History
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[
"Anti-Flag",
"First three albums (1996-1999)",
"What is the name of of the first album of Anti-Flag?",
"Die For the Government,",
"When was this album released?",
"In 1996,",
"What are some of the songs of this album?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"the band released their second full-length release,",
"What is the name of this second album?",
"Their System Doesn't Work For You.",
"In what year was this album relesed?",
"In 1998,",
"Did they release another album after that one?",
"In 1999,",
"And what is the name of this 3rd album?",
"A New Kind of Army",
"Who helped in the production of this album?",
"Go-Kart Records/A-F Records.",
"What other records companies are associated with the group?",
"New Red Archives.",
"Did the band go on any tours?",
"I don't know."
] | C_7cd74008d64741eca01fea7af45f2764_1 | Which of the 3 albums is more famous? | 12 | Which of the 3 albums is more famous, A New Kind of Army, Their System Doesn't Work For You, and Die for the Government? | Anti-Flag | In 1996, the band released their first album, Die For the Government, on New Red Archives. Andy Flag left the band in the summer of 1996 because of personal disputes between himself and Justin. For a brief time after Andy's departure in 1996, Sean Whelan of Pittsburgh band the Bad Genes filled in on bass. It was during this time that Sean was also playing in another band (57 Defective) with guitarist Chris Head, whom he introduced to the band. In early 1997, Pittsburgh guitarist Chris Head began filling in on bass. In late 1997, Jamie Cock took over as the new bassist, moving Chris Head over to second guitar, which he preferred. The current line-up finalized in 1999 when Chris Barker, also known as Chris No. 2, replaced Jamie Cock on bass. In 1998, the band released their second full-length release, Their System Doesn't Work For You. The album contained all nine Anti-Flag songs from the 1996 Anti-Flag/d.b.s. split album North America Sucks, as well as 10 new unreleased songs. The band decided to release the album independently, and Their System Doesn't Work For You became the debut release for the band's own A-F Records. In 1999, Anti-Flag released the album A New Kind of Army on Go-Kart Records/A-F Records. The album addressed topics such as abortion, political corruption, racism, fascism, troubled youth, police brutality, and unity within the American youth. The cover art page unfolded into a poster featuring the phrase "Too smart to fight. Too smart to kill. Join now. A new kind of army." In addition to this, the band had a disclaimer at the bottom of its album cover saying,"Anti-Flag does not mean Anti-American. Anti-Flag means anti-war. Anti-Flag means unity." CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Anti-Flag is an American punk-rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band is well known for its left-wing political activism. Their current members include singer/guitarist Justin Sane and drummer Pat Thetic, who founded the band together; later members that joined include guitarist Chris Head, and singer/bassist Chris Barker, also known as Chris No. 2. Notable past members include bassist Jamie "Cock" Towns and bassist Andy Flag. Anti-Flag is also known for their advocacy of progressive political movements such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International, and the Occupy movement.
History
Early years (1988, 1992–1996)
Anti-Flag was formed in 1988 by singer/guitarist Justin Sane and drummer Pat Thetic. During the band's early years, various guitarists and bassists joined and left the band, including Justin's sister, Lucy Fester, who was formerly of the Chicago band Toothpaste. The band failed to solidify, disbanding after performing in only one show.
In 1992, Justin and Pat re-formed the band with Andy Flag as their bassist. A 17-song demo album called 17 Songs was released the same year.
First three albums (1996–1999)
In 1996, the band released their first album, Die For the Government, on New Red Archives. Andy Flag left the band mid-1996 because of personal disputes against Justin. After Andy's departure in 1996, Sean Whelan from a Pittsburgh band called the Bad Genes briefly filled in as their bassist. During this time, Sean was also playing in another band (57 Defective) with guitarist Chris Head, whom he introduced to Anti-Flag.
In early 1997, Pittsburgh guitarist Chris Head began filling in on bass. In late 1997, Jamie Cock took over as the new bassist, making Chris Head the second guitar, which Chris preferred. The current lineup finalized in 1999 when Chris Barker, also known as Chris No. 2, replaced Jamie Cock on bass.
In 1998, the band released their second full-length album, Their System Doesn't Work for You. The album contained all nine Anti-Flag songs from the 1996 Anti-Flag/d.b.s. split album North America Sucks, as well as 10 new unreleased songs. The band decided to release the album independently, and Their System Doesn't Work for You became the debut release for the band's own A-F Records.
In 1999, Anti-Flag released the album A New Kind of Army on Go-Kart Records/A-F Records. The album addressed topics such as abortion, political corruption, racism, fascism, troubled youth, police brutality, and unity amongst American youths. The cover art page unfolded into a poster featuring the phrase "Too smart to fight. Too smart to kill. Join now. A new kind of army." In addition to this, the band had a disclaimer at the bottom of its album cover, which said, "Anti-Flag does not mean Anti-American. Anti-Flag means anti-war. Anti-Flag means unity."
Fat Wreck Chords (2000–2004)
In 2000, Anti-Flag was invited to participate in Vans Warped Tour. During this time, the members of Anti-Flag met NOFX's Fat Mike, owner of the Fat Wreck Chords record label. This meeting formed a friendship between them that would lead to Anti-Flag releasing two albums on Fat Mike's label.
In 2001, Anti-Flag teamed with punk music producer Mass Giorgini to record the album Underground Network, released on Fat Wreck Chords. The album's release is arguably the moment that made Anti-Flag emerge from the hardcore underground to more of a mainstream spotlight. The album addressed the issues of fascism (specifically neo-Nazis infiltrating the "hardcore scene") and the United States' foreign policy. The album was the first of theirs to contain the now-commonplace booklet filled with essays from historians and political commentators, most notably Professor Howard Zinn.
In February 2002, Anti-Flag released the album Mobilize on A-F Records. The album featured eight new studio tracks as well as eight live tracks of songs from other albums. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Anti-Flag spoke out against the push for war with the album's title track "911 for peace". During this time, many music stores got took Anti-Flag's records off their shelves, as their music was labeled as "anti-American."
In 2003, Anti-Flag released the album The Terror State on Fat Wreck Chords. The album primarily focused on criticizing the Bush Administration's actions on the War on Terrorism. As before, the album held a booklet filled with essays by the band and other political commentators. The album contains a song called "Post-War Breakout" whose lyrics were originally written by Woody Guthrie. The track's music was arranged by the members of Anti-Flag, as Guthrie had never committed the arrangements to paper.
On October 8, 2004, U.S. Representative Jim McDermott gave a speech in the House of Representatives, praising Anti-Flag for their work in encouraging young people to register and vote.
RCA (2005–2009)
In 2005, Anti-Flag signed a two-album record contract with major label RCA. In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian, Justin Sane explained the band's move to a major label:
The first of these two albums, For Blood and Empire, was released on March 21, 2006. The album's main focus is the band's criticism of the mishandling of the War on Terrorism by the US government. The album's lead single, "This Is The End (For You My Friend)" is featured in the video game Madden NFL 07 and on NHL 07, strays from the theme of war and focuses on the troubled youth. They finished their "War Sucks, Let's Party" United States headlining tour in April and worked on some side projects such as the African Well Fund and Start to Finish MS now.
Throughout Anti-Flag's career, many other bands have been added to the roster of the band's own label, A-F Records. These bands include The Code, Pipedown, Much the Same, The Vacancy, The Unseen, Modey Lemon, Thought Riot, Tabula Rasa, and more.
On November 25, Anti-Flag revealed that their latest album was called The Bright Lights of America. Produced by Tony Visconti (of David Bowie, T. Rex (band) and Morrissey fame), it was released on April 1, 2008. The album's title single was released exclusively on iTunes on February 12, 2008. A video of the song was released some weeks later.
In 2008, on tour with Canadian band Billy Talent in Europe, Justin Sane and Chris#2 joined Billy Talent singer Ben Kowalewicz and guitarist Ian D'Sa, singing their new song "Turn Your Back" from their upcoming unreleased album. The two also play on the single version of the song.
In March 2009, Anti-Flag was forced to cancel a series of tours after Sane broke his collarbone at the UEA LCR in Norwich by jumping off the stage whilst trying to stop a fan of another act throwing objects at the band.
SideOneDummy (2009–2014)
On September 30, 2008, Chris#2 started posting on his blog that the band had begun to work on their seventh studio album. On December 2, Anti-Flag began to record their album, starting with "The Economy is Suffering... Let It Die".
On March 31, 2009, Anti-Flag announced that their next CD, The People or the Gun, would be released on SideOneDummy on June 9, 2009. The band recorded the album in a home studio they built themselves. The first track of the album "Sodom, Gomorrah, and Washington DC (Sheep in Shepherd's Clothing)" could be listened to on Anti-Flag's website. On May 1, 2009, the band performed a full set of The Clash covers at Hoodwink in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In September 2009, Anti-Flag was slated to play a show during a G-20 protest that was taking place in their hometown of Pittsburgh, but the promoter canceled the show due to severe parking restrictions and police presence near the venue. Even so, the band continued to personally take part in the protests.
In November 2009, Anti-Flag showed their support to the protesting students in Vienna. They gave a speech at the main building of the Vienna University that the students had taken over and also had one of the student representatives speak at their two shows in Vienna.
In January 2010, Anti-Flag completed a full US tour supported by Aiden and Cancer Bats with various bands filling another supporting slot and local bands opening as many of the shows as possible. The tour was sponsored by Amnesty International, Peta 2, Greenpeace, and Innes Clothing (who supported a clothing drive for local homeless and youth shelters). The band followed the US tour with an Australian tour, playing the Soundwave Festival dates in February 2010, with bands such as AFI, Paramore, Escape the Fate, A Day to Remember, HIM and more, as well as playing two headlining dates supported by Alexisonfire and Comeback Kid.
Throughout mid-2010, the band playing various festivals such as Ruisrock and Woodstock en Beauce, as well as playing the few last dates of the Vans Warped Tour in August. September 2010 saw the band headlining a Canadian tour with support from the Menzingers, which was followed by the European Vans Off the Wall Music Tour in October, with supporting acts The Swellers and Pulled Apart by Horses.
The band made their live comeback in March 2011, while headlining a South American tour with This Is a Standoff, and then supporting My Chemical Romance on two dates in the US in April. In May–June 2011, the band returned to Europe to play the Slam Dunk Festival dates, as well as supporting System of a Down on June 2 in Milan, Italy.
On June 21, 2011, front-man Justin Sane announced that Anti-Flag is working on material for a new album, which they hoped would be to released later in the year, with working title of Magnum. Sane has also announced plans to record a new solo album in the coming future, as he's been working on some folk-oriented solo material as well.
The band released the album, The General Strike on March 20, 2012. The General Strike was recorded and Produced by Anti-Flag at their home studio. The band will be going on The General Strike Record Release Tour with The Flatliners and the Have Nots. They have released a lyric video for the song "1915" which is about Joe Hill.
In June 2014, it was announced that Anti-Flag were to release a new album titled A Document of Dissent: 1993-2013. The album, a compilation of their releases from 1993 to 2013, would be released on Fat Wreck Chords, the band's first release with the label since The Terror State in 2003. The album was released on July 21, 2014.
American Spring and American Fall (2015–2018)
On January 16, 2015, the band announced they would release their ninth studio album titled American Spring, via Spinefarm Records. The album was released on May 26, 2015. Later in 2015 Anti-Flag released a compilation album called Cease Fires which contains two previously unreleased songs from their American Spring recording sessions and twelve songs taken from their 20 Years of Hell EP series. It was released on December 18, 2015. In a 2016 interview, Chris #2 revealed that he doesn't read books. On August 14, 2017, in reaction to the events of the 2017 Unite the Right rally, the band released a song titled "Racists" to the Spinefarm Records YouTube channel. On August 18, 2017, the band announced a new album titled American Fall would be released on Spinefarm Records on November 3, 2017, by premiering a song titled "American Attraction" from the upcoming album on the band's YouTube channel.
In early 2018, the ensemble toured with Stray from the Path, The White Noise and Sharptooth.
From July until September 2018, Anti-Flag played with AFI and Rise Against in the Mourning in Amerika Tour.
20/20 Vision (2019–present)
On October 4, 2019, the band released their song "Christian Nationalist", alongside the announcement of a European tour the following year. On the band's website, the song's meaning was explained by a quote from Justin:The website also provided a list of Republican politicians, along with sources indicating that said politicians had accepted large amounts of donations from the NRA and gun lobbyists for their support of many of the concepts that are explained in the quote, along with a list of mass shooting incidents.
Later that month, the band announced their twelfth studio album, 20/20 Vision, alongside the release of the song "Hate Conquers All" and the song's music video.
Name and criticism
Anti-Flag explained their name on the artwork for their 1999 release, A New Kind of Army, saying "Anti-Flag does not mean Anti-American. Anti-Flag means anti-war. Anti-Flag means the common people of the world are better off living in unity and peace. Anti-Flag means to stand against corporate greed that hurts millions while benefiting a handful of extremely rich. Anti-Flag means to fight against mindless nationalism. Anti-Flag means unity."
Anti-Flag's anti-capitalism stance drew criticism towards them when they signed to major label RCA Records in 2005, with some referring to the move as the band selling out. Anti-Flag defended themselves from the criticism by saying that signing to the record label was for bringing their message to more people.
Studio projects
Chris No. 2 and Chris Head are in a band called White Wives. They have released the Situationists EP on February 15, 2011, and released Happeners on June 28, 2011. The band and name was based on the Provo movement and The White Plans.
Wharf Rats, the new musical partnership between Chris No. 2 of Anti-Flag, Alexisonfire guitarist and Gallows frontman Wade MacNeil, The A.K.A.'s Chachi Darin and Minneapolis rapper P.O.S, was conceived on Warped Tour and recorded in the festival's traveling recording studio. Two songs emerged from those sessions: "Oh No!" and "Capital Gains". Both were pressed on a limited edition 7-inch single and released on May 31 via No Sleep Records.
ANTIFest
ANTIFest is Anti-Flag's own hosted festival. It took place on May 3, 2012, at The Forum at the University of Hertfordshire. The festival was the first self-established festival hosted by the band, who seek to maintain it as an annual event. On top of headlining the festival, the band personally chose all of the bands who appeared, some of which included other punk bands such as The Bouncing Souls, The Menzingers, Red City Radio, The Computers, and The Skints. The event also had volunteers from organizations including Amnesty International, PETA, and Emmaus providing information and a forum for debate and discussion.
ANTIFest 2013 took place at Backstage Werk in Munich on July 14 with support from ZSK, Strike Anywhere, The Computers and Apologies, I Have None.
Activism
Anti-Flag have been involved with activism throughout their musical career. This has included starting the activism groups The Underground Action Alliance, Military Free Zone (a group to protest a clause in the No Child Left Behind Act, which gave military recruiters automatic access to students' personal details) and The Bright Lights.
All members of the band are vegan, and are adamant supporters of animal rights. They have frequently been featured by PETA, and appear on the Fat Wreck Chords compilation album Liberation: Songs to Benefit PETA.
They have been involved in performing at multiple protests, including two in support of Rage Against the Machine.
They performed outside the Republican National Convention in 2008. They were not supposed to be the last band to play, but when officials found out that Rage Against the Machine were going to perform after them, they shut down the stage's power and Rage Against the Machine performed two songs using megaphones.
The band played an acoustic set at the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York City on October 8, 2011.
They also regularly support organizations which include:
Democracy Now!, the latest headlines from which can be found on the band's homepage, ANTI-FLAG.
PETA, who were one of the sponsors of their 2010 'The Economy Sucks Let's Party' tour.
Amnesty International, to which the band donated money from the sale of The People and the Gun, have supported for a long time and who were one of the sponsors of their 2010 'The Economy Sucks Let's Party Tour'.
Greenpeace, with whom the band worked in order to persuade world leaders to attend the climate conference in Copenhagen and who were one of the sponsors of their 'The Economy Sucks Let's Party Tour'.
Useless, with whom they sold screen-printed limited-edition T-shirts to raise money for The Kandorwahun project, while raising awareness and visibility for Useless.
The band also showed their disapproval of fracking in October 2013, supporting the Clean Water Mob.
The band's song "Die for Your Government" was sung by anti-war protesters who briefly blocked a road to prevent U.S. troops from deploying to Iraq in August 2010.
They have appeared in the 2010 music documentary Sounds Like A Revolution, about new protest music in America.
Symbol
The "Gun Star" is the symbol for the band Anti-Flag, designed by Anti-Flag guitarist Chris Head. It was first used on the cover of the album Mobilize. It was later used on merchandise. It is made up of five broken M16 rifles in the form of a star shape. Also, they used the O & X superposed symbols on Die for the Government LP frequently.
Band members
Current members
Justin Sane – lead vocals, lead guitar (1988–1989, 1992–present)
Chris#2 (Chris Barker) – bass guitar, backing and lead vocals (1999–present)
Chris Head – bass guitar (1997), rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1997–present)
Pat Thetic – drums, percussion (1988–1989, 1992–present)
Former members
Lucy Fester – bass guitar (1988–1989)
Andy Flag – bass guitar, backing vocals, occasional lead vocals (1993–1996)
Jamie "Cock" Towns – bass guitar (1997–1999)
Touring musicians
Erik Pitluga - drums (2018–present), guitar (2020–present)
Josh Massie - guitar (2019)
Donny Donovan - guitar (2019)
Steve LaRussa - backing vocals, bass guitar (2013–2017)
Brian Curran (1997)
Sean Whealen (1998)
Timeline
Discography
Studio albums
Die for the Government (1996)
A New Kind of Army (1999)
Underground Network (2001)
Mobilize (2002)
The Terror State (2003)
For Blood and Empire (2006)
The Bright Lights of America (2008)
The People or the Gun (2009)
The General Strike (2012)
American Spring (2015)
American Fall (2017)
20/20 Vision (2020)
Videography
"This is the End (For You My Friend)"
"Broken Bones"
"The Economy is Suffering... Let It Die"
"The Press Corpse"
"This is the New Sound"
"The Bright Lights of America"
"Close My Eyes/The Ghosts of Alexandria (Punks in Vegas Session)"
"When All the Lights Go Out"
"Brandenburg Gate"
"All of the Poison, All of the Pain"
"Turncoat"
"American Attraction"
References
External links
Anti-Flag's/Chris No. 2's Blog
Eastpak Antidote Tour Live review
1989 establishments in Pennsylvania
A-F Records
A-F Records artists
Fat Wreck Chords artists
Hardcore punk groups from Pennsylvania
Melodic hardcore groups
Musical groups established in 1989
Musical groups from Pittsburgh
Anarcho-punk groups
RCA Records artists
SideOneDummy Records artists | false | [
"Sweet Soul Love is the third mini-album from Japanese singer Emi Tawata under the label Techesko. The album managed to reach the No. 284 spot on the Oricon ranking and charted for 1 week.\nThis third mini-album shows another side of Emi Tawatas style of music. This mini-album is more of the smooth R&B and Soul while her other 2 mini-albums were more of the Jazz kind. This mini-album contains 2 covers: one is from the well-known Japanese Jazz-singer Bird and one is from the famous reggae-singer Bob Marley\n\nTrack list\n\nReferences \n\n2009 albums\nEmi Tawata albums",
"La Voz de un Ángel (Voice of An Angel), is Yuridia's debut album. La Voz de un Ángel was released in 2005, after the finale of La Academia, the Mexican reality show that the artist participated in. The album contains 15 songs interpreted by Yuridia during the series of concerts in the show, in which she was voted second place. The album has had the highest sales for a Mexican album in many years.\n\nSingles\n\"Ángel\"\n\"Maldita Primavera\"\n\nCertifications\n\nChart performance\nThe album was released in October 2005, and quickly rose in the charts. The album debuted at 15 in the Mexican Top 100 albums, and in a few weeks was at the top of the chart. La Voz de un Ángel stayed at number 1 for more than 3 months and is still in the Top 20 Mexican albums.\n\nThe first single from the album was a Spanish cover of Robbie Williams' song \"Ángel\", which became her biggest hit, and her most famous song to date. As of May 2009, the album is still inside the Top 100 Mexican albums, totaling more than 125 weeks.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\nYuridia albums\n2005 debut albums"
] |
[
"Jayan",
"Death"
] | C_da71b2eacf9249bc964a5f4c145c2cf3_1 | What caused Jayan's death? | 1 | What caused Jayan's death? | Jayan | On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed. According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project. Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident. CANNOTANSWER | Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). | Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian film actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous for his macho image and unique style. He was reputed for his masculine appeal and well known for performing stunts of a dangerous nature on his own. By the late 1970s, he became the most popular superstar, lead actor and bankable star of Malayalam cinema and has been acclaimed as the first and most successful action hero of Malayalam cinema. Jayan is widely regarded as one of the most influential superstars in the history of Malayalam cinema.
His superhero image had transformed him into a popular culture icon among Malayalis around the world, with widespread impersonations on stage and television programs based on his screen persona. It was accompanied by a cartoon, email and SMS phenomenon in the early 2000s, portraying him as a comic superhero with unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star becoming widespread. These movements were fuelled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialogue delivery and his machismo image. These were claimed to honour his memories, but were also criticised for parodying the legendary actor years after his death.
Early life
Jayan was born in Quilon, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birth name was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Malayalam actress Jayabharathi, who was his first cousin introduced him to the film industry. Jayan's formal education ended at the 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions such as anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. By the end of his navy days, he had begun efforts to start small businesses at Ernakulam and became a regular inhabitant of the Cochin Tourist Home. During his life at Ernakulam, he would meet some of his lifelong friends. It was such a chance meeting while on leave, with Rajan Prakash who is the veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that eventually landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham. A year later, he left the Indian Navy and started trying his hand at various civilian jobs, working for companies in Cochin for a few years till his acting career began to succeed. Jayan's younger brother Soman Nair (Ajayan) also acted in 20+ films after Jayan's death. But he was not successful in films like Jayan. Ajayan has 3 children and his younger son Adithyan Jayan is a famous TV serial actor in Malayalam.
Career
Random appearances and early career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearances in some movies of the early 1970s, the first of which was in Postmane Kanmanilla. These minor appearances were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew, he had the role of a vampire-like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which was never released. His first appearance with the name Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham, which is usually credited as his first film.
Rise to fame
The name "Jayan" (English: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles and his first appearance in front of the camera was Postmane kananilla (1972) then starting with the name as Jayan in Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break appearing as a villain in Panchami (1976), playing a forest ranger. Jayan's performance in this film was appreciated in the industry and his physical appearance was also noticed for the first time. His next notable role was in Thacholi Ambu (1978), in which he appeared in a supporting role. In the same year, he acted as a sage in the Sreekumaran Thampi film Etho Oru Swapnam, which was well received by critics. But what made Jayan a superstar was his antihero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time with superhit movies like Chaakara directed by P.G. Viswambharan & Angadi directed by I.V. Sasi who were the two hitmakers of the time. He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all box-office records set in the Malayalam movie industry till it's time and became the highest-grossing movie of 1979.
Its box-office records were broken by another Jayan film, Angadi (Market) in the following year, which cemented his popularity among the masses. In films such as Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc. he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of films that garnered critical appreciation at the time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared bare-chested in numerous scenes. His on-screen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to the Malayalam film history.
Multistar films
Jayan acted in several ensemble cast movies, mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films such as Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc. all of which were top-grossing movies at the box office. He also acted with other popular actors of the time, such as Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In early films before 1979 (e.g. Thacholi Ambu and Panchami), he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the beginning of 1980 relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action hero and placed him as the central character. In 1980, the duo Jayan and Prem Nazir were cast in Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam by P. Venu, that showcased the famous fight scene in Malayalam cinema. Prem Nazir agreed to play a supporting role in Nayattu, which was very unlikely for a superstar of those times. He had agreed to do this as a token of friendship with Jayan and the director Sreekumaran Thamby. The duo had many actions films together such as Irumbazhikal, Love in Singapore etc. where the box office draw was huge.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan died in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave) at the age of 41 years, 3 months and 21 days. The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a rather dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike driven by Sukumaran. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; Nonetheless, another three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing viewers of his death. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project.
Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
The Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released claiming to be his last film, including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films, Jayan's voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular impressionist of the time. Many projects meant for him were recast, such as Thushaaram by I. V. Sasi, P. G. Vishwambaran's Sphodanam, and Sasi Kumar's Dhruvasangamam. Numerous other projects were cancelled entirely. One stunt scene and two songs were already shot with Jayan for C. V. Rajendran's Garjanam, but after his death, it was recast with Rajinikanth, becoming his second film in Malayalam released in 1981.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in impostors who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms, enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up on the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably, and proved especially ineffective in fight and stunt scenes. Then, directors and producers started a search for new actors to replace him. This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (e.g. Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (for example, his own brother who appeared as Ajayan), and those with similar mannerisms and style (e.g. Bheeman Raghu). One of them, Mammootty, who started with the stage name Sajin, would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.
However, all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a similar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotes in Malayalam cinema "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in the 2000s
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It was owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows along with quotes of superhuman strength known as Jayan quotes. However, it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppy Ashraf, who dubbed for many of his characters post his death.
The "comeback" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may be taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today, Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, risky stunts, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 1960s, once stated in an interview: "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
A film titled Avatharam presently under production, is attempting to bring back his screen persona using advanced technologies. A documentary on Jayan's life and death Jayan – The Man behind the Legend is nearing completion for release in the near future.
Legacy
Jayan is perhaps the only actor thus far in the history of Malayalam film industry who remains a marketable superstar decades after his demise, to this day. In the state of Kerala, he is a true icon of popular culture, whose life and image has made him a legend over time.
Superhero image and commercial success
Through his machismo roles and staggering stunt feats, Jayan had attained a real-life Superhero image amongst the fans, masses and colleagues alike. His colourful attire and unique bass voice also helped him capture the imagination of the average viewer as the manly action hero. Along with these, his trademark styles and mannerisms made him a campus hero and youth idol of his time. Summing up, Jayan's image among the masses was that of a daring superhuman who would perform seemingly impossible deeds and accomplish extraordinary feats.
Jayan is the most commercially successful superstar to date in the Malayalam industry with a near 90% success rate. The years 1979, 1980 and 1981 became known as "Jayan years" in the industry due to the widespread release and success of his movies. His films Sharapancharam and Angadi, released in 1979 and 1980 respectively, were record breakers and became the highest grossers of their respective years. His final film, Kolilakkam was the highest grosser in 1981. The noteworthy point is that a large percentage of films released during his peak years lacked a strong plot and were mostly cheap low budget remakes of successful movies from other language sectors of Indian cinema. Many of these films came out astoundingly successful due to his sheer presence and some avoided failures due to his small cameo appearances. Thousands of fans used to visit theatres repeatedly just to see his fascinating stunts and fight scenes.
Daredevilry
Jayan was a high-risk taker and throughout his career, he was popular for stellar performances in a fight and stunt sequences. Dangerous and thrilling stunts were often featured in action films with Jayan in the lead. These were usually highlighted during fight scenes as added promotions to his machismo image and daredevilry. Numerous movies in which he has acted have one or more notable stunt performances.
A few prominent examples may be Puthiya Velicham ("New Light", 1979) in which he performs train stunts jumping onto and from a fast-running goods train, Aavesham ("Inspiration", 1979) which shows the actor swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls, through a major part of the climax sequence without using any kind of safety measures. Movies like Thadavara ("Prison", 1981) and Sharapancharam (1979) demonstrate his brilliant horse riding skills performing almost effortlessly on horseback, while films like Mamangam involved dangerous fights with wild animals. In a film called Moorkhan ("Cobra", 1981) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motorbike (a Royal Enfield Bullet) and it also featured sequences that had the actor sliding along ropes tied at high elevations. Perhaps the most famous movie stunt featuring Jayan came in Chandrahasam ("Moonsword", 1980) in which he held on to the UV clamp of a massive ship crane and was elevated to a height of around 200 feet before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In one of his final stunt scenes, in Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ("Secret never known", 1981) he was involved in a fight scene with an elephant.
Influence on Malayalam cinema
The meteoric rise of Jayan had literally a texture changing impact on the Malayalam film industry. It changed forever the hero concept that existed previously for many years and gave rise to a new genre of film characters with more manly characteristics.
Memorable roles
Most critics often consider Jayan's main hero role in Sharapancjaram, Angadi, Venalil Oru Mazha and Puthiya Velicham to be his best. His most popular character may be the educated labourer in Angadi. The sage's role played by him in Etho Oru Swapnam was well appreciated by critics and would easily feature among his most memorable roles. The supporting role in Kannappanunni, Thacholi Ambu, the villainous ranger in Panchami and the rapist in Kanthavalayam are also critically acclaimed performances. Some other popular roles were in films like Idimuzhakkam, Venalil Oru Mazha, Ithikkara Pakki, Mamangam, Puthiya Velicham, Karimpana, Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam, Chaakara and Kazhukan. While acknowledging his undisputed popularity as a commercial superstar that has never faded over time, general critical opinion on his skills as an actor is divided. While there are criticisms from some corners that he depended more on his features such as his catching physique, bass voice, personal charisma, unique style and mannerisms to garner attention, many others rate him as a great actor who developed his own unique style to leave a lasting impression on every single role he took up. The fact that his peak time as an actor lasted only a few years is often pointed out in reply to criticisms, and considering the short period of his active film career, he may have delivered more critically appreciated performances than most of his contemporaries. But these were always under the shadow of a large majority of films that were able to achieve commercial success capitalising on his drawing power, but had weak plots and less critical acclaim. Some believe that if he'd had a longer career, he would have eventually transformed into a great character actor over time who could excel in commercial and parallel streams alike, after a period of decline in Malayalam films that followed Sathyan's demise. His most popular films like Sharapancjaram and Angadi were both critical and commercial successes. Though he is remembered as an icon of commercial cinema, due to the short span of his career and the generic nature of commercial hero roles of the time, his actual acting talents may have been largely underutilised.
Song sequences
Film songs are an integral part of Indian cinema and the same is true for Malayalam films. Jayan has acted in several memorable song sequences which bring about nostalgic memories about the actor. Song sequences in Jayan films also helped shape the future film song sector in commercial cinema. The song "Kannum Kannum" in the film Angadi presents one of the most popular song sequences in Malayalam cinema involving Jayan and Seema. Its success led to the teaming together of this pair in numerous movies. Another popular song involving the Jayan-Seema pair is "Kasthuri Manmizhi" from the movie Manushya Mrugam. A song that hit tremendous popularity was "Cham Chacha Chum Chacha" in Love in Singapore and Kombil Kilukkum ketti in "Karimpana". The mass popularity of this song sequence later inspired a whole new category of film songs with lyrics that lack any particular meaning, but with a fast beat and dance appeal that came to be known as "Adipoli" songs. There is a song in the film Etho Oru Swapnam called "Oru Mugham Mathram Kannil", which became popular due to its melodious and nostalgic nature.
"Ezham Malika Mele" from Sarppam, directed by Baby was a superhit song paired by Jayan and Seema. Another hit from this team was "Pournami Penne" in Arifa hassan's Benz Vasu and it was hummed by the youth of that time.
Memorials
Kollam District panchayath and Government of Kerala built a new conference hall near to Kollam District panchayath office in Kollam municipal corporation as a memorial to the legend actor. The hall is named as "Jayan Memorial Hall". It was inaugurated on 12 September 2020.
There is a Jayan memorial Arts & Sports club functioning at Thevally near the actor's hometown. The residential area at his birthplace has been renamed "Olayil Jayan Nagar" in his honour.
Jayan Cultural Forum
Jayan Samskarika Vethi or Jayan Cultural Forum has been established recently, which consists of his fans and well wishers. It is headed by the actor's nephew Kannan Nair, and aims at uniting his diverse fan base consisting of young and old people from several generations under a single platform. Activities include organising anniversary functions and memorial programs, facilitating his coworkers, maintaining the actor's website and official profiles and charity work.
Monuments
In 2009, an 8 ft high statue of the actor was erected in front of his house at Olayil, Kollam which is now a nursing home. Efforts are being made to construct a permanent memorial at Mulankadakam where he was cremated, and also to open a library and museum near his home.
In media
Media on Jayan
A book titled Jayan Americayil? (Jayan in America?) came out in 1981 and had record sales at the time. It circulated the rumour that Jayan was alive in America with an injured eye and that it was a look-alike who was killed in the accident.
Another book Jayante Maranam Kolapathakamo (Jayan's death, a murder) was also published in 1981, capitalising on the conspiracy theories and mystery surrounding the superstar's death.
The actor's life was serialised in a Malayalam film magazine and then brought out as Jayante Katha.
An elaborate biography named Jayan : Abhralokathintey Ithihasa Naayakan is being completed and will reportedly be published in 2011.
A documentary Jayan-The Man behind the Legend is under production and is set to be released in 2011.
In popular culture
Print media
The actor's domination and commercial success in the 1970s is mentioned in the book Because I have a Voice. It focuses on Jayan's masculine image.
Jayan's famous emotional English dialogue in street slang is included at number 7 in Outlook magazine's Terrific 13 lists published in the 13th anniversary edition of the magazine, in the section '13 Cheesiest Chalkiest dialogues in Indian Cinema'.
Films
In the movie Aye Auto, there is a reference to Jayan's English dialogue in Angadi.
The movies Dupe Dupe Dupe and Aparanmaar Nagarathil had Jayan impersonators in the lead.
In the film Pattanathil Bhootham, the popular Jayan song sequence Cham Chacha Chumchacha is played out with impersonation. The horse oiling scene from Sarapancharam is also reconstructed.
In Chotta Mumbai, a Jayan-Nazir mixed song sequence is played out with Jayan attire used in the song sequence of the popular Nazir song Chettikulangara.
In the film Shikkar, Jayan's image is used in the sets of a fight scene in a bid to stress the adventurous setting of the film.
In Thanthonni, Jayan's voice and dialogue tone is imitated.
The film Valiyangadi was promoted as a sequel to Jayan's Angadi.
In the film Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jayan's stunt sequence and the celebrated row with "Alavalathi Shaji" from the film Lisa is shown in a theatre scene.
The famous song "Kannum Kannum" from Jayan's film Angadi is included with Mammooty impersonating Jayan's style in the film Venicile Vyapari.
The recent hit Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan has the actor Siddique acting as an ardent fan of Jayan and impersonates his style for seeing his movies.
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies. The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), was announced to be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid. The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.
