was unusual for being a rapper from the Midwest at a time when the hip-hop scenes were centered around the East Coast, West Coast and the South. The label used this to their advantage by branding Nelly as a star of the Midwest, hoping to inspire pride in the people of St Louis, Nelly was signed with St. Lunatics. Kevin Law and Country from FoReel Entertainment decided to do a record with Nelly first
22.
Kelly Rowland
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Kelendria Trene Kelly Witherspoon is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Rowland rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of Destinys Child. Rowland also transitioned into acting, with guest appearances in television sitcoms, following the disbandment of Destinys Child in 2005, she released her second album Ms. Kelly, which included international hits Like This and Work. In 2009, Rowland served as a host on the first season of The Fashion Show, the songs global success influenced Rowland to explore dance music on her third album Here I Am, which spawned the international top-ten hit Commander and US R&B/Hip-Hop number-one Motivation. In 2011, she returned to television as a judge on the season of The X Factor UK. Following the release of Rowlands fourth album Talk a Good Game, she married her manager, Tim Witherspoon, since then, Rowland has continued her television career by hosting Chasing Destiny in 2016 and becoming a coach on The Voice Australia in 2017. Throughout her career, Rowland has sold over 40 million records as a solo artist and her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including four Grammy Awards, two Billboard Music Awards and two Soul Train Music Awards. In 2014, Fuse ranked Rowland in their 100 Most Award-Winning Artists list at number 20, kelendria Trene Rowland was born on February 11,1981, in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the daughter of Doris Rowland and Christopher Lovett Rowland, Kelly has an older brother named Orlando. When she was seven, her mother took her and left her father, at the age of eight, she relocated to Houston. In 1992, Rowland joined a group, originally named Girls Tyme. Rowlands addition made it a six-member group, West coast R&B producer, Arne Frager, flew to Houston to see them and eventually brought them to his studio, The Plant Recording Studio, in Northern California. As part of efforts to sign Girls Tyme to a major record deal, Fragers strategy was to debut them on Star Search. They participated, but lost the competition, in 1995, Rowland moved in with Beyoncé Knowless family. Not long after the inclusion of Rowland, Beyoncés father, Mathew, the group continued performing as an opening act for other established R&B girl groups of the time, such as SWV, Dru Hill and Immature. They auditioned before record labels and were signed to Elektra Records, only to be dropped months later. Taken from a passage in the Biblical Book of Isaiah, the changed their name to Destinys Child in 1993. Together, they performed in events and, after four years on the road
23.
Drake (musician)
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Aubrey Drake Graham is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Drake initially gained recognition as an actor on the teen television series Degrassi. Intent on pursuing a career as a rapper, he departed the series in 2007 following the release of his debut mixtape and he released two further independent projects, Comeback Season and So Far Gone, before signing to Lil Waynes Young Money Entertainment in June 2009. Drake released his studio album Thank Me Later in 2010. They were followed by two mixtapes, with the trap-influenced If Youre Reading This Its Too Late, and a collaboration with Future for What a Time to Be Alive, in 2015. The former was certified platinum in the U. S. Drake released his fourth album, Views, in 2016. The dancehall-influenced Views sat atop the Billboard 200 for ten nonconsecutive weeks and its single One Dance topped the chart in several countries, including the U. S. the UK and Canada, where it became his first number-one single as the lead artist. This saw Drake leading the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard 200 simultaneously for eight weeks and it achieved quadruple platinum status in the U. S. and earned over 1 million album-equivalent units in the first week of its release. The single Hotline Bling secured him his second and third Grammy win, for Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Rap Song, Drake released the critically acclaimed multi-genre More Life in 2017. More Life, described by Drake as a playlist, was his seventh number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Drake owns several Billboard chart records and he has the most charted songs among solo artists in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, the most simultaneously charted Hot 100 songs in a single week and the most Hot 100 debuts in a week. Drake also has the most number one singles on the Hot Rap Songs, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, alongside his Grammy Award wins, Drake has won three Juno Awards and six BET Awards. Drake has developed other ventures, including his OVO Sound record label with longtime collaborator Noah 40 Shebib, Drake acts as a producer, producing under the pseudonym of Champagne Papi. Using the OVO moniker, Drake has his own clothing line and he is also currently acting as the global ambassador for NBA franchise, the Toronto Raptors. Aubrey Drake Graham was born on October 24,1986, in Toronto and his father, Dennis Graham, is an African American and a practicing Catholic from Memphis, Tennessee, and worked as a drummer, performing alongside country musician Jerry Lee Lewis. Bass guitarist Larry Graham and the late songwriter Teenie Hodges are his paternal uncles, Drakes mother, Sandi Graham, is a white Jewish Canadian who worked as an English teacher and florist. Drake attended a Jewish day school, and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, Drakes parents divorced when he was five years old. After the divorce, he and his mother remained in Toronto, as a child, he witnessed his fathers arrest while visiting him in Memphis
24.
