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
2.
Dance-pop
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Dance-pop is a pop and dance subgenre that originated in the early 1980s. It is generally up-tempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable, the genre, on the whole, tends to be producer-driven, despite some notable exceptions. Dance-pop borrowed influences from other genres, which varied by producer, artist, such include contemporary R&B, house, trance, techno, new jack swing, funk, synthpop, electropop and some forms of europop. Dance-pop is a mainstream style of music and there have been numerous pop artists. As the term started to go out of fashion by the late 1970s to early 1980s, other terms were commonly used to describe disco-based music, such as post-disco, club. Dance-pop music emerged in the 1980s as a combination of dance and pop, or post-disco, Dance-pop music was usually created, composed and produced by record producers who would then hire singers to perform the songs. In the beginning of the 80s disco was an anathema to the mainstream pop, according to prominent Allmusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Madonna had a huge role in popularizing dance music as mainstream music, utilizing her charisma, chutzpah and sex appeal. Erlewine claimed that Madonna launched dance-pop and set the standard for the genre for the two decades. The staff of Vice magazine stated that her debut album drew the blueprint for future dance-pop, in the 1980s dance-pop was closely aligned to other up-tempo electronic genres, such as Hi-NRG. Prominent producers in the 1980s included Stock, Aitken and Waterman, during the decade, dance-pop borrowed influences from funk, new jack swing, and contemporary R&B. Other prominent dance-pop artists and groups of the 1980s included the Pet Shop Boys, Mel and Kim, Samantha Fox, Debbie Gibson, by the 1990s, dance-pop had become a major genre in popular music. Several dance-pop groups and artists emerged during the 1990s, such as the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Backstreet Boys, during the early 1990s, dance-pop borrowed influences from house music, as well as contemporary R&B and new jack swing. Additionally, also in 1998, Cher released a song called Believe which made usage of a technological innovation of the time. An audio processor and a form of pitch modification software, Auto-Tune is commonly used as a way to correct pitch, since the late 1990s, the use of Auto-Tune processing has become a common feature of dance-pop music. Celine Dion also released a dance-pop song Thats the Way It Is by the end of 1999 and it has a moderately slow tempo but an up-beat song. At the beginning of the 2000s, dance-pop music was still prominent, nonetheless, as R&B and hip hop became extremely popular from the early part of the decade onwards, dance-pop often borrowed a lot of its influences from urban music. Dance-pop stars from the 1980s and 1990s such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Janet Jackson, in Madonnas case, her album Music contained elements of Euro disco, especially the successful eponymous lead single. Britney Spears album Blackout contained influences of Euro disco, the mid-to-late 2000s saw the arrival of several new dance-pop artists, including Rihanna, Kesha, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry
3.
Contemporary R&B
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Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
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
8.
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
9.
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
10.
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
11.
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
12.
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
13.
Monica (singer)
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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
14.
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
15.
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
16.
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
17.
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
18.
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
19.
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
20.
