1.
Pleasantville, New Jersey
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Pleasantville is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. Pleasantville was incorporated as a city on April 14,1914, replacing Pleasantville borough, the city was named by Dr. David Ingersoll for its surroundings. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had an area of 7.298 square miles. Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the city include Mount Pleasant, Risleyville, as of the census of 2010, there were 20,249 people,6,661 households, and 4,569 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,556.5 per square mile, there were 7,219 housing units at an average density of 1,267.9 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 24. 33% White,45. 94% Black or African American,0. 83% Native American,2. 42% Asian,0. 03% Pacific Islander,22. 00% from other races, and 4. 45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 41. 06% of the population,25. 0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8. 4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.99 and the family size was 3.53. In the city, the population was out with 27. 5% under the age of 18,11. 1% from 18 to 24,27. 1% from 25 to 44,23. 5% from 45 to 64. The median age was 33.0 years, for every 100 females there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and old there were 87.2 males, the Census Bureaus 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that median household income was $39,560 and the median family income was $48,873. Males had an income of $32,494 versus $29,961 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $18,527, about 12. 2% of families and 18. 2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24. 7% of those under age 18 and 32. 3% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2000 United States Census there were 19,012 people,6,402 households, the population density was 3,291.3 people per square mile. There were 7,042 housing units at a density of 1,219.1 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 25. 01% White,57. 70% African American,0. 28% Native American,1. 95% Asian,0. 03% Pacific Islander,10. 96% from other races, and 4. 07% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21. 87% of the population,24. 5% of all households were made up of individuals and 9. 2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.90 and the family size was 3.44
Pleasantville, New Jersey
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Map of Pleasantville in Atlantic County. Inset: Location of Atlantic County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
2.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop
Hip hop music
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1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the Bronx, a venue used by Kool Herc that is often considered the birthplace of hip hop in 1973
Hip hop music
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DJ Kool Herc, recognized as one of the earliest hip hop artists
Hip hop music
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Grandmaster Flash
Hip hop music
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Afrika Bambaataa (left)
3.
Korg Trinity
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Korg Trinity is a commercially successful synthesizer music workstation released by Korg in 1995. It was considered one of the most comprehensive music workstations, in term of features, ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian in collaboration with KORG sound designer Jack Hotop created Sherinians signature guitaristic lead sound on the Trinity in 1996. Some say the Korg Triton is the definitive Trinity and this model was produced in 1999. Any of the models could have the following variations, Trinity, The basic 61-key Trinity synthesizer with ACCESS synth engine, Trinity ProX, Same as the Trinity Plus, but with an 88-key keyboard with piano action type. Trinity V3, is not only OS3. x, sOLO-TRI, only works with OS1 –2. x and NOT3. x, and the MOSS-TRI only works with 3. x and above. These cards cannot be installed at the time as they occupy the same expansion bay. HDR-TRI, and SCSI-TRI cannot be installed at the time as they occupy the same bay. Any Trinity can have OS3. x installed even if the MOSS-TRI is not installed, the TR-Rack could be fitted with the DI-TRI option, which is an ADAT format-compatible digital output. This enables one to send the four output signals digitally to any mixer, signal processor. There was a Limited Edition Black Trinity plus made only for the Japanese market, very little is known about this variant, or even how many were made. The Trinity workstation features a set of effects, a large graphic touchscreen. A PCM-based sound synthesis with 16 bit -48 kHz PCM playback on a 24Mbyte ROM, however, since 2,1 data compression has been used, these are equivalent to 48Mbyte of samples held in conventional RAM. The PCM data includes well over 1,000 individual samples comprising 374 multisamples, the foundation of the system was an open concept DSP system where the OS could load various unrelated models of different synthesis and physical modelling sound generators. It was a digital signal processor architecture, with the entire system clocking in at over 900 million instructions per second. Korg later adapted some of the technologies and released three initial products, Trinity, Prophecy and Wavedrum. Options for the included, SCSI-TRI, allowed a use to connect SCSI removable storage to load/save PCG, Sequencer. PBS-TRI, allowed the user to expand the PCM ROM with up 8 Mbyte of additional samples with the ability to run these samples via the Internal FX processors. With the PBS board the Trinity can load AKAI, Wave format file, in this last case the memory capacity is equivalent to 16 Mbyte due to the 2,1 data compression
Korg Trinity
Korg Trinity
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Korg Trinity V3
Korg Trinity
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Korg TR-Rack soundmodule (1998)
4.
Korg Triton
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The Korg Triton is a music workstation synthesizer, featuring digital sampling and sequencing, released in 1999. It uses Korgs HI Synthesis tone generator and was available in several model variants with numerous upgrade options. The Triton became renowned as a benchmark of keyboard technology, and has been featured in music videos. At the NAMM2007, Korg announced the Korg M3 as its successor, the Korg Triton line is considered the direct descendant of the earlier Korg Trinity line of workstations. The two ranges are aesthetically and functionally very similar, the original Triton introduced many improvements over the Trinity, like 62-note polyphony, arpeggiator, onboard sampler, faster operating system and more realtime controllers. With successive models, some of these shortcomings were rectified, such as the digital connectivity, the sample-based synthesis filter section, however, was never improved. Whilst less robust in function and practice, in-track sampling did mitigate for the lack of audio recording in the Triton Extreme. The original Triton was released in 1999 and as subsequent models were released became known as the Classic, the options available to buyers included a MOSS board, SCSI interface, two EXB-PCM expansion boards and 64MB RAM. The Pro was a 76-key workstation, while the Pro X was an 88-key workstation with weighted keys, the Triton Rack was the rackmount version of the Triton. Since musicians would use it as a module rather than a complete workstation, requiring a separate keyboard to control it via MIDI. The oversized touchscreen was replaced with a smaller, more conventional graphic LCD, though not equipped with a keyboard, it had the advantage of storage of up to eight EXB boards containing additional sounds, and featured a built-in S/PDIF digital output. It also supported the EXB-DI Digital Interface board providing ADAT output and Word Clock, the Korg KARMA, released in 2001, featured the Triton synthesis technology with 2 PCM slots and MOSS slot but without the sampling functionality. It instead included the more specialised KARMA music system and it was only available in a 61-key version. The Triton Le, released in 2002, was a stripped-down and it uses a smaller non-touch screen similar to the TRITON-RACK. Rack The ribbon controller and floppy disk drive were omitted but a Smartmedia slot was instead included, a lighter and cheaper key bed than those used on the Trinity/original Triton range was installed, and the effects bus was downscaled from five insert effects to one. The MOSS, a Z1-based board, can not be fitted on the Le, the functionality of the original sequencer and arpeggiator was retained, though. It was possible to load samples via the Smartmedia slot into the onboard sample RAM without requiring the board to be fitted. Marketed at a lower price than the original Triton range
Korg Triton
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Korg Triton Classic
Korg Triton
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Successor,
Korg M3 and predecessor,
Korg Trinity
Korg Triton
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KORG M3, KORG Triton, 2 KORG Radias-R et Mackie 1402 VLZ3 + Boîtiers MIDI Merge et Thru (respectivement à G et à D sur le M3)
Korg Triton
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Korg Triton rack
5.