Rihanna
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Robyn Rihanna Fenty is a Barbadian singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, she first entered the industry by recording demo tapes under the direction of record producer Evan Rogers in 2003. She ultimately signed a contract with Def Jam Recordings after auditioning for its then-president. She assumed creative control for her studio album Good Girl Gone Bad. Its successful lead single Umbrella became a breakthrough in her career. After releasing four consecutive platinum albums, including the Grammy Award winner Unapologetic. Her eighth studio album Anti and its lead single Work reached number-one on the Billboard 200, with sales exceeding 230 million records worldwide, Rihanna is one of the best-selling artists of all time. Widely recognized for reinventing her style, she received the Fashion Icon lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2014. Forbes ranked Rihanna the fourth most powerful celebrity of 2012, and was named one of Times 100 Most Influential People in the World later that year, Robyn Rihanna Fenty was born on February 20,1988, in Saint Michael, Barbados. Her mother, Monica, is an accountant of African American background. Rihanna has two brothers, Rorrey and Rajad Fenty, and two half-sisters and a half-brother from her fathers side, each born to different mothers from his previous relationships. She grew up in a bungalow in Bridgetown and sold clothes with her father in a stall on the street. Rihannas childhood was affected by her fathers addiction to crack cocaine. As a child, she went through a lot of CT scans for the excruciating headaches she suffered, even thought it was a tumor, by the time she was fourteen, Rihanna’s parents had divorced and her health began to improve. Rihanna grew up listening to music and began singing at around the age of seven. She attended Charles F. Broome Memorial Primary School and Combermere High School, Rihanna was an army cadet in a sub-military programme, the singer-songwriter Shontelle was her drill sergeant. Although she initially wanted to graduate high school, she chose to pursue a musical career instead. In 2003, Rihanna formed a trio with two of her classmates
25.
The Weeknd
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Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known professionally as The Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and record producer. In late 2010, Tesfaye anonymously uploaded several songs to YouTube under the name The Weeknd and he released three nine-track mixtapes throughout 2011, House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence, which were critically acclaimed. In 2012, he released a compilation album Trilogy, thirty tracks consisting of the remastered mixtapes and it was released under Republic Records and his own label XO. In 2013, he released his studio album Kiss Land. The songs have held the top three spots on the Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, making him the first artist in history to achieve this. The Weeknd has won two Grammy Awards and nine Juno Awards, in September 2016, the release of the third album Starboy was announced along with the release of the title track single Starboy, which subsequently reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Abel Makkonen Tesfaye was born on 16 February 1990, in Scarborough, Ontario and he is the only child of Makkonen and Samra Tesfaye, who were Ethiopian migrants to Canada in the 1980s. He was raised in Scarborough, a neighborhood within the city. During his youth, his mother would work several jobs to support the family, often as a nurse and caterer, while also attending night school. His father later abandoned the family, prompting his grandmother to take care for him and his paternal cousin Issam Nazar. This allowed him to become fluent in Amharic, with the Semitic language acting as his first language and she would also take him to services at an Ethiopian Orthodox church. He started smoking marijuana at age 11, and later moved on to hard drugs, describing his teenage years as KIDS without the AIDS, he would shoplift from the local supermarket with his cousin Issam, and began using MDMA, Xanax, cocaine, psilocybin and ketamine. He attended West Hill Collegiate Institute and Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute, the spelling was modified to avoid trademark issues with the Canadian band The Weekend. Tesfaye met producer Jeremy Rose, who had an idea for a dark R&B musical project called The Weeknd. After trying to pitch the idea to musician Curtis Santiago, Rose played one of his instrumentals for Tesfaye, who freestyled over it, and they began working on an album. He produced three songs – What You Need, Loft Music, and The Morning – and others that Tesfaye rapped on, Rose let Tesfaye keep the tracks he had produced under the condition that he would ultimately be credited for them. However, in December 2010, Tesfaye uploaded What You Need, Loft Music and The Morning to YouTube under the name The Weeknd, though his identity was initially unknown. The songs drew attention online through word of mouth, including a blog featuring the songs posted by rapper Drake and they subsequently received coverage from outlets such as Pitchfork Media and The New York Times
26.