Destiny's Child
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Destinys Child was an American girl group whose final and best-known line-up comprised Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. Formed in 1997 in Houston, Texas, Destinys Child members began their musical endeavors as Girls Tyme comprising, formed in 1990, among others, Knowles, Rowland, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett. After years of limited success, they were signed in 1997 to Columbia Records, both Roberson and Luckett were soon replaced with Williams and Farrah Franklin, however, in 2000, Franklin left, leaving the group as a trio. Their third album, Survivor, which themes the public interpreted as a channel to the groups experience, contains the worldwide hits Independent Women, Survivor. In 2002, they announced a hiatus and re-united two years later for the release of their fourth and final album, Destiny Fulfilled. Destinys Child has sold more than sixty million records worldwide to date, in 1990, Beyoncé Knowles met rapper LaTavia Roberson while auditioning for a girl group. Based in Houston, Texas, they were joined to a group that performed rapping and dancing, Kelly Rowland, who relocated to Knowless house because of family issues, joined them in 1992. Originally named Girls Tyme, they were cut down to six members including Támar Davis and sisters Nikki. With Knowles and Rowland, Girls Tyme attracted nationwide attention, west-coast R&B producer Arne Frager flew to Houston to see them. He brought them to his studio, The Plant Recording Studios, in Northern California, with focus on Knowless vocals because Frager thought she had personality and the ability to sing. With efforts to sign Girls Tyme to a record deal, Fragers strategy was to debut the group in Star Search. However, they lost the competition because, according to Knowles, their choice of song was wrong, because of the groups defeat, Knowless father, Mathew, voluntarily dedicated his time to manage them. Mathew Knowles decided to cut the original lineup to four, with the removal of Davis and the Taylor sisters, aside from spending time at their church in Houston, Girls Tyme practiced in their backyards and at Headliners Salon, owned by Knowless mother, Tina. The group would test routines in the salon, when it was on Montrose Boulevard in Houston and their try out would be critiqued by the people inside. During their school days, Girls Tyme performed at local gigs, when summer came, Mathew Knowles established a boot camp to train them in dance and vocal lessons. After rigorous training, they began performing as opening acts for established R&B groups of that such as SWV, Dru Hill. Tina Knowles designed the groups attire for their performances, over the course of the early years in their career, Girls Tyme changed their name to Something Fresh, Cliché, the Dolls, and to Destiny. The group signed with Elektra Records with the name Destiny, but were dropped several months later before they could release an album, in 1996, they changed their name to Destinys Child, which was taken from a passage in the Book of Isaiah
21.
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
22.
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
23.
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
24.
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
25.
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
26.
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
27.
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. 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. Her maternal grandmother, Lillian Portell, was English, and one of Spearss maternal great-great-grandfathers was Maltese and her siblings are Bryan James and Jamie Lynn
28.
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
29.
Aaliyah
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Aaliyah Dana Haughton was an American singer, dancer, actress, and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Detroit, at the age of 10, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At age 12, Aaliyah signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankersons Blackground Records, Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Aint Nothing but a Number. The album sold three million copies in the United States and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. After facing allegations of a marriage with R. Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive. Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her album, One in a Million. In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first film, Romeo Must Die and she contributed to the films soundtrack, which spawned the single Try Again. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this goal, Try Again earned Aaliyah a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her role in Queen of the Damned and she released her third and final album, Aaliyah, in July 2001. On August 25,2001, Aaliyah and eight others were killed in a crash in the Bahamas after filming the music video for the single Rock the Boat. The pilot, Luis Morales III, was unlicensed at the time of the accident and toxicology tests revealed that he had traces of cocaine, Aaliyahs family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. Aaliyahs music has continued to achieve success with several posthumous releases. Aaliyah has sold an estimated 24 to 32 million albums worldwide and she has been credited for helping redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames Princess of R&B and Queen of Urban Pop. She is listed by Billboard as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16,1979, in Brooklyn, New York, and was the younger child of Diane and Michael Miguel Haughton. She was African American, and had Native American heritage from a grandmother, at a young age, Aaliyah was enrolled in voice lessons by her mother. She started performing at weddings, church choir and charity events, when she was five years old, her family moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was raised along with her older brother, Rashad. She attended a Catholic school, Gesu Elementary, where in first grade, from then on, she was determined to become an entertainer. In Detroit, her father working in the warehouse business
30.
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 most successful single at the time, 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 to commercial success 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
31.
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
32.