Michael Jackson
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Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actor, and philanthropist. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music, dance, the eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. He began his career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music, the popularity of these videos helped bring the television channel MTV to fame. Jacksons 1987 album Bad spawned the U. S and he continued to innovate with videos such as Black or White and Scream throughout the 1990s, and forged a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and his distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous artists of various music genres. Thriller is the album of all time, with estimated sales of 65 million copies worldwide. Jacksons other albums, including Off the Wall, Bad, Dangerous and he is recognized as the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time by Guinness World Records. Jackson won hundreds of awards, making him the most awarded recording artist in the history of popular music. He became the first artist in history to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades when Love Never Felt So Good reached number nine on May 21,2014. Jackson traveled the world attending events honoring his humanitarianism, and, in 2000, aspects of Jacksons personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of sexual abuse, but the civil case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of child sexual abuse allegations. While preparing for his concert series, This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25,2009. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician, Jacksons death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and a live broadcast of his public memorial service was viewed around the world. Forbes ranks Jackson as the dead celebrity with earnings of $825 million in 2016. Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29,1958 and his mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovahs Witness. She played clarinet and piano and once aspired to be a country-and-western performer, michaels father, Joseph Walter Joe Jackson, a former boxer, was a steelworker at U. S. Steel
Michael Jackson
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Jackson performing in 1988, during the Bad World Tour
Michael Jackson
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Jackson's childhood home in
Gary, Indiana, showing floral tributes after his death.
Michael Jackson
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Jackson (center) as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1972.
Michael Jackson
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Jackson wearing his famous
jacket during the Thriller era.
6.
Patti LaBelle
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Patricia Louise Holt-Edwards better known under the stage name Patti LaBelle, is an American singer, author, actress, and entrepreneur. LaBelle began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer and front woman of the group, Patti LaBelle. After the group split in 1976, LaBelle began a solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed debut album. Less than two years later, in 1986, LaBelle scored with the album, Winner in You. LaBelle eventually won a 1992 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her 1991 album, Burnin, followed by a second Grammy win for the live album and her 1990s albums, Burnin, Gems and Flame, continued her popularity with young R&B audiences throughout the decade. LaBelles success has extended as an actress with a role in the film, A Soldiers Story. In 1992, LaBelle starred in her own TV sitcom, Out All Night, a decade later, LaBelle hosted her own lifestyle TV show, Living It Up with Patti LaBelle on TV One. In 2015, LaBelle took part in the competition, Dancing with the Stars. In a career that has spanned fifty years, she has more than 50 million records worldwide. LaBelle has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame, in 2005, the World Music Awards recognized her years in the music business by awarding her the Legend Award. Possessing the voice of a soprano, LaBelle was included in Rolling Stone on their list of 100 Greatest Singers, LaBelle is commonly identified as the Godmother of Soul. LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holte on May 24,1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and her father was a railroad worker and her mother was a domestic. Despite enjoying her childhood, LaBelle would later write in her memoirs, Dont Block the Blessings, when Patti was seven, she was sexually molested by a family friend. At twelve, her parents came to an end though Patti remained close to her father. When she was fifteen, she won a talent competition at her high school and this success led to Patti forming her first singing group, the Ordettes, in 1960, with schoolmates Jean Brown, Yvonne Hogen and Johnnie Dawson. The group, with Patti as front woman, became an attraction until two of its members left to marry. In 1962, the Ordettes included three new members, Cindy Birdsong, Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, the two girls having sung for another defunct vocal group. That year, they auditioned for record label owner Harold Robinson
Patti LaBelle
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LaBelle in 2008.
Patti LaBelle
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LaBelle (c) with her Labelle band mates
Nona Hendryx and
Sarah Dash in a 1974 promotional photo.
Patti LaBelle
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LaBelle promoting AIDS awareness in the 1980s.
7.
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
Whitney Houston
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Houston performing at
Welcome Home Heroes with Whitney Houston in 1991
Whitney Houston
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New Hope Baptist Church
Whitney Houston
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Houston performing "
Saving All My Love for You " on the Welcome Home Heroes concert in 1991
Whitney Houston
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Houston performing "
My Love Is Your Love " with her daughter
Bobbi Kristina Brown on
Good Morning America, September 1, 2009
8.