Chris Brown
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Christopher Maurice Chris Brown is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Born in Tappahannock, Virginia, he was involved in his church choir, having signed with Jive Records in 2004, Brown released his self-titled debut studio album the following year. It peaked at two on the US Billboard 200 and was later certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. With his first single Run It, peaking atop the US Billboard Hot 100, Brown became the first male artist as a lead since Diddy in 1997 to have his debut single top the chart. His second album Exclusive spawned his second Hot 100 number one Kiss Kiss, in addition to With You, the album was also certified double platinum by the RIAA. The songs have peaked at three, number nine and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100 respectively. His third album Graffiti was released later that year, and included the top-twenty single I Can Transform Ya, became his first to top the Billboard 200, it spawned the singles Yeah 3x, Look at Me Now, and Beautiful People. Earned Brown his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 54th Grammy Awards and his fifth album Fortune was released in 2012. However, after the release of Exclusive, Browns albums have not been well received commercially or by critics, with the exception of X. Browns seventh studio album Royalty was released on December 18,2015, apart from his work in the music industry, Brown has pursued an acting career. In 2007, he made his feature film debut in Stomp the Yard. Other films Brown has appeared in, include This Christmas, Takers, Think Like a Man, throughout his career, Brown has won several awards, including 14 BET Awards,5 Billboard Music Awards, and 3 Soul Train Music Awards. According to Billboard, Brown has the seventh most Hot 100 entries on the chart with 82 and he has an older sister, Lytrell Bundy, who works in a bank. Music was always present in Browns life beginning in his childhood and he would listen to soul albums that his parents owned, and eventually began to show interest in the hip-hop scene. He is African American, and has said that he has Pamunkey Native American ancestry. Brown taught himself to sing and dance at a young age and he began to perform in his church choir and in several local talent shows. When he mimicked an Usher performance of My Way, his mother recognized his vocal talent, at the same time, Brown was going through personal issues. His parents had divorced, and his mothers boyfriend terrified him by subjecting her to domestic violence, at age 13, Brown was discovered by Hitmission Records, a local production team that visited his fathers gas station while searching for new talent
27.
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
28.
50 Cent
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Curtis James Jackson III, known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, businessman, and investor. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of the borough of Queens, although he left drug-dealing to pursue a musical career, in 2000 he was shot nine times. After Jackson released the compilation album Guess Whos Back. in 2002, he was discovered by Eminem and signed by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. With the aid of Eminem and Dr. Dre, Jackson became one of the worlds best selling rappers, in 2003, he founded G-Unit Records, signing his G-Unit associates Young Buck, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. Jackson had similar commercial and critical success with his album, The Massacre. He released his studio album, Animal Ambition, in 2014 and is working on his sixth studio album. He executive produces the show Power, which airs on Starz and he has pursued an acting career, appearing in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin, the Iraq War film Home of the Brave and Righteous Kill. 50 Cent was ranked the sixth-best artist of the 2000s and the third-best rapper by Billboard. Rolling Stone consider Get Rich or Die Tryin and “In Da Club to be in their lists of “100 Best albums of the 2000s”, Jackson was born in the borough of Queens, New York City, and raised in its South Jamaica neighborhood by his mother, Sabrina. A drug dealer, Sabrina raised Jackson until she died in a fire when Jackson was 8. After his mothers death and his fathers departure Jackson was raised by his grandmother and he began boxing at about age 11, and when he was 14 a neighbor opened a boxing gym for local youth. When I wasnt killing time in school, I was sparring in the gym or selling crack on the strip, during the mid-1980s, he competed in the Junior Olympics, I was competitive in the ring and hip-hop is competitive too. I think rappers condition themselves like boxers, so they all kind of feel like theyre the champ, at age 12, Jackson began dealing narcotics when his grandparents thought he was in after-school programs and brought guns and drug money to school. In the tenth grade, he was caught by metal detectors at Andrew Jackson High School, after I got arrested I stopped hiding it. I was telling my grandmother, I sell drugs, on June 29,1994, Jackson was arrested for selling four vials of cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was arrested three weeks later, when police searched his home and found heroin, ten ounces of crack cocaine. Although Jackson was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, he served six months in a camp and earned his GED. He has said that he did not use cocaine himself, Jackson adopted the nickname 50 Cent as a metaphor for change
29.
Bruno Mars
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Peter Gene Hernandez, known professionally as Bruno Mars, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and choreographer. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age and he graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career. After being dropped by Motown Records, Mars signed a contract with Atlantic Records in 2009. In 2009, he co-founded the production team The Smeezingtons, responsible for the singles Nothin on You by B. o. B and he featured on the hooks for both singles, becoming recognized as a solo artist. His debut studio album Doo-Wops & Hooligans included the U. S. Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping singles Just the Way You Are and Grenade and his second album, Unorthodox Jukebox, peaked at number one in the United States. The album spawned the international singles Locked Out of Heaven, When I Was Your Man, in 2014, Mars lent his vocals to Mark Ronsons Uptown Funk. In 2016, he released his studio album 24K Magic with the lead single of the same title released on October 7,2016. To date, he has sold over 100 million singles and albums combined worldwide, Mars has landed six number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 since his career launched in 2010, attaining his first five faster than any male artist since Elvis Presley. Mars has received awards and nominations, including five Grammy Awards. In December 2013, he ranked number one on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, Mars is known for his stage performances and retro showmanship. He is accompanied by his band, The Hooligans, who play a variety of such as electric guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, drums and horns. Mars performs in a range of musical styles. Peter Gene Hernandez was born on October 8,1985, in Honolulu, Hawaii to Peter Hernandez and Bernadette San Pedro Bayot and his father is of half Puerto Rican and half Ashkenazi Jewish descent, and is originally from Brooklyn, New York. His mother emigrated from the Philippines to Hawaii as a child, and was of Filipino and his parents met while performing in a show in which his mother was a hula dancer and his father played percussion. At the age of two, he was nicknamed Bruno by his father, because of his resemblance to professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino. Mars is one of six children and came from a family which exposed him to a diverse mix of genres including, reggae, rock, hip hop. His mother was both a singer and a dancer, and his father performed Little Richard rock and roll music, Mars uncle was an Elvis impersonator, and also encouraged three-year-old Mars to perform on stage. Mars performed songs by such as Michael Jackson, The Isley Brothers
30.