Filmography
See also
Jayan quotes
References
External links
Profile of Malayalam Actor Jayan
Further reading
http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/profiles.php?i=48
Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
Image gallery
Jayan Anniversary Special at Mathrubhumi portal
"Jayan: Love You All" – an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
1980 deaths
Male actors from Kollam
Indian stunt performers
Filmed deaths of entertainers
1939 births
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
20th-century Indian male actors
Indian Navy personnel | false | [
"Jayan quotes (ജയൻ ചൊല്ലുകൾ) or Jayan dialogues (ജയൻ ഡയലോഗുകൾ) are satirical quotes of superhuman strength in Malayalam that are based on the late action star Jayan who was a famed stunt performer during his movie career. Jayan worked in malayalam cinema, a sector of the Indian movie industry based in Kerala and was a highly popular stunt actor of his time. Jayan quotes began as an internet & sms phenomenon amongst malayalees around the world in the early 2000s as part of the Jayan phenomenon & resurgence which started in the late 1990s. These satirical quotes are the first known collection of its kind from anywhere in the world (other factoids like those on Chuck Norris, Kyle Katarn, Rajnikanth, Dharmendra etc. emerged later after 2004). Soon the quotes attained mainstream popularity and have become an integral part of popular culture in Kerala.\n\nOrigin\n\nJayan's superhuman image\nThe idea behind the origin of the quotes can be traced back to the action thrillers of the late 1970s in Malayalam which were filled with high risk stunt performances from Jayan who seldom relied on stunt doubles. Through such monumental stunt feats, his machismo image, masculine base voice and unique attire like elvis bellbottoms, Jayan had attained a reallife superhero image at the peak of his career. After his death in a helicopter accident while performing a stunt, these gradually paved way to the actor transforming into a legend over time while the fascination towards his image & style remained dormant in later generations, eventually giving rise to his persona's depiction as a comic superhero and in the process, the Jayan quotes.\n\n1990s Mimics Movement\nJayan quotes is related to the popularity of mimicry, an artform of imitation, comedy skits and impersonation, which gained mainstream fame among malayalee communities in the 1990s. Mimics sector was going through a period of stagnation with washed up ideas and worn out programs and at one point of time, was even facing a threat of dying out. It was during this crisis period that some groups decided to exploit Jayan's image and devised impersonations & skits based on Jayan persona which became instant hits giving rise to full scale commercialisation of the persona which was presented as a comic superhero who frequently delivered signature quotes demonstrating superhuman strength.\n\nFormat\nJayan quotes follow a unique pattern in that these are dialogues which are almost always in first person (unlike other trending factoids & jokes which are in third person). These dialogues are depicted as being said by Jayan or the person in the Jayan persona (although the actor has never uttered a single such quote in his lifetime). All known Jayan quotes are originally in Malayalam language which are translated to English in this article. Most of the quotes follow a general format; If there was \"this\", could've turned into \"that\" or If \"this\" was available, (I) could've done \"that\". For example, a popular Jayan quote is \"If there was a football field with four wells, could've played a game of carrom\". There are also quotes which do not follow this general rule such as another quote which says: \"What? the money purse in my pocket was actually a cement bag?\"\n\nVoice & Style\nThe voice style used to say Jayan quotes actually come from the style of dialogue delivery in Jayan films released after the actor's death in which the voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular mimicry artist of the time. Although the tone does resemble Jayan's original sound, the voice imitated widely in mimics programs and grotesquely used style is that of Alleppey Ashraf. Actor Jayan is not known to have ever uttered a single Jayan quote during his life.\n\nPopular quotes\nEnglish translations of some of the highly popular quotes are given below:\n Had I got a python, could have used it as a belt\n If a storm blew, could've enjoyed the breeze.\n If a volcano blew, could've enjoyed the warmth.\n If the sun could be reached, could've enjoyed a sun bath.\n If a knife was available, could've pricked the skin.\n If there was an elephant here, could've done some wrestling (same quote replacing elephant by \"crocodile\")\n\nSee also\n Chuck Norris facts\n\nBibliography \n Mathrubhumi Weekly, November 21, 2010\n Chithrabhumi, November 25, 2010\n\nReferences \n\nInternet memes",
"Minnaminuginum Minnukettu is a 1995 Indian Malayalam film, directed by Thulasidas and produced by Mukesh R. Mehta. The film stars Jayaram, Jagadish, Shobhana, Thilakan and Kaviyoor Ponnamma in the lead roles. The film has musical score by S. P. Venkatesh.\n\nStory\nJayan (Jayaram) is a happy-go-lucky type guy who leads comfortable life due to his wealthy father (Thilakan) and lives along with his father, mother (Kaviyoor Ponnamma) and sister (Chippy). He is always accompanied by his friend Unni (Jagadeesh) who doesn't have parents or relatives. But even though Jayan was a rebel type of guy, he always has kindness for the poor. Once such incident made him have a clash with Unnithan (Janardhanan), a wealthy contractor. But later Jayan finds that Unnithan and his father were great friends and that incident turns the way for a marriage proposal with Unnithan's daughter Radhika (Shobhana). Even though Jayan initially was disinterested in the proposal, he finally agreed to see Unnithan's daughter. When Jayan saw Radhika, he was set in a motionless state and his hands were shaking when Radhika offered the tea cup to him. There was a flashback story between Jayan and Radhika during their college lives. Suresh Menon (Mahesh), who was then the roommate of Jayan was in love with Radhika. Jayan finally took his proposal only to see him getting insulted and finally slapped by Radhika in front of her friends. This made Jayan set a trap for her. The next day he and his friend went to her college and they said sorry in front of the whole college for what they have done. This cools Radhika and they became friends. During one of their meetings, Jayan asks for help from Radhika. Suresh and Lathika (Thesni Khan) who was a friend to Radhika was about to get married. But their families didn't agree for that proposal. So Radhika could help them get married by signing as one of the witnesses during their marriage. Radhika agreed and she came to the office only to sign the bride's column of her marriage with Suresh, which was the trap made by Jayan. With his money, he overcame all the legal issues that came during that way as it was illegal way of marriage. This also did not calm Jayan. The next day he and his friend played the climax of their scripted cruel drama only to make Radhika realize that it was cunning plan set by Jayan. She was deeply insulted.\n\nJayan feared that this marriage proposal was a plan by Radhika to avenge for what he has done. Radhika assures Jayan that she has forgotten their past issues and genuinely wants to continue with this marriage as her father wishes it. Radhika wins Jayan's trust and the duo gets married. After marriage, Radhika confesses that she was tricking him into a marriage as she wants to avenge for his deeds. Radhika tortures him in all possible ways, but the couple hides it in front of their families. Jayan, though he wanted to get rid of Radhika, eventually realises that he had actually fallen for Radhika amidst their cat fights. When Jayan's childhood friend Pinky (Heera Rajagopal) comes, Jayan's closeness with Pinky makes Radhika jealous. Forced by her aunt, Radhika lies that she is pregnant. This angers Jayan and he reveals the truth to their families. Eventually, Radhika leaves his house feeling guilty for hurting their families in the process of her revenge. Jayan declares that he is going to live with Pinky, which shocks everyone, and his family strongly protests. Jayan and Pinky decide to move on in their life and plan to shift to Mumbai. Unni informs this to Radhika. Before Jayan and Pinky leave to Mumbai, Radhika comes and apologises to everyone. Being a motherless child, she never had anyone to teach right and wrong in life, Radhika also confess that she has fallen for Jayan and because of which she will not stop him as she wanted him to be genuinely happy. Pinky reveals to everyone that all this was a drama played by Jayan, Unni and herself as they wanted Radhika to realise her love for Jayan. Even the tickets to Mumbai were in the names of Radhika and Jayan.\n\nCast\n\nJayaram as Jayan Menon \nJagadish as Unni \nShobhana as Radhika Unnithan\nThilakan as M.K.Menon\nKaviyoor Ponnamma as Jayan's Mother \nChippy\nPrem Kumar\nHeera Rajgopal as Pinky S. Menon\nJanardanan as Unnithan \nOduvil Unnikrishnan\nK. P. A. C. Lalitha\nSonia as Sathi\nMahesh\n\nSoundtrack\nThe music was composed by S. P. Venkatesh and the lyrics were written by Gireesh Puthenchery.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n1995 films\nIndian films\n1990s Malayalam-language films\nFilms directed by Thulasidas"
] |
[
"Jayan",
"Death",
"What caused Jayan's death?",
"Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave)."
] | C_da71b2eacf9249bc964a5f4c145c2cf3_1 | Where was the movie set? | 2 | Where was the movie Kolilakkam set? | Jayan | On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed. According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project. Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident. CANNOTANSWER | the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. | Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian film actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous for his macho image and unique style. He was reputed for his masculine appeal and well known for performing stunts of a dangerous nature on his own. By the late 1970s, he became the most popular superstar, lead actor and bankable star of Malayalam cinema and has been acclaimed as the first and most successful action hero of Malayalam cinema. Jayan is widely regarded as one of the most influential superstars in the history of Malayalam cinema.
His superhero image had transformed him into a popular culture icon among Malayalis around the world, with widespread impersonations on stage and television programs based on his screen persona. It was accompanied by a cartoon, email and SMS phenomenon in the early 2000s, portraying him as a comic superhero with unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star becoming widespread. These movements were fuelled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialogue delivery and his machismo image. These were claimed to honour his memories, but were also criticised for parodying the legendary actor years after his death.
Early life
Jayan was born in Quilon, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birth name was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Malayalam actress Jayabharathi, who was his first cousin introduced him to the film industry. Jayan's formal education ended at the 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions such as anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. By the end of his navy days, he had begun efforts to start small businesses at Ernakulam and became a regular inhabitant of the Cochin Tourist Home. During his life at Ernakulam, he would meet some of his lifelong friends. It was such a chance meeting while on leave, with Rajan Prakash who is the veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that eventually landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham. A year later, he left the Indian Navy and started trying his hand at various civilian jobs, working for companies in Cochin for a few years till his acting career began to succeed. Jayan's younger brother Soman Nair (Ajayan) also acted in 20+ films after Jayan's death. But he was not successful in films like Jayan. Ajayan has 3 children and his younger son Adithyan Jayan is a famous TV serial actor in Malayalam.
Career
Random appearances and early career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearances in some movies of the early 1970s, the first of which was in Postmane Kanmanilla. These minor appearances were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew, he had the role of a vampire-like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which was never released. His first appearance with the name Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham, which is usually credited as his first film.
Rise to fame
The name "Jayan" (English: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles and his first appearance in front of the camera was Postmane kananilla (1972) then starting with the name as Jayan in Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break appearing as a villain in Panchami (1976), playing a forest ranger. Jayan's performance in this film was appreciated in the industry and his physical appearance was also noticed for the first time. His next notable role was in Thacholi Ambu (1978), in which he appeared in a supporting role. In the same year, he acted as a sage in the Sreekumaran Thampi film Etho Oru Swapnam, which was well received by critics. But what made Jayan a superstar was his antihero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time with superhit movies like Chaakara directed by P.G. Viswambharan & Angadi directed by I.V. Sasi who were the two hitmakers of the time. He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all box-office records set in the Malayalam movie industry till it's time and became the highest-grossing movie of 1979.
Its box-office records were broken by another Jayan film, Angadi (Market) in the following year, which cemented his popularity among the masses. In films such as Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc. he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of films that garnered critical appreciation at the time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared bare-chested in numerous scenes. His on-screen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to the Malayalam film history.
Multistar films
Jayan acted in several ensemble cast movies, mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films such as Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc. all of which were top-grossing movies at the box office. He also acted with other popular actors of the time, such as Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In early films before 1979 (e.g. Thacholi Ambu and Panchami), he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the beginning of 1980 relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action hero and placed him as the central character. In 1980, the duo Jayan and Prem Nazir were cast in Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam by P. Venu, that showcased the famous fight scene in Malayalam cinema. Prem Nazir agreed to play a supporting role in Nayattu, which was very unlikely for a superstar of those times. He had agreed to do this as a token of friendship with Jayan and the director Sreekumaran Thamby. The duo had many actions films together such as Irumbazhikal, Love in Singapore etc. where the box office draw was huge.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan died in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave) at the age of 41 years, 3 months and 21 days. The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a rather dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike driven by Sukumaran. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; Nonetheless, another three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing viewers of his death. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project.
Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
The Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released claiming to be his last film, including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films, Jayan's voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular impressionist of the time. Many projects meant for him were recast, such as Thushaaram by I. V. Sasi, P. G. Vishwambaran's Sphodanam, and Sasi Kumar's Dhruvasangamam. Numerous other projects were cancelled entirely. One stunt scene and two songs were already shot with Jayan for C. V. Rajendran's Garjanam, but after his death, it was recast with Rajinikanth, becoming his second film in Malayalam released in 1981.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in impostors who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms, enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up on the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably, and proved especially ineffective in fight and stunt scenes. Then, directors and producers started a search for new actors to replace him. This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (e.g. Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (for example, his own brother who appeared as Ajayan), and those with similar mannerisms and style (e.g. Bheeman Raghu). One of them, Mammootty, who started with the stage name Sajin, would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.
However, all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a similar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotes in Malayalam cinema "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in the 2000s
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It was owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows along with quotes of superhuman strength known as Jayan quotes. However, it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppy Ashraf, who dubbed for many of his characters post his death.
The "comeback" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may be taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today, Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, risky stunts, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 1960s, once stated in an interview: "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
A film titled Avatharam presently under production, is attempting to bring back his screen persona using advanced technologies. A documentary on Jayan's life and death Jayan – The Man behind the Legend is nearing completion for release in the near future.
Legacy
Jayan is perhaps the only actor thus far in the history of Malayalam film industry who remains a marketable superstar decades after his demise, to this day. In the state of Kerala, he is a true icon of popular culture, whose life and image has made him a legend over time.
Superhero image and commercial success
Through his machismo roles and staggering stunt feats, Jayan had attained a real-life Superhero image amongst the fans, masses and colleagues alike. His colourful attire and unique bass voice also helped him capture the imagination of the average viewer as the manly action hero. Along with these, his trademark styles and mannerisms made him a campus hero and youth idol of his time. Summing up, Jayan's image among the masses was that of a daring superhuman who would perform seemingly impossible deeds and accomplish extraordinary feats.
Jayan is the most commercially successful superstar to date in the Malayalam industry with a near 90% success rate. The years 1979, 1980 and 1981 became known as "Jayan years" in the industry due to the widespread release and success of his movies. His films Sharapancharam and Angadi, released in 1979 and 1980 respectively, were record breakers and became the highest grossers of their respective years. His final film, Kolilakkam was the highest grosser in 1981. The noteworthy point is that a large percentage of films released during his peak years lacked a strong plot and were mostly cheap low budget remakes of successful movies from other language sectors of Indian cinema. Many of these films came out astoundingly successful due to his sheer presence and some avoided failures due to his small cameo appearances. Thousands of fans used to visit theatres repeatedly just to see his fascinating stunts and fight scenes.
Daredevilry
Jayan was a high-risk taker and throughout his career, he was popular for stellar performances in a fight and stunt sequences. Dangerous and thrilling stunts were often featured in action films with Jayan in the lead. These were usually highlighted during fight scenes as added promotions to his machismo image and daredevilry. Numerous movies in which he has acted have one or more notable stunt performances.
A few prominent examples may be Puthiya Velicham ("New Light", 1979) in which he performs train stunts jumping onto and from a fast-running goods train, Aavesham ("Inspiration", 1979) which shows the actor swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls, through a major part of the climax sequence without using any kind of safety measures. Movies like Thadavara ("Prison", 1981) and Sharapancharam (1979) demonstrate his brilliant horse riding skills performing almost effortlessly on horseback, while films like Mamangam involved dangerous fights with wild animals. In a film called Moorkhan ("Cobra", 1981) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motorbike (a Royal Enfield Bullet) and it also featured sequences that had the actor sliding along ropes tied at high elevations. Perhaps the most famous movie stunt featuring Jayan came in Chandrahasam ("Moonsword", 1980) in which he held on to the UV clamp of a massive ship crane and was elevated to a height of around 200 feet before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In one of his final stunt scenes, in Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ("Secret never known", 1981) he was involved in a fight scene with an elephant.
Influence on Malayalam cinema
The meteoric rise of Jayan had literally a texture changing impact on the Malayalam film industry. It changed forever the hero concept that existed previously for many years and gave rise to a new genre of film characters with more manly characteristics.
Memorable roles
Most critics often consider Jayan's main hero role in Sharapancjaram, Angadi, Venalil Oru Mazha and Puthiya Velicham to be his best. His most popular character may be the educated labourer in Angadi. The sage's role played by him in Etho Oru Swapnam was well appreciated by critics and would easily feature among his most memorable roles. The supporting role in Kannappanunni, Thacholi Ambu, the villainous ranger in Panchami and the rapist in Kanthavalayam are also critically acclaimed performances. Some other popular roles were in films like Idimuzhakkam, Venalil Oru Mazha, Ithikkara Pakki, Mamangam, Puthiya Velicham, Karimpana, Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam, Chaakara and Kazhukan. While acknowledging his undisputed popularity as a commercial superstar that has never faded over time, general critical opinion on his skills as an actor is divided. While there are criticisms from some corners that he depended more on his features such as his catching physique, bass voice, personal charisma, unique style and mannerisms to garner attention, many others rate him as a great actor who developed his own unique style to leave a lasting impression on every single role he took up. The fact that his peak time as an actor lasted only a few years is often pointed out in reply to criticisms, and considering the short period of his active film career, he may have delivered more critically appreciated performances than most of his contemporaries. But these were always under the shadow of a large majority of films that were able to achieve commercial success capitalising on his drawing power, but had weak plots and less critical acclaim. Some believe that if he'd had a longer career, he would have eventually transformed into a great character actor over time who could excel in commercial and parallel streams alike, after a period of decline in Malayalam films that followed Sathyan's demise. His most popular films like Sharapancjaram and Angadi were both critical and commercial successes. Though he is remembered as an icon of commercial cinema, due to the short span of his career and the generic nature of commercial hero roles of the time, his actual acting talents may have been largely underutilised.
Song sequences
Film songs are an integral part of Indian cinema and the same is true for Malayalam films. Jayan has acted in several memorable song sequences which bring about nostalgic memories about the actor. Song sequences in Jayan films also helped shape the future film song sector in commercial cinema. The song "Kannum Kannum" in the film Angadi presents one of the most popular song sequences in Malayalam cinema involving Jayan and Seema. Its success led to the teaming together of this pair in numerous movies. Another popular song involving the Jayan-Seema pair is "Kasthuri Manmizhi" from the movie Manushya Mrugam. A song that hit tremendous popularity was "Cham Chacha Chum Chacha" in Love in Singapore and Kombil Kilukkum ketti in "Karimpana". The mass popularity of this song sequence later inspired a whole new category of film songs with lyrics that lack any particular meaning, but with a fast beat and dance appeal that came to be known as "Adipoli" songs. There is a song in the film Etho Oru Swapnam called "Oru Mugham Mathram Kannil", which became popular due to its melodious and nostalgic nature.
"Ezham Malika Mele" from Sarppam, directed by Baby was a superhit song paired by Jayan and Seema. Another hit from this team was "Pournami Penne" in Arifa hassan's Benz Vasu and it was hummed by the youth of that time.
Memorials
Kollam District panchayath and Government of Kerala built a new conference hall near to Kollam District panchayath office in Kollam municipal corporation as a memorial to the legend actor. The hall is named as "Jayan Memorial Hall". It was inaugurated on 12 September 2020.
There is a Jayan memorial Arts & Sports club functioning at Thevally near the actor's hometown. The residential area at his birthplace has been renamed "Olayil Jayan Nagar" in his honour.
Jayan Cultural Forum
Jayan Samskarika Vethi or Jayan Cultural Forum has been established recently, which consists of his fans and well wishers. It is headed by the actor's nephew Kannan Nair, and aims at uniting his diverse fan base consisting of young and old people from several generations under a single platform. Activities include organising anniversary functions and memorial programs, facilitating his coworkers, maintaining the actor's website and official profiles and charity work.
Monuments
In 2009, an 8 ft high statue of the actor was erected in front of his house at Olayil, Kollam which is now a nursing home. Efforts are being made to construct a permanent memorial at Mulankadakam where he was cremated, and also to open a library and museum near his home.
In media
Media on Jayan
A book titled Jayan Americayil? (Jayan in America?) came out in 1981 and had record sales at the time. It circulated the rumour that Jayan was alive in America with an injured eye and that it was a look-alike who was killed in the accident.
Another book Jayante Maranam Kolapathakamo (Jayan's death, a murder) was also published in 1981, capitalising on the conspiracy theories and mystery surrounding the superstar's death.
The actor's life was serialised in a Malayalam film magazine and then brought out as Jayante Katha.
An elaborate biography named Jayan : Abhralokathintey Ithihasa Naayakan is being completed and will reportedly be published in 2011.
A documentary Jayan-The Man behind the Legend is under production and is set to be released in 2011.
In popular culture
Print media
The actor's domination and commercial success in the 1970s is mentioned in the book Because I have a Voice. It focuses on Jayan's masculine image.
Jayan's famous emotional English dialogue in street slang is included at number 7 in Outlook magazine's Terrific 13 lists published in the 13th anniversary edition of the magazine, in the section '13 Cheesiest Chalkiest dialogues in Indian Cinema'.
Films
In the movie Aye Auto, there is a reference to Jayan's English dialogue in Angadi.
The movies Dupe Dupe Dupe and Aparanmaar Nagarathil had Jayan impersonators in the lead.
In the film Pattanathil Bhootham, the popular Jayan song sequence Cham Chacha Chumchacha is played out with impersonation. The horse oiling scene from Sarapancharam is also reconstructed.
In Chotta Mumbai, a Jayan-Nazir mixed song sequence is played out with Jayan attire used in the song sequence of the popular Nazir song Chettikulangara.
In the film Shikkar, Jayan's image is used in the sets of a fight scene in a bid to stress the adventurous setting of the film.
In Thanthonni, Jayan's voice and dialogue tone is imitated.
The film Valiyangadi was promoted as a sequel to Jayan's Angadi.
In the film Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jayan's stunt sequence and the celebrated row with "Alavalathi Shaji" from the film Lisa is shown in a theatre scene.
The famous song "Kannum Kannum" from Jayan's film Angadi is included with Mammooty impersonating Jayan's style in the film Venicile Vyapari.
The recent hit Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan has the actor Siddique acting as an ardent fan of Jayan and impersonates his style for seeing his movies.
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies. The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), was announced to be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid. The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.
Filmography
See also
Jayan quotes
References
External links
Profile of Malayalam Actor Jayan
Further reading
http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/profiles.php?i=48
Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
Image gallery
Jayan Anniversary Special at Mathrubhumi portal
"Jayan: Love You All" – an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
1980 deaths
Male actors from Kollam
Indian stunt performers
Filmed deaths of entertainers
1939 births
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
20th-century Indian male actors
Indian Navy personnel | true | [
"The Lego Batman Movie was a product line based on The Lego Batman Movie, the second film of The Lego Movie franchise. It is licensed from The Lego Group, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Animation. The theme was first introduced in 2017 as part of a licensing and merchandising programme associated with the film. Alongside the release of the Lego sets, the programme included the release of several promotional short films and The Lego Batman Movie Game app. The product line was discontinued by the end of 2018.\n\nOverview\n\nOn 10 February 2017, The Lego Batman Movie was released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The storyline follows the DC Comics character Batman, voiced by Will Arnett, who attempts to overcome his greatest fear to stop the Joker's latest plan. To promote the film, The Lego Group released a collection of Lego construction sets and a set of collectible Lego minifigures, which were based on the characters and locations in the film. A range of other merchandise and media was produced as part of the marketing programme, including a number of books published by DK Publishing, Scholastic, Ameet and Blue Ocean. With more than 21 books, the robust movie tie-in program encompasses storybooks, readers, activity books, sticker books, magazines, junior novel, guide books and The Making of The Lego Batman Movie behind-the-scenes film guide, the first-ever making-of book for the franchise.\n\nIn 2016, The Lego Group built a life-sized model of The Batman who appear in The Lego Batman Movie film. The Batman contained a total of 53,998 Lego bricks, and weighed 286 pounds. They were placed in front of San Diego Comic Con. In 2017, The Lego Group built a life-sized model of The Batmobile based on The Lego Batman Movie film. The Batmobile contained a total of 300,000 Lego bricks, and weighed 1,700 pounds. They were placed in front of Detroit Auto Show.\n\nCharacters\n\n Batman: A billionaire, vigilante superhero from Gotham City.\n The Joker: Batman's archenemy who is also known as the \"Clown Prince of Crime\".\n Robin: An orphan who is adopted by Bruce Wayne, and becomes a sidekick to Batman.\n Barbara Gordon: A police officer who becomes the new police commissioner.\n Alfred Pennyworth: The family butler of the Wayne family, and friend to Bruce Wayne. \n Harley Quinn: The Joker's girlfriend and accomplice, and fellow-criminal in Gotham City. \n Commissioner James Gordon: The commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, and ally to Batman. \n Chief O'Hara: the Gotham City Police Department's chief of police. \n Mayor McCaskill: The mayor of Gotham City.\n Two-Face: A disfigured lawyer once allied with Batman, who became a villain following his criminal downfall. \n Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy: A villain in Gotham city, who has powers to control flora lifeforms. \n Wicked Witch of the West: an evil witch from the Land of Oz who is imprisoned in the Phantom Zone. \n Edward Nygma / Riddler: A riddle-obsessed criminal from Gotham City. \n Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow: A criminally insane former doctor, who uses fear gas to manipulate the people of Gotham City.\n Selina Kyle / Catwoman: An expert burglar, vigilante anti-hero and criminal from Gotham City.\n Clayface: A villainous criminal from Gotham City, with the metahuman ability of shapeshifting. \n Bane: A criminal genius who uses a drug called \"Venom\" to gain superhuman strength. Benson satirizes Tom Hardy's performance in The Dark Knight Rises. \n Victor Fries/ Mr. Freeze: A doctor and scientist from Gotham City, who turns to villainy following the death of his wife. Fries wears a cryogenic suit that grants him superhuman abilities and uses a freeze gun. \n Killer Croc: An animalistic, metahuman villain from Gotham City. \n Penguin: A rich and powerful crime lord from Gotham City, who uses trick-umbrellas and robotic penguins. \n Superman: A superhero with various superpowers, from the planet Krypton, and member of the Justice League who defends Earth and lives in Metropolis.\n\nToy line\n\nConstruction Sets\nAccording to Bricklink, The Lego Group released a total of 42 Lego sets and promotional polybags as part of The Lego Batman Movie theme. It was discontinued by the end of 2019.\n\nIn July 2016, The Lego Group had a partnership with Warner Bros. Animation and DC Comics. The Lego Group had announced that the first wave sets that based on The Lego Batman Movie film would be released on 10 February 2017. The 13 sets being released were The Joker Balloon Escape (set number: 70900), Mr. Freeze Ice Attack (set number: 70901), Catwoman Catcycle Chase (set number: 70902), The Riddler Riddle Racer (set number: 70903), Clayface Splat Attack (set number: 70904), The Batmobile (set number: 70905), The Joker Notorious Lowrider (set number: 70906), Killer Croc Tail-Gator (set number: 70907), The Scuttler (set number: 70908), Batcave Break-In (set number: 70909), Scarecrow Special Delivery (set number: 70910), The Penguin Arctic Roller (set number: 70911) and Arkham Asylum (set number: 70912). In addition, the 7 polybag sets have been released as a promotions are The Mini Batmobile (set number: 30521), Batman in the Phantom Zone (set number: 30522), The Joker Battle Training (set number: 30523), The Mini Batwing (set number: 30524), Disco Batman - Tears of Batman (set number: 30607) and Batgirl (set number: 30612). Also included 6 key chains with a key chain attached to the minifigures of Batman, The Joker, Robin, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Kiss Kiss Tuxedo Batman. Each of the sets features four core characters, named Batman, Alfred, Robin and Batgirl.\n\nLater, the second wave sets would be released on 2 June 2017. The 5 sets being released were Scarecrow Fearful Face-off (set number: 70913), Bane Toxic Truck Attack (set number: 70914), Two-Face Double Demolition (set number: 70915), The Batwing (set number: 70916) and The Ultimate Batmobile (set number: 70917). In October 2017, The Lego Batman Movie Minifigure Collection (set number: 5004939) is an exclusive promo set only available in Toys \"R\" Us stores or online shop.\n\nIn 2018, the third wave sets would be released on 1 January 2018. The 6 sets being released were The Bat-Dune Buggy (set number: 70918), The Justice League Anniversary Party (set number: 70919), Egghead Mech Food Fight (set number: 70920), Harley Quinn Cannonball Attack (set number: 70921), The Joker Manor (set number: 70922) and The Bat-Space Shuttle (set number: 70923). In additional, The Mini Ultimate Batmobile (set number: 30526) and Bat Shooter (set number: 40301) polybag sets have been released as promotions.\n\nCollectible minifigures\nThe Lego Batman Movie Series 1 (set number: 71017) would be released on 1 January 2017 as a part of the Lego Minifigures theme. It consists of 20 characters instead of the usual 16.\n\nThe Lego Batman Movie Series 2 (set number: 71020) would be released around the world on 1 January 2018 as a part of the Lego Minifigures theme. It consists of 20 characters instead of the usual 16.\n\nBrickHeadz\nSeveral The Lego Batman Movie characters have also been released as part of the Lego BrickHeadz theme. A range of The Lego Batman Movie BrickHeadz was announced in 2017, which included Batman, Batgirl, Robin and The Joker as buildable characters.\n\nFilms\n\nThe Lego Batman Movie (2017)\n\nIn October 2014, Warner Bros. scheduled the release of The Lego Batman Movie, a spin-off starring Batman, for 2017, moving the release date for The Lego Movie 2 (later titled as The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) to 2018. Will Arnett returned to voice Batman, with Chris McKay, who was earlier attached to the sequel, directing the film, the story written by Seth Grahame-Smith, and the film produced by Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. On April 20, 2015, Warner Bros. scheduled The Lego Batman Movie for a February 10, 2017 release. In July 2015, Arnett's Arrested Development co-star Michael Cera was cast to voice Robin. In August 2015, Zach Galifianakis entered final negotiations to voice the Joker. In October 2015, Rosario Dawson was cast to voice Barbara Gordon, the daughter of police commissioner James Gordon who later becomes the crime-fighting heroine Batgirl. The following month, Ralph Fiennes was cast as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's butler. Mariah Carey, although initial reports indicated she was playing Commissioner Gordon, was actually cast as Mayor McCaskill. The first trailer for the film was released on March 24, 2016, followed by a second on March 28 the same year. The film was released in the United States on February 10, 2017.\n\nThe score was composed by Lorne Balfe.\n\nShort films\nShort films set within the franchise were produced. Most of which were released on the home media releases of the films. In addition, various other shorts made to promote the films and unrelated real world events have been released on YouTube.\n\nDark Hoser (2017)\nDark Hoser is a short film included on the home media release of The Lego Batman Movie. Batman attends a tryout to apply to be a member of the Justice League of America, but only finds out he might be Canadian.\n\nBatman is Just Not That Into You (2017)\nBatman is Just Not That Into You is a short film included on the home media release of The Lego Batman Movie. Harley Quinn hosts a talk show and helps The Joker break up with Batman.\n\nCooking with Alfred (2017)\nCooking with Alfred is a short film included on the home media release of The Lego Batman Movie. Alfred hosts a cooking show with Batman and Robin as his guest stars.\n\nMovie Sound Effects: How Do They Do That? (2017)\nMovie Sound Effects: How Do They Do That? is a short film included on the home media release of The Lego Batman Movie. Bane, The Riddler, Poison Ivy and Catwoman are brought into a sound booth to help record sound effects for The Lego Batman Movie.\n\nBooks\nIn 2017, two books based on The Lego Batman Movie theme was released. The Making of The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Batman Movie Essential Guide were released on February 11, 2017, by DK.\n\nVideo game and app\n\nLego Dimensions (2015)\n\nThe crossover toys-to-life game Lego Dimensions developed by Traveller's Tales features content based on the original The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie. A \"Starter Pack\" includes an additional level that recreates the events of the original film and adds Wyldstyle as a playable character. Additional \"Fun packs\" add Emmet, Benny, Bad Cop and Unikitty as playable characters. A \"story pack\" offers an extended six-level story campaign retelling the events of The Lego Batman Movie, and includes a playable Robin and Batgirl. In addition, \"Fun packs\" added Excalibur Batman as a playable character.\n\nThe Lego Batman Movie Game (2017)\nAn app titled The Lego Batman Movie Game was a Lego-themed endless-runner game that based on the same name of the film and developed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment was released on 11 January 2017 alongside of the film. It was released for Android and iOS.\n\nReception \nIn July 2018, The Scuttler (set number: 70908), Batcave Break-In (set number: 70909), The Ultimate Batmobile (set number: 70917) and The Bat-Space Shuttle (set number: 70923) was listed as \"The 10 Best ‘Batman’ Lego Sets for Kids and Collectors\" by official website Fatherly. In November 2018, the Toy Retailers Association listed The Lego Batman Movie Minifigure Series (set number: 71017) on its official list of 2018 Toy of the Year Awards.\n\nSee also \nThe Lego Movie (franchise)\nThe Lego Movie\nThe Lego Movie (Lego theme)\nThe Lego Batman Movie\nThe Lego Ninjago Movie\nThe Lego Ninjago Movie (Lego theme)\nThe Lego Movie 2: The Second Part\nUnikitty!\nLego Unikitty!\nLego Minifigures (theme)\nLego Batman\nLego Super Heroes\nLego Dimensions\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official website\n\nBatman Movie\nBatman Movie\nThe Lego Movie (franchise)\nProducts introduced in 2017\nDC Comics franchises\nBatman toys\nProducts and services discontinued in 2019",
"Dekh Magar Pyaar Say is a 2015 Pakistani romantic comedy film directed by Asad ul Haq and produced by Ali Murtaza under the production banner Shiny Toy Guns. The film was the directorial debut for Haq. The movie starred Humaima Malick and Sikander Rizvi in the lead roles. The latter made his film debut with the movie.\n\nDekh Magar Pyar Se received positive reviews for good direction, acting and praise for its music. The cinematography was especially lauded as it showcased the beauty of Lahore.\n\nCast \nHumaima Malick as Annie\nSikander Rizvi as Sikandar\nIrfan Khoosat\nAmna Ilyas - Special appearance in song \"Kaala Doriya\"\n\nProduction \nThe film was produced, financed and developed by Shiny Toy Guns. The styling for the movie was done by Saima Rashid Bargfrede. Shehryar Yasin was hired as the Creative and Fashion Design Director for the movie.\n\nCasting\nOn 2 April 2015 Humaima Malick and Sikander Rizvi were confirmed as the lead actors. Amna Ilyas was cast for an item song \"Kaala Doriya\".\n\nFilming\nThe film was mostly shot in Lahore over a 45-day period with filming wrapping up in the week of 18 May. The cast and crew were spotted in London shooting scenes for the movie. The cast and crew were reportedly filming bonus footage for the movie in London.\n\nMarketing\nOn 2 April 2015 the first teaser poster for the movie was released. Motion poster was revealed on 2 June. The teaser trailer for the movie was released on 1 July via the movie's official Facebook page. To promote the movie, fans were given the opportunity to view the filming of the bonus footage being shot in London via the Periscope app. The movie was also promoted using the hashtag \"magarpyaarsay\". The theatrical trailer was revealed online on 12 July 2015.\n\nSoundtrack\n\nThe background score of the film was given by Abbas Ali Khan.\n\nReception \nDekh Magar Pyar Se received positive reviews with good directing and acting while praising its music.\n\nSee also\n List of Pakistani films of 2015\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n \n\n2015 films\n2015 romantic comedy films\nPakistani romantic comedy films\nPakistani films\nFilms shot in Lahore\nFilms shot in London\nFilms set in Lahore\nFilms set in London\nFilms featuring an item number\n2015 directorial debut films"
] |
[
"Jayan",
"Death",
"What caused Jayan's death?",
"Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave).",
"Where was the movie set?",
"the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu."
] | C_da71b2eacf9249bc964a5f4c145c2cf3_1 | Who was starring in the movie with him? | 3 | Who was starring in the movie Kolilakkam with Jayan? | Jayan | On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed. According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project. Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident. CANNOTANSWER | co-star Balan K. Nair, | Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian film actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous for his macho image and unique style. He was reputed for his masculine appeal and well known for performing stunts of a dangerous nature on his own. By the late 1970s, he became the most popular superstar, lead actor and bankable star of Malayalam cinema and has been acclaimed as the first and most successful action hero of Malayalam cinema. Jayan is widely regarded as one of the most influential superstars in the history of Malayalam cinema.
His superhero image had transformed him into a popular culture icon among Malayalis around the world, with widespread impersonations on stage and television programs based on his screen persona. It was accompanied by a cartoon, email and SMS phenomenon in the early 2000s, portraying him as a comic superhero with unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star becoming widespread. These movements were fuelled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialogue delivery and his machismo image. These were claimed to honour his memories, but were also criticised for parodying the legendary actor years after his death.