Mary J. Blige
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Mary Jane Blige is an American singer, songwriter, model, record producer and actress. My Life, in particular, is considered among the greatest albums ever recorded according to Rolling Stone, Time, for her part in combining hip hop and soul in the early 1990s and its subsequent commercial success, Blige received the Legends Award at the World Music Awards. Blige made Time magazines Time 100 list of individuals around the world in 2007. As of 2013, Blige has sold more than 50 million albums and 25 million singles worldwide, Billboard ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years. The magazine also lists her 2006 song Be Without You as the top R&B song of the 2000s, in 2011, VH1 ranked Blige as the 80th greatest artist of all time. Moreover, she is ranked number 100 on the list of 100 greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, in 2012, VH1 ranked Blige at number 9 in The 100 Greatest Women in Music. Blige also earned high remarks for her work in film and she starred in the 2009 Tyler Perry box-office hit I Can Do Bad All By Myself and played a role in the film Rock of Ages. She received a Golden Globe Award nomination for her contribution to the film The Help. In partnership with the Home Shopping Network and Carols Daughter, Blige released her My Life perfume, the perfume broke HSN records by selling 65,000 bottles during its premiere. The scent went on to win two FiFi Awards, including the Fragrance Sales Breakthrough award, in 2017, she stars in the period drama film Mudbound directed by Dee Rees. Blige spent her years in Richmond Hill, Georgia, where she sang in a Pentecostal church. Blige later moved to Schlobohm Houses in Yonkers, New York, immediately north of New York City, Blige dropped out of high school in her junior year. Pursuing a musical career, Blige spent a period of time in a Yonkers band named Pride with band drummer Eddie DAprile. In early 1988, she recorded a cover of Anita Bakers Caught Up in the Rapture at a recording booth in the Galleria Mall in White Plains. Her mothers boyfriend at the later played the cassette for Jeff Redd. Redd sent it to the president and CEO of the label, Harrell met with Blige and in 1989 she was signed to the label, becoming the companys youngest and first female artist. After being signed to Uptown Records, Blige began working with record producer Puff Daddy and he became the executive producer and produced a majority of the album. Derived from Bliges past occupation as a 4-1-1 operator, it was also an indication by Blige of being the real deal, the music was described as revelatory on a frequent basis
Mary J. Blige
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Blige in January 2010
Mary J. Blige
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Blige in
Hamburg, Germany 2000
Mary J. Blige
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Blige performing in July 2007.
Mary J. Blige
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Blige performing at Bumbershoot in September 2010.
9.
Toni Braxton
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Toni Michelle Braxton is an American singer–songwriter, pianist, record producer, actress, television personality, and philanthropist. Her self-titled debut studio album was released in 1993 and it sold over 10 million copies worldwide, spawning such hits as Another Sad Love Song and Breathe Again and earning Braxton three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. Released in 1996, her album, Secrets, continued her acclaim and mega success. Braxton won two Grammy Awards for Secrets, in 2000, her third album, The Heat, was released. It sold over 4 million copies and included the hit single He Wasnt Man Enough and she then released three more studio albums – More Than a Woman, Libra and Pulse, experiencing personal and label conflicts in between these releases. In 2014, Braxton and long-time collaborator Babyface released an album entitled Love, Marriage & Divorce. Throughout her career, Braxton has sold over 67 million records, including 41 million albums and she has won seven Grammy Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards and several other awards. Braxton is also an Executive Producer of the show, starring her younger sister. On September 18,2011, Braxton was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, Toni Michelle Braxton was born in Severn, Maryland. Braxtons maternal grandfather was also a pastor, Braxton is the eldest of six siblings. She has a younger brother Michael, Jr. and four younger sisters Traci, Towanda, Trina and they were raised in a strict religious household, and Braxtons first performing experience was singing in her church choir. On her appearance May 24,2014 broadcast of NPRs Wait Wait, dont Tell Me. she stated that she was not singing to herself at the gas station. Pettaway, working as an attendant at the Annapolis service station where she was refueling, recognized her from local performances and introduced himself, though skeptical, Braxton decided to, in her words, take a chance and accepted. Braxton and her four sisters began performing as The Braxtons in the late 1980s and were signed to Arista Records in 1989 and their first single, Good Life, was released in 1990. Though the song was not successful, it attracted the attention of Antonio L. A. Reid and Kenneth Babyface Edmonds. Reid and Babyface recruited her to record a demo of Love Shoulda Brought You Home, Baker, who was pregnant at the time, did not record the song but suggested, that Braxton record it. Her recording was included on the soundtrack along with Give U My Heart. Braxton, meanwhile, was signed to Reid and Edmonds Arista-distributed imprint, LaFace Records, on July 13,1993, LaFace Records released Braxtons self-titled debut album, Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton
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Braxton at the 2009 VH1 Divas Red Carpet
Toni Braxton
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Braxton press photo, 2015
Toni Braxton
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Soul Beach Music Festival press conference, Toni Braxton with
Gee Money, May 2010
Toni Braxton
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Braxton performing in
Romania during New Year's Eve 2011.
10.
Brandy Norwood
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Brandy Rayana Norwood, known professionally as Brandy, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. Born into a family in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Carson, California, she began her career as a child. In 1993, Norwood signed with Atlantic Records, the following year, she released her self-titled debut album, which was certified quadruple Platinum in the US, selling six million copies worldwide. Norwood starred in the UPN sitcom Moesha as the title character and her second album, Never Say Never, sold 16 million copies worldwide, featured two number one singles, and earned Norwood her first Grammy Award. This launched her international stardom, with films, endorsements, sold out concert tours. Throughout the 2000s, Norwood held a position in the pop industry. In 2002, she starred in the reality series Brandy, Special Delivery and her third and fourth albums, Full Moon and Afrodisiac, were released to critical and commercial success. She served as a judge on the first season of Americas Got Talent before being involved in a widely publicized car accident in 2006, after several lawsuits stemming from the accident, Norwoods fifth album, Human, was released to commercial failure. In the 2010s, Norwood received a critical and commercial resurgence, in 2010, she returned to television as a contestant on the eleventh season of Dancing with the Stars and starred in the reality series Brandy & Ray J, A Family Business. In 2012 she became a regular in the BET series The Game. In April 2015, Norwood made her Broadway debut in the musical Chicago and she starred in and executive produced a new sitcom Zoe Ever After on the BET network in January 2016. Throughout her career, she has sold over 40 million records worldwide, the Recording Industry Association of America lists Norwood as one of the top selling artists in the United States, with 10.5 million certified albums. Her work has earned her numerous awards and accolades, including a Grammy Award, one American Music Award and she is the older sister of entertainer Ray J, as well as a cousin of rapper Snoop Dogg. Raised in a Christian home, Norwood started singing through her fathers work as part of the church choir. In 1983, her parents relocated to Los Angeles, California, Norwood began entering talent shows by the time she was eleven, and, as part of a youth singing group, performed at several public functions. To manage her daughter, Norwoods mother soon resigned from her job, while Norwood herself dropped out of Hollywood High School later, and was tutored privately from tenth grade on. During the early stages of her debut album, Norwood was selected for a role in the ABC sitcom Thea. Norwood recalled that she appreciated the cancellation of the show as she was unenthusiastic about acting at the time, and she stated, I felt bad for everybody else but me
Brandy Norwood
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Brandy, photographed by Kat Morgan, in 2015
Brandy Norwood
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Brandy
Brandy Norwood
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Norwood performing in a concert in July 2004.