T-Pain
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Faheem Rashad Najm, better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Tallahassee, Florida. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005, in 2007, T-Pain released his second album Epiphany, which reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. His third album, Thr33 Ringz, was released in 2008, T-Pain has also released a string of hit singles, including Im Sprung, Im n Luv, Buy U a Drank, Bartender, Cant Believe It,5 OClock and more. T-Pain has earned two Grammy Awards, alongside artists Kanye West and Jamie Foxx respectively, T-Pain is the founder of the record label imprint Nappy Boy Entertainment, established in 2005. Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida and his stage name is short for Tallahassee Pain, and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion, at age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio, using a keyboard, a beat machine and a four-track recorder. T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 2004 and later recorded Im Fucked Up, recording artist Akon heard the song and immediately signed T-Pain to Konvict Muzik, his label. After being discovered, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, T-Pain subsequently recorded and released his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, on December 6,2005. The album reached number thirty-three on the Billboard 200, and has since been certified Gold by the RIAA, for reaching sales of 500,000 units. The album was preceded by the single, Im Sprung. The second single, Im N Luv, featuring Mike Jones, was released in December 2005 and reached five on the Hot 100. The third and final single from the album, Studio Luv, was released in October 2006, in mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as Konvict Muzik and Jive Records. The album, titled Epiphany, was released on June 5,2007, the album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States, the album was preceded by the lead single Buy U a Drank featuring Yung Joc in February 2007. The single reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top charts. The albums second single, Bartender, featuring Akon was released in June 2007 and reached five on the Hot 100. The third and final single from the album, Church, was released in October 2007, while promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on Im a Flirt by R. Kelly with T. I
31.
Ne-Yo
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Shaffer Chimere Smith, better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. Ne-Yo gained fame for his abilities when he penned his 2004 hit Let Me Love You for singer Mario. The singles successful release in the United States prompted a meeting between Ne-Yo and Def Jams label head, and the signing of a recording contract. Ne-Yos debut album was In My Own Words, released in 2006, the album was critically successful, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. It is certified platinum in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Ne-Yos first single Stay, was released in September 2005. The song was a success on the R&B charts, but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and his second single, So Sick was first released in November 2005. In the US, it was a success, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. When Youre Mad and Sexy Love were released afterwards from the album in 2006, reaching number 15 and number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100. In April 2007, Ne-Yo released his studio album, Because of You. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2008 Grammy Awards, Ne-Yos third studio album, Year of the Gentleman, was released internationally in August 2008. Year of the Gentleman has been certified platinum twice in the US, the third single, Mad, peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ne-Yos fourth studio album, Libra Scale was released in November 2010, though Libra Scale reached number one in the UK R&B Singles and Albums Charts, number 9 on the US Billboard 200, it sold less than the previous albums. Three single were released from the album, UK number-one hit Beautiful Monster, as well the R&B singles Champagne Life, Ne-Yo released his fifth album, R. E. D. in November 2012. His mainstream lead single Let Me Love You, released in July 2012, was certified platinum in US, Ne-Yo released his sixth album Non-Fiction in January 2015. On July 12,2016, Ne-Yo was a guest judge on NBCs Americas Got Talent judge cuts, Shaffer Smith was born in Camden, Arkansas. His father is of African American and Chinese descent, and his mother is African-American, as a young child, he was raised by his mother after she separated from his father. In hopes of better opportunity, his mother relocated the family to Las Vegas, Nevada. While in the Las Vegas Academy, Smith adopted the stage name GoGo and joined an R&B group called Envy, the group disbanded in 2000, and Smith continued to write songs for other artists before starting his solo career
32.