Early life
Jayan was born in Quilon, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birth name was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Malayalam actress Jayabharathi, who was his first cousin introduced him to the film industry. Jayan's formal education ended at the 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions such as anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. By the end of his navy days, he had begun efforts to start small businesses at Ernakulam and became a regular inhabitant of the Cochin Tourist Home. During his life at Ernakulam, he would meet some of his lifelong friends. It was such a chance meeting while on leave, with Rajan Prakash who is the veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that eventually landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham. A year later, he left the Indian Navy and started trying his hand at various civilian jobs, working for companies in Cochin for a few years till his acting career began to succeed. Jayan's younger brother Soman Nair (Ajayan) also acted in 20+ films after Jayan's death. But he was not successful in films like Jayan. Ajayan has 3 children and his younger son Adithyan Jayan is a famous TV serial actor in Malayalam.
Career
Random appearances and early career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearances in some movies of the early 1970s, the first of which was in Postmane Kanmanilla. These minor appearances were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew, he had the role of a vampire-like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which was never released. His first appearance with the name Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham, which is usually credited as his first film.
Rise to fame
The name "Jayan" (English: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles and his first appearance in front of the camera was Postmane kananilla (1972) then starting with the name as Jayan in Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break appearing as a villain in Panchami (1976), playing a forest ranger. Jayan's performance in this film was appreciated in the industry and his physical appearance was also noticed for the first time. His next notable role was in Thacholi Ambu (1978), in which he appeared in a supporting role. In the same year, he acted as a sage in the Sreekumaran Thampi film Etho Oru Swapnam, which was well received by critics. But what made Jayan a superstar was his antihero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time with superhit movies like Chaakara directed by P.G. Viswambharan & Angadi directed by I.V. Sasi who were the two hitmakers of the time. He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all box-office records set in the Malayalam movie industry till it's time and became the highest-grossing movie of 1979.
Its box-office records were broken by another Jayan film, Angadi (Market) in the following year, which cemented his popularity among the masses. In films such as Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc. he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of films that garnered critical appreciation at the time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared bare-chested in numerous scenes. His on-screen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to the Malayalam film history.
Multistar films
Jayan acted in several ensemble cast movies, mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films such as Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc. all of which were top-grossing movies at the box office. He also acted with other popular actors of the time, such as Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In early films before 1979 (e.g. Thacholi Ambu and Panchami), he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the beginning of 1980 relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action hero and placed him as the central character. In 1980, the duo Jayan and Prem Nazir were cast in Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam by P. Venu, that showcased the famous fight scene in Malayalam cinema. Prem Nazir agreed to play a supporting role in Nayattu, which was very unlikely for a superstar of those times. He had agreed to do this as a token of friendship with Jayan and the director Sreekumaran Thamby. The duo had many actions films together such as Irumbazhikal, Love in Singapore etc. where the box office draw was huge.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan died in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave) at the age of 41 years, 3 months and 21 days. The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a rather dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike driven by Sukumaran. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; Nonetheless, another three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing viewers of his death. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project.
Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
The Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released claiming to be his last film, including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films, Jayan's voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular impressionist of the time. Many projects meant for him were recast, such as Thushaaram by I. V. Sasi, P. G. Vishwambaran's Sphodanam, and Sasi Kumar's Dhruvasangamam. Numerous other projects were cancelled entirely. One stunt scene and two songs were already shot with Jayan for C. V. Rajendran's Garjanam, but after his death, it was recast with Rajinikanth, becoming his second film in Malayalam released in 1981.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in impostors who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms, enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up on the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably, and proved especially ineffective in fight and stunt scenes. Then, directors and producers started a search for new actors to replace him. This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (e.g. Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (for example, his own brother who appeared as Ajayan), and those with similar mannerisms and style (e.g. Bheeman Raghu). One of them, Mammootty, who started with the stage name Sajin, would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.
However, all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a similar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotes in Malayalam cinema "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in the 2000s
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It was owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows along with quotes of superhuman strength known as Jayan quotes. However, it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppy Ashraf, who dubbed for many of his characters post his death.
The "comeback" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may be taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today, Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, risky stunts, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 1960s, once stated in an interview: "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
A film titled Avatharam presently under production, is attempting to bring back his screen persona using advanced technologies. A documentary on Jayan's life and death Jayan – The Man behind the Legend is nearing completion for release in the near future.
Legacy
Jayan is perhaps the only actor thus far in the history of Malayalam film industry who remains a marketable superstar decades after his demise, to this day. In the state of Kerala, he is a true icon of popular culture, whose life and image has made him a legend over time.
Superhero image and commercial success
Through his machismo roles and staggering stunt feats, Jayan had attained a real-life Superhero image amongst the fans, masses and colleagues alike. His colourful attire and unique bass voice also helped him capture the imagination of the average viewer as the manly action hero. Along with these, his trademark styles and mannerisms made him a campus hero and youth idol of his time. Summing up, Jayan's image among the masses was that of a daring superhuman who would perform seemingly impossible deeds and accomplish extraordinary feats.
Jayan is the most commercially successful superstar to date in the Malayalam industry with a near 90% success rate. The years 1979, 1980 and 1981 became known as "Jayan years" in the industry due to the widespread release and success of his movies. His films Sharapancharam and Angadi, released in 1979 and 1980 respectively, were record breakers and became the highest grossers of their respective years. His final film, Kolilakkam was the highest grosser in 1981. The noteworthy point is that a large percentage of films released during his peak years lacked a strong plot and were mostly cheap low budget remakes of successful movies from other language sectors of Indian cinema. Many of these films came out astoundingly successful due to his sheer presence and some avoided failures due to his small cameo appearances. Thousands of fans used to visit theatres repeatedly just to see his fascinating stunts and fight scenes.
Daredevilry
Jayan was a high-risk taker and throughout his career, he was popular for stellar performances in a fight and stunt sequences. Dangerous and thrilling stunts were often featured in action films with Jayan in the lead. These were usually highlighted during fight scenes as added promotions to his machismo image and daredevilry. Numerous movies in which he has acted have one or more notable stunt performances.
A few prominent examples may be Puthiya Velicham ("New Light", 1979) in which he performs train stunts jumping onto and from a fast-running goods train, Aavesham ("Inspiration", 1979) which shows the actor swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls, through a major part of the climax sequence without using any kind of safety measures. Movies like Thadavara ("Prison", 1981) and Sharapancharam (1979) demonstrate his brilliant horse riding skills performing almost effortlessly on horseback, while films like Mamangam involved dangerous fights with wild animals. In a film called Moorkhan ("Cobra", 1981) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motorbike (a Royal Enfield Bullet) and it also featured sequences that had the actor sliding along ropes tied at high elevations. Perhaps the most famous movie stunt featuring Jayan came in Chandrahasam ("Moonsword", 1980) in which he held on to the UV clamp of a massive ship crane and was elevated to a height of around 200 feet before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In one of his final stunt scenes, in Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ("Secret never known", 1981) he was involved in a fight scene with an elephant.
Influence on Malayalam cinema
The meteoric rise of Jayan had literally a texture changing impact on the Malayalam film industry. It changed forever the hero concept that existed previously for many years and gave rise to a new genre of film characters with more manly characteristics.
Memorable roles
Most critics often consider Jayan's main hero role in Sharapancjaram, Angadi, Venalil Oru Mazha and Puthiya Velicham to be his best. His most popular character may be the educated labourer in Angadi. The sage's role played by him in Etho Oru Swapnam was well appreciated by critics and would easily feature among his most memorable roles. The supporting role in Kannappanunni, Thacholi Ambu, the villainous ranger in Panchami and the rapist in Kanthavalayam are also critically acclaimed performances. Some other popular roles were in films like Idimuzhakkam, Venalil Oru Mazha, Ithikkara Pakki, Mamangam, Puthiya Velicham, Karimpana, Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam, Chaakara and Kazhukan. While acknowledging his undisputed popularity as a commercial superstar that has never faded over time, general critical opinion on his skills as an actor is divided. While there are criticisms from some corners that he depended more on his features such as his catching physique, bass voice, personal charisma, unique style and mannerisms to garner attention, many others rate him as a great actor who developed his own unique style to leave a lasting impression on every single role he took up. The fact that his peak time as an actor lasted only a few years is often pointed out in reply to criticisms, and considering the short period of his active film career, he may have delivered more critically appreciated performances than most of his contemporaries. But these were always under the shadow of a large majority of films that were able to achieve commercial success capitalising on his drawing power, but had weak plots and less critical acclaim. Some believe that if he'd had a longer career, he would have eventually transformed into a great character actor over time who could excel in commercial and parallel streams alike, after a period of decline in Malayalam films that followed Sathyan's demise. His most popular films like Sharapancjaram and Angadi were both critical and commercial successes. Though he is remembered as an icon of commercial cinema, due to the short span of his career and the generic nature of commercial hero roles of the time, his actual acting talents may have been largely underutilised.
Song sequences
Film songs are an integral part of Indian cinema and the same is true for Malayalam films. Jayan has acted in several memorable song sequences which bring about nostalgic memories about the actor. Song sequences in Jayan films also helped shape the future film song sector in commercial cinema. The song "Kannum Kannum" in the film Angadi presents one of the most popular song sequences in Malayalam cinema involving Jayan and Seema. Its success led to the teaming together of this pair in numerous movies. Another popular song involving the Jayan-Seema pair is "Kasthuri Manmizhi" from the movie Manushya Mrugam. A song that hit tremendous popularity was "Cham Chacha Chum Chacha" in Love in Singapore and Kombil Kilukkum ketti in "Karimpana". The mass popularity of this song sequence later inspired a whole new category of film songs with lyrics that lack any particular meaning, but with a fast beat and dance appeal that came to be known as "Adipoli" songs. There is a song in the film Etho Oru Swapnam called "Oru Mugham Mathram Kannil", which became popular due to its melodious and nostalgic nature.
"Ezham Malika Mele" from Sarppam, directed by Baby was a superhit song paired by Jayan and Seema. Another hit from this team was "Pournami Penne" in Arifa hassan's Benz Vasu and it was hummed by the youth of that time.
Memorials
Kollam District panchayath and Government of Kerala built a new conference hall near to Kollam District panchayath office in Kollam municipal corporation as a memorial to the legend actor. The hall is named as "Jayan Memorial Hall". It was inaugurated on 12 September 2020.
There is a Jayan memorial Arts & Sports club functioning at Thevally near the actor's hometown. The residential area at his birthplace has been renamed "Olayil Jayan Nagar" in his honour.
Jayan Cultural Forum
Jayan Samskarika Vethi or Jayan Cultural Forum has been established recently, which consists of his fans and well wishers. It is headed by the actor's nephew Kannan Nair, and aims at uniting his diverse fan base consisting of young and old people from several generations under a single platform. Activities include organising anniversary functions and memorial programs, facilitating his coworkers, maintaining the actor's website and official profiles and charity work.
Monuments
In 2009, an 8 ft high statue of the actor was erected in front of his house at Olayil, Kollam which is now a nursing home. Efforts are being made to construct a permanent memorial at Mulankadakam where he was cremated, and also to open a library and museum near his home.
In media
Media on Jayan
A book titled Jayan Americayil? (Jayan in America?) came out in 1981 and had record sales at the time. It circulated the rumour that Jayan was alive in America with an injured eye and that it was a look-alike who was killed in the accident.
Another book Jayante Maranam Kolapathakamo (Jayan's death, a murder) was also published in 1981, capitalising on the conspiracy theories and mystery surrounding the superstar's death.
The actor's life was serialised in a Malayalam film magazine and then brought out as Jayante Katha.
An elaborate biography named Jayan : Abhralokathintey Ithihasa Naayakan is being completed and will reportedly be published in 2011.
A documentary Jayan-The Man behind the Legend is under production and is set to be released in 2011.
In popular culture
Print media
The actor's domination and commercial success in the 1970s is mentioned in the book Because I have a Voice. It focuses on Jayan's masculine image.
Jayan's famous emotional English dialogue in street slang is included at number 7 in Outlook magazine's Terrific 13 lists published in the 13th anniversary edition of the magazine, in the section '13 Cheesiest Chalkiest dialogues in Indian Cinema'.
Films
In the movie Aye Auto, there is a reference to Jayan's English dialogue in Angadi.
The movies Dupe Dupe Dupe and Aparanmaar Nagarathil had Jayan impersonators in the lead.
In the film Pattanathil Bhootham, the popular Jayan song sequence Cham Chacha Chumchacha is played out with impersonation. The horse oiling scene from Sarapancharam is also reconstructed.
In Chotta Mumbai, a Jayan-Nazir mixed song sequence is played out with Jayan attire used in the song sequence of the popular Nazir song Chettikulangara.
In the film Shikkar, Jayan's image is used in the sets of a fight scene in a bid to stress the adventurous setting of the film.
In Thanthonni, Jayan's voice and dialogue tone is imitated.
The film Valiyangadi was promoted as a sequel to Jayan's Angadi.
In the film Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jayan's stunt sequence and the celebrated row with "Alavalathi Shaji" from the film Lisa is shown in a theatre scene.
The famous song "Kannum Kannum" from Jayan's film Angadi is included with Mammooty impersonating Jayan's style in the film Venicile Vyapari.
The recent hit Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan has the actor Siddique acting as an ardent fan of Jayan and impersonates his style for seeing his movies.
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies. The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), was announced to be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid. The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.
Filmography
See also
Jayan quotes
References
External links
Profile of Malayalam Actor Jayan
Further reading
http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/profiles.php?i=48
Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
Image gallery
Jayan Anniversary Special at Mathrubhumi portal
"Jayan: Love You All" – an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
1980 deaths
Male actors from Kollam
Indian stunt performers
Filmed deaths of entertainers
1939 births
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
20th-century Indian male actors
Indian Navy personnel | true | [
"Vikas (born 9 February) is an Indian actor, director and writer who works predominantly in Karnataka Film Industry.\n\nPersonal life \nVikas was born on 9 February in Bangalore, Karnataka. His major claim to fame was directing Jayammana Maga for Duniya Vijay which was a blockbuster. He is currently acting in the movie Kanadante Mayavadanu (poster) which is slated to be released in the last quarter of 2019.\n\nCareer \nVikas started as an assistant director in Television Serials, fell in love with the editing machine the first time he saw it and became an editor. Directors working with him offered character roles in serials. Television Serials like Kadambari and guptagamini gave him recognition as an actor. Vikas made his film debut with the film Nandhi Starring Sudeep where he plays as Sudeep's friend. He assisted director Duniya Soori for Jackie (2010) where he also played the role of an antagonist \"Parangi Seena\" in the movie. He assisted the film maker Yogaraj Bhat and co-wrote the film Drama where he was credited for writing the screenplay as \"ravikiran\". He directed Jayammana Maga starring Duniya Vijay which went on to become a blockbuster. The subject dealt with occult and black magic. The response from critics was equally good. filmibeat gave it a rating of 4/5 stars. stating that the movie was not be missed. Times of India rated it a 3.5/5 and said Vikas has proved that he can be a part of the list of talented directors in sandalwood. Jayammana Maga Movie Review {3.5/5}: Critic Review of Jayammana Maga by Times of India Bharatstudent rated it 3.25/5 stating that the presentation was rich and the narrative was energetic. He has played a character role in Kaddipudi.\n\nVikas wrote the story of Doddmane Huduga starring Puneeth Rajkumar which was a commercial success. He was nominated for the best debutant director for South Indian International Movie Awards in the year 2014.\n\nAt present, Vikas is acting in the movie Kaanadante Maayavadanu. He has penned the story along with the debutante Director Raj Pathipati. It is a fantasy film which has a tag line \"Love story of a Ghost\". The film is the final stages of Post-production.\n\nFilmography\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n\n \n\n\"Kaanadante Maayavadanu Official Website\"\n\n1975 births\n21st-century Indian male actors\nIndian film directors\nLiving people",
"Mandeep Benipal is an Indian film director. He made his directorial debut with movie Ekam - Son of Soil in 2010. Later he came up with the movie Sadda Haq (2013), Yoddha (2014) and Dakuan Da Munda.\n\nCareer \nMandeep Benipal started his career as an assistant director. He assisted director Manoj Punj for movie Shaheed-E-Mohabbat Boota Singh (1999) starring Gurdas Maan, Divya Dutta and Des Hoyaa Pardes (2004) starring Gurdas Maan, Juhi Chawla. He also assisted Gaurav Trehan for movie Hashar (2008) starring Babbu Maan.\n\nMandeep Benipal made his debut as a director in the year 2010 with Punjabi movie Ekam - Son of Soil starring Babbu Maan, Mandy Takhar. The film opened to a good response at the box office.\n\nIn 2013, Mandeep Benipal came up with movie Sadda Haq in the year 2013. Sadda Haq is based on the events in the 1980s and 1990s when the state suffered from militancy, portrays several issues; including the murder of a human rights activist, alleged police torture, fake encounters, jailbreak and the assassination of a politician. This movie performed really well at box office. It was also a hit in UK. Sadda Haq was nominated in 10 different categories in PTC Punjabi Film Awards 2014 and the movie succeeded in winning three of them. Sadda Haq was initially banned by the Punjab Government, which stated that \"The release of the film was banned to maintain communal harmony in the state\". This movie was later released after the order of Supreme Court to lift the ban. Censor Board of India's gave this movie A Certificate.\n\nIn 2014, he came up with movie Yoddha - The Warrior starring Kuljinder Singh Sidhu in lead role. The film is based on the life of a simple person who becomes a warrior due to circumstances. Yoddha was notimated for 6 categories in PTC Punjabi Film Awards 2015.\n\nIn 2018, he directed the upcoming movie Dakuan Da Munda\n\nFilmography \n Ekam - Son of Soil (2010)\n Sadda Haq (2013)\n Yoddha (2014)\n Dakuan Da Munda (2018)\n Kaka Ji (2019)\n DSP Dev (2019)\n Dakuan Da Munda 2 (2022)\n\nAwards \nBenipal was nominated in Best Director category of PTC Punjabi Film Awards 2014.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n \n\n1976 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Patiala\nFilm directors from Punjab, India"
] |
[
"Jayan",
"Death",
"What caused Jayan's death?",
"Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave).",
"Where was the movie set?",
"the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu.",
"Who was starring in the movie with him?",
"co-star Balan K. Nair,"
] | C_da71b2eacf9249bc964a5f4c145c2cf3_1 | What caused the accident? | 4 | What caused the accident that resulted in Jayan's death? | Jayan | On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed. According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project. Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident. CANNOTANSWER | During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. | Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian film actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous for his macho image and unique style. He was reputed for his masculine appeal and well known for performing stunts of a dangerous nature on his own. By the late 1970s, he became the most popular superstar, lead actor and bankable star of Malayalam cinema and has been acclaimed as the first and most successful action hero of Malayalam cinema. Jayan is widely regarded as one of the most influential superstars in the history of Malayalam cinema.
His superhero image had transformed him into a popular culture icon among Malayalis around the world, with widespread impersonations on stage and television programs based on his screen persona. It was accompanied by a cartoon, email and SMS phenomenon in the early 2000s, portraying him as a comic superhero with unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star becoming widespread. These movements were fuelled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialogue delivery and his machismo image. These were claimed to honour his memories, but were also criticised for parodying the legendary actor years after his death.
Early life
Jayan was born in Quilon, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birth name was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Malayalam actress Jayabharathi, who was his first cousin introduced him to the film industry. Jayan's formal education ended at the 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions such as anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. By the end of his navy days, he had begun efforts to start small businesses at Ernakulam and became a regular inhabitant of the Cochin Tourist Home. During his life at Ernakulam, he would meet some of his lifelong friends. It was such a chance meeting while on leave, with Rajan Prakash who is the veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that eventually landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham. A year later, he left the Indian Navy and started trying his hand at various civilian jobs, working for companies in Cochin for a few years till his acting career began to succeed. Jayan's younger brother Soman Nair (Ajayan) also acted in 20+ films after Jayan's death. But he was not successful in films like Jayan. Ajayan has 3 children and his younger son Adithyan Jayan is a famous TV serial actor in Malayalam.
Career
Random appearances and early career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearances in some movies of the early 1970s, the first of which was in Postmane Kanmanilla. These minor appearances were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew, he had the role of a vampire-like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which was never released. His first appearance with the name Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham, which is usually credited as his first film.
Rise to fame
The name "Jayan" (English: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles and his first appearance in front of the camera was Postmane kananilla (1972) then starting with the name as Jayan in Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break appearing as a villain in Panchami (1976), playing a forest ranger. Jayan's performance in this film was appreciated in the industry and his physical appearance was also noticed for the first time. His next notable role was in Thacholi Ambu (1978), in which he appeared in a supporting role. In the same year, he acted as a sage in the Sreekumaran Thampi film Etho Oru Swapnam, which was well received by critics. But what made Jayan a superstar was his antihero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time with superhit movies like Chaakara directed by P.G. Viswambharan & Angadi directed by I.V. Sasi who were the two hitmakers of the time. He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all box-office records set in the Malayalam movie industry till it's time and became the highest-grossing movie of 1979.
Its box-office records were broken by another Jayan film, Angadi (Market) in the following year, which cemented his popularity among the masses. In films such as Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc. he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of films that garnered critical appreciation at the time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared bare-chested in numerous scenes. His on-screen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to the Malayalam film history.
Multistar films
Jayan acted in several ensemble cast movies, mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films such as Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc. all of which were top-grossing movies at the box office. He also acted with other popular actors of the time, such as Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In early films before 1979 (e.g. Thacholi Ambu and Panchami), he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the beginning of 1980 relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action hero and placed him as the central character. In 1980, the duo Jayan and Prem Nazir were cast in Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam by P. Venu, that showcased the famous fight scene in Malayalam cinema. Prem Nazir agreed to play a supporting role in Nayattu, which was very unlikely for a superstar of those times. He had agreed to do this as a token of friendship with Jayan and the director Sreekumaran Thamby. The duo had many actions films together such as Irumbazhikal, Love in Singapore etc. where the box office draw was huge.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan died in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave) at the age of 41 years, 3 months and 21 days. The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a rather dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike driven by Sukumaran. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; Nonetheless, another three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing viewers of his death. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project.
Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
The Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released claiming to be his last film, including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films, Jayan's voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular impressionist of the time. Many projects meant for him were recast, such as Thushaaram by I. V. Sasi, P. G. Vishwambaran's Sphodanam, and Sasi Kumar's Dhruvasangamam. Numerous other projects were cancelled entirely. One stunt scene and two songs were already shot with Jayan for C. V. Rajendran's Garjanam, but after his death, it was recast with Rajinikanth, becoming his second film in Malayalam released in 1981.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in impostors who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms, enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up on the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably, and proved especially ineffective in fight and stunt scenes. Then, directors and producers started a search for new actors to replace him. This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (e.g. Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (for example, his own brother who appeared as Ajayan), and those with similar mannerisms and style (e.g. Bheeman Raghu). One of them, Mammootty, who started with the stage name Sajin, would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.
However, all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a similar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotes in Malayalam cinema "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in the 2000s
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It was owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows along with quotes of superhuman strength known as Jayan quotes. However, it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppy Ashraf, who dubbed for many of his characters post his death.
The "comeback" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may be taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today, Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, risky stunts, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 1960s, once stated in an interview: "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
A film titled Avatharam presently under production, is attempting to bring back his screen persona using advanced technologies. A documentary on Jayan's life and death Jayan – The Man behind the Legend is nearing completion for release in the near future.
Legacy
Jayan is perhaps the only actor thus far in the history of Malayalam film industry who remains a marketable superstar decades after his demise, to this day. In the state of Kerala, he is a true icon of popular culture, whose life and image has made him a legend over time.
Superhero image and commercial success
Through his machismo roles and staggering stunt feats, Jayan had attained a real-life Superhero image amongst the fans, masses and colleagues alike. His colourful attire and unique bass voice also helped him capture the imagination of the average viewer as the manly action hero. Along with these, his trademark styles and mannerisms made him a campus hero and youth idol of his time. Summing up, Jayan's image among the masses was that of a daring superhuman who would perform seemingly impossible deeds and accomplish extraordinary feats.
Jayan is the most commercially successful superstar to date in the Malayalam industry with a near 90% success rate. The years 1979, 1980 and 1981 became known as "Jayan years" in the industry due to the widespread release and success of his movies. His films Sharapancharam and Angadi, released in 1979 and 1980 respectively, were record breakers and became the highest grossers of their respective years. His final film, Kolilakkam was the highest grosser in 1981. The noteworthy point is that a large percentage of films released during his peak years lacked a strong plot and were mostly cheap low budget remakes of successful movies from other language sectors of Indian cinema. Many of these films came out astoundingly successful due to his sheer presence and some avoided failures due to his small cameo appearances. Thousands of fans used to visit theatres repeatedly just to see his fascinating stunts and fight scenes.
Daredevilry
Jayan was a high-risk taker and throughout his career, he was popular for stellar performances in a fight and stunt sequences. Dangerous and thrilling stunts were often featured in action films with Jayan in the lead. These were usually highlighted during fight scenes as added promotions to his machismo image and daredevilry. Numerous movies in which he has acted have one or more notable stunt performances.
A few prominent examples may be Puthiya Velicham ("New Light", 1979) in which he performs train stunts jumping onto and from a fast-running goods train, Aavesham ("Inspiration", 1979) which shows the actor swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls, through a major part of the climax sequence without using any kind of safety measures. Movies like Thadavara ("Prison", 1981) and Sharapancharam (1979) demonstrate his brilliant horse riding skills performing almost effortlessly on horseback, while films like Mamangam involved dangerous fights with wild animals. In a film called Moorkhan ("Cobra", 1981) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motorbike (a Royal Enfield Bullet) and it also featured sequences that had the actor sliding along ropes tied at high elevations. Perhaps the most famous movie stunt featuring Jayan came in Chandrahasam ("Moonsword", 1980) in which he held on to the UV clamp of a massive ship crane and was elevated to a height of around 200 feet before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In one of his final stunt scenes, in Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ("Secret never known", 1981) he was involved in a fight scene with an elephant.
Influence on Malayalam cinema
The meteoric rise of Jayan had literally a texture changing impact on the Malayalam film industry. It changed forever the hero concept that existed previously for many years and gave rise to a new genre of film characters with more manly characteristics.
Memorable roles
Most critics often consider Jayan's main hero role in Sharapancjaram, Angadi, Venalil Oru Mazha and Puthiya Velicham to be his best. His most popular character may be the educated labourer in Angadi. The sage's role played by him in Etho Oru Swapnam was well appreciated by critics and would easily feature among his most memorable roles. The supporting role in Kannappanunni, Thacholi Ambu, the villainous ranger in Panchami and the rapist in Kanthavalayam are also critically acclaimed performances. Some other popular roles were in films like Idimuzhakkam, Venalil Oru Mazha, Ithikkara Pakki, Mamangam, Puthiya Velicham, Karimpana, Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam, Chaakara and Kazhukan. While acknowledging his undisputed popularity as a commercial superstar that has never faded over time, general critical opinion on his skills as an actor is divided. While there are criticisms from some corners that he depended more on his features such as his catching physique, bass voice, personal charisma, unique style and mannerisms to garner attention, many others rate him as a great actor who developed his own unique style to leave a lasting impression on every single role he took up. The fact that his peak time as an actor lasted only a few years is often pointed out in reply to criticisms, and considering the short period of his active film career, he may have delivered more critically appreciated performances than most of his contemporaries. But these were always under the shadow of a large majority of films that were able to achieve commercial success capitalising on his drawing power, but had weak plots and less critical acclaim. Some believe that if he'd had a longer career, he would have eventually transformed into a great character actor over time who could excel in commercial and parallel streams alike, after a period of decline in Malayalam films that followed Sathyan's demise. His most popular films like Sharapancjaram and Angadi were both critical and commercial successes. Though he is remembered as an icon of commercial cinema, due to the short span of his career and the generic nature of commercial hero roles of the time, his actual acting talents may have been largely underutilised.
Song sequences
Film songs are an integral part of Indian cinema and the same is true for Malayalam films. Jayan has acted in several memorable song sequences which bring about nostalgic memories about the actor. Song sequences in Jayan films also helped shape the future film song sector in commercial cinema. The song "Kannum Kannum" in the film Angadi presents one of the most popular song sequences in Malayalam cinema involving Jayan and Seema. Its success led to the teaming together of this pair in numerous movies. Another popular song involving the Jayan-Seema pair is "Kasthuri Manmizhi" from the movie Manushya Mrugam. A song that hit tremendous popularity was "Cham Chacha Chum Chacha" in Love in Singapore and Kombil Kilukkum ketti in "Karimpana". The mass popularity of this song sequence later inspired a whole new category of film songs with lyrics that lack any particular meaning, but with a fast beat and dance appeal that came to be known as "Adipoli" songs. There is a song in the film Etho Oru Swapnam called "Oru Mugham Mathram Kannil", which became popular due to its melodious and nostalgic nature.
"Ezham Malika Mele" from Sarppam, directed by Baby was a superhit song paired by Jayan and Seema. Another hit from this team was "Pournami Penne" in Arifa hassan's Benz Vasu and it was hummed by the youth of that time.
Memorials
Kollam District panchayath and Government of Kerala built a new conference hall near to Kollam District panchayath office in Kollam municipal corporation as a memorial to the legend actor. The hall is named as "Jayan Memorial Hall". It was inaugurated on 12 September 2020.
There is a Jayan memorial Arts & Sports club functioning at Thevally near the actor's hometown. The residential area at his birthplace has been renamed "Olayil Jayan Nagar" in his honour.
Jayan Cultural Forum
Jayan Samskarika Vethi or Jayan Cultural Forum has been established recently, which consists of his fans and well wishers. It is headed by the actor's nephew Kannan Nair, and aims at uniting his diverse fan base consisting of young and old people from several generations under a single platform. Activities include organising anniversary functions and memorial programs, facilitating his coworkers, maintaining the actor's website and official profiles and charity work.
Monuments
In 2009, an 8 ft high statue of the actor was erected in front of his house at Olayil, Kollam which is now a nursing home. Efforts are being made to construct a permanent memorial at Mulankadakam where he was cremated, and also to open a library and museum near his home.
In media
Media on Jayan
A book titled Jayan Americayil? (Jayan in America?) came out in 1981 and had record sales at the time. It circulated the rumour that Jayan was alive in America with an injured eye and that it was a look-alike who was killed in the accident.
Another book Jayante Maranam Kolapathakamo (Jayan's death, a murder) was also published in 1981, capitalising on the conspiracy theories and mystery surrounding the superstar's death.
The actor's life was serialised in a Malayalam film magazine and then brought out as Jayante Katha.
An elaborate biography named Jayan : Abhralokathintey Ithihasa Naayakan is being completed and will reportedly be published in 2011.
A documentary Jayan-The Man behind the Legend is under production and is set to be released in 2011.
In popular culture
Print media
The actor's domination and commercial success in the 1970s is mentioned in the book Because I have a Voice. It focuses on Jayan's masculine image.
Jayan's famous emotional English dialogue in street slang is included at number 7 in Outlook magazine's Terrific 13 lists published in the 13th anniversary edition of the magazine, in the section '13 Cheesiest Chalkiest dialogues in Indian Cinema'.
Films
In the movie Aye Auto, there is a reference to Jayan's English dialogue in Angadi.
The movies Dupe Dupe Dupe and Aparanmaar Nagarathil had Jayan impersonators in the lead.
In the film Pattanathil Bhootham, the popular Jayan song sequence Cham Chacha Chumchacha is played out with impersonation. The horse oiling scene from Sarapancharam is also reconstructed.
In Chotta Mumbai, a Jayan-Nazir mixed song sequence is played out with Jayan attire used in the song sequence of the popular Nazir song Chettikulangara.
In the film Shikkar, Jayan's image is used in the sets of a fight scene in a bid to stress the adventurous setting of the film.
In Thanthonni, Jayan's voice and dialogue tone is imitated.
The film Valiyangadi was promoted as a sequel to Jayan's Angadi.
In the film Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jayan's stunt sequence and the celebrated row with "Alavalathi Shaji" from the film Lisa is shown in a theatre scene.
The famous song "Kannum Kannum" from Jayan's film Angadi is included with Mammooty impersonating Jayan's style in the film Venicile Vyapari.
The recent hit Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan has the actor Siddique acting as an ardent fan of Jayan and impersonates his style for seeing his movies.
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies. The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), was announced to be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid. The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.
Filmography
See also
Jayan quotes
References
External links
Profile of Malayalam Actor Jayan
Further reading
http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/profiles.php?i=48
Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
Image gallery
Jayan Anniversary Special at Mathrubhumi portal
"Jayan: Love You All" – an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
1980 deaths
Male actors from Kollam
Indian stunt performers
Filmed deaths of entertainers
1939 births
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
20th-century Indian male actors
Indian Navy personnel | true | [
"In March 1984, a serious radiation accident occurred in Morocco, where eight people died from pulmonary hemorrhaging caused by overexposure to radiation from a lost iridium-192 source. Other individuals also received significant overdoses of radiation that required medical attention. Three people were sent to the Curie Institute in Paris for treatment of radiation poisoning.\n\nThe source was used to radiograph welds and became separated from its shielded container. As the source itself had no markings indicating it was radioactive, a worker took it home, where it stayed for some weeks, exposing the family to radiation. The laborer, his family, and some relatives were the eight deaths caused by the accident.\n\nSee also\n Nuclear and radiation accidents\n Goiânia accident\n Radiotherapy accident in Costa Rica\n Radiotherapy accident in Zaragoza\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n Description of the incident in Johnston's Archive\n\nMan-made disasters in Morocco\n1984 industrial disasters\nMorocco\n1984 in Morocco\nMarch 1984 events in Africa",
"The Turenki rail accident occurred on 12 March 1940, at 05:28 local time (03:28 UTC) near Turenki, Finland, and remains the worst rail accident in Finnish history. A troop train carrying soldiers of the 71st Supply Company and horses south from Loimaa to Viipuri collided with a northbound freight train. The two trains were travelling at 40 km/h (25 mph) and 25–30 km/h (15–19 mph) respectively at the time of collision. The death toll was particularly high due to many troop carriages being crushed; the carriages had initially been located at the rear of the train but were moved to the front just behind the locomotive at Toijala as the train changed direction. Rescue operations were also delayed.\n\nThe accident was caused by a signalling error; the signaller, who was still on probation and who had been awake for the past 36 hours, mistakenly cleared the freight train to pass Turenki north towards the Harviala railway station, even though the troop train had already passed the latter station which had been chosen as the place the two trains would pass each other. The signaller was sentenced to a two-year, one-month and ten-day prison sentence and to pay 30 000 Finnish marks in compensation.\n\nThe accident went largely unreported, as the accident happened during World War II and on the same day that the Moscow Peace Treaty which ended the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union was signed and went into effect. It was one of three rail accidents to take place in Finland in March 1940; the Iittala rail accident on March 4 claimed 31 lives and the Putikko rail accident on March 18 claimed 14 lives.\n\nA memorial to those who lost their lives in the crash was unveiled at Turenki railway station in 2000.\n\nSee also\n Quintinshill rail disaster – the worst rail accident in British history, which took place during wartime (but World War I, not World War II) and was likewise a train collision caused by signalling errors\n Lists of rail accidents\n\nReferences\n\nRailway accidents in 1940\nRailway accidents and incidents in Finland\n1940 in Finland\nRailway accidents caused by signaller's error\nTrain collisions in Finland\nAccidents and incidents involving VR Group"
] |
[
"Jayan",
"Death",
"What caused Jayan's death?",
"Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave).",
"Where was the movie set?",
"the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu.",
"Who was starring in the movie with him?",
"co-star Balan K. Nair,",
"What caused the accident?",
"During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries."