11.
Monica (entertainer)
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Monica Denise Brown, simply known as Monica, is an American singer, songwriter, producer, and actress. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, she began performing as a child and she rose to prominence after releasing her debut studio album, Miss Thang, in 1995. In 1998, Monicas second album, The Boy Is Mine, Monica also ventured into acting, with a supporting role in Boys and Girls, and starring roles in television film Love Song. During the production of her album, All Eyez on Me, Monica experienced personal struggles. In 2003, her album, After the Storm, was released. The album also included her Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hit U Shouldve Known Better, Monica has sold over 5.3 million albums in the United States alone. With a career lasting over 20 years, she became the first artist to top the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. In 2010, Billboard listed Monica at number 24 on its list of the Top 50 R&B, Monica was born in College Park, Georgia on October 24,1980. She is the daughter of Marilyn Best, a former church singer and Delta Air Lines customer service representative. Billy Arnold Jr. a mechanic working for an Atlanta freight company and she has a younger brother, Montez, half brother Jermond Grant on her fathers side, and two maternal half-brothers, Tron and Cypress. Monica also is a cousin of record producer Polow da Don, and relative-in-law to rapper Ludacris through her mothers marriage to Reverend Edward Best. At the age of 2, Monica followed in her mothers footsteps with regular performances at the Jones Hill Chapel United Methodist Church in Marilyns hometown Newnan, Georgia. When she was 10 years old, she became the youngest member of Charles Thompson and the Majestics and she also attended North Clayton High School along with rapper 2 Chainz. In 1991, at the age of eleven, Monica was discovered by music producer Dallas Austin at the Center Stage auditorium in Atlanta performing Whitney Houston 1986s Greatest Love of All. Amazed by her voice, Dallas offered her a deal with his Arista Records-distributed label Rowdy Records. Billboard 200 and number seven on the Top R&B Albums chart. S, Miss Thang subsequently won Monica a Billboard Music Award and garnered her an American Music Award nomination in the Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist category. After a label change to Clive Daviss Arista Records, Monica mainstream success was boosted, the following year she was asked to team up with singer Brandy and producer Rodney Darkchild Jerkins to record The Boy Is Mine, the first single from both of their second albums. It earned the pair a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and garnered multi-platinum sales
Monica (entertainer)
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Monica performing in a concert in May 2006
12.
Rhona Bennett
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Rhona Lynn Bennett, also known as Miss R&B, is an American singer, actress and model, best known for her recurring role as Nicole on The Jamie Foxx Show. She is currently a member of American contemporary R&B group En Vogue, Bennett started out doing voice overs and industrial films, before moving into professional theatre and television. Before joining the cast of The Jamie Foxx Show, Rhona was a cast member of the Disney Channels variety show The All-New Mickey Mouse Club and she is a member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority. In 1991, Bennett became a Mouseketeer on the 90s revival of The Mickey Mouse Club and she was also part of a spin-off dramedy titled Emerald Cove on the Disney Channel. After the show was cancelled in 1994, Bennett moved to California to continue her career as an actress, landing several shows, including Living Single and she also garnered a regular role in the mid-1990s in which she played Loquatia on the sitcom Homeboys in Outer Space. In early 2000, Bennett had a role on the WB sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, in which she played Nicole, Jamies co-worker. Later, Bennett signed with producer Rodney Darkchild Jerkins and her debut album titled Rhona was released under his Darkchild Records imprint for Sony Music Entertainment in 2001. The first single, Satisfied, shipped gold to Japan, hot Dance Club Play number-one in 2001. Bennett landed a role in the stage play Men Cry In The Dark. In 2003, Bennett joined En Vogue for a five-year tenure until leaving the group in 2008 with the return of original member Dawn Robinson, Bennett performed at the American Airlines Center on July 27,2008, under the Miss R&B moniker. She sang solo from her album, hosted, and helped to raise funds for a new charity for the homeless. Bennett met back with the members of En Vogue to perform at the American Music Festival on August 29,2008, Bennett restarted her solo career in early 2009. Since that time, Bennett has worked on a new solo album, in June 2012, Bennett rejoined the group En Vogue for their tour. Albums 2001, Rhona 2001, Satisfied 2010, Letting You Go 2016, Take Me There Rhona Bennett at the Internet Movie Database
Rhona Bennett
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Rhona Bennett performing in concert
13.
Ray J
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William Ray Norwood Jr. known by his stage name Ray J, is an American singer, songwriter, television personality and actor. Born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Carson, California, he is the brother of recording artist and actress Brandy Norwood, in January 2017 he competed in the nineteenth season of the UK reality television programme Celebrity Big Brother. William Ray Norwood Jr. was born in McComb, Mississippi to Willie Norwood and his older sister Brandy is an award-winning, multi-platinum recording artist. Early in his life, he moved with his family from McComb, Mississippi to Los Angeles, California, and in 1989 started appearing in television commercials for different companies. In 1989, at the age of eight, Norwood began auditioning for and appearing in commercials, he played the foster son in The Sinbad Show. This period in Norwoods life would shape his acting career and he signed to Elektra Records in 1995 and he began to record his 15-track debut album Everything You Want the same year. Let It Go appeared on the Set It Off soundtrack and it peaked number 25 in the U. S. and number 11 in New Zealand. The second single peaked at number 54 on the U. S. R&B chart, in 1997, he was dropped from the label. In 1998, he appeared on the Doctor Dolittle soundtrack with the single Thats Why I Lie and he produced for toy company Mattel, putting together the music for several commercials and a few of the demos for his second record. The song was the single of the R&B/Hip Hop tribute Urban Renewal. Norwood also worked with The Neptunes, Rodney Jerkins and Lil Kim, the album was recorded over 18 months, and was released on June 26,2001 with Atlantic Records. The lead single Wait A Minute peaked at #30 on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, formal Invite followed at #54 on the R&B chart. The albums lead single One Wish was a top 20 success in the US, UK, Ireland, Raydiation eventually sold over 400,000 copies domestically. In 2005, Norwood joined the cast of UPNs One On One, on both shows, Rays character was related to Brandys. In February 2007, a home video he made with former girlfriend Kim Kardashian in 2003 was made public. Kardashian sued Vivid Entertainment for ownership of the tape, in late April 2007, Kardashian dropped the suit and settled with Vivid Entertainment for $5 million. Knockout Entertainment announced an album deal with Koch Records and Shaquille ONeals Deja 34 entertainment company. The first album for this deal is Ray Js fourth album All I Feel and it was released on April 1,2008
Ray J
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Ray J in December 2011
14.