The Pussycat Dolls
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The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque troupe. Overseen by Antin, Interscope and various partners, the group was transformed into a global image, the Pussycat Dolls achieved worldwide success with hit singles Dont Cha, Buttons, Stickwitu, and their first album PCD. However, despite their success, the group was plagued by internal conflict due to the emphasis on Scherzinger, the groups lead vocalist. Bachars departure from the group preceded the release of their second and final studio album Doll Domination, in 2009, they announced a minor hiatus that was later revealed to be an official break-up. The Dolls brand diversified into merchandise, reality programs, a Las Vegas act, product endorsements, spin-off recording groups. Billboard ranked the Pussycat Dolls as the 80th most successful act of the 2000s. The group has sold 54 million records worldwide, making one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. In 2012, The Pussycat Dolls ranked 100th on VH1s 100 Greatest Women in Music, Antin began exploring the idea of a modern burlesque troupe during 1990 with Carla Kama and Christina Applegate as performers. The troupe began to perform in 1995, with a repertoire of 1950s and 1960s popular music standards while dressed in lingerie or old-fashioned pin-up costumes and they secured a Thursday night residency at a Los Angeles nightclub, the Viper Room, where they stayed from 1995 to 2001. They appeared briefly in the 1998 films Matters of Consequence, from 1995 to 2003 there were numerous guest vocalists, and many changes to the dance personnel. The troupe received wider press coverage during June 1999, when Playboy featured a Pussycat Dolls pictorial, three years later, The Pussycat Dolls moved to the Roxy. They were featured in magazines, television specials for MTV and VH1, ad campaigns, some of The Pussycat Dolls appeared in the 2003 film Charlies Angels, Full Throttle, dancing to Mancinis The Pink Panther Theme. They were also featured in Pinks Trouble music video, along with Applegate, Christina Aguilera and Carmen Electra the troupe was featured in a Maxim magazine shoot in 2002, which increased public interest in them. Following their growing popularity, music producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair became involved with the group helping them to transform into a franchise, the former dance troupe evolved into a popular music recording group and became employees of Iovines label Interscope Records. The only troupe members who remained after the process were Robin Antin, Carmit Bachar, Cyia Batten, Kasey Campbell, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta. During 2003, Antin struck a joint venture with Interscope Records to develop The Pussycat Dolls into a brand, auditions followed suit, for a separate group which would not include celebrity members. Singers Nicole Scherzinger, Melody Thornton and Kaya Jones were recruited, joining Carmit Bachar, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta, in February 2004 they performed Big Spender live at the MTV Asia Awards. In 2004, they recorded We Went as Far as We Felt Like Going for the Shark Tale soundtrack and recorded the single, Jones left the group in 2005, Batten and Campbell had left earlier
33.
Grammy Award
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A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
34.
The Boy Is Mine (song)
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The Boy Is Mine is a duet by American singers Brandy and Monica. Described as a song to Michael Jackson and Paul McCartneys 1982 duet The Girl Is Mine. The song received positive reviews from contemporary music critics and was the first number-one pop record for both artists, both stateside and internationally. The video was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year and Best R&B Video. The Boy Is Mine was awarded the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group, at the Billboard Music Awards, the song won in three categories, including Hot 100 Sales Single of Year. In 2008, Billboard listed it 54th on its 50th Anniversary All-Time Hot 100 Top Songs chart, in 2012, after 14 years, the singers reunited on the single It All Belongs to Me. The Boy Is Mine was a song Brandy Norwood wrote with Rodney Darkchild Jerkins, his brother Fred Jerkins III, Japhe Tejeda, and LaShawn Daniels. The singer came up with its concept while watching The Jerry Springer Show tabloid talk show, created as a solo track, Norwood originally recorded the song alone. Upon Norwoods request her label Atlantic Records approached fellow R&B teen singer Monica Arnold for collaboration, with the permission from Clive Davis, the then label head of Arista Records, Arnolds record company, the singer eventually signed on to the project. Originally, the duo recorded their vocals for the song together with Jerkins, however, the joint recording was felt to be a failure so Arnold re-recorded her vocals separately at the DARP Studios in Atlanta, Georgia with longtime contributor Dallas Austin. Thus, Austin would later share the production credit alongside Jerkins. Though both Norwood and Arnold repeatedly denied the song reflected any actual rivalry between them, tabloids began writing the opposite. As with The Boy Is Mine Jerkins later claimed that both singers they didn’t get along during production and that he and Dexter Simmons remixed the track seven times to keep everything even. In a 2012 interview with WZMX, Arnold spoke about her past relationship with Norwood and we could barely stay in the room with each other. By no means was it jealousy or envy and she and I are polar opposites and instead of embracing that, we used our differences as reasons not to be amongst each other. The song has a tempo of 93 beats per minute, written in the key of C♯ minor, the song follows a chord progression of F♯m9–C♯m9, and the vocals span from G♯3 to F♯4. On June 6,1998, The Boy Is Mine became both singers first solo hit and fifth top ten entry for each on the US Billboard Hot 100. In addition, it was the first number-one collaboration between solo women since 1979s two-weeks number-one run of No More Tears, performed by Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer
35.