Whitney Houston
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Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer, actress, producer, and model. In 2009, Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time, Houston is one of pop musics best-selling music artists of all-time, with an estimated 170–200 million records sold worldwide. She released seven albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification. Houston is the only artist to chart seven consecutive No.1 Billboard Hot 100 hits and she is the second artist behind Elton John and the only woman to have two number-one Billboard 200 Album awards on the Billboard magazine year-end charts. Houstons debut album, Whitney Houston, became the debut album by a woman in history. Rolling Stone named it the best album of 1986, and ranked it at number 254 on the magazines list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Her second studio album, Whitney, became the first album by a woman to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart, Houstons first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard. The films original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year and its lead single, I Will Always Love You, won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became the best-selling single by a woman in music history. With the album, Houston became the first act to sell more than a million copies of an album within a week period under Nielsen SoundScan system. The album makes her the top female act in the top 10 list of the albums of all time. Houston continued to star in movies and contribute to their soundtracks, including the films Waiting to Exhale, the Preachers Wife soundtrack became the best-selling gospel album in history. On February 11,2012, Houston was found dead in her guest room at the Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, the official coroners report showed that she had accidentally drowned in the bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and featured prominently in American, Whitney Houston was born on August 9,1963 in what was then a middle-income neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. She was the daughter of Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr. and her elder brother Michael is a singer, and her elder half-brother is former basketball player Gary Garland. Her parents were both African American, through her mother, Houston was a first cousin of singers Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick. Her godmother was Darlene Love and her aunt was Aretha Franklin. Houston was raised a Baptist, but was exposed to the Pentecostal church. After the 1967 Newark riots, the moved to a middle-class area in East Orange, New Jersey
33.
Janet Jackson
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Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. After signing a contract with A&M Records in 1982, she became a pop icon following the release of her third studio album Control. Her collaborations with record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis incorporated elements of rhythm and blues, funk, disco, rap, and industrial beats, which led to crossover success in popular music. In 1991 Jackson signed the first of two record-breaking multimillion-dollar contracts with Virgin Records, establishing her as one of the highest paid artists in the industry. Her debut album under the label, Janet, saw her develop an image as a sex symbol as she began to explore sexuality in her work. That same year, she appeared in her first starring role in Poetic Justice. By the end of the 1990s, she was the second most successful recording artist of the decade, the release of her seventh studio album All for You coincided with a celebration of her impact on popular music as the inaugural MTV Icon. After parting ways with Virgin she released her studio album, Discipline, her first. In 2015 she partnered with BMG Rights Management to launch her own label, Rhythm Nation. Having sold over 100 million records, Jackson is one of the artists in the history of contemporary music. In 2016, Billboard placed her number seven on its list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, in December 2016, the magazine named her the second most successful dance artist of all-time. One of the worlds most awarded artists, her longevity, records and she has been cited as an inspiration among numerous performers. Janet Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, the youngest of ten children, to Katherine Esther, the Jacksons were lower-middle class and devout Jehovahs Witnesses, although Jackson would later refrain from organized religion. At a young age, her brothers began performing as The Jackson 5 in the Chicago-Gary area, in March 1969, the group signed a record deal with Motown, and soon had their first number-one hit. The family then moved to the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jackson had initially desired to become a horse racing jockey or entertainment lawyer, with plans to support herself through acting. Despite this, she was anticipated to pursue a career in entertainment, at age seven, Jackson performed at the Las Vegas Strip at the MGM Casino. A biography revealed her father, Joseph Jackson, was emotionally withdrawn and she began acting in the variety show The Jacksons in 1976. In 1977, she was selected to have a role as Penny Gordon Woods in the sitcom Good Times
34.
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
35.
Ludacris
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Christopher Brian Chris Bridges, better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American hip hop recording artist and actor from Atlanta, Georgia. Alongside his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, throughout his career, Ludacris has won Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice, MTV, and Grammy Awards. Along with fellow Atlanta-based rappers Big Boi and André3000 of OutKast, born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta at age nine, where he began rapping. In 2001, he released Word of Mouf, followed by Chicken-n-Beer in 2003 and he took a more serious approach with his next two albums, Release Therapy, and Theater of the Mind. His next record, Battle of the Sexes, was released in 2010, Ludaversal was released on March 31,2015. As an actor, he has appeared in films including Crash, Gamer, and New Years Eve, but is best known for playing Tej Parker in the The Fast and the Furious film series. Ludacris was born as Christopher Brian Bridges in Champaign, Illinois and he later moved to the Chicago area, where he attended Emerson Middle School in Oak Park, and Oak Park & River Forest High School for one year. He then moved to Centreville, Virginia and attended Centreville High School for one year and he attended Banneker High School in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated in 1995. From 1998 to 1999, he studied management at Georgia State University. His parents were both African-American, and he also has some English and Native American ancestry and he is a distant cousin of late comedian Richard Pryor. Bridges wrote his first rap song at age nine when moving to Atlanta, Bridges served as an intern and then a DJ at Atlantas Hot 97.5 under the name Chris Lova Lova. He was also known for DJing during Freaknik at one point, Ludacris collaborated with Timbaland on the track Phat Rabbit from his album Tims Bio, Life from da Bassment. This song was a hit in many countries, in Ludacris early music career he collaborated with Dallas Austin and Jermaine Dupri. In 1998, Ludacris began to record his debut album Incognegro and this album was the defining example of Ludacris fast, wild, and comedic flow, a unique style for southern rappers. Timbaland handled part of the production, despite its poor sales, it was never deleted and is still sold today. Ludacris also appeared on Timbalands 1998 debut on Phat Rabbit, a track that would later be used on his re-issue of Incognegro called Back For The First Time, in 2000, Ludacris released his major label debut, Back for the First Time. It was produced with the help of the underground producer Sessy Melia, the album reached as high as #4 on the U. S. Billboard 200, and was a major success. Ludacris made his mark on the industry with such as Southern Hospitality and Whats Your Fantasy, along with his first ever single the Phat Rabbit
36.