] | C_da71b2eacf9249bc964a5f4c145c2cf3_1 | Was anyone else hurt? | 5 | Was anyone else other than Jayan hurt? | Jayan | On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed. According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project. Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident. CANNOTANSWER | regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. | Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian film actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous for his macho image and unique style. He was reputed for his masculine appeal and well known for performing stunts of a dangerous nature on his own. By the late 1970s, he became the most popular superstar, lead actor and bankable star of Malayalam cinema and has been acclaimed as the first and most successful action hero of Malayalam cinema. Jayan is widely regarded as one of the most influential superstars in the history of Malayalam cinema.
His superhero image had transformed him into a popular culture icon among Malayalis around the world, with widespread impersonations on stage and television programs based on his screen persona. It was accompanied by a cartoon, email and SMS phenomenon in the early 2000s, portraying him as a comic superhero with unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star becoming widespread. These movements were fuelled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialogue delivery and his machismo image. These were claimed to honour his memories, but were also criticised for parodying the legendary actor years after his death.
Early life
Jayan was born in Quilon, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birth name was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Malayalam actress Jayabharathi, who was his first cousin introduced him to the film industry. Jayan's formal education ended at the 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions such as anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. By the end of his navy days, he had begun efforts to start small businesses at Ernakulam and became a regular inhabitant of the Cochin Tourist Home. During his life at Ernakulam, he would meet some of his lifelong friends. It was such a chance meeting while on leave, with Rajan Prakash who is the veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that eventually landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham. A year later, he left the Indian Navy and started trying his hand at various civilian jobs, working for companies in Cochin for a few years till his acting career began to succeed. Jayan's younger brother Soman Nair (Ajayan) also acted in 20+ films after Jayan's death. But he was not successful in films like Jayan. Ajayan has 3 children and his younger son Adithyan Jayan is a famous TV serial actor in Malayalam.
Career
Random appearances and early career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearances in some movies of the early 1970s, the first of which was in Postmane Kanmanilla. These minor appearances were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew, he had the role of a vampire-like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which was never released. His first appearance with the name Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham, which is usually credited as his first film.
Rise to fame
The name "Jayan" (English: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles and his first appearance in front of the camera was Postmane kananilla (1972) then starting with the name as Jayan in Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break appearing as a villain in Panchami (1976), playing a forest ranger. Jayan's performance in this film was appreciated in the industry and his physical appearance was also noticed for the first time. His next notable role was in Thacholi Ambu (1978), in which he appeared in a supporting role. In the same year, he acted as a sage in the Sreekumaran Thampi film Etho Oru Swapnam, which was well received by critics. But what made Jayan a superstar was his antihero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time with superhit movies like Chaakara directed by P.G. Viswambharan & Angadi directed by I.V. Sasi who were the two hitmakers of the time. He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all box-office records set in the Malayalam movie industry till it's time and became the highest-grossing movie of 1979.
Its box-office records were broken by another Jayan film, Angadi (Market) in the following year, which cemented his popularity among the masses. In films such as Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc. he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of films that garnered critical appreciation at the time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared bare-chested in numerous scenes. His on-screen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to the Malayalam film history.
Multistar films
Jayan acted in several ensemble cast movies, mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films such as Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc. all of which were top-grossing movies at the box office. He also acted with other popular actors of the time, such as Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In early films before 1979 (e.g. Thacholi Ambu and Panchami), he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the beginning of 1980 relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action hero and placed him as the central character. In 1980, the duo Jayan and Prem Nazir were cast in Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam by P. Venu, that showcased the famous fight scene in Malayalam cinema. Prem Nazir agreed to play a supporting role in Nayattu, which was very unlikely for a superstar of those times. He had agreed to do this as a token of friendship with Jayan and the director Sreekumaran Thamby. The duo had many actions films together such as Irumbazhikal, Love in Singapore etc. where the box office draw was huge.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan died in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave) at the age of 41 years, 3 months and 21 days. The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a rather dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike driven by Sukumaran. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; Nonetheless, another three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing viewers of his death. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project.
Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
The Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released claiming to be his last film, including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films, Jayan's voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular impressionist of the time. Many projects meant for him were recast, such as Thushaaram by I. V. Sasi, P. G. Vishwambaran's Sphodanam, and Sasi Kumar's Dhruvasangamam. Numerous other projects were cancelled entirely. One stunt scene and two songs were already shot with Jayan for C. V. Rajendran's Garjanam, but after his death, it was recast with Rajinikanth, becoming his second film in Malayalam released in 1981.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in impostors who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms, enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up on the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably, and proved especially ineffective in fight and stunt scenes. Then, directors and producers started a search for new actors to replace him. This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (e.g. Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (for example, his own brother who appeared as Ajayan), and those with similar mannerisms and style (e.g. Bheeman Raghu). One of them, Mammootty, who started with the stage name Sajin, would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.
However, all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a similar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotes in Malayalam cinema "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in the 2000s
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It was owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows along with quotes of superhuman strength known as Jayan quotes. However, it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppy Ashraf, who dubbed for many of his characters post his death.
The "comeback" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may be taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today, Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, risky stunts, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 1960s, once stated in an interview: "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
A film titled Avatharam presently under production, is attempting to bring back his screen persona using advanced technologies. A documentary on Jayan's life and death Jayan – The Man behind the Legend is nearing completion for release in the near future.
Legacy
Jayan is perhaps the only actor thus far in the history of Malayalam film industry who remains a marketable superstar decades after his demise, to this day. In the state of Kerala, he is a true icon of popular culture, whose life and image has made him a legend over time.
Superhero image and commercial success
Through his machismo roles and staggering stunt feats, Jayan had attained a real-life Superhero image amongst the fans, masses and colleagues alike. His colourful attire and unique bass voice also helped him capture the imagination of the average viewer as the manly action hero. Along with these, his trademark styles and mannerisms made him a campus hero and youth idol of his time. Summing up, Jayan's image among the masses was that of a daring superhuman who would perform seemingly impossible deeds and accomplish extraordinary feats.
Jayan is the most commercially successful superstar to date in the Malayalam industry with a near 90% success rate. The years 1979, 1980 and 1981 became known as "Jayan years" in the industry due to the widespread release and success of his movies. His films Sharapancharam and Angadi, released in 1979 and 1980 respectively, were record breakers and became the highest grossers of their respective years. His final film, Kolilakkam was the highest grosser in 1981. The noteworthy point is that a large percentage of films released during his peak years lacked a strong plot and were mostly cheap low budget remakes of successful movies from other language sectors of Indian cinema. Many of these films came out astoundingly successful due to his sheer presence and some avoided failures due to his small cameo appearances. Thousands of fans used to visit theatres repeatedly just to see his fascinating stunts and fight scenes.
Daredevilry
Jayan was a high-risk taker and throughout his career, he was popular for stellar performances in a fight and stunt sequences. Dangerous and thrilling stunts were often featured in action films with Jayan in the lead. These were usually highlighted during fight scenes as added promotions to his machismo image and daredevilry. Numerous movies in which he has acted have one or more notable stunt performances.
A few prominent examples may be Puthiya Velicham ("New Light", 1979) in which he performs train stunts jumping onto and from a fast-running goods train, Aavesham ("Inspiration", 1979) which shows the actor swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls, through a major part of the climax sequence without using any kind of safety measures. Movies like Thadavara ("Prison", 1981) and Sharapancharam (1979) demonstrate his brilliant horse riding skills performing almost effortlessly on horseback, while films like Mamangam involved dangerous fights with wild animals. In a film called Moorkhan ("Cobra", 1981) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motorbike (a Royal Enfield Bullet) and it also featured sequences that had the actor sliding along ropes tied at high elevations. Perhaps the most famous movie stunt featuring Jayan came in Chandrahasam ("Moonsword", 1980) in which he held on to the UV clamp of a massive ship crane and was elevated to a height of around 200 feet before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In one of his final stunt scenes, in Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ("Secret never known", 1981) he was involved in a fight scene with an elephant.
Influence on Malayalam cinema
The meteoric rise of Jayan had literally a texture changing impact on the Malayalam film industry. It changed forever the hero concept that existed previously for many years and gave rise to a new genre of film characters with more manly characteristics.
Memorable roles
Most critics often consider Jayan's main hero role in Sharapancjaram, Angadi, Venalil Oru Mazha and Puthiya Velicham to be his best. His most popular character may be the educated labourer in Angadi. The sage's role played by him in Etho Oru Swapnam was well appreciated by critics and would easily feature among his most memorable roles. The supporting role in Kannappanunni, Thacholi Ambu, the villainous ranger in Panchami and the rapist in Kanthavalayam are also critically acclaimed performances. Some other popular roles were in films like Idimuzhakkam, Venalil Oru Mazha, Ithikkara Pakki, Mamangam, Puthiya Velicham, Karimpana, Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam, Chaakara and Kazhukan. While acknowledging his undisputed popularity as a commercial superstar that has never faded over time, general critical opinion on his skills as an actor is divided. While there are criticisms from some corners that he depended more on his features such as his catching physique, bass voice, personal charisma, unique style and mannerisms to garner attention, many others rate him as a great actor who developed his own unique style to leave a lasting impression on every single role he took up. The fact that his peak time as an actor lasted only a few years is often pointed out in reply to criticisms, and considering the short period of his active film career, he may have delivered more critically appreciated performances than most of his contemporaries. But these were always under the shadow of a large majority of films that were able to achieve commercial success capitalising on his drawing power, but had weak plots and less critical acclaim. Some believe that if he'd had a longer career, he would have eventually transformed into a great character actor over time who could excel in commercial and parallel streams alike, after a period of decline in Malayalam films that followed Sathyan's demise. His most popular films like Sharapancjaram and Angadi were both critical and commercial successes. Though he is remembered as an icon of commercial cinema, due to the short span of his career and the generic nature of commercial hero roles of the time, his actual acting talents may have been largely underutilised.
Song sequences
Film songs are an integral part of Indian cinema and the same is true for Malayalam films. Jayan has acted in several memorable song sequences which bring about nostalgic memories about the actor. Song sequences in Jayan films also helped shape the future film song sector in commercial cinema. The song "Kannum Kannum" in the film Angadi presents one of the most popular song sequences in Malayalam cinema involving Jayan and Seema. Its success led to the teaming together of this pair in numerous movies. Another popular song involving the Jayan-Seema pair is "Kasthuri Manmizhi" from the movie Manushya Mrugam. A song that hit tremendous popularity was "Cham Chacha Chum Chacha" in Love in Singapore and Kombil Kilukkum ketti in "Karimpana". The mass popularity of this song sequence later inspired a whole new category of film songs with lyrics that lack any particular meaning, but with a fast beat and dance appeal that came to be known as "Adipoli" songs. There is a song in the film Etho Oru Swapnam called "Oru Mugham Mathram Kannil", which became popular due to its melodious and nostalgic nature.
"Ezham Malika Mele" from Sarppam, directed by Baby was a superhit song paired by Jayan and Seema. Another hit from this team was "Pournami Penne" in Arifa hassan's Benz Vasu and it was hummed by the youth of that time.
Memorials
Kollam District panchayath and Government of Kerala built a new conference hall near to Kollam District panchayath office in Kollam municipal corporation as a memorial to the legend actor. The hall is named as "Jayan Memorial Hall". It was inaugurated on 12 September 2020.
There is a Jayan memorial Arts & Sports club functioning at Thevally near the actor's hometown. The residential area at his birthplace has been renamed "Olayil Jayan Nagar" in his honour.
Jayan Cultural Forum
Jayan Samskarika Vethi or Jayan Cultural Forum has been established recently, which consists of his fans and well wishers. It is headed by the actor's nephew Kannan Nair, and aims at uniting his diverse fan base consisting of young and old people from several generations under a single platform. Activities include organising anniversary functions and memorial programs, facilitating his coworkers, maintaining the actor's website and official profiles and charity work.
Monuments
In 2009, an 8 ft high statue of the actor was erected in front of his house at Olayil, Kollam which is now a nursing home. Efforts are being made to construct a permanent memorial at Mulankadakam where he was cremated, and also to open a library and museum near his home.
In media
Media on Jayan
A book titled Jayan Americayil? (Jayan in America?) came out in 1981 and had record sales at the time. It circulated the rumour that Jayan was alive in America with an injured eye and that it was a look-alike who was killed in the accident.
Another book Jayante Maranam Kolapathakamo (Jayan's death, a murder) was also published in 1981, capitalising on the conspiracy theories and mystery surrounding the superstar's death.
The actor's life was serialised in a Malayalam film magazine and then brought out as Jayante Katha.
An elaborate biography named Jayan : Abhralokathintey Ithihasa Naayakan is being completed and will reportedly be published in 2011.
A documentary Jayan-The Man behind the Legend is under production and is set to be released in 2011.
In popular culture
Print media
The actor's domination and commercial success in the 1970s is mentioned in the book Because I have a Voice. It focuses on Jayan's masculine image.
Jayan's famous emotional English dialogue in street slang is included at number 7 in Outlook magazine's Terrific 13 lists published in the 13th anniversary edition of the magazine, in the section '13 Cheesiest Chalkiest dialogues in Indian Cinema'.
Films
In the movie Aye Auto, there is a reference to Jayan's English dialogue in Angadi.
The movies Dupe Dupe Dupe and Aparanmaar Nagarathil had Jayan impersonators in the lead.
In the film Pattanathil Bhootham, the popular Jayan song sequence Cham Chacha Chumchacha is played out with impersonation. The horse oiling scene from Sarapancharam is also reconstructed.
In Chotta Mumbai, a Jayan-Nazir mixed song sequence is played out with Jayan attire used in the song sequence of the popular Nazir song Chettikulangara.
In the film Shikkar, Jayan's image is used in the sets of a fight scene in a bid to stress the adventurous setting of the film.
In Thanthonni, Jayan's voice and dialogue tone is imitated.
The film Valiyangadi was promoted as a sequel to Jayan's Angadi.
In the film Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jayan's stunt sequence and the celebrated row with "Alavalathi Shaji" from the film Lisa is shown in a theatre scene.
The famous song "Kannum Kannum" from Jayan's film Angadi is included with Mammooty impersonating Jayan's style in the film Venicile Vyapari.
The recent hit Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan has the actor Siddique acting as an ardent fan of Jayan and impersonates his style for seeing his movies.
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies. The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), was announced to be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid. The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.
Filmography
See also
Jayan quotes
References
External links
Profile of Malayalam Actor Jayan
Further reading
http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/profiles.php?i=48
Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
Image gallery
Jayan Anniversary Special at Mathrubhumi portal
"Jayan: Love You All" – an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
1980 deaths
Male actors from Kollam
Indian stunt performers
Filmed deaths of entertainers
1939 births
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
20th-century Indian male actors
Indian Navy personnel | true | [
"Daniel D. Sutton (born August 4, 1970) was a Democratic member of the South Dakota Senate, representing the 8th district from 2001 through 2008. During his time in the state senate, he served as Minority Whip. Sutton was a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1999 through 2000.\n\nSexual abuse allegations \nIn 2007, Sutton was sued for sexually abusing an 18-year-old legislative page. The case was settled with no money being paid to the person.\n\nReferences\n\n Ellis, Jonathan (13 March 2020). \"'I don't want anyone else to get hurt': Former state senator, mayoral candidate accused of sexual abuse\". Argus Leader. Retrieved 6 June 2020.\n\nExternal links\nSouth Dakota Legislature - Dan Sutton official SD Senate website\n\nProject Vote Smart - Senator Dan Sutton (SD) profile\nFollow the Money - Dan Sutton\n2006 2004 2002 2000 campaign contributions\n\nSouth Dakota state senators\nMembers of the South Dakota House of Representatives\n1970 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Flandreau, South Dakota",
"Bonds on Bonds is a 2006 American 10-part reality television series starring former San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds that aired on ESPN. The show revolved on the life of Bonds and his chase of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron's home run records. It was produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions, producers of the Nickelodeon series All That and many other shows and movies.\n\nSegment breakdown\nThe first segment of Bonds on Bonds, aired Tuesday, April 4 nationwide on ESPN2. Much of the premiere episode dealt with how Bonds has coped with questions about whether steroids have fueled his athletic performance. At one point, Bonds even started to break down in tears. \"If it makes them happy to go out of their way to try to destroy me, go right ahead. You can't hurt me any more than you've already hurt me,\" he said. He continued by saying, \"You don't see me bringing anyone else into this. I'm going to take it myself.\" Bonds paused as his eyes welled and he choked back tears, \"And I'm going to take it because there's so many people who depend on me.\"\n\nIn different segments throughout the program, Bonds acknowledged his often rocky relations with the press but cast himself as a victim of critics out to tear him down. He described himself as \"mentally and emotionally drained\" but insisted he was not going to let anyone \"bring me down.\"\n\nCriticism and Cancellation\nESPN was criticized for allowing Bonds such a one-sided public pulpit, as it was the most powerful name in American sports journalism; the show was seen by some as ESPN giving up any semblance of journalism in favor of becoming a public relations front for major sports teams and players. In June 2006, ESPN and producer Tollin/Robbins Productions officially pulled the plug on the reality series, citing \"creative control\" issues with star Barry Bonds and his representatives. No other details about the decision were given. Bonds on Bonds had been absent from the network's schedule since May 30, 2006 and had been generating poor ratings.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nBarry Bonds\nESPN original programming\n2006 American television series debuts\n2006 American television series endings\n2000s American reality television series\nMajor League Baseball on television\nSan Francisco Giants"
] |
[
"Jayan",
"Death",
"What caused Jayan's death?",
"Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave).",
"Where was the movie set?",
"the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu.",
"Who was starring in the movie with him?",
"co-star Balan K. Nair,",
"What caused the accident?",
"During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.",
"Was anyone else hurt?",
"regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries."
] | C_da71b2eacf9249bc964a5f4c145c2cf3_1 | Did he have any family at the time of his death? | 6 | Did Jayan have any family at the time of his death? | Jayan | On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed. According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project. Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident. CANNOTANSWER | His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. | Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian film actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous for his macho image and unique style. He was reputed for his masculine appeal and well known for performing stunts of a dangerous nature on his own. By the late 1970s, he became the most popular superstar, lead actor and bankable star of Malayalam cinema and has been acclaimed as the first and most successful action hero of Malayalam cinema. Jayan is widely regarded as one of the most influential superstars in the history of Malayalam cinema.
His superhero image had transformed him into a popular culture icon among Malayalis around the world, with widespread impersonations on stage and television programs based on his screen persona. It was accompanied by a cartoon, email and SMS phenomenon in the early 2000s, portraying him as a comic superhero with unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star becoming widespread. These movements were fuelled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialogue delivery and his machismo image. These were claimed to honour his memories, but were also criticised for parodying the legendary actor years after his death.
Early life
Jayan was born in Quilon, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birth name was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Malayalam actress Jayabharathi, who was his first cousin introduced him to the film industry. Jayan's formal education ended at the 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions such as anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. By the end of his navy days, he had begun efforts to start small businesses at Ernakulam and became a regular inhabitant of the Cochin Tourist Home. During his life at Ernakulam, he would meet some of his lifelong friends. It was such a chance meeting while on leave, with Rajan Prakash who is the veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that eventually landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham. A year later, he left the Indian Navy and started trying his hand at various civilian jobs, working for companies in Cochin for a few years till his acting career began to succeed. Jayan's younger brother Soman Nair (Ajayan) also acted in 20+ films after Jayan's death. But he was not successful in films like Jayan. Ajayan has 3 children and his younger son Adithyan Jayan is a famous TV serial actor in Malayalam.
Career
Random appearances and early career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearances in some movies of the early 1970s, the first of which was in Postmane Kanmanilla. These minor appearances were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew, he had the role of a vampire-like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which was never released. His first appearance with the name Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham, which is usually credited as his first film.
Rise to fame
The name "Jayan" (English: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles and his first appearance in front of the camera was Postmane kananilla (1972) then starting with the name as Jayan in Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break appearing as a villain in Panchami (1976), playing a forest ranger. Jayan's performance in this film was appreciated in the industry and his physical appearance was also noticed for the first time. His next notable role was in Thacholi Ambu (1978), in which he appeared in a supporting role. In the same year, he acted as a sage in the Sreekumaran Thampi film Etho Oru Swapnam, which was well received by critics. But what made Jayan a superstar was his antihero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time with superhit movies like Chaakara directed by P.G. Viswambharan & Angadi directed by I.V. Sasi who were the two hitmakers of the time. He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all box-office records set in the Malayalam movie industry till it's time and became the highest-grossing movie of 1979.
Its box-office records were broken by another Jayan film, Angadi (Market) in the following year, which cemented his popularity among the masses. In films such as Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc. he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of films that garnered critical appreciation at the time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared bare-chested in numerous scenes. His on-screen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to the Malayalam film history.
Multistar films
Jayan acted in several ensemble cast movies, mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films such as Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc. all of which were top-grossing movies at the box office. He also acted with other popular actors of the time, such as Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In early films before 1979 (e.g. Thacholi Ambu and Panchami), he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the beginning of 1980 relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action hero and placed him as the central character. In 1980, the duo Jayan and Prem Nazir were cast in Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam by P. Venu, that showcased the famous fight scene in Malayalam cinema. Prem Nazir agreed to play a supporting role in Nayattu, which was very unlikely for a superstar of those times. He had agreed to do this as a token of friendship with Jayan and the director Sreekumaran Thamby. The duo had many actions films together such as Irumbazhikal, Love in Singapore etc. where the box office draw was huge.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan died in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave) at the age of 41 years, 3 months and 21 days. The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a rather dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike driven by Sukumaran. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; Nonetheless, another three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing viewers of his death. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project.
Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
The Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released claiming to be his last film, including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films, Jayan's voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular impressionist of the time. Many projects meant for him were recast, such as Thushaaram by I. V. Sasi, P. G. Vishwambaran's Sphodanam, and Sasi Kumar's Dhruvasangamam. Numerous other projects were cancelled entirely. One stunt scene and two songs were already shot with Jayan for C. V. Rajendran's Garjanam, but after his death, it was recast with Rajinikanth, becoming his second film in Malayalam released in 1981.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in impostors who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms, enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up on the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably, and proved especially ineffective in fight and stunt scenes. Then, directors and producers started a search for new actors to replace him. This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (e.g. Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (for example, his own brother who appeared as Ajayan), and those with similar mannerisms and style (e.g. Bheeman Raghu). One of them, Mammootty, who started with the stage name Sajin, would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.
However, all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a similar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotes in Malayalam cinema "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in the 2000s
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It was owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows along with quotes of superhuman strength known as Jayan quotes. However, it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppy Ashraf, who dubbed for many of his characters post his death.
The "comeback" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may be taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today, Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, risky stunts, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 1960s, once stated in an interview: "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
A film titled Avatharam presently under production, is attempting to bring back his screen persona using advanced technologies. A documentary on Jayan's life and death Jayan – The Man behind the Legend is nearing completion for release in the near future.
Legacy
Jayan is perhaps the only actor thus far in the history of Malayalam film industry who remains a marketable superstar decades after his demise, to this day. In the state of Kerala, he is a true icon of popular culture, whose life and image has made him a legend over time.
Superhero image and commercial success
Through his machismo roles and staggering stunt feats, Jayan had attained a real-life Superhero image amongst the fans, masses and colleagues alike. His colourful attire and unique bass voice also helped him capture the imagination of the average viewer as the manly action hero. Along with these, his trademark styles and mannerisms made him a campus hero and youth idol of his time. Summing up, Jayan's image among the masses was that of a daring superhuman who would perform seemingly impossible deeds and accomplish extraordinary feats.
Jayan is the most commercially successful superstar to date in the Malayalam industry with a near 90% success rate. The years 1979, 1980 and 1981 became known as "Jayan years" in the industry due to the widespread release and success of his movies. His films Sharapancharam and Angadi, released in 1979 and 1980 respectively, were record breakers and became the highest grossers of their respective years. His final film, Kolilakkam was the highest grosser in 1981. The noteworthy point is that a large percentage of films released during his peak years lacked a strong plot and were mostly cheap low budget remakes of successful movies from other language sectors of Indian cinema. Many of these films came out astoundingly successful due to his sheer presence and some avoided failures due to his small cameo appearances. Thousands of fans used to visit theatres repeatedly just to see his fascinating stunts and fight scenes.
Daredevilry
Jayan was a high-risk taker and throughout his career, he was popular for stellar performances in a fight and stunt sequences. Dangerous and thrilling stunts were often featured in action films with Jayan in the lead. These were usually highlighted during fight scenes as added promotions to his machismo image and daredevilry. Numerous movies in which he has acted have one or more notable stunt performances.
A few prominent examples may be Puthiya Velicham ("New Light", 1979) in which he performs train stunts jumping onto and from a fast-running goods train, Aavesham ("Inspiration", 1979) which shows the actor swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls, through a major part of the climax sequence without using any kind of safety measures. Movies like Thadavara ("Prison", 1981) and Sharapancharam (1979) demonstrate his brilliant horse riding skills performing almost effortlessly on horseback, while films like Mamangam involved dangerous fights with wild animals. In a film called Moorkhan ("Cobra", 1981) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motorbike (a Royal Enfield Bullet) and it also featured sequences that had the actor sliding along ropes tied at high elevations. Perhaps the most famous movie stunt featuring Jayan came in Chandrahasam ("Moonsword", 1980) in which he held on to the UV clamp of a massive ship crane and was elevated to a height of around 200 feet before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In one of his final stunt scenes, in Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ("Secret never known", 1981) he was involved in a fight scene with an elephant.
Influence on Malayalam cinema
The meteoric rise of Jayan had literally a texture changing impact on the Malayalam film industry. It changed forever the hero concept that existed previously for many years and gave rise to a new genre of film characters with more manly characteristics.
Memorable roles
Most critics often consider Jayan's main hero role in Sharapancjaram, Angadi, Venalil Oru Mazha and Puthiya Velicham to be his best. His most popular character may be the educated labourer in Angadi. The sage's role played by him in Etho Oru Swapnam was well appreciated by critics and would easily feature among his most memorable roles. The supporting role in Kannappanunni, Thacholi Ambu, the villainous ranger in Panchami and the rapist in Kanthavalayam are also critically acclaimed performances. Some other popular roles were in films like Idimuzhakkam, Venalil Oru Mazha, Ithikkara Pakki, Mamangam, Puthiya Velicham, Karimpana, Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam, Chaakara and Kazhukan. While acknowledging his undisputed popularity as a commercial superstar that has never faded over time, general critical opinion on his skills as an actor is divided. While there are criticisms from some corners that he depended more on his features such as his catching physique, bass voice, personal charisma, unique style and mannerisms to garner attention, many others rate him as a great actor who developed his own unique style to leave a lasting impression on every single role he took up. The fact that his peak time as an actor lasted only a few years is often pointed out in reply to criticisms, and considering the short period of his active film career, he may have delivered more critically appreciated performances than most of his contemporaries. But these were always under the shadow of a large majority of films that were able to achieve commercial success capitalising on his drawing power, but had weak plots and less critical acclaim. Some believe that if he'd had a longer career, he would have eventually transformed into a great character actor over time who could excel in commercial and parallel streams alike, after a period of decline in Malayalam films that followed Sathyan's demise. His most popular films like Sharapancjaram and Angadi were both critical and commercial successes. Though he is remembered as an icon of commercial cinema, due to the short span of his career and the generic nature of commercial hero roles of the time, his actual acting talents may have been largely underutilised.
Song sequences
Film songs are an integral part of Indian cinema and the same is true for Malayalam films. Jayan has acted in several memorable song sequences which bring about nostalgic memories about the actor. Song sequences in Jayan films also helped shape the future film song sector in commercial cinema. The song "Kannum Kannum" in the film Angadi presents one of the most popular song sequences in Malayalam cinema involving Jayan and Seema. Its success led to the teaming together of this pair in numerous movies. Another popular song involving the Jayan-Seema pair is "Kasthuri Manmizhi" from the movie Manushya Mrugam. A song that hit tremendous popularity was "Cham Chacha Chum Chacha" in Love in Singapore and Kombil Kilukkum ketti in "Karimpana". The mass popularity of this song sequence later inspired a whole new category of film songs with lyrics that lack any particular meaning, but with a fast beat and dance appeal that came to be known as "Adipoli" songs. There is a song in the film Etho Oru Swapnam called "Oru Mugham Mathram Kannil", which became popular due to its melodious and nostalgic nature.
"Ezham Malika Mele" from Sarppam, directed by Baby was a superhit song paired by Jayan and Seema. Another hit from this team was "Pournami Penne" in Arifa hassan's Benz Vasu and it was hummed by the youth of that time.
Memorials
Kollam District panchayath and Government of Kerala built a new conference hall near to Kollam District panchayath office in Kollam municipal corporation as a memorial to the legend actor. The hall is named as "Jayan Memorial Hall". It was inaugurated on 12 September 2020.
There is a Jayan memorial Arts & Sports club functioning at Thevally near the actor's hometown. The residential area at his birthplace has been renamed "Olayil Jayan Nagar" in his honour.
Jayan Cultural Forum
Jayan Samskarika Vethi or Jayan Cultural Forum has been established recently, which consists of his fans and well wishers. It is headed by the actor's nephew Kannan Nair, and aims at uniting his diverse fan base consisting of young and old people from several generations under a single platform. Activities include organising anniversary functions and memorial programs, facilitating his coworkers, maintaining the actor's website and official profiles and charity work.
Monuments
In 2009, an 8 ft high statue of the actor was erected in front of his house at Olayil, Kollam which is now a nursing home. Efforts are being made to construct a permanent memorial at Mulankadakam where he was cremated, and also to open a library and museum near his home.
In media
Media on Jayan
A book titled Jayan Americayil? (Jayan in America?) came out in 1981 and had record sales at the time. It circulated the rumour that Jayan was alive in America with an injured eye and that it was a look-alike who was killed in the accident.
Another book Jayante Maranam Kolapathakamo (Jayan's death, a murder) was also published in 1981, capitalising on the conspiracy theories and mystery surrounding the superstar's death.
The actor's life was serialised in a Malayalam film magazine and then brought out as Jayante Katha.
An elaborate biography named Jayan : Abhralokathintey Ithihasa Naayakan is being completed and will reportedly be published in 2011.
A documentary Jayan-The Man behind the Legend is under production and is set to be released in 2011.
In popular culture
Print media
The actor's domination and commercial success in the 1970s is mentioned in the book Because I have a Voice. It focuses on Jayan's masculine image.
Jayan's famous emotional English dialogue in street slang is included at number 7 in Outlook magazine's Terrific 13 lists published in the 13th anniversary edition of the magazine, in the section '13 Cheesiest Chalkiest dialogues in Indian Cinema'.
Films
In the movie Aye Auto, there is a reference to Jayan's English dialogue in Angadi.
The movies Dupe Dupe Dupe and Aparanmaar Nagarathil had Jayan impersonators in the lead.
In the film Pattanathil Bhootham, the popular Jayan song sequence Cham Chacha Chumchacha is played out with impersonation. The horse oiling scene from Sarapancharam is also reconstructed.
In Chotta Mumbai, a Jayan-Nazir mixed song sequence is played out with Jayan attire used in the song sequence of the popular Nazir song Chettikulangara.
In the film Shikkar, Jayan's image is used in the sets of a fight scene in a bid to stress the adventurous setting of the film.
In Thanthonni, Jayan's voice and dialogue tone is imitated.
The film Valiyangadi was promoted as a sequel to Jayan's Angadi.
In the film Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jayan's stunt sequence and the celebrated row with "Alavalathi Shaji" from the film Lisa is shown in a theatre scene.
The famous song "Kannum Kannum" from Jayan's film Angadi is included with Mammooty impersonating Jayan's style in the film Venicile Vyapari.
The recent hit Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan has the actor Siddique acting as an ardent fan of Jayan and impersonates his style for seeing his movies.
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies. The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), was announced to be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid. The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.
Filmography
See also
Jayan quotes
References
External links
Profile of Malayalam Actor Jayan
Further reading
http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/profiles.php?i=48
Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
Image gallery
Jayan Anniversary Special at Mathrubhumi portal
"Jayan: Love You All" – an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
1980 deaths
Male actors from Kollam
Indian stunt performers
Filmed deaths of entertainers
1939 births
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
20th-century Indian male actors
Indian Navy personnel | true | [
"Edmund Pytts (23 February 1729 – 13 December 1781) was a British Tory politician, MP for Worcestershire 1753–1761.\n\nPytts was the son of Edmund Pytts and Susanna Collet. He may have been educated at Eton College 1742–45, and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1745.\n\nPytts' grandfather Samuel Pytts and father Edmund Pytts had both served as MP for Worcestershire. Following his father's death in 1753, he was elected unopposed to succeed him in a by-election, and re-elected unopposed in 1754. He did not stand in 1761, nor in any subsequent election.\n\nHe served as the High Sheriff of Worcestershire 1771–72.\n\nPytts inherited the family manor at Kyre Park, Worcestershire, owned by the Pytts family since 1575. He conveyed the property to his brother Jonathan some time before his death.\n\nHe died on 13 December 1781.\n\nReferences\n\n1729 births\n1781 deaths\nPeople educated at Eton College\nMembers of Lincoln's Inn\nBritish MPs 1747–1754\nBritish MPs 1754–1761\nTory members of the Parliament of Great Britain\nHigh Sheriffs of Worcestershire\nMembers of the Parliament of Great Britain for Worcestershire",
"George Philips Alexander Sinclair, 15th Earl of Caithness (30 November 1858 – 28 May 1889), was a Scottish aristocrat.\n\nLife\nGeorge Sinclair was the eldest son of James Sinclair, 14th Earl of Caithness and his first wife Louisa Georgiana Philips. He was educated privately and at Magdalene College, Cambridge. On 28 March 1881 he succeeded his father as Earl of Caithness and 2nd Baron Barrogill. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Caithness from 1881 until his death in 1889.\n\nSuffering from epilepsy throughout his short life, his illness killed him at the age of 30. He died following an epileptic seizure at the Palace Hotel in Edinburgh. He never married and did not have any children. By his will, the 15th Earl bequeathed the Castle of Mey and its lands and estates out of the hands of the Sinclairs leaving the future Earls of Caithness without a family seat. He left it all to his friend, Mr F. G. Heathcote on the condition that he took the name of Sinclair (which he did) and that he lived in the Castle for at least 3 months of each year (which he also did).\n\nReferences\n\n Mosley, Charles (ed.), Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th Edition, Wilmington, Delaware, 2003, vol I, p. 645, \n The Peerage.com\n\nExternal links\n\n1858 births\n1889 deaths\nAlumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge\nLord-Lieutenants of Caithness\nEarls of Caithness"
] |
[
"Jayan",
"Death",
"What caused Jayan's death?",
"Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave).",
"Where was the movie set?",
"the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu.",
"Who was starring in the movie with him?",
"co-star Balan K. Nair,",
"What caused the accident?",
"During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.",
"Was anyone else hurt?",
"regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries.",
"Did he have any family at the time of his death?",
"His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later."
] | C_da71b2eacf9249bc964a5f4c145c2cf3_1 | Was there any controversy about his death? | 7 | Was there any controversy about Jayan's death? | Jayan | On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed. According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project. Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident. CANNOTANSWER | Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, | Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian film actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous for his macho image and unique style. He was reputed for his masculine appeal and well known for performing stunts of a dangerous nature on his own. By the late 1970s, he became the most popular superstar, lead actor and bankable star of Malayalam cinema and has been acclaimed as the first and most successful action hero of Malayalam cinema. Jayan is widely regarded as one of the most influential superstars in the history of Malayalam cinema.