You Rock My World
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You Rock My World is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his tenth and final studio album released during his lifetime, Invincible. It was released as the single from the album on August 22,2001 by Epic Records. The lyrics pertain to being in love and trying to gain a womans affection and this success was achieved on airplay alone, as the song was not released as a commercial single in the United States. You Rock My World topped the French music chart for three consecutive weeks and it also reached the top ten in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. As part of promotion for the song, a video was released. The video, which is thirteen and a half long, was directed by Paul Hunter and features Chris Tucker. In the video, Jackson and Tucker portray men who are trying to gain a womans affection, the video has been compared to Jacksons previous videos Smooth Criminal and The Way You Make Me Feel and has received mixed reviews. The song was performed twice by Jackson, at Madison Square Garden in New York City at two concerts in September 2001 to celebrate Jacksons career as a solo artist. Footage of the performance was shown in the two-hour CBS television special, Michael Jackson, the track was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 44th Grammy Awards. You Rock My World has sold 6 million copies worldwide and you Rock My World was recorded by Michael Jackson for his studio album, Invincible. The song was written and composed by Michael Jackson and produced by Jackson and you Rock My World was officially released as the lead single from the album in mid-August 2001, by Epic Records. Prior to the official release it had been leaked to two New York radio stations on Friday, August 17. Immediately after the radio airplay the radio stations had received a herd of callers asking for more. You Rock My World was first played on the WJTM-FM station at 6 p. m. with WKTU-FM airing the song 45 minutes later, blue later recalled, They informed me of the dangers of playing a song too early. He refused to say how the song came into his possession and you Rock My World is credited as being an uptempo disco-pop song that has vibrating vocal harmonies. The song is played in the signature of common time in the key E minor. You Rock My World has a tempo of 95 beats per minute. The chord progression in the song is Em7–C9-Bm7–Am7–D–Em7, the songs composition has been compared to Jacksons previous material with Quincy Jones from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the disco-theme from Jacksons 1979 single, Dont Stop til You Get Enough
36.
Holler (Spice Girls song)
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Holler is a song by British pop girl-group the Spice Girls, released as one of the two songs picked as the lead single from their third studio album, Forever. The song was written by the Spice Girls, Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, the single was released as a double A-side single along with Let Love Lead the Way internationally, on 23 October 2000, except within the United States and Canada. Holler is considered a mature song, with R&B influences. Critics gave Holler favorable reviews, though thought it was too different from their previous sounds. However, most praised its funky groove and called it a pleasant surprise, the single was a number-one hit in the United Kingdom, while it also reached top-ten positions in more than 10 countries. Im ready for it, it still have a pop appeal. Later, in October 1999, Jerkins also said, I did three songs with them, and everybody Ive been playing them for cant believe its the Spice Girls, I like to create for the artist on the spot. I knew I had to do the Spice Girls 10 months beforehand and we started working on the songs the day I met them, because I wanted to get a vibe from them. We did the three songs in five days, in December 1999, the girls performed a few new tracks during the Christmas in Spiceworld tour, including Holler. In March 2000, BBC Radio announced that the first single from their third album will be Holler. However, in May, Melanie C told Heat Magazine revealed that the first single off the album will be a ballad entitled Let Love Lead the Way and will be released in August. In July 2000, the said that the first single had not been chosen yet. On 1 September 2000, Brazilian radio station Jovem Pan started to play the track, later, on 10 September 2000, most radio stations around the world received permission to start playing Holler. Holler was written by the members of the group Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, along with Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, production was handled by Jerkins under his stage name Darkchild, while vocal production was done by LaShawn Daniels. Holler represents a shift from the pop to a more mature pop and R&B sound, added with a funky. Lyrically, the talks about making a boyfriend have a sexual pleasure, with the girls asking their boyfriends to fantasise being with them. The song starts with the singing part of the chorus. Then, Mel B tells her not to take his time, inviting him to her bedroom, telling him he will enjoy his stay
37.