Kirk Franklin
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Kirk Dewayne Franklin is an American gospel musician, choir director, and author. He is known for leading urban contemporary gospel choirs such as The Family, Gods Property and One Nation Crew, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, Franklin was raised by his aunt, Gertrude, having been abandoned as a baby by his mother. Gertrude collected and resold aluminum cans to raise money for Kirk to take lessons from the age of four. Kirk excelled in music, being able to read and write music and he received his first contract offer at the age of seven, which his aunt turned down. He joined the choir and became music director of the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir at the age of twelve. He was accepted and later there was an announcement of a girlfriends pregnancy, Kirk Franklin studied music with Jewell Kelly and the Singing Chaparrals at Oscar Dean Wyatt High School. He was under her tutelage for music direction as she allowed him to be the pianist for the choir, after the shooting death of a friend, Franklin returned to the church, where he began to direct the choir once again. He also co-founded a gospel group, The Humble Hearts, which recorded one of Franklins compositions, impressed, Biggham enlisted him to lead the DFW Mass Choir in a recording of Franklins song Every Day with Jesus. This led to Biggham hiring Franklin, just 20 years old at the time, to lead the choir at the 1990 Gospel Music Workshop of America Convention, in 1992, Franklin organized The Family, which was a seventeen-voice choir, formed from neighborhood friends and associates. In 1993, the group, now known as Kirk Franklin & The Family, released their debut album and it spent almost two years on the Gospel music charts and charted on the R&B charts, eventually earning platinum sales status. It remained at No.1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for 42 weeks and it was the first gospel music album to sell over a million units. Two years later, after releasing a 1995 Christmas album entitled Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas, the album was certified 2x platinum and earned Franklin his first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album. 1997 brought another album, a collaboration with the vocal ensemble Gods Property, Gods Property from Kirk Franklins Nu Nation was No.1 on the R&B Albums chart for five weeks, No.3 on the Pop charts, and would go on to be certified 3x platinum. It also brought Franklin another Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album, in 1996, Franklins song Joy was recorded by Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir. With production by Houston and Mervyn Warren, the composition was included on the soundtrack to the movie The Preachers Wife. On November 2,1998, Gods Property sued Franklin, the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Franklin induced Gods Property founder Linda Searight into signing an onerous and one-sided contract with B-Rite Music. The Nu Nation Project was released in 1998, together with Crystal Lewis, and the Family, Lean on Me and the second single Revolution were considerable hits, and the album contained a version of another Withers song Gonna Be a Lovely Day. The Nu Nation Project went on to top the Billboard Contemporary Christian Albums chart for 23 weeks and the Billboard Gospel Albums chart for 49 weeks, also in 1998, Franklin had made a guest appearance on the hit television sitcom Sister, Sister
Kirk Franklin
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Franklin and wife Tammy in 2006
15.
Will Smith
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Willard Carroll Will Smith Jr. is an American actor, producer, rapper, and songwriter. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood, Smith has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards and two Academy Awards, and has won four Grammy Awards. In the late 1980s, Smith achieved modest fame as a rapper under the name The Fresh Prince, in 1990, his popularity increased dramatically when he starred in the popular NBC television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which ran for six seasons until 1996. After the series ended, Smith transitioned from television to film, Smith has been ranked as the most bankable star worldwide by Forbes. As of 2016, his films have grossed $7.5 billion at the box office. For his performances as boxer Muhammad Ali in Ali and stockbroker Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness, Smith received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Willard Carroll Smith Jr. was born on September 15,1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Caroline, a Philadelphia school board administrator and he grew up in West Philadelphias Wynnefield neighborhood, and was raised Baptist. He has three siblings, sister Pamela, who is four years older, and twins Harry and Ellen, Smith attended Our Lady of Lourdes, a private Catholic elementary school in Philadelphia. His parents separated when he was 13, but did not actually divorce until around 2000, though widely reported, it is untrue that Smith turned down a scholarship to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he never applied to college because he wanted to rap. Smith says he was admitted to a program at MIT for high school students. According to Smith, My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, but I had no intention of going to college. The trio was known for performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably Parents Just Dont Understand and they gained critical acclaim and won the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category. Smith spent money freely around 1988 and 1989 and underpaid his income taxes, the Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income. Smith was nearly bankrupt in 1990, when the NBC television network signed him to a contract and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the show was successful and began his acting career. Will Smith set for himself the goal of becoming the biggest movie star in the world, Smiths first major roles were in the drama Six Degrees of Separation and the action film Bad Boys in which he starred opposite Martin Lawrence. In 1996, Smith starred as part of an ensemble cast in Roland Emmerichs Independence Day, the film was a massive blockbuster, becoming the second highest-grossing film in history at the time and establishing Smith as a prime box office draw. In the summer of 1997 he starred alongside Tommy Lee Jones in the summer hit Men in Black playing Agent J, in 1998, Smith starred with Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State
Will Smith
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Smith in 2012
Will Smith
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Smith at the Emmy Awards in 1993
Will Smith
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Nobel Peace Prize Concert December 11, 2009, in
Oslo, Norway: Smith with wife Jada and children Jaden and Willow
16.