Eminem
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Marshall Bruce Mathers III, known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Eminem is the best-selling artist of the 2000s in the United States, throughout his career, he has had 10 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Globally, he has more than 172 million albums, thus being one of the worlds best-selling artists. Rolling Stone ranked him 83rd on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and they were followed by Encore in 2004, another critical and commercial success. Eminem went on hiatus after touring in 2005, releasing Relapse in 2009, both won Grammy Awards and Recovery was the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide, the second time he had the international best-selling album of the year. Eminems eighth album, 2013s The Marshall Mathers LP2, won two Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album, it expanded his record for the most wins in that category and his Grammy total to 15. In addition to his career, Eminem is an original member of the Midwest hip hop groups Soul Intent. He is also known for his collaborations with fellow Detroit-based rapper Royce da 59, Eminem has developed other ventures, including Shady Records, with manager Paul Rosenberg, which helped launch the careers of artists such as 50 Cent. Eminem has also established his own channel, Shade 45, on Sirius XM Radio. In November 2002, he starred in the hip hop film 8 Mile, Eminem has made cameo appearances in the films The Wash, Funny People, The Interview and the television series Entourage. Eminem was born on October 17,1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri, Debbie was 14 when she met 18-year-old Bruce, at age 17, she nearly died during her 73-hour labor. Eminems parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, playing in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas–Montana border before their separation, Bruce left the family, moving to California and having two other children, Michael and Sarah. Debbie had son Nathan Nate Kane Samara on February 3,1986, during his childhood, Eminem and Debbie shuttled between Michigan and Missouri, rarely staying in one house for more than a year or two and living primarily with family members. In Missouri, they lived in places, including St. Joseph, Savannah. As a teenager Eminem wrote letters to his father, according to Debbie, friends and family remember Eminem as a happy child, but a bit of a loner who was often bullied. One bully, DeAngelo Bailey, severely injured Eminems head, Debbie filed a lawsuit against the school in 1982, Eminem spent much of his youth in a working-class, primarily black, Detroit neighborhood. He and Debbie were one of three white households on their block, and Eminem was beaten by black youths several times, as a child he was interested in storytelling, aspiring to be a comic-book artist before discovering hip hop. Eminem heard his first rap song on the Breakin soundtrack, a gift from Debbies half-brother Ronnie Polkinghorn, when Polkinghorn committed suicide in 1991, Eminem stopped speaking for days and did not attend his funeral
37.
Jennifer Lopez
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Jennifer Lynn Lopez, also known as JLo, is an American singer, actress, dancer, fashion designer, author, and producer. Lopez gained her first high-profile job as a Fly Girl dancer on In Living Color in 1991 and she received her first leading role in the Selena biopic of the same name in 1997, a portrayal that earned her a Golden Globe nomination. For her role in Out of Sight the following year, Lopez became the first Latina actress to earn over US$1 million for a film. She ventured into the industry in 1999 with her debut studio album On the 6. With the simultaneous release of her studio album J. Lo and her film The Wedding Planner in 2001, Lopez became the first woman to have a number one album. Her 2002 remix album, J to tha L–O, the Remixes, became the first in history to debut at number one on the U. S. Billboard 200. Following her second divorce, Lopez had a relationship with Ben Affleck. Then, while also overshadowing the release of Gigli, a critical and commercial failure and she subsequently married longtime friend Marc Anthony, and rebounded with the box office successes Shall We Dance. and Monster-in-Law. Her fifth studio album, Como Ama una Mujer, received the highest first-week sales for a debut Spanish album in the United States, in 2016, she began starring as Harlee Santos in the crime drama series Shades of Blue. Time listed her as one of the 25 most influential Hispanic Americans, for her contributions to the arts, Lopez has received a landmark star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Billboard Icon Award, among other honors. Beyond entertainment, she enjoys a successful business career consisting of various clothing lines, accessories, fragrances, a company. Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24,1969, in the Castle Hill neighborhood of The Bronx, New York, to Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe Rodríguez and she has an older sister, Leslie, and a younger sister, Lynda, a journalist. David worked the night shift at the Guardian Insurance Company before becoming a technician at the firm. When Lopez was born, the family was living in a small apartment, a few years later, her parents had saved up enough money to be able to purchase a two-story house, which was considered a big deal for the relatively poor family. At the age of five, Lopez began taking singing and dancing lessons and she toured New York with her school when she was seven years old. Her parents stressed the importance of work ethic and being able to speak English and they encouraged their three daughters to put on performances at home—singing and dancing in front of each other and their friends so that they would stay out of trouble. Lopez spent her academic career in Catholic schools, finishing at Preston High School. In school, Lopez did gymnastics, ran track on a national level and she excelled athletically rather than academically, competing in national track championships
38.