It's Not Right but It's Okay
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Its Not Right but Its Okay is a song by American singer Whitney Houston, from her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love. It was written by LaShawn Daniels, Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Isaac Phillips, Toni Estes, the song examines a woman confronting her lover about his infidelity. The music video was directed by Kevin Bray, Houston won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for this song. The original Rodney Jerkins production was released, but mainstream radio airplay, the remixed version was released on Houstons 2000 Whitney, The Greatest Hits collection, and the original album version appears on 2007s The Ultimate Collection. The Johnny Vicious remixes were included on the domestic CD maxi-single of Heartbreak Hotel as well as the on the single and are currently available as iTunes downloads. The KCC remix was included on the US version of the My Love Is Your Love maxi-single and is available as an iTunes download. Rodney Jerkins remixes are the closest to the version, Club 69 also remixed the track for play in the UK. In the US, when it was released as a stand-alone single, there is also a ballad version, entitled Smooth Mix. Its Not Right but Its Okay is a neo-R&B song, according to the sheet music published at Musicnotes. com, it is written in the key of C minor with a tempo of 130 beats per minute. Houstons vocals span from G3 to A♭5 in the song, Billboard highlighted this song on Houstons album. It became the third single and peaked at No.4 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on July 3,1999. The single also peaked at one on Billboards Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, No.7 on the top 100 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. The song reached No.3 in Canada and the United Kingdom — in March 1999, criss character, Blaine, was confronting his own cheating lover in the Whitney Houston tribute special, Dance with Somebody. It was also covered on the Lies single and The Mother We Share EP by CHVRCHES, the song was heavily sampled in Mak & Pastemans It Aint Right. List of number-one singles of 1999 List of number-one dance singles of 1999 Its Not Right but Its Okay at Discogs
38.
Say My Name
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Say My Name is a song by R&B American recording group Destinys Child. The song was the single from the album and marked the introduction of the bands second lineup featuring newly added members Michelle Williams. The single is the most successful of the four releases from the album and is considered to be one of their signature songs, the songs music video won the 2000 MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video. It also captured a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Say My Name marked the groups first collaboration with American producer-songwriter Keith Danley, who was one out of several people hired to work with Destinys Child on their second album. When they wrote the song however, lead singer Beyoncé Knowles was initially displeased with the track they were working on and she commented that there was too much stuff on the track and it sounded like a jungle. During the photo shoot for the album, Beyoncés father-manager Mathew Knowles went to the studio informing her that Jerkins reworked on the track she hated and her dad told her to just have to take a listen to it. When the new mix was played to group, they liked it to the extent they could not focus on anything, lyrically, Say My Name features a female protagonist calling her lover on the phone, and suspecting him of cheating. She asks him to say her name, the young man hesitates, and the narrator believes its because he doesnt want the girl hes cheating on her with to know who she is. Knowles sings lead on the verses and bridge and leads the melody of the chorus with Kelly Rowland adding the second part harmony, LeToya Luckett sings the high harmony on the pre-chorus and second chorus. LaTavia Roberson sings second part harmony with LeToya on the pre-chorus, released as the albums third single on Novemver 7,1999, Say My Name spawned several remixes which were issued alongside the original version. The