Ciara
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Ciara Princess Wilson, known mononymously as Ciara, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. It was at this time Ciara was noticed for her songwriting, in 2002, Ciara met music producer Jazze Pha. With his help, she signed a deal with LaFace Records. In 2004, Ciara released her studio album Goodies, which spawned three hit singles, Goodies,1,2 Step, and Oh. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. She released her studio album, Ciara, The Evolution, in 2006 which spawned the hit singles Get Up, Promise. The album reached number one in the U. S. and was certified platinum and her third studio album, Fantasy Ride, released in 2009, was considerably less successful than Ciaras first two albums. However, it produced the international top-ten single Love Sex Magic featuring Justin Timberlake, the following year, Ciara released her fourth studio album Basic Instinct, which was met with low sales and continued a downward trend in her commercial performance. In 2011, she signed a new deal with Epic Records. In 2015, Ciara released her sixth album Jackie, which included the singles I Bet, the album debuted at number 17 on the Billboard 200 and sold 19,000 copies, which made it her lowest first-week album sales to date. Ciara has also transitioned into acting in 2006 she made her film debut it All Youve Got, followed by Mama, I Want to Sing. in 2013, Ciara had a recurring role in the US TV series, The Game. Since making her debut in 2004, Ciara has attained eight Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles. She has also earned awards and accolades, including three BET Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three MOBO Awards, and one Grammy Award. To date, Ciara has sold over 23 million records worldwide, Ciara was born in Austin, Texas on October 25,1985, the only child of Jackie Harris and Carlton Harris. An army brat, she grew up in Germany, New York, Utah, California, Arizona and she was named after the Revlon fragrance Ciara which was introduced in 1973 and is still sold today. During her teens, Ciara and her family moved to Atlanta, in her mid-teens, Ciara formed the all-girl group Hearsay with two of her friends. The group recorded demos, but as time went on, they began to have differences, despite this setback, Ciara was still determined to reach her goal and signed a publishing deal as a songwriter. Her first success was the song, Got Me Waiting for R&B singer Fantasia Barrinos debut album and it was when she was writing songs that she met music producer, Jazze Pha, whom she called her music soulmate
Ciara
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Ciara
Ciara
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Ciara performing during her debut tour
Ciara: Live in Concert in November 2006
Ciara
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Ciara 2009
Ciara
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Ciara has cited
Michael Jackson as one of her biggest influences.
17.
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
Kelly Rowland
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Rowland in April 2012
Kelly Rowland
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Destiny's Child performing their 2000 hit "
Say My Name " during their farewell concert tour,
Destiny Fulfilled... And Lovin' It
Kelly Rowland
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Rowland in May 2003
Kelly Rowland
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Rowland performing during the
Ms. Kelly Tour in 2007
18.
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
Mariah Carey
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Carey performing on
Good Morning America in May 2013
Mariah Carey
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Carey exiting the
Shepherd's Bush Theatre after promoting her single "Vision of Love" on
The Wogan Show, in 1990
Mariah Carey
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Carey performing "One Sweet Day" alongside
Boyz II Men, during a taping at
Madison Square Garden on October, 1995.
Mariah Carey
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Carey at the
Edwards Air Force Base during the making of the "
I Still Believe " music video on December, 1998.
19.
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
Rihanna
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Rihanna grew up in the city of
Bridgetown, Barbados.
Rihanna
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Rihanna performing during the
Diamonds World Tour in 2013
Rihanna
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Rihanna performing at the
KIIS-FM Jingle Ball, 2005
Rihanna
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Rihanna in
Minneapolis performing on her
Loud Tour, June 2011
20.
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
Jennifer Lopez
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Lopez at the
25th GLAAD Media Awards, April 2014
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez
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Lopez in 2004
Jennifer Lopez
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Lopez performing during her
Dance Again World Tour, June 2012.
21.
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
Janet Jackson
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Jackson performing on her
Unbreakable World Tour, 2015
Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
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Jackson (bottom row) in a 1976 CBS photo on the set of
The Jacksons
Janet Jackson
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Janet Jackson featured on an iconic cover of Rolling Stone with the hands of her then-unknown husband
René Elizondo, Jr. cupping her breasts
22.
Luther Vandross
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Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He later became the singer of the group Change, which released its certified gold debut album, The Glow of Love. After Vandross left the group, he was signed to Epic Records as a solo artist and released his solo album, Never Too Much. His hit songs include Never Too Much, Here and Now, Any Love, Power of Love/Love Power, I Can Make It Better and For You to Love. Many of his songs were covers of music by other artists such as If This World Were Mine, Since I Lost My Baby, Superstar and Always. Duets such as The Closer I Get to You with Beyoncé, Endless Love with Mariah Carey, during his career, Vandross sold over 35 million records worldwide, and received eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four different times. He won a total of four Grammy Awards in 2004 including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for a song recorded not long before his death, Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. was born on April 20,1951 at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, New York City. He was the child and second son of Mary Ida Vandross and Luther Vandross. His father was an upholsterer and singer, and his mother was a nurse, Vandross was raised on Manhattans Lower East Side in the NYCHA Alfred E. Smith Houses public housing development. At the age of three, having his own phonograph, he himself to play the piano by ear. Vandrosss father died of diabetes when Vandross was eight years old and his family moved to the Bronx when he was nine. His sisters, Patricia Pat and Ann began taking Vandross to the Apollo Theater and to a theater in Brooklyn to see Dionne Warwick, Patricia sang with the vocal group The Crests, and was featured on the songs 16 Candles and Sweetest One. In high school, Vandross performed in a group, Shades of Jade, during his early years in show business he appeared several times at the Apollos infamous amateur night and was booed by the audience. While a member of a workshop, Listen My Brother, he was invoiced in the singles Only Love Can Make a Better World. He appeared in the first series of Sesame Street during 1969, Vandross graduated from William Howard Taft High School in 1969, and attended Western Michigan University for a year before dropping out to continue pursuing a career in music. He added backing vocals to Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway in 1972, Vandross founded the first Patti LaBelle fan club, of which he was president. Vandross sang on Delores Halls Hall-Mark album and he sang with her on the song Whos Gonna Make It Easier for Me, which he wrote, and he contributed another song, In This Lonely Hour. Having co-written Fascination for David Bowies Young Americans, he went on to tour with him as a back-up vocalist in September 1974, Vandross wrote Everybody Rejoice for the 1975 Broadway musical The Wiz
Luther Vandross
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Vandross performing with
Diana Ross in New York, July 2000
23.