Justin Timberlake
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Justin Randall Timberlake is an American singer-songwriter, actor and record producer. Born and raised in Tennessee, he appeared on the television shows Star Search, in the late 1990s, Timberlake rose to prominence as one of the two lead vocalists and youngest member of NSYNC, which eventually became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. With his first two albums exceeding sales of 10 million copies worldwide, he was established as one of the most commercially successful singers of the decade, furthermore, he produced records and collaborated with other artists. For his live performances, including the concert tour for the albums, he began performing with his band The Tennessee Kids, composed by instrumentalists. Timberlake voiced the character in DreamWorks Animations Trolls, which soundtrack includes his fifth Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single. Among numerous awards and accolades, Timberlake has won ten Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2007 and 2013. His other ventures include record label Tennman Records, fashion label William Rast, Timberlake was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Lynn Harless and Charles Randall Timberlake, a Baptist church choir director. Timberlake grew up in Shelby Forest, a community between Memphis and Millington. He has two half-brothers, Jonathan and Stephen, from Charles second marriage to Lisa Perry and his half-sister Laura Katherine died shortly after birth on May 12,1997, and is mentioned in his acknowledgments in the album NSYNC as My Angel in Heaven. He was inspired to become a performer by Janet Jackson, saying She didnt just stand there and sing her song, fascinated by her energy, at the age of 11, Timberlake appeared on the television show Star Search, performing country music songs as Justin Randall. Timberlake then recruited Chasez to be in a singing group, organized by boy band manager Lou Pearlman. The boy band NSYNC formed in 1995, and began their career in 1996 in Europe, Timberlake and Chasez served as its two lead singers. In 1998, the rose to prominence in the United States with the release of their self-titled debut studio album. Their second album No Strings Attached sold 2.4 million copies in the first week, nSYNCs third album Celebrity was also financially successful. Upon the completion of the Celebrity Tour, the group went into hiatus in 2002, in late 1999, Timberlake appeared in the Disney Channel movie Model Behavior. He played Jason Sharpe, a model who falls in love with a waitress after mistaking her for another model and it was released on March 12,2000. The rise of his own stardom and the decline in the popularity of boy bands led to the dissolution of NSYNC. Band member Lance Bass was openly critical of Timberlakes actions in his memoir Out of Sync and his debut solo studio album Justified was released in November and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 439,000 copies, fewer than previous N Sync releases
39.
T.I.
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Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. better known by his stage names T. I. and Tip, is an American hip hop recording artist and actor from Atlanta, Georgia. He signed his first major-label record deal in 1999, with Arista Records subsidiary, in 2001, T. I. formed the Southern hip hop group Pimp Squad Click, alongside his longtime friends and fellow Atlanta-based rappers. Upon being released from Arista, T. I. signed to Atlantic Records and subsequently became the executive officer of his own label imprint, Grand Hustle Records. T. I. is also perhaps best known as one of the artists who popularized the hip hop subgenre trap music, along with Young Jeezy and Gucci Mane. T. I. has released nine albums, with seven of them reaching the top five of the US Billboard 200 chart. Throughout his career, T. I. has also released several successful singles, including Bring Em Out, Whatever You Like, Live Your Life, Dead and Gone, Ball. He began to gain recognition in 2003, following his first high-profile feature, on fellow Atlanta-based rapper Bone Crushers hit single. He earned more prominence with the release of Trap Muzik, which includes the Top 40 hits, Rubber Band Man, the next year, T. I. appeared on Destinys Childs international hit, Soldier, alongside Lil Wayne. His subsequent albums, King and T. I. vs. T. I. P. generated high record sales and were supported by singles, such as What You Know and Big Shit Poppin. In 2013, T. I. was featured on Robin Thickes hit single Blurred Lines, alongside Pharrell Williams, in November 2013, T. I. announced that he had signed with Columbia Records, after his 10-year contract with Atlantic came to an end. He released his Columbia Records debut, Paperwork, in October 2014, in February 2016, T. I. announced he signed a distribution deal with Roc Nation, to release his tenth album. T. I. has won three Grammy Awards, namely Best Rap Solo Performance, Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. T. I. has served two terms in county jail, twice for probation violations and a federal prison bid for a U. S. federal weapons charge, while serving 11 months in prison, he released his seventh studio album, No Mercy. T. I. has also had an acting career, starring in the films ATL, Takers, Get Hard, Identity Thief. He is also an author, having written two novels Power & Beauty and Trouble & Triumph, both of which were released to moderate success. T. I. has also starred in the American reality television series T. I. s Road to Redemption, in 2009, Billboard ranked him as the 27th Artist of the 2000s decade. Clifford Joseph Harris Jr. was born on September 25,1980, in Atlanta, Georgia and he was raised by his grandparents in Atlantas Center Hill neighborhood just off Bankhead Highway. His father resided in New York City, and he would go there to visit
40.