Maurice remixes contain additional re-recorded vocals by Knowles, Luckett, Roberson, the song also reached the top of both the Hot 100 Airplay and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for three weeks in 2000. The song spent thirty-two weeks on the Hot 100 and was one of the top ten best-selling CD-singles of the year in the US. It is actually the groups third biggest-selling single in their homeland after No, No, No, in the United Kingdom, it became the groups biggest hit up to that point, It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and sold over 190,000 copies. The song also scored Destinys Child their first number one in Asia and this single enabled the group to break through the Asian market, when R&B music was just beginning to get strong airplay. In the Philippines, it was the longest number one single by an R&B girl group, the video for Say My Name was then filmed in late January 2000 with little time for the new members to learn the choreography. Luckett and Robersons vocals still appear on the song, despite their absence from the video, Franklin and Williams vocals are not included on the track. The video, directed by Joseph Kahn, features the four members along with two female and one male dancer singing and dancing in color-coded sets resembling apartment living rooms, Rowland is featured in blue clothes to match her equally blue room. Knowles is depicted in a room, while Franklin is featured in a red room
39.
If You Had My Love
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If You Had My Love is the debut single by American entertainer Jennifer Lopez. The song was released on May 4,1999 as the single from her debut studio album On the 6. It was written by LaShawn Daniels, Cory Rooney, and Rodney Darkchild Jerkins, Lopez recorded the song towards the end of working on the album, Michael Jackson showed interest in recording it, but felt that it was better suited for a female singer. Some controversy surrounded the songs composition when it emerged that Jerkins had composed a song for singer Chanté Moore. If You Had My Love is a pop and R&B song that also features Latin. Its lyrics revolve around the beginning of a new relationship, where Lopez confronts her admirer with a number of ground rules, critics reacted positively to If You Had My Love, praising its silky groove and edgy production. Upon its release, it generated instant attention and became a commercial success and it became one of the best-selling singles of 1999, selling over 1.2 million units in the US alone. It was also a success, topping the charts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand. Its success came as a surprise to critics, making Lopez one of few actors to successfully crossover into the music industry and it also contributed to the growing popularity of Latin artists in Northern America. In retrospect, If You Had My Love has been described as an R&B classic, the songs accompanying music video features a voyeuristic internet concept, wherein Lopezs spectators are able to direct her through cyberspace. The provocative video received rotation on MTV networks internationally, allowing Lopez to push the envelope in a field that was primarily dominated by Janet Jackson. The clip was nominated for four MTV Video Music Awards and five Billboard Music Awards, Lopez promoted the song through performances at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards in 1999. She has subsequently performed it on a number of occasions, including her Lets Get Loud concerts in 2001, and her Dance Again World Tour in 2012, where she performed an acoustic version of the song. It also serves as the number to her Las Vegas residency show, Jennifer Lopez, All I Have. After a series of co-starring film roles, Lopez had her breakthrough when she was cast in the role of Selena. Working on the film inspired her to launch a career, with Lopez saying. So doing the movie just reminded me of how much I missed singing, dancing, after filming Selena, Lopez was really feeling Latin roots and recorded a demo record in Spanish. Her manager sent the song to Sony Music Entertainments Work Group, tommy Mottola, the head of the label, suggested that she sing in English and she began recording her debut album, On the 6
40.