His superhero image had transformed him into a popular culture icon among Malayalis around the world, with widespread impersonations on stage and television programs based on his screen persona. It was accompanied by a cartoon, email and SMS phenomenon in the early 2000s, portraying him as a comic superhero with unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star becoming widespread. These movements were fuelled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialogue delivery and his machismo image. These were claimed to honour his memories, but were also criticised for parodying the legendary actor years after his death.
Early life
Jayan was born in Quilon, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birth name was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Malayalam actress Jayabharathi, who was his first cousin introduced him to the film industry. Jayan's formal education ended at the 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions such as anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. By the end of his navy days, he had begun efforts to start small businesses at Ernakulam and became a regular inhabitant of the Cochin Tourist Home. During his life at Ernakulam, he would meet some of his lifelong friends. It was such a chance meeting while on leave, with Rajan Prakash who is the veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that eventually landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham. A year later, he left the Indian Navy and started trying his hand at various civilian jobs, working for companies in Cochin for a few years till his acting career began to succeed. Jayan's younger brother Soman Nair (Ajayan) also acted in 20+ films after Jayan's death. But he was not successful in films like Jayan. Ajayan has 3 children and his younger son Adithyan Jayan is a famous TV serial actor in Malayalam.
Career
Random appearances and early career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearances in some movies of the early 1970s, the first of which was in Postmane Kanmanilla. These minor appearances were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew, he had the role of a vampire-like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which was never released. His first appearance with the name Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham, which is usually credited as his first film.
Rise to fame
The name "Jayan" (English: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles and his first appearance in front of the camera was Postmane kananilla (1972) then starting with the name as Jayan in Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break appearing as a villain in Panchami (1976), playing a forest ranger. Jayan's performance in this film was appreciated in the industry and his physical appearance was also noticed for the first time. His next notable role was in Thacholi Ambu (1978), in which he appeared in a supporting role. In the same year, he acted as a sage in the Sreekumaran Thampi film Etho Oru Swapnam, which was well received by critics. But what made Jayan a superstar was his antihero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time with superhit movies like Chaakara directed by P.G. Viswambharan & Angadi directed by I.V. Sasi who were the two hitmakers of the time. He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all box-office records set in the Malayalam movie industry till it's time and became the highest-grossing movie of 1979.
Its box-office records were broken by another Jayan film, Angadi (Market) in the following year, which cemented his popularity among the masses. In films such as Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc. he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of films that garnered critical appreciation at the time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared bare-chested in numerous scenes. His on-screen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to the Malayalam film history.
Multistar films
Jayan acted in several ensemble cast movies, mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films such as Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc. all of which were top-grossing movies at the box office. He also acted with other popular actors of the time, such as Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In early films before 1979 (e.g. Thacholi Ambu and Panchami), he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the beginning of 1980 relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action hero and placed him as the central character. In 1980, the duo Jayan and Prem Nazir were cast in Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam by P. Venu, that showcased the famous fight scene in Malayalam cinema. Prem Nazir agreed to play a supporting role in Nayattu, which was very unlikely for a superstar of those times. He had agreed to do this as a token of friendship with Jayan and the director Sreekumaran Thamby. The duo had many actions films together such as Irumbazhikal, Love in Singapore etc. where the box office draw was huge.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan died in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave) at the age of 41 years, 3 months and 21 days. The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a rather dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike driven by Sukumaran. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; Nonetheless, another three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing viewers of his death. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project.
Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
The Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released claiming to be his last film, including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films, Jayan's voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular impressionist of the time. Many projects meant for him were recast, such as Thushaaram by I. V. Sasi, P. G. Vishwambaran's Sphodanam, and Sasi Kumar's Dhruvasangamam. Numerous other projects were cancelled entirely. One stunt scene and two songs were already shot with Jayan for C. V. Rajendran's Garjanam, but after his death, it was recast with Rajinikanth, becoming his second film in Malayalam released in 1981.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in impostors who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms, enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up on the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably, and proved especially ineffective in fight and stunt scenes. Then, directors and producers started a search for new actors to replace him. This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (e.g. Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (for example, his own brother who appeared as Ajayan), and those with similar mannerisms and style (e.g. Bheeman Raghu). One of them, Mammootty, who started with the stage name Sajin, would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.
However, all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a similar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotes in Malayalam cinema "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in the 2000s
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It was owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows along with quotes of superhuman strength known as Jayan quotes. However, it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppy Ashraf, who dubbed for many of his characters post his death.
The "comeback" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may be taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today, Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, risky stunts, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 1960s, once stated in an interview: "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
A film titled Avatharam presently under production, is attempting to bring back his screen persona using advanced technologies. A documentary on Jayan's life and death Jayan – The Man behind the Legend is nearing completion for release in the near future.
Legacy
Jayan is perhaps the only actor thus far in the history of Malayalam film industry who remains a marketable superstar decades after his demise, to this day. In the state of Kerala, he is a true icon of popular culture, whose life and image has made him a legend over time.
Superhero image and commercial success
Through his machismo roles and staggering stunt feats, Jayan had attained a real-life Superhero image amongst the fans, masses and colleagues alike. His colourful attire and unique bass voice also helped him capture the imagination of the average viewer as the manly action hero. Along with these, his trademark styles and mannerisms made him a campus hero and youth idol of his time. Summing up, Jayan's image among the masses was that of a daring superhuman who would perform seemingly impossible deeds and accomplish extraordinary feats.
Jayan is the most commercially successful superstar to date in the Malayalam industry with a near 90% success rate. The years 1979, 1980 and 1981 became known as "Jayan years" in the industry due to the widespread release and success of his movies. His films Sharapancharam and Angadi, released in 1979 and 1980 respectively, were record breakers and became the highest grossers of their respective years. His final film, Kolilakkam was the highest grosser in 1981. The noteworthy point is that a large percentage of films released during his peak years lacked a strong plot and were mostly cheap low budget remakes of successful movies from other language sectors of Indian cinema. Many of these films came out astoundingly successful due to his sheer presence and some avoided failures due to his small cameo appearances. Thousands of fans used to visit theatres repeatedly just to see his fascinating stunts and fight scenes.
Daredevilry
Jayan was a high-risk taker and throughout his career, he was popular for stellar performances in a fight and stunt sequences. Dangerous and thrilling stunts were often featured in action films with Jayan in the lead. These were usually highlighted during fight scenes as added promotions to his machismo image and daredevilry. Numerous movies in which he has acted have one or more notable stunt performances.
A few prominent examples may be Puthiya Velicham ("New Light", 1979) in which he performs train stunts jumping onto and from a fast-running goods train, Aavesham ("Inspiration", 1979) which shows the actor swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls, through a major part of the climax sequence without using any kind of safety measures. Movies like Thadavara ("Prison", 1981) and Sharapancharam (1979) demonstrate his brilliant horse riding skills performing almost effortlessly on horseback, while films like Mamangam involved dangerous fights with wild animals. In a film called Moorkhan ("Cobra", 1981) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motorbike (a Royal Enfield Bullet) and it also featured sequences that had the actor sliding along ropes tied at high elevations. Perhaps the most famous movie stunt featuring Jayan came in Chandrahasam ("Moonsword", 1980) in which he held on to the UV clamp of a massive ship crane and was elevated to a height of around 200 feet before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In one of his final stunt scenes, in Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ("Secret never known", 1981) he was involved in a fight scene with an elephant.
Influence on Malayalam cinema
The meteoric rise of Jayan had literally a texture changing impact on the Malayalam film industry. It changed forever the hero concept that existed previously for many years and gave rise to a new genre of film characters with more manly characteristics.
Memorable roles
Most critics often consider Jayan's main hero role in Sharapancjaram, Angadi, Venalil Oru Mazha and Puthiya Velicham to be his best. His most popular character may be the educated labourer in Angadi. The sage's role played by him in Etho Oru Swapnam was well appreciated by critics and would easily feature among his most memorable roles. The supporting role in Kannappanunni, Thacholi Ambu, the villainous ranger in Panchami and the rapist in Kanthavalayam are also critically acclaimed performances. Some other popular roles were in films like Idimuzhakkam, Venalil Oru Mazha, Ithikkara Pakki, Mamangam, Puthiya Velicham, Karimpana, Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam, Chaakara and Kazhukan. While acknowledging his undisputed popularity as a commercial superstar that has never faded over time, general critical opinion on his skills as an actor is divided. While there are criticisms from some corners that he depended more on his features such as his catching physique, bass voice, personal charisma, unique style and mannerisms to garner attention, many others rate him as a great actor who developed his own unique style to leave a lasting impression on every single role he took up. The fact that his peak time as an actor lasted only a few years is often pointed out in reply to criticisms, and considering the short period of his active film career, he may have delivered more critically appreciated performances than most of his contemporaries. But these were always under the shadow of a large majority of films that were able to achieve commercial success capitalising on his drawing power, but had weak plots and less critical acclaim. Some believe that if he'd had a longer career, he would have eventually transformed into a great character actor over time who could excel in commercial and parallel streams alike, after a period of decline in Malayalam films that followed Sathyan's demise. His most popular films like Sharapancjaram and Angadi were both critical and commercial successes. Though he is remembered as an icon of commercial cinema, due to the short span of his career and the generic nature of commercial hero roles of the time, his actual acting talents may have been largely underutilised.
Song sequences
Film songs are an integral part of Indian cinema and the same is true for Malayalam films. Jayan has acted in several memorable song sequences which bring about nostalgic memories about the actor. Song sequences in Jayan films also helped shape the future film song sector in commercial cinema. The song "Kannum Kannum" in the film Angadi presents one of the most popular song sequences in Malayalam cinema involving Jayan and Seema. Its success led to the teaming together of this pair in numerous movies. Another popular song involving the Jayan-Seema pair is "Kasthuri Manmizhi" from the movie Manushya Mrugam. A song that hit tremendous popularity was "Cham Chacha Chum Chacha" in Love in Singapore and Kombil Kilukkum ketti in "Karimpana". The mass popularity of this song sequence later inspired a whole new category of film songs with lyrics that lack any particular meaning, but with a fast beat and dance appeal that came to be known as "Adipoli" songs. There is a song in the film Etho Oru Swapnam called "Oru Mugham Mathram Kannil", which became popular due to its melodious and nostalgic nature.
"Ezham Malika Mele" from Sarppam, directed by Baby was a superhit song paired by Jayan and Seema. Another hit from this team was "Pournami Penne" in Arifa hassan's Benz Vasu and it was hummed by the youth of that time.
Memorials
Kollam District panchayath and Government of Kerala built a new conference hall near to Kollam District panchayath office in Kollam municipal corporation as a memorial to the legend actor. The hall is named as "Jayan Memorial Hall". It was inaugurated on 12 September 2020.
There is a Jayan memorial Arts & Sports club functioning at Thevally near the actor's hometown. The residential area at his birthplace has been renamed "Olayil Jayan Nagar" in his honour.
Jayan Cultural Forum
Jayan Samskarika Vethi or Jayan Cultural Forum has been established recently, which consists of his fans and well wishers. It is headed by the actor's nephew Kannan Nair, and aims at uniting his diverse fan base consisting of young and old people from several generations under a single platform. Activities include organising anniversary functions and memorial programs, facilitating his coworkers, maintaining the actor's website and official profiles and charity work.
Monuments
In 2009, an 8 ft high statue of the actor was erected in front of his house at Olayil, Kollam which is now a nursing home. Efforts are being made to construct a permanent memorial at Mulankadakam where he was cremated, and also to open a library and museum near his home.
In media
Media on Jayan
A book titled Jayan Americayil? (Jayan in America?) came out in 1981 and had record sales at the time. It circulated the rumour that Jayan was alive in America with an injured eye and that it was a look-alike who was killed in the accident.
Another book Jayante Maranam Kolapathakamo (Jayan's death, a murder) was also published in 1981, capitalising on the conspiracy theories and mystery surrounding the superstar's death.
The actor's life was serialised in a Malayalam film magazine and then brought out as Jayante Katha.
An elaborate biography named Jayan : Abhralokathintey Ithihasa Naayakan is being completed and will reportedly be published in 2011.
A documentary Jayan-The Man behind the Legend is under production and is set to be released in 2011.
In popular culture
Print media
The actor's domination and commercial success in the 1970s is mentioned in the book Because I have a Voice. It focuses on Jayan's masculine image.
Jayan's famous emotional English dialogue in street slang is included at number 7 in Outlook magazine's Terrific 13 lists published in the 13th anniversary edition of the magazine, in the section '13 Cheesiest Chalkiest dialogues in Indian Cinema'.
Films
In the movie Aye Auto, there is a reference to Jayan's English dialogue in Angadi.
The movies Dupe Dupe Dupe and Aparanmaar Nagarathil had Jayan impersonators in the lead.
In the film Pattanathil Bhootham, the popular Jayan song sequence Cham Chacha Chumchacha is played out with impersonation. The horse oiling scene from Sarapancharam is also reconstructed.
In Chotta Mumbai, a Jayan-Nazir mixed song sequence is played out with Jayan attire used in the song sequence of the popular Nazir song Chettikulangara.
In the film Shikkar, Jayan's image is used in the sets of a fight scene in a bid to stress the adventurous setting of the film.
In Thanthonni, Jayan's voice and dialogue tone is imitated.
The film Valiyangadi was promoted as a sequel to Jayan's Angadi.
In the film Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jayan's stunt sequence and the celebrated row with "Alavalathi Shaji" from the film Lisa is shown in a theatre scene.
The famous song "Kannum Kannum" from Jayan's film Angadi is included with Mammooty impersonating Jayan's style in the film Venicile Vyapari.
The recent hit Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan has the actor Siddique acting as an ardent fan of Jayan and impersonates his style for seeing his movies.
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies. The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), was announced to be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid. The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.
Filmography
See also
Jayan quotes
References
External links
Profile of Malayalam Actor Jayan
Further reading
http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/profiles.php?i=48
Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
Image gallery
Jayan Anniversary Special at Mathrubhumi portal
"Jayan: Love You All" – an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
1980 deaths
Male actors from Kollam
Indian stunt performers
Filmed deaths of entertainers
1939 births
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
20th-century Indian male actors
Indian Navy personnel | true | [
"\"Suicide Solution\" is a song by the English heavy metal vocalist singer-songwriter Ozzy Osbourne, from his 1980 debut album Blizzard of Ozz.\n\nOverview\nOsbourne said in 1991 that the song was about the alcohol-related death of AC/DC's Bon Scott in 1980, but Bob Daisley revealed in 2002 that he had Osbourne himself in mind when he wrote the lyrics.\n\nControversy and death of John Daniel McCollum \nOn 1 November 1985, a lawsuit against Osbourne and CBS Records was filed by the parents of John Daniel McCollum, a 19-year-old who committed suicide in Riverside, California on 27 October 1984 allegedly after listening to the song. The plaintiffs, however, failed to prove that Osbourne had any responsibility for the teenager's death. The plaintiffs' attorneys alleged that a line in the song stated, \"Why try? Get the gun and shoot!\" Lyricist Daisley and Osbourne himself both claimed that the line actually says, \"Get the flaps out\". \"Flaps\", they insisted, was an English vulgar slang term for \"vagina\". Don Arden, Black Sabbath's former manager and the father of Sharon Osbourne, is on record as having said of the song's controversial lyrics: \"To be perfectly honest, I would be doubtful as to whether Mr. Osbourne knew the meaning of the lyrics, if there was any meaning, because his command of the English language is minimal.\"\n\nPersonnel\nOzzy Osbourne – vocals\nRandy Rhoads – guitars\nBob Daisley – bass guitar\nLee Kerslake – drums\nDon Airey – keyboards\n\nSee also\n \"Better by You, Better Than Me\"\n Murder of Elyse Pahler\n\nReferences\n\n1980 songs\nOzzy Osbourne songs\nSongs about alcohol\nSongs about suicide\nSongs written by Randy Rhoads\nSongs written by Ozzy Osbourne\nSongs written by Bob Daisley\nObscenity controversies in music",
"Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson is a 2012 biographical book written by Randall Sullivan. The book talks about the life and death of American entertainer Michael Jackson.\n\nReception\nThe book was met with some controversy, Sullivan argued that Jackson was not a \"child molester\" and rather, that he was \"pre-sexual\" having never engaged in sexual intercourse at all. The book also detailed much of Jackson's drug abuse in his later years, money trouble, and \"spending habits\"—which upset many of Jackson's diehard fans. Some fans started an online campaign against the book's sale on Amazon. Guardian columnist Deborah Orr points out: many of Jackson's more fanatic followers tend to criticize any negative press about Jackson's life, regardless of evidence or argument. Others called into question Sullivan's source material, and though Sullivan \"does an adequate job of chronicling Jackson’s over-the-top fame,\" he relies on too few verifiable sources to draw his conclusions. Nonetheless, Jackson's longtime attorney, Tom Mesereau, who was also one of Sullivan's main sources for his research on Jackson, came to Sullivan's defense and praised the book for its insight and accuracy. Still, others praised the book; for example, there was \"a glowing recommendation from broadcaster and journalist Danny Baker\" who called it the \"best\" book about Jackson; and The New Yorker praised the book's in-depth research, viz., for bringing to light the \"financial profligacy and wrongheadedness\" of Jackson's life and business choices.\n\nReferences\n\nWorks about Michael Jackson\n2012 non-fiction books"
] |
[
"Jayan",
"Death",
"What caused Jayan's death?",
"Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave).",
"Where was the movie set?",
"the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu.",
"Who was starring in the movie with him?",
"co-star Balan K. Nair,",
"What caused the accident?",
"During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.",
"Was anyone else hurt?",
"regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries.",
"Did he have any family at the time of his death?",
"His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.",
"Was there any controversy about his death?",
"Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death,"
] | C_da71b2eacf9249bc964a5f4c145c2cf3_1 | Anything else interesting in the article? | 8 | Anything else interesting in the article other than theories about Jayan's death? | Jayan | On 16 November 1980, Jayan was killed in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave). The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a particularly dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; altogether three shots were filmed. According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries. After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it with absolute shock and disbelief. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project. Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later. Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident. CANNOTANSWER | a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing his death to the viewers who witnessed it | Master Chief Petty Officer Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian film actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film career, he was primarily an action star and was particularly famous for his macho image and unique style. He was reputed for his masculine appeal and well known for performing stunts of a dangerous nature on his own. By the late 1970s, he became the most popular superstar, lead actor and bankable star of Malayalam cinema and has been acclaimed as the first and most successful action hero of Malayalam cinema. Jayan is widely regarded as one of the most influential superstars in the history of Malayalam cinema.
His superhero image had transformed him into a popular culture icon among Malayalis around the world, with widespread impersonations on stage and television programs based on his screen persona. It was accompanied by a cartoon, email and SMS phenomenon in the early 2000s, portraying him as a comic superhero with unique quotes of superhuman strength attributed to the action star becoming widespread. These movements were fuelled by a renewed fascination with his style of dialogue delivery and his machismo image. These were claimed to honour his memories, but were also criticised for parodying the legendary actor years after his death.
Early life
Jayan was born in Quilon, Travancore as the first child of his father Thevalli Kottaram Veetil Madhavan Pillai and mother Bharathiyamma. His birth name was Krishnan Nair. He had a younger brother named Soman Nair. Malayalam actress Jayabharathi, who was his first cousin introduced him to the film industry. Jayan's formal education ended at the 10th grade at Kollam Govt. Boys High School when he joined the Indian Navy. The first accolades for his acting skills reached him when he was a naval sailor. He used to act in plays at various functions such as anniversaries. The encouragement from his friends and colleagues in the Navy gave him the desire to act in films. Jayan served in the Indian Navy for 16 years, culminating in the rank of Master CPO. By the end of his navy days, he had begun efforts to start small businesses at Ernakulam and became a regular inhabitant of the Cochin Tourist Home. During his life at Ernakulam, he would meet some of his lifelong friends. It was such a chance meeting while on leave, with Rajan Prakash who is the veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash's son, who owned a dry cleaning shop in Cochin, that eventually landed him a role in the movie Shapa Moksham. A year later, he left the Indian Navy and started trying his hand at various civilian jobs, working for companies in Cochin for a few years till his acting career began to succeed. Jayan's younger brother Soman Nair (Ajayan) also acted in 20+ films after Jayan's death. But he was not successful in films like Jayan. Ajayan has 3 children and his younger son Adithyan Jayan is a famous TV serial actor in Malayalam.
Career
Random appearances and early career
Jayan did make a few random uncredited appearances in some movies of the early 1970s, the first of which was in Postmane Kanmanilla. These minor appearances were before he attained the screen name Jayan. According to his nephew, he had the role of a vampire-like character in an unnamed project costarred by Vidhubala, which was never released. His first appearance with the name Jayan was in the movie Shapa Moksham, which is usually credited as his first film.
Rise to fame
The name "Jayan" (English: "The Victor") was given to him by veteran Malayalam actor Jose Prakash on the sets of Shapa Moksham. Jayan started his career by acting in minor roles and his first appearance in front of the camera was Postmane kananilla (1972) then starting with the name as Jayan in Shapa Moksham (1974). Jayan got his first major break appearing as a villain in Panchami (1976), playing a forest ranger. Jayan's performance in this film was appreciated in the industry and his physical appearance was also noticed for the first time. His next notable role was in Thacholi Ambu (1978), in which he appeared in a supporting role. In the same year, he acted as a sage in the Sreekumaran Thampi film Etho Oru Swapnam, which was well received by critics. But what made Jayan a superstar was his antihero role in Sharapancharam (1979, Bed of Arrows). He catapulted to fame riding on machismo roles that endeared him to the masses, and he established himself as one of the most popular Malayalam film actors of his time with superhit movies like Chaakara directed by P.G. Viswambharan & Angadi directed by I.V. Sasi who were the two hitmakers of the time. He is generally regarded as the first action hero in Malayalam cinema.
Superstardom
Sharapancharam broke all box-office records set in the Malayalam movie industry till it's time and became the highest-grossing movie of 1979.
Its box-office records were broken by another Jayan film, Angadi (Market) in the following year, which cemented his popularity among the masses. In films such as Manushya Mrugam, Aavesham etc. he played double roles. During his career, he received only a few critically appreciated roles perhaps partly due to his commercial hero image and partly due to the lack of films that garnered critical appreciation at the time. The focus was always on his unmatched drawing power as an action star and by 1980, at the peak of his career, he had attained a genuine superhero image. Movies exploited Jayan's masculine physique and he appeared bare-chested in numerous scenes. His on-screen attire (most famously his Elvis bellbottoms), his masculine image and later the nature of his death transformed him into a legend in Kerala. Jayan was also known for his unique method of dialogue delivery and he has contributed many memorable lines to the Malayalam film history.
Multistar films
Jayan acted in several ensemble cast movies, mostly with Prem Nazir. The duo acted in films such as Nayattu, Love in Singapore, Chandrahasam, Thacholi Ambu, Kannappanunni, Palattu Kunjikkannan, Mamangam, Prabhu etc. all of which were top-grossing movies at the box office. He also acted with other popular actors of the time, such as Soman, Sukumaran and Madhu in many films. In early films before 1979 (e.g. Thacholi Ambu and Panchami), he had negative or supporting roles. But later films in the beginning of 1980 relied heavily on Jayan's drawing power as an action hero and placed him as the central character. In 1980, the duo Jayan and Prem Nazir were cast in Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam by P. Venu, that showcased the famous fight scene in Malayalam cinema. Prem Nazir agreed to play a supporting role in Nayattu, which was very unlikely for a superstar of those times. He had agreed to do this as a token of friendship with Jayan and the director Sreekumaran Thamby. The duo had many actions films together such as Irumbazhikal, Love in Singapore etc. where the box office draw was huge.
Death
On 16 November 1980, Jayan died in an accident on the set of the movie Kolilakkam (English: Shockwave) at the age of 41 years, 3 months and 21 days. The climactic scene of the movie was being filmed in Sholavaram, near Madras, Tamil Nadu. Jayan always performed his own stunts, and for this movie he was performing a rather dangerous stunt that involved him boarding an airborne helicopter from a moving motorbike driven by Sukumaran. The shot was accepted by the director in the first take; Nonetheless, another three shots were filmed.
According to the film's production executive, Jayan insisted on yet another re-take as he was not satisfied with its perfection. During the re-take, the helicopter lost its balance and crashed along with Jayan who was hanging onto the landing skids, and he later succumbed to his injuries.
After his death was confirmed, a slide was added during the theatre show of his movie Deepam, which was running in packed houses, informing viewers of his death. A large number of his fans burst into tears and ran out of the buildings, while many continued to watch the movie, refusing to believe it and taking it for an ingenious promotion for some upcoming project.
Jayan's body was taken to Trivandrum via aeroplane and later it was taken to his home in Quilon, where he was cremated. Thousands paid homage to the late actor, and the police had to take huge measures to deal with the crowds. His mother Bharathiyamma became bedridden after this incident, and she too died two years later.
Some conspiracy theories emerged regarding the circumstances of his death, primarily because the pilot and his co-star Balan K. Nair, who was in the helicopter, survived with minor or no injuries. Nevertheless, it has been confirmed as a genuine accident.
The Aftermath
After Jayan's death, several films were released claiming to be his last film, including the genuine one, Kolilakkam. In all these films, Jayan's voice was dubbed by Alleppey Ashraf, a popular impressionist of the time. Many projects meant for him were recast, such as Thushaaram by I. V. Sasi, P. G. Vishwambaran's Sphodanam, and Sasi Kumar's Dhruvasangamam. Numerous other projects were cancelled entirely. One stunt scene and two songs were already shot with Jayan for C. V. Rajendran's Garjanam, but after his death, it was recast with Rajinikanth, becoming his second film in Malayalam released in 1981.
Imposter Movement
Due to his unrivalled popularity that continued many years after his death, random bit scenes were added to numerous films that showed random gestures or shots of him walking by the side during fight scenes. Attempts were made to bring in impostors who tried to imitate his style and mannerisms, enabling several artists from the field of mimicry to show up on the big screen. But these experiments failed miserably, and proved especially ineffective in fight and stunt scenes. Then, directors and producers started a search for new actors to replace him. This movement led to debuts of actors who resembled Jayan in physical appearance (e.g. Ratheesh), those with stage names sounding similar to his (for example, his own brother who appeared as Ajayan), and those with similar mannerisms and style (e.g. Bheeman Raghu). One of them, Mammootty, who started with the stage name Sajin, would later go on to become one of the popular future stars in the industry.
However, all these attempts to replace Jayan with a new star with a similar image yielded disappointing results. It is now one of the most popular quotes in Malayalam cinema "Jayan's throne remains vacant and will forever be so".
Resurgence in the 2000s
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, there was a resurgence of Jayan's screen persona in Kerala and his old movie scenes came to prominence again. It was owed mostly to programs by popular mimicry stage artists in the State, whose imitations of the star's mannerisms caught on and soon became commonplace in college stage events, television programs and mimicry stage shows along with quotes of superhuman strength known as Jayan quotes. However, it has been pointed out that many grotesquely imitated screen dialogues of Jayan are not actually his, but that of dubbing artist Aleppy Ashraf, who dubbed for many of his characters post his death.
The "comeback" of Jayan and his renewed popularity lately may be taken as an affirmation that Jayan has not been replaced even nearly three decades after his death. Today, Jayan is best remembered as the first and best action star of Malayalam cinema, so far, besides his trademark colourful attire, risky stunts, machismo mannerisms and unique speaking style. He has rightly won immortality in the hearts of the Malayalam film fans as a martyr in his yearning to thrill and entertain them even by putting his life at stake. Madhu, a famous actor prominent in the 1960s, once stated in an interview: "Jayan will forever be young and alive. No one can ever visualise him as an old man."
A film titled Avatharam presently under production, is attempting to bring back his screen persona using advanced technologies. A documentary on Jayan's life and death Jayan – The Man behind the Legend is nearing completion for release in the near future.
Legacy
Jayan is perhaps the only actor thus far in the history of Malayalam film industry who remains a marketable superstar decades after his demise, to this day. In the state of Kerala, he is a true icon of popular culture, whose life and image has made him a legend over time.
Superhero image and commercial success
Through his machismo roles and staggering stunt feats, Jayan had attained a real-life Superhero image amongst the fans, masses and colleagues alike. His colourful attire and unique bass voice also helped him capture the imagination of the average viewer as the manly action hero. Along with these, his trademark styles and mannerisms made him a campus hero and youth idol of his time. Summing up, Jayan's image among the masses was that of a daring superhuman who would perform seemingly impossible deeds and accomplish extraordinary feats.
Jayan is the most commercially successful superstar to date in the Malayalam industry with a near 90% success rate. The years 1979, 1980 and 1981 became known as "Jayan years" in the industry due to the widespread release and success of his movies. His films Sharapancharam and Angadi, released in 1979 and 1980 respectively, were record breakers and became the highest grossers of their respective years. His final film, Kolilakkam was the highest grosser in 1981. The noteworthy point is that a large percentage of films released during his peak years lacked a strong plot and were mostly cheap low budget remakes of successful movies from other language sectors of Indian cinema. Many of these films came out astoundingly successful due to his sheer presence and some avoided failures due to his small cameo appearances. Thousands of fans used to visit theatres repeatedly just to see his fascinating stunts and fight scenes.
Daredevilry
Jayan was a high-risk taker and throughout his career, he was popular for stellar performances in a fight and stunt sequences. Dangerous and thrilling stunts were often featured in action films with Jayan in the lead. These were usually highlighted during fight scenes as added promotions to his machismo image and daredevilry. Numerous movies in which he has acted have one or more notable stunt performances.
A few prominent examples may be Puthiya Velicham ("New Light", 1979) in which he performs train stunts jumping onto and from a fast-running goods train, Aavesham ("Inspiration", 1979) which shows the actor swimming through the dangerous waters of Hogenakkal Falls, through a major part of the climax sequence without using any kind of safety measures. Movies like Thadavara ("Prison", 1981) and Sharapancharam (1979) demonstrate his brilliant horse riding skills performing almost effortlessly on horseback, while films like Mamangam involved dangerous fights with wild animals. In a film called Moorkhan ("Cobra", 1981) he broke through a brick wall riding on a motorbike (a Royal Enfield Bullet) and it also featured sequences that had the actor sliding along ropes tied at high elevations. Perhaps the most famous movie stunt featuring Jayan came in Chandrahasam ("Moonsword", 1980) in which he held on to the UV clamp of a massive ship crane and was elevated to a height of around 200 feet before jumping off to the top of the vessel. In one of his final stunt scenes, in Ariyappedatha Rahasyam ("Secret never known", 1981) he was involved in a fight scene with an elephant.
Influence on Malayalam cinema
The meteoric rise of Jayan had literally a texture changing impact on the Malayalam film industry. It changed forever the hero concept that existed previously for many years and gave rise to a new genre of film characters with more manly characteristics.
Memorable roles
Most critics often consider Jayan's main hero role in Sharapancjaram, Angadi, Venalil Oru Mazha and Puthiya Velicham to be his best. His most popular character may be the educated labourer in Angadi. The sage's role played by him in Etho Oru Swapnam was well appreciated by critics and would easily feature among his most memorable roles. The supporting role in Kannappanunni, Thacholi Ambu, the villainous ranger in Panchami and the rapist in Kanthavalayam are also critically acclaimed performances. Some other popular roles were in films like Idimuzhakkam, Venalil Oru Mazha, Ithikkara Pakki, Mamangam, Puthiya Velicham, Karimpana, Ariyapedatha Rahasiyam, Chaakara and Kazhukan. While acknowledging his undisputed popularity as a commercial superstar that has never faded over time, general critical opinion on his skills as an actor is divided. While there are criticisms from some corners that he depended more on his features such as his catching physique, bass voice, personal charisma, unique style and mannerisms to garner attention, many others rate him as a great actor who developed his own unique style to leave a lasting impression on every single role he took up. The fact that his peak time as an actor lasted only a few years is often pointed out in reply to criticisms, and considering the short period of his active film career, he may have delivered more critically appreciated performances than most of his contemporaries. But these were always under the shadow of a large majority of films that were able to achieve commercial success capitalising on his drawing power, but had weak plots and less critical acclaim. Some believe that if he'd had a longer career, he would have eventually transformed into a great character actor over time who could excel in commercial and parallel streams alike, after a period of decline in Malayalam films that followed Sathyan's demise. His most popular films like Sharapancjaram and Angadi were both critical and commercial successes. Though he is remembered as an icon of commercial cinema, due to the short span of his career and the generic nature of commercial hero roles of the time, his actual acting talents may have been largely underutilised.
Song sequences
Film songs are an integral part of Indian cinema and the same is true for Malayalam films. Jayan has acted in several memorable song sequences which bring about nostalgic memories about the actor. Song sequences in Jayan films also helped shape the future film song sector in commercial cinema. The song "Kannum Kannum" in the film Angadi presents one of the most popular song sequences in Malayalam cinema involving Jayan and Seema. Its success led to the teaming together of this pair in numerous movies. Another popular song involving the Jayan-Seema pair is "Kasthuri Manmizhi" from the movie Manushya Mrugam. A song that hit tremendous popularity was "Cham Chacha Chum Chacha" in Love in Singapore and Kombil Kilukkum ketti in "Karimpana". The mass popularity of this song sequence later inspired a whole new category of film songs with lyrics that lack any particular meaning, but with a fast beat and dance appeal that came to be known as "Adipoli" songs. There is a song in the film Etho Oru Swapnam called "Oru Mugham Mathram Kannil", which became popular due to its melodious and nostalgic nature.
"Ezham Malika Mele" from Sarppam, directed by Baby was a superhit song paired by Jayan and Seema. Another hit from this team was "Pournami Penne" in Arifa hassan's Benz Vasu and it was hummed by the youth of that time.
Memorials
Kollam District panchayath and Government of Kerala built a new conference hall near to Kollam District panchayath office in Kollam municipal corporation as a memorial to the legend actor. The hall is named as "Jayan Memorial Hall". It was inaugurated on 12 September 2020.
There is a Jayan memorial Arts & Sports club functioning at Thevally near the actor's hometown. The residential area at his birthplace has been renamed "Olayil Jayan Nagar" in his honour.
Jayan Cultural Forum
Jayan Samskarika Vethi or Jayan Cultural Forum has been established recently, which consists of his fans and well wishers. It is headed by the actor's nephew Kannan Nair, and aims at uniting his diverse fan base consisting of young and old people from several generations under a single platform. Activities include organising anniversary functions and memorial programs, facilitating his coworkers, maintaining the actor's website and official profiles and charity work.
Monuments
In 2009, an 8 ft high statue of the actor was erected in front of his house at Olayil, Kollam which is now a nursing home. Efforts are being made to construct a permanent memorial at Mulankadakam where he was cremated, and also to open a library and museum near his home.
In media
Media on Jayan
A book titled Jayan Americayil? (Jayan in America?) came out in 1981 and had record sales at the time. It circulated the rumour that Jayan was alive in America with an injured eye and that it was a look-alike who was killed in the accident.
Another book Jayante Maranam Kolapathakamo (Jayan's death, a murder) was also published in 1981, capitalising on the conspiracy theories and mystery surrounding the superstar's death.
The actor's life was serialised in a Malayalam film magazine and then brought out as Jayante Katha.
An elaborate biography named Jayan : Abhralokathintey Ithihasa Naayakan is being completed and will reportedly be published in 2011.
A documentary Jayan-The Man behind the Legend is under production and is set to be released in 2011.
In popular culture
Print media
The actor's domination and commercial success in the 1970s is mentioned in the book Because I have a Voice. It focuses on Jayan's masculine image.
Jayan's famous emotional English dialogue in street slang is included at number 7 in Outlook magazine's Terrific 13 lists published in the 13th anniversary edition of the magazine, in the section '13 Cheesiest Chalkiest dialogues in Indian Cinema'.
Films
In the movie Aye Auto, there is a reference to Jayan's English dialogue in Angadi.