Lady Gaga
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Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She performed initially in theater, appearing in school plays. From there, Akon noticed her vocal abilities and helped her to sign a joint deal with Interscope Records and her debut album The Fame was a critical and commercial success that produced international chart-topping singles such as Just Dance and Poker Face. A follow-up EP, The Fame Monster, was met with a reception and Bad Romance, Telephone. Her second full-length album Born This Way was released in 2011, topping the charts in more than 20 countries, including the United States, the album produced the number-one single Born This Way. Her third album Artpop, released in 2013, topped the US charts, in 2014, Gaga released a collaborative jazz album with Tony Bennett titled Cheek to Cheek, which became her third consecutive number one in the United States. For her work in the television series American Horror Story, Hotel, with her fifth studio album Joanne, she became the first woman to have four US number one albums in the 2010s. In February 2017, Gaga headlined the Super Bowl LI halftime show which had an audience of over 150 million across various platforms worldwide. With global album and single sales of 27 million and 146 million respectively, as of January 2016 and her achievements include twelve Guinness World Records, three Brit Awards, and six Grammy Awards. She is also the first artist to win the Songwriters Hall of Fames Contemporary Icon Award, in 2013, Gaga finished second on Times readers poll of the most influential people of the past ten years, while in 2015, she was named Billboards Woman of the Year. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta was born on March 28,1986 and she is the elder daughter of Cynthia Louise Cindy and Internet entrepreneur Joseph Joe Germanotta. Gaga has three Italian grandparents and one American grandparent, as well as French Canadian ancestry, Gagas sister Natali is a fashion student. From age 11, she attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart and she described her academic life in high school as very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined but also a bit insecure. I used to get made fun of for being too provocative or too eccentric. I didnt fit in, and I felt like a freak, in 2014, Gaga said she was raped at the age of 19. She stated, I went through some things that Im able to laugh now, because Ive gone through a lot of mental and physical therapy. Gaga later said that she suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder because of the rape, and that support from doctors, family, and friends really saved my life. Gaga began playing the piano at the age of four, wrote her first piano ballad at 13 and she performed lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Lady Gaga
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Gaga performing at the
Cheek to Cheek Tour in June 2015
Lady Gaga
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Gaga (right) performing with
Lady Starlight at
Lollapalooza 2007
Lady Gaga
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Gaga performing in a bar, sporting one of her earlier looks, October 2008
Lady Gaga
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Gaga performing at
The Fame Ball Tour in 2009
24.
Britney Spears
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Britney Jean Spears is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, she performed acting roles in stage productions, Spearss first and second studio albums. Baby One More Time and Oops. I Did It Again, became international successes, with the former becoming the album by a teenage solo artist. Title tracks. Baby One More Time and Oops, I Did It Again broke international sales records. In 2001, Spears released her third studio album, Britney. She assumed creative control of her studio album, In the Zone. In 2007, Spearss much-publicized personal issues sent her career into hiatus and her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released later that year, and spawned singles such as Gimme More and Piece of Me. Her erratic behavior and hospitalizations continued through the year, at which point she was placed under a still ongoing conservatorship. Spearss sixth studio album, Circus, included the international chart-topping single Womanizer and her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale, became her first to yield three top-ten singles in the United States. She released her studio album Britney Jean in 2013. Later that year, Spears began the four-year residency show, Britney, Piece of Me, in 2016, Spears released her ninth studio album, Glory. In 2017, she announced that her show would develop into a world tour, Britney. Spears is regarded as a pop icon and credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and she became the best-selling teenage artist of all time and garnered honorific titles including the Princess of Pop. In 2009, Billboard ranked her as the 8th overall Artist of the Decade, the Recording Industry Association of America lists Spears as the eighth top-selling female artist in the United States, with 34 million certified albums. She has sold 100 million albums and over 100 million singles worldwide making her one of the music artists of all time. According to Billboard Spears has sold about 22.38 million singles in digital downloads in US and is the fourth best-selling female artist since Nielsen SoundScan began. Forbes reported that Spears was the highest paid musician of 2012, with earnings of $58 million. Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, the child of Lynne Irene Bridges and James Parnell Spears
Britney Spears
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Spears at the
102.7 KIIS FM Wango Tango concert in
Carson, California, May 2013
Britney Spears
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Spears performing at the NFL Kickoff Live, September 2003
Britney Spears
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Spears performing during
The Onyx Hotel Tour on April 2004
Britney Spears
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Spears performing "Freakshow" at
The Circus Starring Britney Spears, May 2009
25.
Ashanti (singer)
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Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas, known simply as Ashanti, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and actress. Ashanti is known for her eponymous album, which featured the hit song Foolish. In 2003, the debut album won Ashanti her first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B album. Her second release achieved a certification and other top 10 singles. Later that year, she was acclaimed as the Princess Of Hip-Hop & R&B by her label and capped off her debut by winning eight Billboard awards. Ashanti cites Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Prince, Madonna, Tupac Shakur, Mary J. Blige, Ella Fitzgerald, Smokey Robinson, Donna Summer, since 2013, she is currently working on her own publishing company titled Written Entertainment. Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas was born on October 13,1980, in Glen Cove and her mother, Tina Douglas, is a former dance teacher, and her father, Ken-Kaide Thomas Douglas, is a former singer. Her mother named her after the Ashanti Empire in Ghana, in this nation, women have power and influence and her grandfather, James, was a civil rights activist who associated with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s. Growing up, Ashanti took dance lessons and joined the church choir, Ashanti went to Bernice Johnson Cultural Arts Center, where she studied different dance styles, including tap, jazz, ballet, African, modern, and hip hop. She danced with the Senior Pro Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Avery Fisher Hall, and she also performed at the 1994 Caribbean Awards and dancing with Judith Jamison of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. Ashanti also performed in the 1989 Disney television film Polly alongside stars Keshia Knight Pulliam, Jomecia Moore, by the time Ashanti hit puberty, her mother was sending out demo tapes of her singing and dancing. The family could not afford to go to a studio and record a demo, so when labels called. While attending high school, she began to write songs, as a teenager, she performed in a local talent show and at the Soul Cafe, China Club, Madison Square Garden, Carolines Comedy Club, and Greek Fest 2000. In her first major singing performance, Ashanti performed Yolanda Adamss More Than a Melody and she also appeared in a number of big-name music videos, in addition to other dance work. Ashanti got her first taste of acting as an extra in Spike Lees Malcolm X. She was also one of the students in the 3-2-1 Contact Extra, What Kids Want To Know About Sex and she also had a couple of minor appearances in music videos, such as KRS-Ones MCs Act Like They Dont Know as well as 8-Offs Ghetto Girl. When Ashanti was 16, she was discovered by P. Diddys Bad Boy Records, initially, she went to Bad Boy Records and sang one of Mary J. Bliges songs in front of P. Diddy and Biggie Smalls. After being impressed by her ability, Diddy had her sign to a development deal
Ashanti (singer)
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Ashanti in February 2012
Ashanti (singer)
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Ashanti in 2005, performing at the United Service Organizations tour.