He Wasn't Man Enough
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He Wasnt Man Enough is a song by American R&B recording artist and songwriter Toni Braxton and released by LaFace Records on March 7,2000 as the lead single from her third studio album, The Heat. The song was produced by Rodney Darkchild Jenkins and he Wasnt Man Enough is an uptempo dance-pop and R&B inspired song that differs in genre from Braxtons previous ballads. The song received positive reviews from music critics, many of whom praised it as one of Braxtons best works. As of 2015, this song is her last Top 10 appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, an accompanying music video was released for the single. The song earned Braxton her sixth Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 2001 and he Wasnt Man Enough was released as the lead single from Braxtons studio album The Heat. The song was written by Rodney Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels, the song was recorded in the United States, during the production of Braxtons third studio album, between January and February 2000. During its production, L. A. Reid said Its very strong and he Wasnt Man Enough is a dance inspired song, which features more mainstream pop music with strong R&B influences. All instruments were played by Darkchild and the vocals were sung by Toni Braxton, Nora Payne, Charlotte Gibson. The songs vocal range starts with a D#4 chord to a C#6 chord in a chord of G Major, popmatters praised Braxton for singing a non-ballad pop song, saying the track seems to be an attempt to make some headway within the lucrative urban R&B market. The songs length is a total of four minutes and twenty-one seconds at a moderately slow, the song earned Braxton her sixth Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 2001. According to Billboard. com, this song is her last Top 10 appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 to date and he Wasnt Man Enough received extremely positive reception from contemporary music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic highlighted the track as an album highlight, david Browne from Entertainment Weekly gave it a positive review, certificating it with a B rating. He said From producer Rodney Jerkins cushiony pulse to its premise, but its still no Scrubs, largely thanks to Braxtons husky, mumbly delivery. NME gave it a review, saying that for the track. Popmatters gave it a review, saying The lead single sees Toni tapping into the recent success of female assertiveness with the hit single “He Wasn’t Man Enough. Produced by the ubiquitous Darkchild, the track seems to be an attempt to make headway within the lucrative urban R&B market. He Wasnt Man Enough peaked at two on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of May 6,2000 and stayed there for several weeks. The song also peaked at one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for four weeks
41.
Overprotected
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Overprotected is a song recorded by American singer Britney Spears for her third studio album, Britney. It was written and produced by Max Martin and Rami, the song was released on December 12,2001 by Jive Records, as the second single from Britney. Overprotected is a dance-pop and teen pop song that is about a girl who is tired of being overprotected, the song received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics and was released to United States radio on April 1,2002. While it did not perform well on the Billboard charts in the United States, Overprotected peaked at number 22 in Canada, while reaching the top five in Italy, Romania, Sweden and United Kingdom. Spears has performed Overprotected a number of times including at the Dream Within a Dream Tour, in 2003, the song received a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The song was featured in the animated film Hotel Transylvania. I Did It Again Tour, Spears revealed she felt inspired by hip hop artists such as Jay-Z and The Neptunes, in February 2001, Spears signed a $7–8 million promotional deal with Pepsi, and released another book co-written with her mother, entitled A Mothers Gift. On the same month, Spears started to record material for her studio album, with Overprotected being recorded at Maratone Studios in Stockholm. Additional recording was done in April 2001 at Maratone in Sweden, background vocals were provided by Spears and Bosslady, with the track being mixed by Martin and Rami at Maratone Studios. Her third studio album, Britney, was released in November 2001, in an interview with the Daily Record, Spears concluded she can relate to Overprotected on a personal basis, because I feel kind of overprotected. When I want to go out, everything has to be organized in advance, I think that other kids of my age can relate to it to a certain extent. Oveprotected is a teen pop and dance-pop song that lasts for three minutes and 18 seconds, david Browne of Entertainment Weekly noticed Europop influences on the song, while other critics compared it to previous songs released by Spears. Spears vocal range spans from A♭3 to C5, after being hired by Jive Records to create a remix for Oveprotected, Rodney Jerkins revealed that the label needed a remix thats crazy. Jerkins said the remix has a rhythm, which I think is kinda cool because its an element never had. I was up all night rocking that joint, same lyrics, I just reproduced the track. The Darkchild Remix was initially being sent to stations in the United States in mid-March 2002. 10 later that year, however, it was released on April 1,2002. The remix was played in dance clubs, and Jerkins said he wasnt surprised with the popularity of it
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