The movies Dupe Dupe Dupe and Aparanmaar Nagarathil had Jayan impersonators in the lead.
In the film Pattanathil Bhootham, the popular Jayan song sequence Cham Chacha Chumchacha is played out with impersonation. The horse oiling scene from Sarapancharam is also reconstructed.
In Chotta Mumbai, a Jayan-Nazir mixed song sequence is played out with Jayan attire used in the song sequence of the popular Nazir song Chettikulangara.
In the film Shikkar, Jayan's image is used in the sets of a fight scene in a bid to stress the adventurous setting of the film.
In Thanthonni, Jayan's voice and dialogue tone is imitated.
The film Valiyangadi was promoted as a sequel to Jayan's Angadi.
In the film Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jayan's stunt sequence and the celebrated row with "Alavalathi Shaji" from the film Lisa is shown in a theatre scene.
The famous song "Kannum Kannum" from Jayan's film Angadi is included with Mammooty impersonating Jayan's style in the film Venicile Vyapari.
The recent hit Kattappanayile Rithwik Roshan has the actor Siddique acting as an ardent fan of Jayan and impersonates his style for seeing his movies.
Return to the silver screen
In December 2010, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his death, it was announced that a new movie with Jayan in the lead is in the works, using advanced animation and graphics technologies. The movie, titled Avatharam (Incarnation), was announced to be directed by Vijeesh Mani and scripted by T. A. Shahid. The project is inspired by the star's posthumous popularity as an action legend. It was announced that the actor would be brought back to the big screen by twelve top technicians from Hollywood.
Filmography
See also
Jayan quotes
References
External links
Profile of Malayalam Actor Jayan
Further reading
http://www.malayalachalachithram.com/profiles.php?i=48
Jayan Nostalgia homepage at Manorama Online portal
Image gallery
Jayan Anniversary Special at Mathrubhumi portal
"Jayan: Love You All" – an article in the November 2009 issue of Vanitha magazine
1980 deaths
Male actors from Kollam
Indian stunt performers
Filmed deaths of entertainers
1939 births
Male actors in Malayalam cinema
Indian male film actors
20th-century Indian male actors
Indian Navy personnel | false | [
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts",
"\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" is a 2010 science fiction/magical realism short story by American writer Harlan Ellison. It was first published in Realms of Fantasy.\n\nPlot summary\nA scientist creates a tiny man. The tiny man is initially very popular, but then draws the hatred of the world, and so the tiny man must flee, together with the scientist (who is now likewise hated, for having created the tiny man).\n\nReception\n\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, tied with Kij Johnson's \"Ponies\". It was Ellison's final Nebula nomination and win, of his record-setting eight nominations and three wins.\n\nTor.com calls the story \"deceptively simple\", with \"execution (that) is flawless\" and a \"Geppetto-like\" narrator, while Publishers Weekly describes it as \"memorably depict(ing) humanity's smallness of spirit\". The SF Site, however, felt it was \"contrived and less than profound\".\n\nNick Mamatas compared \"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" negatively to Ellison's other Nebula-winning short stories, and stated that the story's two mutually exclusive endings (in one, the tiny man is killed; in the other, he becomes God) are evocative of the process of writing short stories. Ben Peek considered it to be \"more allegory than (...) anything else\", and interpreted it as being about how the media \"give(s) everyone a voice\", and also about how Ellison was treated by science fiction fandom.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAudio version of ''How Interesting: A Tiny Man, at StarShipSofa\nHow Interesting: A Tiny Man, at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database\n\nNebula Award for Best Short Story-winning works\nShort stories by Harlan Ellison"
] |
[
"Hey Jude",
"Composition and structure"
] | C_1a2d69d190844813a25a154298f9ff5e_1 | how is the song composed? | 1 | How is the song Hey Jude composed? | Hey Jude | Having earmarked the song for release as a single, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" during the sessions for their self-titled double album, commonly known as "the White Album". The sessions were marked by an element of discord within the group for the first time, partly as a result of Ono's constant presence at Lennon's side, and also reflective of the four band members' divergence following their communal trip to Rishikesh in the spring of 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation. Author Peter Doggett describes the completed version of "Hey Jude" as a song that "glowed with optimism after a summer that had burned with anxiety and rage within the group". The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over two nights, 29 and 30 July 1968, with George Martin as their producer. These dates served as rehearsals, however, since they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilise their eight-track recording machine (Abbey Road was still limited to four-tracks). A take from 29 July, which author and critic Kenneth Womack describes as a "jovial" session, was issued on the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996. The 30 July rehearsals were filmed for a short documentary titled Music! However, the film shows only three of the Beatles performing "Hey Jude", as George Harrison remained in the studio control room, with Martin and EMI recording engineer Ken Scott. Author Simon Leng views this as indicative of how Harrison was increasingly allowed little room to develop ideas on McCartney compositions, whereas he was free to create empathetic guitar parts for Lennon's songs of the period. During the rehearsals that day, Harrison and McCartney had a heated disagreement over the lead guitar part for the song. Harrison's idea was to play a guitar phrase as a response to each line of the vocal, which did not fit with McCartney's conception of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it. In a 1994 interview, McCartney said, "looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure." Ron Richards, a record producer who worked for Martin at both Parlophone and AIR Studios, said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio", and that he was driven to making the best possible record, at almost any cost. Scott, Martin and the Beatles mixed the finished recording at Abbey Road. The transfer of the Trident master tape to acetate proved problematic due to the recording sounding murky when played back on EMI's equipment. The issue was resolved with the help of Geoff Emerick, whom Scott had recently replaced as the Beatles' principal recording engineer. Emerick happened to be visiting Abbey Road, having recently refused to work with the Beatles any longer, due to the tension and abuse that had become commonplace at their recording sessions. A stereo mix of "Hey Jude" was then completed on 2 August and the mono version on 8 August. Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. The precedent for issuing such a long track on a single had recently been set by Richard Harris' hit recording of "MacArthur Park", the composer of which, Jimmy Webb, was a visitor to the studio around this time. According to Webb, Martin admitted to him that "Hey Jude" was only allowed to run over seven minutes because of the success of "MacArthur Park". In the song's final bridge section, at 2:58, the spoken phrase "Fucking hell!" appears. Scott admits that although he was told about it, he could not hear the words originally. Lennon attributed the expletive to McCartney, according to Emerick, who reports Lennon's comment in his autobiography: "'Paul hit a clunker on the piano and said a naughty word,' Lennon gleefully crowed, 'but I insisted we leave it in [at Trident], buried just low enough so that it can barely be heard. Most people won't ever spot it ... but we'll know it's there.'" Womack considers that the expletive was actually uttered by Lennon. Malcolm Toft, the mix engineer on the Trident recording, also attributes it to Lennon. In Toft's recollection, Lennon was overdubbing his harmony vocal when, in reaction to the volume being too loud in his headphones, he first called out "Whoa!" then, two seconds later, swore as he pulled the headphones off. "Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C, and B (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me". The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the pain')." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na ..."), supported by an electric guitar fill, before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song. The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double plagal cadence. During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out. In his analysis of the composition, musicologist Alan Pollack comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression". Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I-VII-IV-I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally", so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda". CANNOTANSWER | The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over two nights, | "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' first release on their Apple record label and one of the "First Four" singles by Apple's roster of artists, marking the label's public launch. "Hey Jude" was a number-one hit in many countries around the world and became the year's top-selling single in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. Its nine-week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 tied the all-time record in 1968 for the longest run at the top of the US charts, a record it held for nine years. It has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on music critics' lists of the greatest songs of all time.
The writing and recording of "Hey Jude" coincided with a period of upheaval in the Beatles. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon's young son Julian, after Lennon had left his wife for the Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The lyrics espouse a positive outlook on a sad situation, while also encouraging "Jude" to pursue his opportunities to find love. After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a coda featuring a "Na-na-na na" refrain that lasts for over four minutes.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track recording equipment. The sessions took place at Trident Studios in central London, midway through the recording of the group's self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"), and led to an argument between McCartney and George Harrison over the song's guitar part. Ringo Starr later left the band only to return shortly before they filmed the promotional clip for the single. The clip was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and first aired on David Frost's UK television show. Contrasting with the problems afflicting the band, this performance captured the song's theme of optimism and togetherness by featuring the studio audience joining the Beatles as they sang the coda.
At over seven minutes in length, "Hey Jude" was the longest single to top the British charts up to that time. Its arrangement and extended coda encouraged many imitative works through to the early 1970s. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 11th "biggest" song of all time in terms of chart success. McCartney has continued to perform "Hey Jude" in concert since Lennon's death in 1980, leading audiences in singing the coda. Julian Lennon and McCartney have each bid successfully at auction for items of memorabilia related to the song's creation.
Inspiration and writing
In May 1968, John Lennon and his wife Cynthia separated due to his affair with Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The following month, Paul McCartney drove out to visit the Lennons' five-year-old son Julian, at Kenwood, the family's home in Weybridge. Cynthia had been part of the Beatles' social circle since before the band's rise to fame in 1963; McCartney later said he found it "a bit much for them suddenly to be personae non gratae and out of my life". Cynthia Lennon recalled of McCartney's surprise visit: "I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare ... On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us." The song's original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to comfort Julian from the stress of his parents' separation. McCartney said, "I knew it was not going to be easy for him", and that he changed the name to "Jude" "because I thought that sounded a bit better".
According to music journalist Chris Hunt, in the weeks after writing the song, McCartney "test[ed] his latest composition on anyone too polite to refuse. And that meant everyone." On 30 June, after recording the Black Dyke Mills Band's rendition of his instrumental "Thingumybob" in Yorkshire, McCartney stopped at the village of Harrold in Bedfordshire and performed "Hey Jude" at a local pub. He also regaled members of the Bonzo Dog Band with the song while producing their single "I'm the Urban Spaceman", in London, and interrupted a recording session by the Barron Knights to do the same. Ron Griffith of the group the Iveys – soon to be known as Badfinger and, like the Black Dyke Mills Band, an early signing to the Beatles' new record label Apple Records – recalled that on one of their first days in the studio, McCartney "gave us a full concert rendition of 'Hey Jude'".
The intensity of Lennon and Ono's relationship made any songwriting collaboration between Lennon and McCartney impossible. Keen to support his friend nevertheless, McCartney let the couple stay at his house in St John's Wood, but when Lennon discovered a note written by McCartney containing disparaging and racist comments about Ono, the couple moved out. McCartney presented "Hey Jude" to Lennon on 26 July, when he and Ono visited McCartney's home. McCartney assured him that he would "fix" the line "the movement you need is on your shoulder", reasoning that "it's a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot." According to McCartney, Lennon replied: "You won't, you know. That's the best line in the song." McCartney retained the phrase. Although McCartney originally wrote "Hey Jude" for Julian, Lennon thought it had actually been written for him. In a 1980 interview, Lennon stated that he "always heard it as a song to me" and contended that, on one level, McCartney was giving his blessing to Lennon and Ono's relationship, while, on another, he was disappointed to be usurped as Lennon's friend and creative partner.
Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express. Still others, including Lennon, have speculated that in the lyrics to "Hey Jude", McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher provided an unconscious "message to himself". McCartney and Asher had announced their engagement on 25 December 1967, yet he began an affair with Linda Eastman in June 1968; that same month, Francie Schwartz, an American who was in London to discuss a film proposal with Apple, began living with McCartney in St John's Wood. When Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him and Ono, McCartney denied it and told Lennon he had written the song about himself.
Author Mark Hertsgaard has commented that "many of the song's lyrics do seem directed more at a grown man on the verge of a powerful new love, especially the lines 'you have found her now go and get her' and 'you're waiting for someone to perform with.'" Music critic and author Tim Riley writes: "If the song is about self-worth and self-consolation in the face of hardship, the vocal performance itself conveys much of the journey. He begins by singing to comfort someone else, finds himself weighing his own feelings in the process, and finally, in the repeated refrains that nurture his own approbation, he comes to believe in himself."
Production
EMI rehearsals
Having earmarked the song for release as a single, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" during the sessions for their self-titled double album, commonly known as "the White Album". The sessions were marked by an element of discord within the group for the first time, partly as a result of Ono's constant presence at Lennon's side. The strained relations were also reflective of the four band members' divergence following their communal trip to Rishikesh in the spring of 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation.
The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI Studios in London over two nights, 29 and 30 July 1968, with George Martin as their producer. These dates served as rehearsals, however, since they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilise their eight-track recording machine (EMI was still limited to four-tracks). The first two takes from 29 July, which author and critic Kenneth Womack describes as a "jovial" session, have been released on the 50th Anniversary box set of the White Album in 2018 and the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996, respectively.
The 30 July rehearsals were filmed for a short documentary titled Music!, which was produced by the National Music Council of Great Britain. This was the first time that the Beatles had permitted a camera crew to film them developing a song in the studio. The film shows only three of the Beatles performing "Hey Jude", as George Harrison remained in the studio control room, with Martin and EMI recording engineer Ken Scott. During the rehearsals that day, Harrison and McCartney had a heated disagreement over the lead guitar part for the song. Harrison's idea was to play a guitar phrase as a response to each line of the vocal, which did not fit with McCartney's conception of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it. Author Simon Leng views this as indicative of how Harrison was increasingly allowed little room to develop ideas on McCartney compositions, whereas he was free to create empathetic guitar parts for Lennon's songs of the period. In a 1994 interview, McCartney said, "looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure." Ron Richards, a record producer who worked for Martin at both Parlophone and AIR Studios, said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio", and that he was driven to making the best possible record, at almost any cost.
Trident Studios recording
The Beatles recorded the master track for "Hey Jude" at Trident, where McCartney and Harrison had each produced sessions for their Apple artists, on 31 July. Trident's founder, Norman Sheffield, recalled that Mal Evans, the Beatles' aide and former roadie, insisted that some marijuana plants he had brought be placed in the studio to make the place "soft", consistent with the band's wishes. Barry Sheffield served as recording engineer for the session. The line-up on the basic track was McCartney on piano and lead vocal, Lennon on acoustic guitar, Harrison on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums. The Beatles recorded four takes of "Hey Jude", the first of which was selected as the master. With drums intended to be absent for the first two verses, McCartney began this take unaware that Starr had just left for a toilet break. Starr soon returned – "tiptoeing past my back rather quickly", in McCartney's recollection – and performed his cue perfectly.
On 1 August, the group carried out overdubs on the basic track, again at Trident. These additions included McCartney's lead vocal and bass guitar; backing vocals from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison; and tambourine, played by Starr. McCartney's vocal over the long coda, starting at around three minutes into the song, included a series of improvised shrieks that he later described as "Cary Grant on heat!" They then added a 36-piece orchestra over the coda, scored by Martin. The orchestra consisted of ten violins, three violas, three cellos, two flutes, one contra bassoon, one bassoon, two clarinets, one contra bass clarinet, four trumpets, four trombones, two horns, percussion and two string basses. According to Norman Sheffield, there was dissension initially among the orchestral musicians, some of whom "were looking down their noses at the Beatles, I think". Sheffield recalls that McCartney ensured their cooperation by demanding: "Do you guys want to get fucking paid or not?" During the first few takes, McCartney was unhappy about the lack of energy and passion in the orchestra's performance, so he stood up on the grand piano and started conducting the musicians from there.
The Beatles then asked the orchestra members if they would clap their hands and sing along to the refrain in the coda. All but one of the musicians complied (for a double fee), with the abstainer reportedly saying, "I'm not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney's bloody song!" Apple Records assistant Chris O'Dell says she joined the cast of backing singers on the song; one of the label's first signings, Jackie Lomax, also recalled participating.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track equipment. Trident Studios were paid £25 per hour by EMI for the sessions. Sheffield said that the studio earned about £1,000 in total, but by having the Beatles record there, and in turn raving about the facility, the value was incalculable. The band carried out further work at Trident during 1968, and Apple artists such as Lomax, Mary Hopkin, Billy Preston and the Iveys all recorded there over the next year.
Mixing
Scott, Martin and the Beatles mixed the finished recording at Abbey Road. The transfer of the Trident master tape to acetate proved problematic due to the recording sounding murky when played back on EMI's equipment. The issue was resolved with the help of Geoff Emerick, whom Scott had recently replaced as the Beatles' principal recording engineer. Emerick happened to be visiting Abbey Road, having recently refused to work with the Beatles any longer, due to the tension and abuse that had become commonplace at their recording sessions. A stereo mix of "Hey Jude" was then completed on 2 August and the mono version on 8 August.
Musicologist Walter Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. Like McCartney, Martin was concerned that radio stations would not play the track because of the length, but Lennon insisted: "They will if it's us." According to Ken Mansfield, Apple's US manager, McCartney remained unconvinced until Mansfield previewed the record for some American disc jockeys and reported that they were highly enthusiastic about the song. "Hey Jude" was one second longer than Richard Harris's recent hit recording of "MacArthur Park", the composer of which, Jimmy Webb, was a visitor to the studio around this time. According to Webb, Martin admitted to him that "Hey Jude" was only allowed to run over seven minutes because of the success of "MacArthur Park". Pleased with the result, McCartney played an acetate copy of "Hey Jude" at a party held by Mick Jagger, at Vesuvio's nightclub in central London, to celebrate the completion of the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet album. The song upstaged the Stones' album and, in author John Winn's description, "reportedly ruin[ed]" the party.
In the song's final bridge section, at 2:58, the spoken phrase "Fucking hell!" appears, uttered by Lennon. Scott admits that although he was told about it, he could not hear the words originally. Malcolm Toft, the mix engineer on the Trident recording, recalled that Lennon was overdubbing his harmony vocal when, in reaction to the volume being too loud in his headphones, he first called out "Whoa!" then, two seconds later, swore as he pulled the headphones off.
Composition and structure
"Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C and B (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me".
The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the pain)." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na …"), supported by an electric guitar fill, before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song.
The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double plagal cadence. During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out. In his analysis of the composition, musicologist Alan Pollack comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression".
Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I–VII–IV–I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally", so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda".
Release
"Hey Jude" was released on a 7-inch single on 26 August 1968 in the United States and 30 August in the United Kingdom, backed with "Revolution" on the B-side. It was one of four singles issued simultaneously to launch Apple Records – the others being Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", Jackie Lomax's "Sour Milk Sea", and the Black Dyke Mills Band's "Thingumybob". In advance of the release date, Apple declared 11–18 August to be "National Apple Week" in the UK, and sent gift-wrapped boxes of the records, marked "Our First Four", to Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, and to Harold Wilson, the prime minister. The release was promoted by Derek Taylor, who, in author Peter Doggett's description, "hyped the first Apple records with typical elan". "Hey Jude" was the first of the four singles, since it was still designated as an EMI/Parlophone release in the UK and a Capitol release in the US, but with the Apple Records logo now added. In the US, "Hey Jude" was the first Capitol-distributed Beatles single to be issued without a picture sleeve. Instead, the record was presented in a black sleeve bearing the words "The Beatles on Apple".
Author Philip Norman comments that aside from "Sour Milk Sea", which Harrison wrote and produced, the first Apple A-sides were all "either written, vocalised, discovered or produced" by McCartney. Lennon wanted "Revolution" to be the A-side of the Beatles single, but his bandmates opted for "Hey Jude". In his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, he said "Hey Jude" was worthy of an A-side, "but we could have had both." In 1980, he told Playboy he still disagreed with the decision.
Doggett describes "Hey Jude" as a song that "glowed with optimism after a summer that had burned with anxiety and rage within the group and in the troubled world beyond". The single's release coincided with the violent subjugation of Vietnam War protestors at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and condemnation in the West of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia and its crushing of attempts to introduce democratic reforms there. In this climate, Lennon's espousal of a pacifist agenda over violent confrontation in "Revolution" drew heavy criticism from New Left activists. By contrast, with its more universal message, "Hey Jude" was adopted as an anthem by Czech citizens in their struggle.
The song was first released on an album in February 1970, as the title track to Capitol's North American compilation Hey Jude. The album was conceived as a way to generate income for the Beatles by Allen Klein, the American businessman who, despite McCartney's strong opposition, the other Beatles had appointed to manage the ailing Apple organisation in 1969. "Hey Jude" subsequently appeared on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, Volume Two and 1.
Promotion
Apple shop window graffiti
A failed early promotional attempt for the single took place after the Beatles' all-night recording session on 7–8 August 1968. With Apple Boutique having closed a week before, McCartney and Francie Schwartz painted Hey Jude/Revolution across its large, whitewashed shop windows. The words were mistaken for antisemitic graffiti (since Jude means "Jew" in German), leading to complaints from the local Jewish community, and the windows being smashed by a passer-by.
Discussing the episode in The Beatles Anthology, McCartney explained that he had been motivated by the location – "Great opportunity. Baker Street, millions of buses going around…" – and added: "I had no idea it meant 'Jew', but if you look at footage of Nazi Germany, Juden Raus was written in whitewashed windows with a Star of David. I swear it never occurred to me." According to Barry Miles, McCartney caused further controversy in his comments to Alan Smith of the NME that month, when, in an interview designed to promote the single, he said: "Starvation in India doesn't worry me one bit, not one iota … And it doesn't worry you, if you're honest. You just pose."
Promotional film
The Beatles hired Michael Lindsay-Hogg to shoot promotional clips for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution", after he had previously directed the clips for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" in 1966. For "Hey Jude", they settled on the idea of shooting with a live, albeit controlled, audience. In the clip, the Beatles are first seen by themselves, performing the initial chorus and verses, before the audience moves forward and joins them in singing the coda. The decision was made to hire an orchestra and for the vocals to be sung live, to circumvent the Musicians' Union's ban on miming on television, but otherwise the Beatles performed to a backing track. Lindsay-Hogg shot the clip at Twickenham Film Studios on 4 September 1968. Tony Bramwell, a friend of the Beatles, later described the set as "the piano, there; drums, there; and orchestra in two tiers at the back." The event marked Starr's return to the group, after McCartney's criticism of his drumming had led to him walking out during a session for the White Album track "Back in the U.S.S.R." Starr was absent for two weeks.
The final edit was a combination of two different takes and included "introductions" to the song by David Frost (who introduced the Beatles as "the greatest tea-room orchestra in the world") and Cliff Richard, for their respective TV programmes. It first aired in the UK on Frost on Sunday on 8 September 1968, two weeks after Lennon and Ono had appeared on the show to promote their views on performance art and the avant-garde. The "Hey Jude" clip was broadcast in the United States on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on 6 October.
According to Riley, the Frost on Sunday broadcast "kicked 'Hey Jude' into the stratosphere" in terms of popularity. Norman comments that it evoked "palpable general relief" for viewers who had watched Frost's show two weeks before, as Lennon now adopted a supporting role to McCartney, and Ono was "nowhere in sight". Hertsgaard pairs the band's performance with the release of the animated film Yellow Submarine as two events that created "a state of nirvana" for Beatles fans, in contrast with the problems besetting the band regarding Ono's influence and Apple. Referring to the sight of the Beatles engulfed by a crowd made up of "young, old, male, female, black, brown, and white" fans, Hertsgaard describes the promotional clip as "a quintessential sixties moment, a touching tableau of contentment and togetherness".
The 4 September 1968 promo clip is included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1, while the three-disc versions of that compilation, titled 1+, also include an alternate video, with a different introduction and vocal, from the same date.
Critical reception
In his contemporary review of the single, Derek Johnson of the NME wrote: "The intriguing features of 'Hey Jude' are its extreme length and the 40-piece orchestral accompaniment – and personally I would have preferred it without either!" While he viewed the track overall as "a beautiful, compelling song", and the first three minutes as "absolutely sensational", Johnson rued the long coda's "vocal improvisations on the basically repetitive four-bar chorus". Johnson nevertheless concluded that "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" "prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Beatles are still streets ahead of their rivals". Chris Welch of Melody Maker said he had initially been unimpressed, but came to greatly admire "Hey Jude" for its "slow, heavy, piano-ridden beat, sensuous, soulful vocals and nice thumpy drums". He added that the track would have benefited from being edited in length, as the climactic ending was "a couple of minutes too long".
Cash Boxs reviewer said that the extended fadeout, having been a device pioneered by the Beatles on "All You Need Is Love", "becomes something of an art form" in "Hey Jude", comprising a "trance-like ceremonial that becomes almost timeless in its continuity". Time magazine described it as "a fadeout that engagingly spoofs the fadeout as a gimmick for ending pop records". The reviewer contrasted "Hey Jude" with "Revolution", saying that McCartney's song "urges activism of a different sort" by "liltingly exhort[ing] a friend to overcome his fears and commit himself in love". Catherine Manfredi of Rolling Stone also read the lyrics as a message from McCartney to Lennon to end his negative relationships with women: "to break the old pattern; to really go through with love". Manfredi commented on the duality of the song's eponymous protagonist as a representation of good, in Saint Jude, "the Patron of that which is called Impossible", and of evil, in Judas Iscariot. Other commentators interpreted "Hey Jude" as being directed at Bob Dylan, then semi-retired in Woodstock.
Writing in 1971, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called it "one of [McCartney's] truest and most forthright love songs" and said that McCartney's romantic side was ill-served by the inclusion of "'I Will', a piece of fluff" on The Beatles. In their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler wrote that "Hey Jude" "promised great things" for the ill-conceived Apple enterprise and described the song as "the last great Beatles single recorded specifically for the 45s market". They commented also that "the epic proportions of the piece" encouraged many imitators, yet these other artists "[failed] to capture the gentleness and sympathy of the Beatles' communal feel". Walter Everett admires the melody as a "marvel of construction, contrasting wide leaps with stepwise motions, sustained tones with rapid movement, syllabic with melismatic word-setting, and tension ... with resolution". He cites Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks", Donovan's "Atlantis", the Moody Blues' "Never Comes the Day" and the Allman Brothers' "Revival" among the many songs with "mantralike repeated sections" that followed the release of "Hey Jude". In his entry for the song in his 1993 book Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles, Paul Williams describes it as a "song about breathing". He adds: "'Hey Jude' kicks ass like Van Gogh or Beethoven in their prime. It is, let's say, one of the wonders of this corner of creation ... It opens out like the sky at night or the idea of the existence of God."
Alan Pollack highlights the song as "such a good illustration of two compositional lessons – how to fill a large canvas with simple means, and how to use diverse elements such as harmony, bassline, and orchestration to articulate form and contrast." Pollack says that the long coda provides "an astonishingly transcendental effect", while AllMusic's Richie Unterberger similarly opines: "What could have very easily been boring is instead hypnotic because McCartney varies the vocal with some of the greatest nonsense scatting ever heard in rock, ranging from mantra-like chants to soulful lines to James Brown power screams." In his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald wrote that the "pseudo-soul shrieking in the fade-out may be a blemish" but he praised the song as "a pop/rock hybrid drawing on the best of both idioms". MacDonald concluded: "'Hey Jude' strikes a universal note, touching on an archetypal moment in male sexual psychology with a gentle wisdom one might properly call inspired." Lennon said the song was "one of [McCartney's] masterpieces".
Commercial performance
The single was a highly successful debut for Apple Records, a result that contrasted with the public embarrassment the band faced after the recent closure of their short-lived retail venture, Apple Boutique. In the description of music journalist Paul Du Noyer, the song's "monumental quality ... amazed the public in 1968"; in addition, the release silenced detractors in the British mainstream press who had relished the opportunity to criticise the band for their December 1967 television special, Magical Mystery Tour, and their trip to Rishikesh in early 1968. In the US, the single similarly brought an end to speculation that the Beatles' popularity might be diminishing, after "Lady Madonna" had peaked at number 4.
"Hey Jude" reached the top of Britain's Record Retailer chart (subsequently adopted as the UK Singles Chart) in September 1968. It lasted two weeks on top before being replaced by Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", which McCartney helped promote. "Hey Jude" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 13 September; that same week, NME reported that two million copies of the single had been sold. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on 14 September, beginning a nineteen-week chart run there. It reached number one on 28 September and held that position for nine weeks, for three of which "Those Were the Days" held the number-two spot. This was the longest run at number one for a single in the US until 1977. The song was the 16th number-one hit there for the Beatles. Billboard ranked it as the number-one song for 1968. In Australia, "Hey Jude" was number one for 13 weeks, which remained a record there until Abba's "Fernando" in 1976. It also topped the charts in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany.
On 30 November 1968, NME reported that sales had reached nearly six million copies worldwide. By 1999, "Hey Jude" had sold an estimated eight million copies worldwide. That year, it was certified 4x platinum by the RIAA, representing four million units shipped in the US. As of December 2018, "Hey Jude" was the 54th-best-selling single of all time in the UK – one of six Beatles songs included on the top sales rankings published by the Official Charts Company.
Awards and accolades
"Hey Jude" was nominated for the Grammy Awards of 1969 in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, but failed to win any of them. In the 1968 NME Readers' Poll, "Hey Jude" was named the best single of the year, and the song also won the 1968 Ivor Novello Award for "A-Side With the Highest Sales". "Hey Jude" was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001 and it is one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll".
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Hey Jude" at number eight on the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", making it the highest-placed Beatles song on the list; it dropped to number 89 in the 2021 revised list. Among its many appearances in other best-song-of-all-time lists, VH1 placed it ninth in 2000 and Mojo ranked it at number 29 in the same year, having placed the song seventh in a 1997 list of "The 100 Greatest Singles of All Time". In 1976, the NME ranked it 38th on the magazine's "Top 100 Singles of All Time", and the track appeared at number 77 on the same publication's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2014. In January 2001, "Hey Jude" came in third on Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest Singles". The Amusement & Music Operators Association ranks "Hey Jude" as the 11th-best jukebox single of all time. In 2008, the song appeared in eighth place on Billboards "All Time Hot 100 Songs".
In July 2006, Mojo placed "Hey Jude" at number 12 on its list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs". On a similar list compiled four years later, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number seven. In 2015, the ITV program The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One ranked "Hey Jude" in first place. In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked it at number 49 on their list of the best Beatles songs. Writing in the magazine, Nick Levine said: "Don't allow yourself to overlook this song because of its sheer ubiquity ... 'Hey Jude' is a huge-hearted, super-emotional epic that climaxes with one of pop's most legendary hooks."
Auctioned lyrics and memorabilia
In his 1996 article about the single's release, for Mojo, Paul Du Noyer said that the writing of "Hey Jude" had become "one of the best-known stories in Beatles folklore". In a 2005 interview, Ono said that for McCartney and for Julian and Cynthia Lennon, the scenario was akin to a drama, in that "Each person has something to be totally miserable about, because of the way they were put into this play. I have incredible sympathy for each of them." Du Noyer quoted Cynthia Lennon as saying of "Hey Jude", "it always bring tears to my eyes, that song."
Julian discovered that "Hey Jude" had been written for him almost 20 years after the fact. He recalled of his and McCartney's relationship: "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit – more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad." In 1996, Julian paid £25,000($33,958.25) for the recording notes to "Hey Jude" at an auction. He spent a further £35,000($47,543.65) at the auction, buying John Lennon memorabilia. John Cousins, Julian Lennon's manager, stated at the time: "He has a few photographs of his father, but not very much else. He is collecting for personal reasons; these are family heirlooms if you like."
In 2002, the original handwritten lyrics for the song were nearly auctioned off at Christie's in London. The sheet of notepaper with the scrawled lyrics had been expected to fetch up to £80,000($108,671.20) at the auction, which was scheduled for 30 April 2002. McCartney went to court to stop the auction, claiming the paper had disappeared from his West London home. Richard Morgan, representing Christie's, said McCartney had provided no evidence that he had ever owned the piece of paper on which the lyrics were written. The courts decided in McCartney's favour and prohibited the sale of the lyrics. They had been sent to Christie's for auction by Frenchman Florrent Tessier, who said he purchased the piece of paper at a street market stall in London for £10($13.58) in the early 1970s. In the original catalogue for the auction, Julian Lennon had written, "It's very strange to think that someone has written a song about you. It still touches me."
Along with "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" was one of the songs that McCartney has highlighted when attempting to have some of the official Beatles songwriting credits changed to McCartney–Lennon. McCartney applied the revised credit to this and 18 other Lennon–McCartney songs on his 2002 live album Back in the U.S., attracting criticism from Ono, as Lennon's widow, and from Starr, the only other surviving member of the Beatles.
Cover versions and McCartney live performances
In 1968, R&B singer Wilson Pickett released a cover recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, with a guitar part played by a young Duane Allman, who recommended the song to Pickett. Eric Clapton commented, "I remember hearing [it] and calling either Ahmet Ertegun or Tom Dowd and saying, 'Who's that guitar player?' ... To this day, I've never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It's the best." Session musician Jimmy Johnson, who played on the recording, said that Allman's solo "created Southern rock". Pickett's version reached number 23 on the Hot 100 and 13 on the Billboard R&B chart.
"Hey Jude" was one of the few Beatles songs that Elvis Presley covered, when he rehearsed the track at his 1969 Memphis sessions with producer Chips Moman, a recording that appeared on the 1972 album Elvis Now. A medley of "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" was included on the 1999 reissue of Presley's 1970 live album On Stage. Katy Perry performed "Hey Jude" as part of the 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year concert honouring McCartney.
McCartney played "Hey Jude" throughout his 1989–90 world tour, his first tour since Lennon's murder in 1980. McCartney had considered including it as the closing song on his band Wings' 1975 tours, but decided that "it just didn't feel right." He has continued to feature the song in his concerts, leading the audience in organised singalongs whereby different segments of the crowd – such as those in a certain section of the venue, then only men followed by only the women – chant the "Na-na-na na" refrain.
McCartney performed "Hey Jude" in the White House East Room as part of a concert honoring him with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in June 2010.
McCartney also sang the song in the closing moments of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics hosted in London. On 4 August 2012, McCartney led the crowd in a rendition of "Hey Jude" while watching cycling at the velodrome.