Akon
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Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, better known as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, rapper, songwriter, businessman, record producer and actor. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of Locked Up and he has since founded two successful record labels, Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. He is the first solo artist to hold both the one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. Akon has had four songs certified as 3× platinum, three songs certified as 2× platinum, more than ten songs certified as 1× platinum and more than ten songs certified as gold in digital sales, Akon has sung songs in other languages including Tamil, Hindi, and Spanish. He was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the #1 selling artist for master ringtones in the world, Akon often provides vocals as a featured artist and is currently credited with over 300 guest appearances and more than 35 Billboard Hot 100 songs. He has worked with performers such as Michael Jackson, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Whitney Houston, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. He has had five Grammy Awards nominations and has produced songs for such as Lady Gaga, Colby ODonis, Kardinal Offishall, Leona Lewis. Forbes ranked Akon 80th in Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2010 and 5th in 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa list, Billboard ranked Akon No.6 on the list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade. Akon was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and spent much of his childhood in the West African country Senegal, the child of a dancer mother and a percussionist father, Mor Thiam, Akon learned to play five instruments, including drums, guitar and djembe. At age 7, he moved with his family to Union City, New Jersey, growing up in New Jersey, Akon had difficulties getting along with other children. When he and his brother reached high school, his parents left them on their own in Jersey City and moved the rest of the family to Atlanta. In regards to his date, Akon is very protective of it. However, legal documents released by The Smoking Gun list his date of birth as April 16,1973, Akons alleged three years in jail saw him begin to recognize his music abilities and develop an appreciation for his musical background. The songs Akon recorded with Stephens were brought to the attention of Universals imprint SRC Records, in an interview with HitQuarters SRC A&R Jerome Foster said, What caught my attention right away was Lonely, and I said, this kid is official – this is a huge record. Foster and SRC CEO Steve Rifkind immediately boarded a plane to Atlanta to meet the young artist. Akon knew of Fosters work as producer Knobody and so there was a mutual respect for one another, Akon increased his exposure further by collaborating with overseas artists, including New Zealands rapper Savage and hip-hop producer P-Money, performing choruses as a featured vocalist. Akons solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29,2004 and it spawned the singles Locked Up and Lonely, Belly Dancer, Pot Of Gold, and Ghetto. Locked Up reached 8th position in the U. S. Ghetto became a radio hit when it was remixed by DJ Green Lantern to include verses from rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B. I. G
41.
Nicki Minaj
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Onika Tanya Maraj, known professionally as Nicki Minaj, is a Trinidadian-born American rapper, singer, songwriter and model. Born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago and raised in South Jamaica, Queens, New York and she has been signed to Young Money Entertainment since 2009. In 2010, Minaj became the first female solo artist to have seven singles simultaneously charting on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100. Her third studio album, The Pinkprint, was preceded by its single, Anaconda. Minaj made her debut in the 2012 animated film Ice Age, Continental Drift, followed by supporting roles in The Other Woman and Barbershop. In 2013, she was a judge on the season of American Idol. Minaj was the first female artist included on MTVs Annual Hottest MC List, in 2016, Minaj was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Her rapping is distinctive for its fast flow and the use of alter egos and accents, early in her career, Minaj was known for her colorful costumes and wigs. According to Billboard, Minaj has the most Hot 100 entries for a female artist in the charts history and she has further endorsed Adidas, MAC Cosmetics and Pepsi. She has sold 20 million singles as a lead artist, and 60 million singles as a featured artist worldwide, Onika Tanya Maraj was born on December 8,1982, in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago. Her father, Robert Maraj, a executive and part-time gospel singer, is of Indo-Trinidadian and Afro-Trinidadian descent. Her mother, Carol Maraj, also a singer, is of Afro-Trinidadian ancestry. Carol worked in payroll and accounting departments during Minajs youth, Minajs father was addicted to alcohol and other drugs, and had a violent temper, burning down their house in December 1987. As a small child, Minaj and a sibling lived with her grandmother in Saint James and her mother, who had moved to The Bronx, New York to attend Monroe College, brought the family to Queens, New York, when Minaj was 5. By then the family had a house on West 147th Street, Minaj recalled, I don’t think I had a lot of discipline in my household. My mom motivated me, but it wasn’t a strict household, I kind of wanted a strict household. Minaj successfully auditioned for admission to LaGuardia High School in Manhattan, after graduation, Minaj wanted to become an actress, and she was cast in the Off-Broadway play In Case You Forget in 2001. At the age of 19, as she struggled with her career, she worked as a waitress at Red Lobster in the Bronx