Ashanti (singer)
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US Navy Fire Controlman 2nd Class Cody Gilbert explains to Ashanti different equipment on the bridge of the guided-missile cruiser
USS Port Royal (CG 73).
26.
Justin Bieber
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Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After a talent manager discovered him through his YouTube videos covering songs in 2008 and signed to RBMG, Bieber released his debut EP, My World and it was certified Platinum in the U. S. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a record chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Bieber released his first full-length studio album, My World 2.0 and it debuted at or near number one in several countries, was certified triple Platinum in the U. S. and contained his single Baby. He released his studio album, Under the Mistletoe, in November 2011. Bieber released his studio album, Believe, in 2012. His fourth studio album Purpose was released in November 2015, spawning three number one singles, What Do You Mean and his U. S. album and singles sales total 44.7 million. He has sold an estimated 100 million records, making him one of the world’s best-selling music artists, Bieber has won numerous awards, including the American Music Award for Artist of the Year in 2010 and 2012. In his career, he has won one Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for the song Where Are Ü Now at the 2016 ceremony. He has been listed four times by Forbes magazine among the top ten most powerful celebrities in the world in 2011,2012, Bieber also became the first artist to surpass 10 billion total video views on Vevo. Bieber was born on March 1,1994, in London, Ontario, at St Josephs Hospital and he is the only child of Jeremy Jack Bieber and Patricia Pattie Mallette. Pattie raised her son with the help of her mother, Diane and his mother is of French-Canadian descent, his paternal great-grandfather was of German ancestry, and his other roots are English, Scottish and Irish. He has also claimed that he has some undetermined Aboriginal Canadian ancestry, through Jeremy, Bieber has two younger half-siblings, Jazmyn and Jaxon. Pattie worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a mother in low-income housing. Bieber has maintained contact with his father, Bieber attended a French-language immersion elementary school in Stratford, the Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School. Growing up, he learned to play the piano, drums, guitar and he graduated from high school in Stratford, Ontario, the St. Michael Catholic Secondary School in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA. In early 2007, aged 12, Bieber sang Ne-Yos So Sick for a singing competition in Stratford and was placed second. Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and she continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, and Biebers popularity on the site grew
Justin Bieber
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Bieber at the 2012 NRJ Music Awards
Justin Bieber
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Bieber in 2010, displaying his earlier haircut.
Justin Bieber
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Bieber performing during his
Believe Tour in October 2012.
Justin Bieber
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Bieber performing in
Zürich, 2011
27.
Spice Girls
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The Spice Girls are an English pop girl group formed in 1994. The group originally consisted of Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell and they were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single Wannabe in 1996, which hit number one in 37 countries and established them as a global phenomenon. Their debut album Spice sold more than 31 million copies worldwide and their follow-up album Spiceworld sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Among the highest profile acts in 1990s British popular culture, Time called them arguably the most recognisable face of Cool Britannia, the mid-1990s celebration of youth culture in the UK. The group became one of the most successful marketing engines ever, earning up to $75 million per year, under the guidance of their mentor and manager Simon Fuller, the Spice Girls embraced merchandising and became a regular feature of the British and global press. In 1996, Top of the Pops magazine gave each member of the group aliases, which were adopted by the group and media. According to Rolling Stone journalist and biographer David Sinclair, Scary, Baby, Ginger, Posh and Sporty were the most widely recognised group of individuals since John, Paul, George, with the girl power phenomenon, the Spice Girls were popular cultural icons of the 1990s. They are cited as part of the second wave 1990s British Invasion of the US, in 2016, Mel B, Emma Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited and launched a new website called Spice Girls - GEM. In February 1994, together with financier Chic Murphy, they placed an advertisement in the trade magazine The Stage asking for singers to audition for a pop band at Danceworks studios. A week after the audition, the women were asked to attend a recall at Nomis Studios in Shepherds Bush, performing Signed, Sealed, Delivered on their own. During the session, Adams, Brown, Chisholm, Halliwell and Stephenson were selected to the band, the group moved to a house in Maidenhead, Berkshire, and spent most of 1994 training. During the first two months, they worked on demos at South Hill Park Recording Studios in Bracknell with producer/studio owner Michael Sparkes and songwriter/arranger Tim Hawes. According to Stephenson, the material the group was given was very, very pop, one of the songs they recorded, Sugar and Spice. They also worked on various dance routines at the Trinity Studios in Knaphill, near Woking, a few months into the training period, Stephenson was fired from the group and replaced with Emma Bunton. It was also during this time that Halliwell came up with the band name Spice, the group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and was frustrated by the direction in which Heart Management was steering them. In October 1994, armed with a catalogue of demos and dance routines, due to the large interest in the group, the Herberts quickly set about creating a binding contract for them. Encouraged by the reaction they had received at the Nomis showcase, all five members delayed signing contracts on the advice from, among others. In March 1995, the group parted from Heart Management due to their frustration with the unwillingness to listen to their visions
Spice Girls
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The Spice Girls performing during their penultimate reunion concert in
Toronto, Ontario, in February 2008. (L–R) Melanie Chisholm, Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, Melanie Brown and Emma Bunton.
Spice Girls
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The group performing "Wannabe" at the
Air Canada Centre in Toronto, during
The Return of the Spice Girls tour.
Spice Girls
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The Spice Girls performing "Spice Up Your Life" as the opening number of their Return of the Spice Girls tour, at the Air Canada Centre, in Toronto.
Spice Girls
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The Spice Girls as a four-piece performing "Holler" in
Cologne, Germany.
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