Personnel
According to Ian MacDonald and Mark Lewisohn:
The Beatles
Paul McCartney– lead vocal, piano, bass guitar, handclaps
John Lennon– backing vocal, acoustic guitar, handclaps
George Harrison– backing vocal, electric guitar, handclaps
Ringo Starr– backing vocal, drums, tambourine, handclaps
Additional musicians
Uncredited 36-piece orchestra– 10 violins, three violas, three cellos, two double basses, two flutes, two clarinets, one bass clarinet, one bassoon, one contrabassoon, four trumpets, two horns, four trombones, and one percussion instrument; 35 of these musicians on additional backing vocals and handclaps
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications and sales
See also
Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1968
List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1960s
List of Top 25 singles for 1968 in Australia
List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1968
List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1968
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Canada)
List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1968
List of number-one hits of 1968 (Germany)
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Ireland)
List of number-one singles in 1968 (New Zealand)
List of number-one songs in Norway
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Spain)
List of number-one singles from 1968 to 1979 (Switzerland)
List of UK charts and number-one singles (1952–1969)
List of best-selling singles of the 1960s in the United Kingdom
"The Official BBC Children in Need Medley"
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
"David Frost Meets The Beatles" at Mojo4music.com
1968 songs
1968 singles
The Beatles songs
Apple Records singles
Songs written by Lennon–McCartney
Song recordings produced by George Martin
Songs published by Northern Songs
Music videos directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
Single Top 100 number-one singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Number-one singles in Australia
Number-one singles in Austria
Number-one singles in Germany
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Number-one singles in Norway
Number-one singles in Spain
Number-one singles in Switzerland
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
British pop rock songs
Pop ballads
Rock ballads
1960s ballads
Wilson Pickett songs | false | [
"Jazz standards are musical compositions that are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz artists as part of the genre's musical repertoire. This list includes tunes written in the 1940s that are considered standards by at least one major fake book publication or reference work.\n\nThe swing era lasted until the mid-1940s, and produced popular tunes such as Duke Ellington's \"Cotton Tail\" (1940) and Billy Strayhorn's \"Take the 'A' Train\" (1941). When the big bands struggled to keep going during World War II, a shift was happening in jazz in favor of smaller groups. Some swing era musicians, like Louis Jordan, later found popularity in a new kind of music, called \"rhythm and blues\", that would evolve into rock and roll in the 1950s.\n\nBebop emerged in the early 1940s, led by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and others. It appealed to a more specialized audience than earlier forms of jazz, with sophisticated harmonies, fast tempos, and often virtuoso musicianship. Bebop musicians often used 1930s standards, especially those from Broadway musicals, as part of their repertoire. Among standards written by bebop musicians are Gillespie's \"Salt Peanuts\" (1941) and \"A Night in Tunisia\" (1942), Parker's \"Anthropology\" (1946), \"Yardbird Suite\" (1946) and \"Scrapple from the Apple\" (1947), and Monk's \"'Round Midnight\" (1944), which is currently the most recorded jazz standard composed by a jazz musician.\n\n1940\n\n \"After Hours\" is a song composed by Avery Parrish with lyrics by Robert Bruce and Buddy Feyne. Parrish's own hit instrumental version, featuring him on piano with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, was recorded on June 10, 1940. Lyrics were added later.\n \"All Too Soon\" is a jazz ballad composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Carl Sigman. Tenor saxophonist Ben Webster's performance on the tune was so highly regarded by audiences that his successors in the band were asked how they dare sit on Webster's seat. Webster later recorded the tune with young Sarah Vaughan in 1946.\n \"Cotton Tail\" is a swing jazz composition by Duke Ellington, with lyrics later added by Jon Hendricks. It was based on the Rhythm changes, a chord progression later used as a basis for many bebop tunes. Ben Webster was often asked by audiences to play his famous tenor saxophone solo note for note. The name of the tune is sometimes spelled as \"Cottontail\".\n \"Do Nothing till You Hear from Me\" (a.k.a. \"Concerto for Cootie\") is a song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Bob Russell.\n \"Don't Get Around Much Anymore\" is a song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Bob Russell.\n \"How High the Moon\" is a song composed by Morgan Lewis with lyrics by Nancy Hamilton. Among the many takes by jazz instrumentalists there are two vocal renditions which made their way, the classic Ella Fitzgerald live performance, and Sarah Vaughan's rendition.\n \"In a Mellow Tone\" (a.k.a. \"In a Mellotone\") is a song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Milt Gabler.\n \"Polka Dots and Moonbeams\" is a song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Johnny Burke.\n \"You Stepped Out of a Dream\" is a song composed by Nacio Herb Brown with lyrics by Gus Kahn.\n\n1941\n \"Aquarela do Brasil\" (a.k.a. \"Brazil\") is a song composed by Ary Barroso with lyrics by S. K. Russell. This is originally a samba from Brazil, which made its way in America and was sung by Carmen Miranda as well as by Frank Sinatra in his album Come Fly with Me, with arrangements by Billy May for Capitol Records.\n \"Blues in the Night\" is a song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was written for the 1941 film of the same name. Jazz-oriented artists who recorded the song include Woody Herman, Jimmie Lunceford, Artie Shaw, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford (both solo and with lyricist Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers), Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman, and Mel Torme, among many others.\n \"Chelsea Bridge\" is a song written by Billy Strayhorn.\n \"Flamingo\" is a song composed by Ted Grouya with lyrics by Edmund Anderson.\n \"I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good)\" is a song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster.\n \"I'll Remember April\" is a song composed by Gene de Paul with lyrics by Patricia Johnston and Don Raye.\n \"Jim\" is a song with music by James Caesar Petrillo and Milton Samuels (who also used the pseudonym Edward Ross), lyrics by Nelson Shawn. Jazz-oriented artists who recorded the song include Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Shore, Billy Holiday, Etta James, and Aretha Franklin.\n \"Just A-Sittin' and A-Rockin'\" is a song composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, with lyrics by Lee Gaines.\n \"Just Squeeze Me (But Please Don't Tease Me)\" is a song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Lee Gaines.\n \"Salt Peanuts\" is a jazz composition by Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie.\n \"Take the 'A' Train\" is a song written by Billy Strayhorn.\n \"Why Don't You Do Right?\" is a blues song by Kansas Joe McCoy. Originally titled \"The Weed Smoker's Dream\", McCoy rewrote the lyrics for Lil Green, who recorded it with Big Bill Broonzy in 1941. Peggy Lee recorded a hit version with Benny Goodman in 1945; this version was performed in Who Framed Roger Rabbit by Jessica Rabbit at the Ink and Paint Club.\n \"You Don't Know What Love Is\" is a song written by Gene De Paul and Don Raye.\n\n1942\n \"C Jam Blues\" (a.k.a. \"Duke's Place\") is a song written by Duke Ellington.\n \"Epistrophy\" is a song composed by Thelonious Monk and Kenny Clarke.\n \"Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)\" is a song written by Jimmy Davis, Ram Ramirez and Jimmy Sherman. It is associated with the definitive Billie Holiday's rendition.\n \"A Night in Tunisia\" is a song composed by Dizzy Gillespie and Frank Paparelli with lyrics by Jon Hendricks.\n \"Perdido\" is a song composed by Juan Tizol with lyrics by Ervin Drake and Hans Jan Lengsfelder.\n \"Skylark\" is a song composed by Hoagy Carmichael with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.\n \"That Old Black Magic\" is a song composed by Harold Arlen, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Jazz-oriented artists who recorded it include Glenn Miller, Judy Garland, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, and the Freddie Slack Orchestra featuring Margaret Whiting on vocals.\n \"There Will Never Be Another You\" is a song composed by Harry Warren with lyrics by Mack Gordon.\n \"Things Ain't What They Used to Be\" is a song composed by Mercer Ellington with lyrics by Ted Persons.\n\"Woody 'n' You\" (a.k.a. \"Algo Bueno\") is a jazz composition by Dizzy Gillespie.\n\n1943\n \"Harlem Nocturne\" is a song composed by Earle Hagen with lyrics by Dick Rogers.\n \"Star Eyes\" is a song from the film I Dood It, written by Gene de Paul and Don Raye. It was introduced by Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly in the film and became popular among jazz artists after Charlie Parker's 1951 recording.\n \"The Surrey with the Fringe on Top\" is a song composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.\n\n1944\n\n \"Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye\" is a song written by Cole Porter.\n \"Groovin' High\" is a jazz composition by Dizzy Gillespie.\n \"I Fall in Love Too Easily\" is a song composed by Jule Styne with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.\n \"I Should Care\" is a song written by Sammy Cahn, Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston.\n \"It Could Happen to You\" is a song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Johnny Burke. This song's harmony was base to another composition titled 'Fried Bananas' written by saxophonist Dexter Gordon.\n \"Long Ago (and Far Away)\" is a song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Ira Gershwin.\n \"'Round Midnight\" (a.k.a. \"'Round About Midnight\") is a song composed by Thelonious Monk and Cootie Williams with lyrics by Bernie Hanighen.\n \"Well, You Needn't (It's Over Now)\" is a song composed by Thelonious Monk with lyrics by Mike Ferro.\n\n1945\n \"Billie's Bounce\" (a.k.a. \"Bill's Bounce\") is a jazz composition by Charlie Parker.\n \"Everything but You\" is a song composed by Duke Ellington and Harry James with lyrics by Don George.\n \"Hot House\" is a jazz composition by Tadd Dameron.\n \"I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So\" is a song composed by Duke Ellington with lyrics by Mack David.\n \"It Might as Well Be Spring\" is a song composed by Richard Rodgers with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.\n \"Laura\" is a song composed by David Raksin for the film of the same title. Lyrics were penned later by Johnny Mercer and the vocal renditions by Frank Sinatra and by Johnny Mathis, with arrangement by Don Costa, became classic along with several jazz instrumental renditions.\n \"Now's the Time\" is a jazz composition by Charlie Parker.\n \"Since I Fell for You\" is a song written by Buddy Johnson.\n\n1946\n \"Angel Eyes\" is a song composed by Matt Dennis with lyrics by Earl K. Brent, it is associated with Frank Sinatra \"saloon\" rendition. \n \"Anthropology\" is a jazz composition by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.\n \"Come Rain or Come Shine\" is a song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.\n \"Confirmation\" is a jazz composition by Charlie Parker.\n \"Day Dream\" is a song composed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with lyrics by John La Touche.\n \"Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans\" is a song composed by Louis Alter with lyrics by Eddie DeLange.\n\"If You Could See Me Now\" is a song composed by Tadd Dameron with lyrics by Carl Sigman.\n\"Nobody Else But Me\" is a song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. \n \"Ornithology\" is a jazz composition by Charlie Parker and Bennie Harris.\n \"Stella by Starlight\" is a song composed by Victor Young with lyrics by Ned Washington.\n \"Tenderly\" is a song composed by pianist Walter Gross with lyrics by Jack Lawrence.\n \"The Things We Did Last Summer\" is a song composed by Jule Styne with lyrics by Sammy Cahn.\n \"Yardbird Suite\" is a jazz composition by Charlie Parker.\n\n1947\n \"Autumn Leaves\" (originally \"Les feuilles mortes\") is a song composed by Joseph Kosma with original French lyrics by Jacques Prévert and English version by Johnny Mercer.\n \"But Beautiful\" is a song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics by Johnny Burke.\n \"C'est si bon\" is a song composed by Henri Betti with original French lyrics by André Hornez and English version by Jerry Seelen in 1949.\n\"Donna Lee\" is a jazz composition by Charlie Parker.\n \"In Walked Bud\" is a song composed by Thelonious Monk. The song had lyrics written by Jon Hendricks who has recorded it with the composer in Monk's album titled Underground (Columbia Records).\n \"Lady Bird\" is a jazz composition by Tadd Dameron.\n \"Nature Boy\" is a song written by eden ahbez.\n \"On Green Dolphin Street\" is a song composed by Bronislaw Kaper with lyrics by Ned Washington. Main theme (instrumental) for the film 'Green Dolphin' which was retrieved by Miles Davis with great success.\n\"Our Delight\" is a jazz composition by Tadd Dameron.\n \"Scrapple from the Apple\" is a jazz composition by Charlie Parker. It was based on the chord progression of Fats Waller's \"Honeysuckle Rose\".\n\n1948\n \"Detour Ahead\" is a jazz composition with words and music credited to Herb Ellis, John Frigo, and Lou Carter. Probably most famously recorded by Billie Holiday in 1951 with Tiny Grimes.\n\"Four Brothers\" is a jazz composition by Jimmy Giuffre.\n \"The Night Has a Thousand Eyes\" is a song composed by Jerry Brainin, with lyrics by Buddy Bernier.\n\n1949\n \"Lush Life\" is a song written by Billy Strayhorn.\n \"My Foolish Heart\" is a song composed by Victor Young with lyrics by Ned Washington.\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\nReference works\n\nFake books\n\nJazz,1940\n \nStandards,1940",
"Treceți, batalioane române, Carpații () is a Romanian patriotic song. It is thought to have been composed in 1916, shortly before Romania's entry into World War I, although its first historical apparition occurred in February 1919, when members of the Romanian Legion of Transylvanian–Bukovinian Volunteers were recorded singing a version of the song. The original version (with 3 stanzas) is about how Romanian soldiers say goodbye to their families and go to Transylvania to fight against the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the unification of the region with the Kingdom of Romania.\n\nThe song was later \"revived\" in the 1970s and 1980s, when Adrian Păunescu and other poets added more stanzas and made the song part of the repertory of the spectacles of Cenaclul Flacăra, an artistic and cultural movement of the time. This ended up making the song more popular during the communist period.\n\nThere is a theory that the author was possibly , who composed around 30 other choirs and fanfares about Transylvania and Banat during the interwar period. However, he was only 12 in the year 1916, making it unlikely if the song was indeed composed at that time.\n\nThis song is similar to (\"Gray uniformed infantry\"), a Polish patriotic song reportedly from either 1918 or 1927.\n\nLyrics\nThe lyrics are as follows:\n\nOriginal version (World War I)\n\nCenaclul Flacăra version (1970s–1980s)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nRomanian patriotic songs\n1916 songs\nSongs of World War I\nRomanian military marches"
] |
[
"Hey Jude",
"Composition and structure",
"how is the song composed?",
"The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over two nights,"
] | C_1a2d69d190844813a25a154298f9ff5e_1 | how is the song structured? | 2 | How is the song Hey Jude structured? | Hey Jude | Having earmarked the song for release as a single, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" during the sessions for their self-titled double album, commonly known as "the White Album". The sessions were marked by an element of discord within the group for the first time, partly as a result of Ono's constant presence at Lennon's side, and also reflective of the four band members' divergence following their communal trip to Rishikesh in the spring of 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation. Author Peter Doggett describes the completed version of "Hey Jude" as a song that "glowed with optimism after a summer that had burned with anxiety and rage within the group". The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over two nights, 29 and 30 July 1968, with George Martin as their producer. These dates served as rehearsals, however, since they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilise their eight-track recording machine (Abbey Road was still limited to four-tracks). A take from 29 July, which author and critic Kenneth Womack describes as a "jovial" session, was issued on the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996. The 30 July rehearsals were filmed for a short documentary titled Music! However, the film shows only three of the Beatles performing "Hey Jude", as George Harrison remained in the studio control room, with Martin and EMI recording engineer Ken Scott. Author Simon Leng views this as indicative of how Harrison was increasingly allowed little room to develop ideas on McCartney compositions, whereas he was free to create empathetic guitar parts for Lennon's songs of the period. During the rehearsals that day, Harrison and McCartney had a heated disagreement over the lead guitar part for the song. Harrison's idea was to play a guitar phrase as a response to each line of the vocal, which did not fit with McCartney's conception of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it. In a 1994 interview, McCartney said, "looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure." Ron Richards, a record producer who worked for Martin at both Parlophone and AIR Studios, said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio", and that he was driven to making the best possible record, at almost any cost. Scott, Martin and the Beatles mixed the finished recording at Abbey Road. The transfer of the Trident master tape to acetate proved problematic due to the recording sounding murky when played back on EMI's equipment. The issue was resolved with the help of Geoff Emerick, whom Scott had recently replaced as the Beatles' principal recording engineer. Emerick happened to be visiting Abbey Road, having recently refused to work with the Beatles any longer, due to the tension and abuse that had become commonplace at their recording sessions. A stereo mix of "Hey Jude" was then completed on 2 August and the mono version on 8 August. Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. The precedent for issuing such a long track on a single had recently been set by Richard Harris' hit recording of "MacArthur Park", the composer of which, Jimmy Webb, was a visitor to the studio around this time. According to Webb, Martin admitted to him that "Hey Jude" was only allowed to run over seven minutes because of the success of "MacArthur Park". In the song's final bridge section, at 2:58, the spoken phrase "Fucking hell!" appears. Scott admits that although he was told about it, he could not hear the words originally. Lennon attributed the expletive to McCartney, according to Emerick, who reports Lennon's comment in his autobiography: "'Paul hit a clunker on the piano and said a naughty word,' Lennon gleefully crowed, 'but I insisted we leave it in [at Trident], buried just low enough so that it can barely be heard. Most people won't ever spot it ... but we'll know it's there.'" Womack considers that the expletive was actually uttered by Lennon. Malcolm Toft, the mix engineer on the Trident recording, also attributes it to Lennon. In Toft's recollection, Lennon was overdubbing his harmony vocal when, in reaction to the volume being too loud in his headphones, he first called out "Whoa!" then, two seconds later, swore as he pulled the headphones off. "Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C, and B (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me". The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the pain')." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na ..."), supported by an electric guitar fill, before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song. The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double plagal cadence. During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out. In his analysis of the composition, musicologist Alan Pollack comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression". Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I-VII-IV-I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally", so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda". CANNOTANSWER | Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. | "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' first release on their Apple record label and one of the "First Four" singles by Apple's roster of artists, marking the label's public launch. "Hey Jude" was a number-one hit in many countries around the world and became the year's top-selling single in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. Its nine-week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 tied the all-time record in 1968 for the longest run at the top of the US charts, a record it held for nine years. It has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on music critics' lists of the greatest songs of all time.
The writing and recording of "Hey Jude" coincided with a period of upheaval in the Beatles. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon's young son Julian, after Lennon had left his wife for the Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The lyrics espouse a positive outlook on a sad situation, while also encouraging "Jude" to pursue his opportunities to find love. After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a coda featuring a "Na-na-na na" refrain that lasts for over four minutes.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track recording equipment. The sessions took place at Trident Studios in central London, midway through the recording of the group's self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"), and led to an argument between McCartney and George Harrison over the song's guitar part. Ringo Starr later left the band only to return shortly before they filmed the promotional clip for the single. The clip was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and first aired on David Frost's UK television show. Contrasting with the problems afflicting the band, this performance captured the song's theme of optimism and togetherness by featuring the studio audience joining the Beatles as they sang the coda.
At over seven minutes in length, "Hey Jude" was the longest single to top the British charts up to that time. Its arrangement and extended coda encouraged many imitative works through to the early 1970s. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 11th "biggest" song of all time in terms of chart success. McCartney has continued to perform "Hey Jude" in concert since Lennon's death in 1980, leading audiences in singing the coda. Julian Lennon and McCartney have each bid successfully at auction for items of memorabilia related to the song's creation.
Inspiration and writing
In May 1968, John Lennon and his wife Cynthia separated due to his affair with Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The following month, Paul McCartney drove out to visit the Lennons' five-year-old son Julian, at Kenwood, the family's home in Weybridge. Cynthia had been part of the Beatles' social circle since before the band's rise to fame in 1963; McCartney later said he found it "a bit much for them suddenly to be personae non gratae and out of my life". Cynthia Lennon recalled of McCartney's surprise visit: "I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare ... On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us." The song's original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to comfort Julian from the stress of his parents' separation. McCartney said, "I knew it was not going to be easy for him", and that he changed the name to "Jude" "because I thought that sounded a bit better".
According to music journalist Chris Hunt, in the weeks after writing the song, McCartney "test[ed] his latest composition on anyone too polite to refuse. And that meant everyone." On 30 June, after recording the Black Dyke Mills Band's rendition of his instrumental "Thingumybob" in Yorkshire, McCartney stopped at the village of Harrold in Bedfordshire and performed "Hey Jude" at a local pub. He also regaled members of the Bonzo Dog Band with the song while producing their single "I'm the Urban Spaceman", in London, and interrupted a recording session by the Barron Knights to do the same. Ron Griffith of the group the Iveys – soon to be known as Badfinger and, like the Black Dyke Mills Band, an early signing to the Beatles' new record label Apple Records – recalled that on one of their first days in the studio, McCartney "gave us a full concert rendition of 'Hey Jude'".
The intensity of Lennon and Ono's relationship made any songwriting collaboration between Lennon and McCartney impossible. Keen to support his friend nevertheless, McCartney let the couple stay at his house in St John's Wood, but when Lennon discovered a note written by McCartney containing disparaging and racist comments about Ono, the couple moved out. McCartney presented "Hey Jude" to Lennon on 26 July, when he and Ono visited McCartney's home. McCartney assured him that he would "fix" the line "the movement you need is on your shoulder", reasoning that "it's a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot." According to McCartney, Lennon replied: "You won't, you know. That's the best line in the song." McCartney retained the phrase. Although McCartney originally wrote "Hey Jude" for Julian, Lennon thought it had actually been written for him. In a 1980 interview, Lennon stated that he "always heard it as a song to me" and contended that, on one level, McCartney was giving his blessing to Lennon and Ono's relationship, while, on another, he was disappointed to be usurped as Lennon's friend and creative partner.
Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express. Still others, including Lennon, have speculated that in the lyrics to "Hey Jude", McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher provided an unconscious "message to himself". McCartney and Asher had announced their engagement on 25 December 1967, yet he began an affair with Linda Eastman in June 1968; that same month, Francie Schwartz, an American who was in London to discuss a film proposal with Apple, began living with McCartney in St John's Wood. When Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him and Ono, McCartney denied it and told Lennon he had written the song about himself.
Author Mark Hertsgaard has commented that "many of the song's lyrics do seem directed more at a grown man on the verge of a powerful new love, especially the lines 'you have found her now go and get her' and 'you're waiting for someone to perform with.'" Music critic and author Tim Riley writes: "If the song is about self-worth and self-consolation in the face of hardship, the vocal performance itself conveys much of the journey. He begins by singing to comfort someone else, finds himself weighing his own feelings in the process, and finally, in the repeated refrains that nurture his own approbation, he comes to believe in himself."
Production
EMI rehearsals
Having earmarked the song for release as a single, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" during the sessions for their self-titled double album, commonly known as "the White Album". The sessions were marked by an element of discord within the group for the first time, partly as a result of Ono's constant presence at Lennon's side. The strained relations were also reflective of the four band members' divergence following their communal trip to Rishikesh in the spring of 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation.
The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI Studios in London over two nights, 29 and 30 July 1968, with George Martin as their producer. These dates served as rehearsals, however, since they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilise their eight-track recording machine (EMI was still limited to four-tracks). The first two takes from 29 July, which author and critic Kenneth Womack describes as a "jovial" session, have been released on the 50th Anniversary box set of the White Album in 2018 and the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996, respectively.
The 30 July rehearsals were filmed for a short documentary titled Music!, which was produced by the National Music Council of Great Britain. This was the first time that the Beatles had permitted a camera crew to film them developing a song in the studio. The film shows only three of the Beatles performing "Hey Jude", as George Harrison remained in the studio control room, with Martin and EMI recording engineer Ken Scott. During the rehearsals that day, Harrison and McCartney had a heated disagreement over the lead guitar part for the song. Harrison's idea was to play a guitar phrase as a response to each line of the vocal, which did not fit with McCartney's conception of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it. Author Simon Leng views this as indicative of how Harrison was increasingly allowed little room to develop ideas on McCartney compositions, whereas he was free to create empathetic guitar parts for Lennon's songs of the period. In a 1994 interview, McCartney said, "looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure." Ron Richards, a record producer who worked for Martin at both Parlophone and AIR Studios, said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio", and that he was driven to making the best possible record, at almost any cost.
Trident Studios recording
The Beatles recorded the master track for "Hey Jude" at Trident, where McCartney and Harrison had each produced sessions for their Apple artists, on 31 July. Trident's founder, Norman Sheffield, recalled that Mal Evans, the Beatles' aide and former roadie, insisted that some marijuana plants he had brought be placed in the studio to make the place "soft", consistent with the band's wishes. Barry Sheffield served as recording engineer for the session. The line-up on the basic track was McCartney on piano and lead vocal, Lennon on acoustic guitar, Harrison on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums. The Beatles recorded four takes of "Hey Jude", the first of which was selected as the master. With drums intended to be absent for the first two verses, McCartney began this take unaware that Starr had just left for a toilet break. Starr soon returned – "tiptoeing past my back rather quickly", in McCartney's recollection – and performed his cue perfectly.
On 1 August, the group carried out overdubs on the basic track, again at Trident. These additions included McCartney's lead vocal and bass guitar; backing vocals from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison; and tambourine, played by Starr. McCartney's vocal over the long coda, starting at around three minutes into the song, included a series of improvised shrieks that he later described as "Cary Grant on heat!" They then added a 36-piece orchestra over the coda, scored by Martin. The orchestra consisted of ten violins, three violas, three cellos, two flutes, one contra bassoon, one bassoon, two clarinets, one contra bass clarinet, four trumpets, four trombones, two horns, percussion and two string basses. According to Norman Sheffield, there was dissension initially among the orchestral musicians, some of whom "were looking down their noses at the Beatles, I think". Sheffield recalls that McCartney ensured their cooperation by demanding: "Do you guys want to get fucking paid or not?" During the first few takes, McCartney was unhappy about the lack of energy and passion in the orchestra's performance, so he stood up on the grand piano and started conducting the musicians from there.
The Beatles then asked the orchestra members if they would clap their hands and sing along to the refrain in the coda. All but one of the musicians complied (for a double fee), with the abstainer reportedly saying, "I'm not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney's bloody song!" Apple Records assistant Chris O'Dell says she joined the cast of backing singers on the song; one of the label's first signings, Jackie Lomax, also recalled participating.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track equipment. Trident Studios were paid £25 per hour by EMI for the sessions. Sheffield said that the studio earned about £1,000 in total, but by having the Beatles record there, and in turn raving about the facility, the value was incalculable. The band carried out further work at Trident during 1968, and Apple artists such as Lomax, Mary Hopkin, Billy Preston and the Iveys all recorded there over the next year.
Mixing
Scott, Martin and the Beatles mixed the finished recording at Abbey Road. The transfer of the Trident master tape to acetate proved problematic due to the recording sounding murky when played back on EMI's equipment. The issue was resolved with the help of Geoff Emerick, whom Scott had recently replaced as the Beatles' principal recording engineer. Emerick happened to be visiting Abbey Road, having recently refused to work with the Beatles any longer, due to the tension and abuse that had become commonplace at their recording sessions. A stereo mix of "Hey Jude" was then completed on 2 August and the mono version on 8 August.
Musicologist Walter Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. Like McCartney, Martin was concerned that radio stations would not play the track because of the length, but Lennon insisted: "They will if it's us." According to Ken Mansfield, Apple's US manager, McCartney remained unconvinced until Mansfield previewed the record for some American disc jockeys and reported that they were highly enthusiastic about the song. "Hey Jude" was one second longer than Richard Harris's recent hit recording of "MacArthur Park", the composer of which, Jimmy Webb, was a visitor to the studio around this time. According to Webb, Martin admitted to him that "Hey Jude" was only allowed to run over seven minutes because of the success of "MacArthur Park". Pleased with the result, McCartney played an acetate copy of "Hey Jude" at a party held by Mick Jagger, at Vesuvio's nightclub in central London, to celebrate the completion of the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet album. The song upstaged the Stones' album and, in author John Winn's description, "reportedly ruin[ed]" the party.
In the song's final bridge section, at 2:58, the spoken phrase "Fucking hell!" appears, uttered by Lennon. Scott admits that although he was told about it, he could not hear the words originally. Malcolm Toft, the mix engineer on the Trident recording, recalled that Lennon was overdubbing his harmony vocal when, in reaction to the volume being too loud in his headphones, he first called out "Whoa!" then, two seconds later, swore as he pulled the headphones off.
Composition and structure
"Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C and B (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me".
The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the pain)." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na …"), supported by an electric guitar fill, before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song.
The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double plagal cadence. During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out. In his analysis of the composition, musicologist Alan Pollack comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression".
Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I–VII–IV–I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally", so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda".
Release
"Hey Jude" was released on a 7-inch single on 26 August 1968 in the United States and 30 August in the United Kingdom, backed with "Revolution" on the B-side. It was one of four singles issued simultaneously to launch Apple Records – the others being Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", Jackie Lomax's "Sour Milk Sea", and the Black Dyke Mills Band's "Thingumybob". In advance of the release date, Apple declared 11–18 August to be "National Apple Week" in the UK, and sent gift-wrapped boxes of the records, marked "Our First Four", to Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, and to Harold Wilson, the prime minister. The release was promoted by Derek Taylor, who, in author Peter Doggett's description, "hyped the first Apple records with typical elan". "Hey Jude" was the first of the four singles, since it was still designated as an EMI/Parlophone release in the UK and a Capitol release in the US, but with the Apple Records logo now added. In the US, "Hey Jude" was the first Capitol-distributed Beatles single to be issued without a picture sleeve. Instead, the record was presented in a black sleeve bearing the words "The Beatles on Apple".
Author Philip Norman comments that aside from "Sour Milk Sea", which Harrison wrote and produced, the first Apple A-sides were all "either written, vocalised, discovered or produced" by McCartney. Lennon wanted "Revolution" to be the A-side of the Beatles single, but his bandmates opted for "Hey Jude". In his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, he said "Hey Jude" was worthy of an A-side, "but we could have had both." In 1980, he told Playboy he still disagreed with the decision.
Doggett describes "Hey Jude" as a song that "glowed with optimism after a summer that had burned with anxiety and rage within the group and in the troubled world beyond". The single's release coincided with the violent subjugation of Vietnam War protestors at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and condemnation in the West of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia and its crushing of attempts to introduce democratic reforms there. In this climate, Lennon's espousal of a pacifist agenda over violent confrontation in "Revolution" drew heavy criticism from New Left activists. By contrast, with its more universal message, "Hey Jude" was adopted as an anthem by Czech citizens in their struggle.
The song was first released on an album in February 1970, as the title track to Capitol's North American compilation Hey Jude. The album was conceived as a way to generate income for the Beatles by Allen Klein, the American businessman who, despite McCartney's strong opposition, the other Beatles had appointed to manage the ailing Apple organisation in 1969. "Hey Jude" subsequently appeared on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, Volume Two and 1.
Promotion
Apple shop window graffiti
A failed early promotional attempt for the single took place after the Beatles' all-night recording session on 7–8 August 1968. With Apple Boutique having closed a week before, McCartney and Francie Schwartz painted Hey Jude/Revolution across its large, whitewashed shop windows. The words were mistaken for antisemitic graffiti (since Jude means "Jew" in German), leading to complaints from the local Jewish community, and the windows being smashed by a passer-by.
Discussing the episode in The Beatles Anthology, McCartney explained that he had been motivated by the location – "Great opportunity. Baker Street, millions of buses going around…" – and added: "I had no idea it meant 'Jew', but if you look at footage of Nazi Germany, Juden Raus was written in whitewashed windows with a Star of David. I swear it never occurred to me." According to Barry Miles, McCartney caused further controversy in his comments to Alan Smith of the NME that month, when, in an interview designed to promote the single, he said: "Starvation in India doesn't worry me one bit, not one iota … And it doesn't worry you, if you're honest. You just pose."
Promotional film
The Beatles hired Michael Lindsay-Hogg to shoot promotional clips for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution", after he had previously directed the clips for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" in 1966. For "Hey Jude", they settled on the idea of shooting with a live, albeit controlled, audience. In the clip, the Beatles are first seen by themselves, performing the initial chorus and verses, before the audience moves forward and joins them in singing the coda. The decision was made to hire an orchestra and for the vocals to be sung live, to circumvent the Musicians' Union's ban on miming on television, but otherwise the Beatles performed to a backing track. Lindsay-Hogg shot the clip at Twickenham Film Studios on 4 September 1968. Tony Bramwell, a friend of the Beatles, later described the set as "the piano, there; drums, there; and orchestra in two tiers at the back." The event marked Starr's return to the group, after McCartney's criticism of his drumming had led to him walking out during a session for the White Album track "Back in the U.S.S.R." Starr was absent for two weeks.
The final edit was a combination of two different takes and included "introductions" to the song by David Frost (who introduced the Beatles as "the greatest tea-room orchestra in the world") and Cliff Richard, for their respective TV programmes. It first aired in the UK on Frost on Sunday on 8 September 1968, two weeks after Lennon and Ono had appeared on the show to promote their views on performance art and the avant-garde. The "Hey Jude" clip was broadcast in the United States on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on 6 October.
According to Riley, the Frost on Sunday broadcast "kicked 'Hey Jude' into the stratosphere" in terms of popularity. Norman comments that it evoked "palpable general relief" for viewers who had watched Frost's show two weeks before, as Lennon now adopted a supporting role to McCartney, and Ono was "nowhere in sight". Hertsgaard pairs the band's performance with the release of the animated film Yellow Submarine as two events that created "a state of nirvana" for Beatles fans, in contrast with the problems besetting the band regarding Ono's influence and Apple. Referring to the sight of the Beatles engulfed by a crowd made up of "young, old, male, female, black, brown, and white" fans, Hertsgaard describes the promotional clip as "a quintessential sixties moment, a touching tableau of contentment and togetherness".
The 4 September 1968 promo clip is included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1, while the three-disc versions of that compilation, titled 1+, also include an alternate video, with a different introduction and vocal, from the same date.
Critical reception
In his contemporary review of the single, Derek Johnson of the NME wrote: "The intriguing features of 'Hey Jude' are its extreme length and the 40-piece orchestral accompaniment – and personally I would have preferred it without either!" While he viewed the track overall as "a beautiful, compelling song", and the first three minutes as "absolutely sensational", Johnson rued the long coda's "vocal improvisations on the basically repetitive four-bar chorus". Johnson nevertheless concluded that "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" "prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Beatles are still streets ahead of their rivals". Chris Welch of Melody Maker said he had initially been unimpressed, but came to greatly admire "Hey Jude" for its "slow, heavy, piano-ridden beat, sensuous, soulful vocals and nice thumpy drums". He added that the track would have benefited from being edited in length, as the climactic ending was "a couple of minutes too long".
Cash Boxs reviewer said that the extended fadeout, having been a device pioneered by the Beatles on "All You Need Is Love", "becomes something of an art form" in "Hey Jude", comprising a "trance-like ceremonial that becomes almost timeless in its continuity". Time magazine described it as "a fadeout that engagingly spoofs the fadeout as a gimmick for ending pop records". The reviewer contrasted "Hey Jude" with "Revolution", saying that McCartney's song "urges activism of a different sort" by "liltingly exhort[ing] a friend to overcome his fears and commit himself in love". Catherine Manfredi of Rolling Stone also read the lyrics as a message from McCartney to Lennon to end his negative relationships with women: "to break the old pattern; to really go through with love". Manfredi commented on the duality of the song's eponymous protagonist as a representation of good, in Saint Jude, "the Patron of that which is called Impossible", and of evil, in Judas Iscariot. Other commentators interpreted "Hey Jude" as being directed at Bob Dylan, then semi-retired in Woodstock.
Writing in 1971, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called it "one of [McCartney's] truest and most forthright love songs" and said that McCartney's romantic side was ill-served by the inclusion of "'I Will', a piece of fluff" on The Beatles. In their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler wrote that "Hey Jude" "promised great things" for the ill-conceived Apple enterprise and described the song as "the last great Beatles single recorded specifically for the 45s market". They commented also that "the epic proportions of the piece" encouraged many imitators, yet these other artists "[failed] to capture the gentleness and sympathy of the Beatles' communal feel". Walter Everett admires the melody as a "marvel of construction, contrasting wide leaps with stepwise motions, sustained tones with rapid movement, syllabic with melismatic word-setting, and tension ... with resolution". He cites Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks", Donovan's "Atlantis", the Moody Blues' "Never Comes the Day" and the Allman Brothers' "Revival" among the many songs with "mantralike repeated sections" that followed the release of "Hey Jude". In his entry for the song in his 1993 book Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles, Paul Williams describes it as a "song about breathing". He adds: "'Hey Jude' kicks ass like Van Gogh or Beethoven in their prime. It is, let's say, one of the wonders of this corner of creation ... It opens out like the sky at night or the idea of the existence of God."
Alan Pollack highlights the song as "such a good illustration of two compositional lessons – how to fill a large canvas with simple means, and how to use diverse elements such as harmony, bassline, and orchestration to articulate form and contrast." Pollack says that the long coda provides "an astonishingly transcendental effect", while AllMusic's Richie Unterberger similarly opines: "What could have very easily been boring is instead hypnotic because McCartney varies the vocal with some of the greatest nonsense scatting ever heard in rock, ranging from mantra-like chants to soulful lines to James Brown power screams." In his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald wrote that the "pseudo-soul shrieking in the fade-out may be a blemish" but he praised the song as "a pop/rock hybrid drawing on the best of both idioms". MacDonald concluded: "'Hey Jude' strikes a universal note, touching on an archetypal moment in male sexual psychology with a gentle wisdom one might properly call inspired." Lennon said the song was "one of [McCartney's] masterpieces".
Commercial performance
The single was a highly successful debut for Apple Records, a result that contrasted with the public embarrassment the band faced after the recent closure of their short-lived retail venture, Apple Boutique. In the description of music journalist Paul Du Noyer, the song's "monumental quality ... amazed the public in 1968"; in addition, the release silenced detractors in the British mainstream press who had relished the opportunity to criticise the band for their December 1967 television special, Magical Mystery Tour, and their trip to Rishikesh in early 1968. In the US, the single similarly brought an end to speculation that the Beatles' popularity might be diminishing, after "Lady Madonna" had peaked at number 4.
"Hey Jude" reached the top of Britain's Record Retailer chart (subsequently adopted as the UK Singles Chart) in September 1968. It lasted two weeks on top before being replaced by Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", which McCartney helped promote. "Hey Jude" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 13 September; that same week, NME reported that two million copies of the single had been sold. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on 14 September, beginning a nineteen-week chart run there. It reached number one on 28 September and held that position for nine weeks, for three of which "Those Were the Days" held the number-two spot. This was the longest run at number one for a single in the US until 1977. The song was the 16th number-one hit there for the Beatles. Billboard ranked it as the number-one song for 1968. In Australia, "Hey Jude" was number one for 13 weeks, which remained a record there until Abba's "Fernando" in 1976. It also topped the charts in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany.
On 30 November 1968, NME reported that sales had reached nearly six million copies worldwide. By 1999, "Hey Jude" had sold an estimated eight million copies worldwide. That year, it was certified 4x platinum by the RIAA, representing four million units shipped in the US. As of December 2018, "Hey Jude" was the 54th-best-selling single of all time in the UK – one of six Beatles songs included on the top sales rankings published by the Official Charts Company.
Awards and accolades
"Hey Jude" was nominated for the Grammy Awards of 1969 in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, but failed to win any of them. In the 1968 NME Readers' Poll, "Hey Jude" was named the best single of the year, and the song also won the 1968 Ivor Novello Award for "A-Side With the Highest Sales". "Hey Jude" was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001 and it is one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll".
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Hey Jude" at number eight on the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", making it the highest-placed Beatles song on the list; it dropped to number 89 in the 2021 revised list. Among its many appearances in other best-song-of-all-time lists, VH1 placed it ninth in 2000 and Mojo ranked it at number 29 in the same year, having placed the song seventh in a 1997 list of "The 100 Greatest Singles of All Time". In 1976, the NME ranked it 38th on the magazine's "Top 100 Singles of All Time", and the track appeared at number 77 on the same publication's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2014. In January 2001, "Hey Jude" came in third on Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest Singles". The Amusement & Music Operators Association ranks "Hey Jude" as the 11th-best jukebox single of all time. In 2008, the song appeared in eighth place on Billboards "All Time Hot 100 Songs".
In July 2006, Mojo placed "Hey Jude" at number 12 on its list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs". On a similar list compiled four years later, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number seven. In 2015, the ITV program The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One ranked "Hey Jude" in first place. In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked it at number 49 on their list of the best Beatles songs. Writing in the magazine, Nick Levine said: "Don't allow yourself to overlook this song because of its sheer ubiquity ... 'Hey Jude' is a huge-hearted, super-emotional epic that climaxes with one of pop's most legendary hooks."
Auctioned lyrics and memorabilia
In his 1996 article about the single's release, for Mojo, Paul Du Noyer said that the writing of "Hey Jude" had become "one of the best-known stories in Beatles folklore". In a 2005 interview, Ono said that for McCartney and for Julian and Cynthia Lennon, the scenario was akin to a drama, in that "Each person has something to be totally miserable about, because of the way they were put into this play. I have incredible sympathy for each of them." Du Noyer quoted Cynthia Lennon as saying of "Hey Jude", "it always bring tears to my eyes, that song."
Julian discovered that "Hey Jude" had been written for him almost 20 years after the fact. He recalled of his and McCartney's relationship: "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit – more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad." In 1996, Julian paid £25,000($33,958.25) for the recording notes to "Hey Jude" at an auction. He spent a further £35,000($47,543.65) at the auction, buying John Lennon memorabilia. John Cousins, Julian Lennon's manager, stated at the time: "He has a few photographs of his father, but not very much else. He is collecting for personal reasons; these are family heirlooms if you like."
In 2002, the original handwritten lyrics for the song were nearly auctioned off at Christie's in London. The sheet of notepaper with the scrawled lyrics had been expected to fetch up to £80,000($108,671.20) at the auction, which was scheduled for 30 April 2002. McCartney went to court to stop the auction, claiming the paper had disappeared from his West London home. Richard Morgan, representing Christie's, said McCartney had provided no evidence that he had ever owned the piece of paper on which the lyrics were written. The courts decided in McCartney's favour and prohibited the sale of the lyrics. They had been sent to Christie's for auction by Frenchman Florrent Tessier, who said he purchased the piece of paper at a street market stall in London for £10($13.58) in the early 1970s. In the original catalogue for the auction, Julian Lennon had written, "It's very strange to think that someone has written a song about you. It still touches me."
Along with "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" was one of the songs that McCartney has highlighted when attempting to have some of the official Beatles songwriting credits changed to McCartney–Lennon. McCartney applied the revised credit to this and 18 other Lennon–McCartney songs on his 2002 live album Back in the U.S., attracting criticism from Ono, as Lennon's widow, and from Starr, the only other surviving member of the Beatles.
Cover versions and McCartney live performances
In 1968, R&B singer Wilson Pickett released a cover recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, with a guitar part played by a young Duane Allman, who recommended the song to Pickett. Eric Clapton commented, "I remember hearing [it] and calling either Ahmet Ertegun or Tom Dowd and saying, 'Who's that guitar player?' ... To this day, I've never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It's the best." Session musician Jimmy Johnson, who played on the recording, said that Allman's solo "created Southern rock". Pickett's version reached number 23 on the Hot 100 and 13 on the Billboard R&B chart.
"Hey Jude" was one of the few Beatles songs that Elvis Presley covered, when he rehearsed the track at his 1969 Memphis sessions with producer Chips Moman, a recording that appeared on the 1972 album Elvis Now. A medley of "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" was included on the 1999 reissue of Presley's 1970 live album On Stage. Katy Perry performed "Hey Jude" as part of the 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year concert honouring McCartney.
McCartney played "Hey Jude" throughout his 1989–90 world tour, his first tour since Lennon's murder in 1980. McCartney had considered including it as the closing song on his band Wings' 1975 tours, but decided that "it just didn't feel right." He has continued to feature the song in his concerts, leading the audience in organised singalongs whereby different segments of the crowd – such as those in a certain section of the venue, then only men followed by only the women – chant the "Na-na-na na" refrain.
McCartney performed "Hey Jude" in the White House East Room as part of a concert honoring him with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in June 2010.
McCartney also sang the song in the closing moments of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics hosted in London. On 4 August 2012, McCartney led the crowd in a rendition of "Hey Jude" while watching cycling at the velodrome.
Personnel
According to Ian MacDonald and Mark Lewisohn:
The Beatles
Paul McCartney– lead vocal, piano, bass guitar, handclaps
John Lennon– backing vocal, acoustic guitar, handclaps
George Harrison– backing vocal, electric guitar, handclaps
Ringo Starr– backing vocal, drums, tambourine, handclaps
Additional musicians
Uncredited 36-piece orchestra– 10 violins, three violas, three cellos, two double basses, two flutes, two clarinets, one bass clarinet, one bassoon, one contrabassoon, four trumpets, two horns, four trombones, and one percussion instrument; 35 of these musicians on additional backing vocals and handclaps
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications and sales
See also
Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1968
List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1960s
List of Top 25 singles for 1968 in Australia
List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1968
List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1968
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Canada)
List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1968
List of number-one hits of 1968 (Germany)
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Ireland)
List of number-one singles in 1968 (New Zealand)
List of number-one songs in Norway
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Spain)
List of number-one singles from 1968 to 1979 (Switzerland)
List of UK charts and number-one singles (1952–1969)
List of best-selling singles of the 1960s in the United Kingdom
"The Official BBC Children in Need Medley"
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
"David Frost Meets The Beatles" at Mojo4music.com
1968 songs
1968 singles
The Beatles songs
Apple Records singles
Songs written by Lennon–McCartney
Song recordings produced by George Martin
Songs published by Northern Songs
Music videos directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
Single Top 100 number-one singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Number-one singles in Australia
Number-one singles in Austria
Number-one singles in Germany
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Number-one singles in Norway
Number-one singles in Spain
Number-one singles in Switzerland
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
British pop rock songs
Pop ballads
Rock ballads
1960s ballads
Wilson Pickett songs | true | [
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"In software engineering, structured analysis (SA) and structured design (SD) are methods for analyzing business requirements and developing specifications for converting practices into computer programs, hardware configurations, and related manual procedures.\n\nStructured analysis and design techniques are fundamental tools of systems analysis. They developed from classical systems analysis of the 1960s and 1970s.\n\nObjectives of structured analysis \nStructured analysis became popular in the 1980s and is still in use today. Structured analysis consists of interpreting the system concept (or real world situations) into data and control terminology represented by data flow diagrams. The flow of data and control from bubble to the data store to bubble can be difficult to track and the number of bubbles can increase.\n\nOne approach is to first define events from the outside world that require the system to react, then assign a bubble to that event. Bubbles that need to interact are then connected until the system is defined. Bubbles are usually grouped into higher level bubbles to decrease complexity. Data dictionaries are needed to describe the data and command flows, and a process specification is needed to capture the transaction/transformation information.\n\nSA and SD are displayed with structure charts, data flow diagrams and data model diagrams, of which there were many variations, including those developed by Tom DeMarco, Ken Orr, Larry Constantine, Vaughn Frick, Ed Yourdon, Steven Ward, Peter Chen, and others.\n\nThese techniques were combined in various published system development methodologies, including structured systems analysis and design method, profitable information by design (PRIDE), Nastec structured analysis & design, SDM/70 and the Spectrum structured system development methodology.\n\nHistory \nStructured analysis is part of a series of structured methods that represent a collection of analysis, design, and programming techniques that were developed in response to the problems facing the software world from the 1960s to the 1980s. In this timeframe most commercial programming was done in Cobol and Fortran, then C and BASIC. There was little guidance on \"good\" design and programming techniques, and there were no standard techniques for documenting requirements and designs. Systems were getting larger and more complex, and the information system development became harder and harder to do so.\"\n\nAs a way to help manage large and complex software, the following structured methods emerged since the end of the 1960s:\n Structured programming in circa 1967 with Edsger Dijkstra - \"Go To Statement Considered Harmful\"\n Niklaus Wirth Stepwise design in 1971\n Nassi–Shneiderman diagram in 1972\n Warnier/Orr diagram in 1974 - \"Logical Construction of Programs\"\n HIPO in 1974 - IBM Hierarchy input-process-output (though this should really be output-input-process)\n Structured design around 1975 with Larry Constantine, Ed Yourdon and Wayne Stevens.\n Jackson structured programming in circa 1975 developed by Michael A. Jackson\n Structured analysis in circa 1978 with Tom DeMarco, Edward Yourdon, Gane & Sarson, McMenamin & Palmer.\n Structured analysis and design technique (SADT) developed by Douglas T. Ross\n Yourdon structured method developed by Edward Yourdon.\n Structured analysis and system specification published in 1978 by Tom DeMarco.\n Structured systems analysis and design method (SSADM) first presented in 1983 developed by the UK Office of Government Commerce.\nEssential Systems Analysis, proposed by Stephen M. McMenamin and John F. Palmer\n IDEF0 based on SADT, developed by Douglas T. Ross in 1985.\nHatley-Pirbhai modeling, defined in \"Strategies for Real-Time System Specification\" by Derek J. Hatley and Imtiaz A. Pirbhai in 1988.\nModern Structured Analysis, developed by Edward Yourdon, after Essential System Analysis was published, and published in 1989.\nInformation technology engineering in circa 1990 with Finkelstein and popularised by James Martin.\n\nAccording to Hay (1999) \"information engineering was a logical extension of the structured techniques that were developed during the 1970s. Structured programming led to structured design, which in turn led to structured systems analysis. These techniques were characterized by their use of diagrams: structure charts for structured design, and data flow diagrams for structured analysis, both to aid in communication between users and developers, and to improve the analyst's and the designer's discipline. During the 1980s, tools began to appear which both automated the drawing of the diagrams, and kept track of the things drawn in a data dictionary\". After the example of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), the use of these tools was named computer-aided software engineering (CASE).\n\nStructured analysis topics\n\nSingle abstraction mechanism \n\nStructured analysis typically creates a hierarchy employing a single abstraction mechanism. The structured analysis method can employ IDEF (see figure), is process driven, and starts with a purpose and a viewpoint. This method identifies the overall function and iteratively divides functions into smaller functions, preserving inputs, outputs, controls, and mechanisms necessary to optimize processes. Also known as a functional decomposition approach, it focuses on cohesion within functions and coupling between functions leading to structured data.\n\nThe functional decomposition of the structured method describes the process without delineating system behavior and dictates system structure in the form of required functions. The method identifies inputs and outputs as related to the activities. One reason for the popularity of structured analysis is its intuitive ability to communicate high-level processes and concepts, whether in single system or enterprise levels. Discovering how objects might support functions for commercially prevalent object-oriented development is unclear. In contrast to IDEF, the UML is interface driven with multiple abstraction mechanisms useful in describing service-oriented architectures (SOAs).\n\nApproach \nStructured analysis views a system from the perspective of the data flowing through it. The function of the system is described by processes that transform the data flows. Structured analysis takes advantage of information hiding through successive decomposition (or top down) analysis. This allows attention to be focused on pertinent details and avoids confusion from looking at irrelevant details. As the level of detail increases, the breadth of information is reduced. The result of structured analysis is a set of related graphical diagrams, process descriptions, and data definitions. They describe the transformations that need to take place and the data required to meet a system's functional requirements.\n\nDe Marco's approach consists of the following objects (see figure):\n Context diagram\n Data flow diagram\n Process specifications\n Data dictionary\n\nHereby the data flow diagrams (DFDs) are directed graphs. The arcs represent data, and the nodes (circles or bubbles) represent processes that transform the data. A process can be further decomposed to a more detailed DFD which shows the subprocesses and data flows within it. The subprocesses can in turn be decomposed further with another set of DFDs until their functions can be easily understood. Functional primitives are processes which do not need to be decomposed further. Functional primitives are described by a process specification (or mini-spec). The process specification can consist of pseudo-code, flowcharts, or structured English. The DFDs model the structure of the system as a network of interconnected processes composed of functional primitives. The data dictionary is a set of entries (definitions) of data flows, data elements, files, and databases. The data dictionary entries are partitioned in a top-down manner. They can be referenced in other data dictionary entries and in data flow diagrams.\n\nContext diagram \n\nContext diagrams are diagrams that represent the actors outside a system that could interact with that system. This diagram is the highest level view of a system, similar to block diagram, showing a, possibly software-based, system as a whole and its inputs and outputs from/to external factors.\n\nThis type of diagram according to Kossiakoff (2003) usually \"pictures the system at the center, with no details of its interior structure, surrounded by all its interacting systems, environment and activities. The objective of a system context diagram is to focus attention on external factors and events that should be considered in developing a complete set of system requirements and constraints\". System context diagrams are related to data flow diagram, and show the interactions between a system and other actors which the system is designed to face. System context diagrams can be helpful in understanding the context in which the system will be part of software engineering.\n\nData dictionary \n \nA data dictionary or database dictionary is a file that defines the basic organization of a database. A database dictionary contains a list of all files in the database, the number of records in each file, and the names and types of each data field. Most database management systems keep the data dictionary hidden from users to prevent them from accidentally destroying its contents. Data dictionaries do not contain any actual data from the database, only bookkeeping information for managing it. Without a data dictionary, however, a database management system cannot access data from the database.\n\nDatabase users and application developers can benefit from an authoritative data dictionary document that catalogs the organization, contents, and conventions of one or more databases. This typically includes the names and descriptions of various tables and fields in each database, plus additional details, like the type and length of each data element. There is no universal standard as to the level of detail in such a document, but it is primarily a distillation of metadata about database structure, not the data itself. A data dictionary document also may include further information describing how data elements are encoded. One of the advantages of well-designed data dictionary documentation is that it helps to establish consistency throughout a complex database, or across a large collection of federated databases.\n\nData flow diagrams \n\nA data flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical representation of the \"flow\" of data through an information system. It differs from the system flowchart as it shows the flow of data through processes instead of computer hardware. Data flow diagrams were invented by Larry Constantine, developer of structured design, based on Martin and Estrin's \"data flow graph\" model of computation.\n\nIt is common practice to draw a system context diagram first which shows the interaction between the system and outside entities. The DFD is designed to show how a system is divided into smaller portions and to highlight the flow of data between those parts. This context-level data flow diagram is then \"exploded\" to show more detail of the system being modeled.\n\nData flow diagrams (DFDs) are one of the three essential perspectives of structured systems analysis and design method (SSADM). The sponsor of a project and the end users will need to be briefed and consulted throughout all stages of a system's evolution. With a data flow diagram, users are able to visualize how the system will operate, what the system will accomplish, and how the system will be implemented. The old system's data flow diagrams can be drawn up and compared with the new system's data flow diagrams to draw comparisons to implement a more efficient system. Data flow diagrams can be used to provide the end user with a physical idea of where the data they input ultimately has an effect upon the structure of the whole system from order to dispatch to recook. How any system is developed can be determined through a data flow diagram.\n\nStructure chart \n\nA structure chart (SC) is a chart that shows the breakdown of the configuration system to the lowest manageable levels. This chart is used in structured programming to arrange the program modules in a tree structure. Each module is represented by a box which contains the name of the modules. The tree structure visualizes the relationships between the modules.\n\nStructure charts are used in structured analysis to specify the high-level design, or architecture, of a computer program. As a design tool, they aid the programmer in dividing and conquering a large software problem, that is, recursively breaking a problem down into parts that are small enough to be understood by a human brain. The process is called top-down design, or functional decomposition. Programmers use a structure chart to build a program in a manner similar to how an architect uses a blueprint to build a house. In the design stage, the chart is drawn and used as a way for the client and the various software designers to communicate. During the actual building of the program (implementation), the chart is continually referred to as the master-plan.\n\nStructured design \nStructured design (SD) is concerned with the development of modules and the synthesis of these modules in a so-called \"module hierarchy\". In order to design optimal module structure and interfaces two principles are crucial: \n Cohesion which is \"concerned with the grouping of functionally related processes into a particular module\", and\n Coupling relates to \"the flow of information or parameters passed between modules. Optimal coupling reduces the interfaces of modules and the resulting complexity of the software\".\n\nStructured design was developed by Larry Constantine in the late 1960s, then refined and published with collaborators in the 1970s; see Larry Constantine: structured design for details. has proposed his own approach which consists of three main objects : \n structure charts \n module specifications \n data dictionary. \nThe structure chart aims to show \"the module hierarchy or calling sequence relationship of modules. There is a module specification for each module shown on the structure chart. The module specifications can be composed of pseudo-code or a program design language. The data dictionary is like that of structured analysis. At this stage in the software development lifecycle, after analysis and design have been performed, it is possible to automatically generate data type declarations\", and procedure or subroutine templates.\n\nCriticisms \nProblems with data flow diagrams have included the following: \n Choosing bubbles appropriately\n Partitioning bubbles in a meaningful and mutually agreed upon manner,\n Documentation size needed to understand the Data Flows,\n Data flow diagrams are strongly functional in nature and thus subject to frequent change\n Though \"data\" flow is emphasized, \"data\" modeling is not, so there is little understanding the subject matter of the system\n Customers have difficulty following how the concept is mapped into data flows and bubbles\n Designers must shift the DFD organization into an implementable format\n\nSee also \n Event partitioning\n Flow-based programming\n HIPO\n Jackson structured programming\n Prosa Structured Analysis Tool\n Soft systems methodology\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading \n \n \n Tom DeMarco (1978). Structured Analysis and System Specification. Yourdon. \n \n Derek J. Hatley, Imtiaz A. Pirbhai (1988). Strategies for Real Time System Specification. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. \n Stephen J. Mellor und Paul T. Ward (1986). Structured Development for Real-Time Systems: Implementation Modeling Techniques: 003. Prentice Hall. \n Edward Yourdon (1989). Modern Structured Analysis, Yourdon Press Computing Series, 1989, \n Keith Edwards (1993). Real-Time Structured Methods, System Analysis. Wiley.\n\nExternal links\n\n Structured Analysis Wiki\n Three views of structured analysis CRaG Systems, 2004.\n\nSoftware design\nEdsger W. Dijkstra"
] |
[
"Hey Jude",
"Composition and structure",
"how is the song composed?",
"The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over two nights,",
"how is the song structured?",
"Everett writes that the song's \"most commented-on feature\" is its considerable length, at 7:11."
] | C_1a2d69d190844813a25a154298f9ff5e_1 | what is an interesting feature regarding the structure of the song? | 3 | What is an interesting feature regarding the structure of the song Hey Jude? | Hey Jude | Having earmarked the song for release as a single, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" during the sessions for their self-titled double album, commonly known as "the White Album". The sessions were marked by an element of discord within the group for the first time, partly as a result of Ono's constant presence at Lennon's side, and also reflective of the four band members' divergence following their communal trip to Rishikesh in the spring of 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation. Author Peter Doggett describes the completed version of "Hey Jude" as a song that "glowed with optimism after a summer that had burned with anxiety and rage within the group". The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over two nights, 29 and 30 July 1968, with George Martin as their producer. These dates served as rehearsals, however, since they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilise their eight-track recording machine (Abbey Road was still limited to four-tracks). A take from 29 July, which author and critic Kenneth Womack describes as a "jovial" session, was issued on the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996. The 30 July rehearsals were filmed for a short documentary titled Music! However, the film shows only three of the Beatles performing "Hey Jude", as George Harrison remained in the studio control room, with Martin and EMI recording engineer Ken Scott. Author Simon Leng views this as indicative of how Harrison was increasingly allowed little room to develop ideas on McCartney compositions, whereas he was free to create empathetic guitar parts for Lennon's songs of the period. During the rehearsals that day, Harrison and McCartney had a heated disagreement over the lead guitar part for the song. Harrison's idea was to play a guitar phrase as a response to each line of the vocal, which did not fit with McCartney's conception of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it. In a 1994 interview, McCartney said, "looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure." Ron Richards, a record producer who worked for Martin at both Parlophone and AIR Studios, said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio", and that he was driven to making the best possible record, at almost any cost. Scott, Martin and the Beatles mixed the finished recording at Abbey Road. The transfer of the Trident master tape to acetate proved problematic due to the recording sounding murky when played back on EMI's equipment. The issue was resolved with the help of Geoff Emerick, whom Scott had recently replaced as the Beatles' principal recording engineer. Emerick happened to be visiting Abbey Road, having recently refused to work with the Beatles any longer, due to the tension and abuse that had become commonplace at their recording sessions. A stereo mix of "Hey Jude" was then completed on 2 August and the mono version on 8 August. Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. The precedent for issuing such a long track on a single had recently been set by Richard Harris' hit recording of "MacArthur Park", the composer of which, Jimmy Webb, was a visitor to the studio around this time. According to Webb, Martin admitted to him that "Hey Jude" was only allowed to run over seven minutes because of the success of "MacArthur Park". In the song's final bridge section, at 2:58, the spoken phrase "Fucking hell!" appears. Scott admits that although he was told about it, he could not hear the words originally. Lennon attributed the expletive to McCartney, according to Emerick, who reports Lennon's comment in his autobiography: "'Paul hit a clunker on the piano and said a naughty word,' Lennon gleefully crowed, 'but I insisted we leave it in [at Trident], buried just low enough so that it can barely be heard. Most people won't ever spot it ... but we'll know it's there.'" Womack considers that the expletive was actually uttered by Lennon. Malcolm Toft, the mix engineer on the Trident recording, also attributes it to Lennon. In Toft's recollection, Lennon was overdubbing his harmony vocal when, in reaction to the volume being too loud in his headphones, he first called out "Whoa!" then, two seconds later, swore as he pulled the headphones off. "Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C, and B (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me". The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the pain')." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na ..."), supported by an electric guitar fill, before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song. The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double plagal cadence. During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out. In his analysis of the composition, musicologist Alan Pollack comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression". Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I-VII-IV-I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally", so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda". CANNOTANSWER | Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: | "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' first release on their Apple record label and one of the "First Four" singles by Apple's roster of artists, marking the label's public launch. "Hey Jude" was a number-one hit in many countries around the world and became the year's top-selling single in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. Its nine-week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 tied the all-time record in 1968 for the longest run at the top of the US charts, a record it held for nine years. It has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on music critics' lists of the greatest songs of all time.
The writing and recording of "Hey Jude" coincided with a period of upheaval in the Beatles. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon's young son Julian, after Lennon had left his wife for the Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The lyrics espouse a positive outlook on a sad situation, while also encouraging "Jude" to pursue his opportunities to find love. After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a coda featuring a "Na-na-na na" refrain that lasts for over four minutes.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track recording equipment. The sessions took place at Trident Studios in central London, midway through the recording of the group's self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"), and led to an argument between McCartney and George Harrison over the song's guitar part. Ringo Starr later left the band only to return shortly before they filmed the promotional clip for the single. The clip was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and first aired on David Frost's UK television show. Contrasting with the problems afflicting the band, this performance captured the song's theme of optimism and togetherness by featuring the studio audience joining the Beatles as they sang the coda.
At over seven minutes in length, "Hey Jude" was the longest single to top the British charts up to that time. Its arrangement and extended coda encouraged many imitative works through to the early 1970s. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 11th "biggest" song of all time in terms of chart success. McCartney has continued to perform "Hey Jude" in concert since Lennon's death in 1980, leading audiences in singing the coda. Julian Lennon and McCartney have each bid successfully at auction for items of memorabilia related to the song's creation.
Inspiration and writing
In May 1968, John Lennon and his wife Cynthia separated due to his affair with Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The following month, Paul McCartney drove out to visit the Lennons' five-year-old son Julian, at Kenwood, the family's home in Weybridge. Cynthia had been part of the Beatles' social circle since before the band's rise to fame in 1963; McCartney later said he found it "a bit much for them suddenly to be personae non gratae and out of my life". Cynthia Lennon recalled of McCartney's surprise visit: "I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare ... On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us." The song's original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to comfort Julian from the stress of his parents' separation. McCartney said, "I knew it was not going to be easy for him", and that he changed the name to "Jude" "because I thought that sounded a bit better".
According to music journalist Chris Hunt, in the weeks after writing the song, McCartney "test[ed] his latest composition on anyone too polite to refuse. And that meant everyone." On 30 June, after recording the Black Dyke Mills Band's rendition of his instrumental "Thingumybob" in Yorkshire, McCartney stopped at the village of Harrold in Bedfordshire and performed "Hey Jude" at a local pub. He also regaled members of the Bonzo Dog Band with the song while producing their single "I'm the Urban Spaceman", in London, and interrupted a recording session by the Barron Knights to do the same. Ron Griffith of the group the Iveys – soon to be known as Badfinger and, like the Black Dyke Mills Band, an early signing to the Beatles' new record label Apple Records – recalled that on one of their first days in the studio, McCartney "gave us a full concert rendition of 'Hey Jude'".
The intensity of Lennon and Ono's relationship made any songwriting collaboration between Lennon and McCartney impossible. Keen to support his friend nevertheless, McCartney let the couple stay at his house in St John's Wood, but when Lennon discovered a note written by McCartney containing disparaging and racist comments about Ono, the couple moved out. McCartney presented "Hey Jude" to Lennon on 26 July, when he and Ono visited McCartney's home. McCartney assured him that he would "fix" the line "the movement you need is on your shoulder", reasoning that "it's a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot." According to McCartney, Lennon replied: "You won't, you know. That's the best line in the song." McCartney retained the phrase. Although McCartney originally wrote "Hey Jude" for Julian, Lennon thought it had actually been written for him. In a 1980 interview, Lennon stated that he "always heard it as a song to me" and contended that, on one level, McCartney was giving his blessing to Lennon and Ono's relationship, while, on another, he was disappointed to be usurped as Lennon's friend and creative partner.
Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express. Still others, including Lennon, have speculated that in the lyrics to "Hey Jude", McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher provided an unconscious "message to himself". McCartney and Asher had announced their engagement on 25 December 1967, yet he began an affair with Linda Eastman in June 1968; that same month, Francie Schwartz, an American who was in London to discuss a film proposal with Apple, began living with McCartney in St John's Wood. When Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him and Ono, McCartney denied it and told Lennon he had written the song about himself.
Author Mark Hertsgaard has commented that "many of the song's lyrics do seem directed more at a grown man on the verge of a powerful new love, especially the lines 'you have found her now go and get her' and 'you're waiting for someone to perform with.'" Music critic and author Tim Riley writes: "If the song is about self-worth and self-consolation in the face of hardship, the vocal performance itself conveys much of the journey. He begins by singing to comfort someone else, finds himself weighing his own feelings in the process, and finally, in the repeated refrains that nurture his own approbation, he comes to believe in himself."
Production
EMI rehearsals
Having earmarked the song for release as a single, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" during the sessions for their self-titled double album, commonly known as "the White Album". The sessions were marked by an element of discord within the group for the first time, partly as a result of Ono's constant presence at Lennon's side. The strained relations were also reflective of the four band members' divergence following their communal trip to Rishikesh in the spring of 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation.
The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI Studios in London over two nights, 29 and 30 July 1968, with George Martin as their producer. These dates served as rehearsals, however, since they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilise their eight-track recording machine (EMI was still limited to four-tracks). The first two takes from 29 July, which author and critic Kenneth Womack describes as a "jovial" session, have been released on the 50th Anniversary box set of the White Album in 2018 and the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996, respectively.
The 30 July rehearsals were filmed for a short documentary titled Music!, which was produced by the National Music Council of Great Britain. This was the first time that the Beatles had permitted a camera crew to film them developing a song in the studio. The film shows only three of the Beatles performing "Hey Jude", as George Harrison remained in the studio control room, with Martin and EMI recording engineer Ken Scott. During the rehearsals that day, Harrison and McCartney had a heated disagreement over the lead guitar part for the song. Harrison's idea was to play a guitar phrase as a response to each line of the vocal, which did not fit with McCartney's conception of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it. Author Simon Leng views this as indicative of how Harrison was increasingly allowed little room to develop ideas on McCartney compositions, whereas he was free to create empathetic guitar parts for Lennon's songs of the period. In a 1994 interview, McCartney said, "looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure." Ron Richards, a record producer who worked for Martin at both Parlophone and AIR Studios, said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio", and that he was driven to making the best possible record, at almost any cost.
Trident Studios recording
The Beatles recorded the master track for "Hey Jude" at Trident, where McCartney and Harrison had each produced sessions for their Apple artists, on 31 July. Trident's founder, Norman Sheffield, recalled that Mal Evans, the Beatles' aide and former roadie, insisted that some marijuana plants he had brought be placed in the studio to make the place "soft", consistent with the band's wishes. Barry Sheffield served as recording engineer for the session. The line-up on the basic track was McCartney on piano and lead vocal, Lennon on acoustic guitar, Harrison on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums. The Beatles recorded four takes of "Hey Jude", the first of which was selected as the master. With drums intended to be absent for the first two verses, McCartney began this take unaware that Starr had just left for a toilet break. Starr soon returned – "tiptoeing past my back rather quickly", in McCartney's recollection – and performed his cue perfectly.
On 1 August, the group carried out overdubs on the basic track, again at Trident. These additions included McCartney's lead vocal and bass guitar; backing vocals from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison; and tambourine, played by Starr. McCartney's vocal over the long coda, starting at around three minutes into the song, included a series of improvised shrieks that he later described as "Cary Grant on heat!" They then added a 36-piece orchestra over the coda, scored by Martin. The orchestra consisted of ten violins, three violas, three cellos, two flutes, one contra bassoon, one bassoon, two clarinets, one contra bass clarinet, four trumpets, four trombones, two horns, percussion and two string basses. According to Norman Sheffield, there was dissension initially among the orchestral musicians, some of whom "were looking down their noses at the Beatles, I think". Sheffield recalls that McCartney ensured their cooperation by demanding: "Do you guys want to get fucking paid or not?" During the first few takes, McCartney was unhappy about the lack of energy and passion in the orchestra's performance, so he stood up on the grand piano and started conducting the musicians from there.
The Beatles then asked the orchestra members if they would clap their hands and sing along to the refrain in the coda. All but one of the musicians complied (for a double fee), with the abstainer reportedly saying, "I'm not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney's bloody song!" Apple Records assistant Chris O'Dell says she joined the cast of backing singers on the song; one of the label's first signings, Jackie Lomax, also recalled participating.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track equipment. Trident Studios were paid £25 per hour by EMI for the sessions. Sheffield said that the studio earned about £1,000 in total, but by having the Beatles record there, and in turn raving about the facility, the value was incalculable. The band carried out further work at Trident during 1968, and Apple artists such as Lomax, Mary Hopkin, Billy Preston and the Iveys all recorded there over the next year.
Mixing
Scott, Martin and the Beatles mixed the finished recording at Abbey Road. The transfer of the Trident master tape to acetate proved problematic due to the recording sounding murky when played back on EMI's equipment. The issue was resolved with the help of Geoff Emerick, whom Scott had recently replaced as the Beatles' principal recording engineer. Emerick happened to be visiting Abbey Road, having recently refused to work with the Beatles any longer, due to the tension and abuse that had become commonplace at their recording sessions. A stereo mix of "Hey Jude" was then completed on 2 August and the mono version on 8 August.
Musicologist Walter Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. Like McCartney, Martin was concerned that radio stations would not play the track because of the length, but Lennon insisted: "They will if it's us." According to Ken Mansfield, Apple's US manager, McCartney remained unconvinced until Mansfield previewed the record for some American disc jockeys and reported that they were highly enthusiastic about the song. "Hey Jude" was one second longer than Richard Harris's recent hit recording of "MacArthur Park", the composer of which, Jimmy Webb, was a visitor to the studio around this time. According to Webb, Martin admitted to him that "Hey Jude" was only allowed to run over seven minutes because of the success of "MacArthur Park". Pleased with the result, McCartney played an acetate copy of "Hey Jude" at a party held by Mick Jagger, at Vesuvio's nightclub in central London, to celebrate the completion of the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet album. The song upstaged the Stones' album and, in author John Winn's description, "reportedly ruin[ed]" the party.
In the song's final bridge section, at 2:58, the spoken phrase "Fucking hell!" appears, uttered by Lennon. Scott admits that although he was told about it, he could not hear the words originally. Malcolm Toft, the mix engineer on the Trident recording, recalled that Lennon was overdubbing his harmony vocal when, in reaction to the volume being too loud in his headphones, he first called out "Whoa!" then, two seconds later, swore as he pulled the headphones off.
Composition and structure
"Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C and B (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me".
The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the pain)." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na …"), supported by an electric guitar fill, before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song.
The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double plagal cadence. During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out. In his analysis of the composition, musicologist Alan Pollack comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression".
Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I–VII–IV–I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally", so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda".
Release
"Hey Jude" was released on a 7-inch single on 26 August 1968 in the United States and 30 August in the United Kingdom, backed with "Revolution" on the B-side. It was one of four singles issued simultaneously to launch Apple Records – the others being Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", Jackie Lomax's "Sour Milk Sea", and the Black Dyke Mills Band's "Thingumybob". In advance of the release date, Apple declared 11–18 August to be "National Apple Week" in the UK, and sent gift-wrapped boxes of the records, marked "Our First Four", to Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, and to Harold Wilson, the prime minister. The release was promoted by Derek Taylor, who, in author Peter Doggett's description, "hyped the first Apple records with typical elan". "Hey Jude" was the first of the four singles, since it was still designated as an EMI/Parlophone release in the UK and a Capitol release in the US, but with the Apple Records logo now added. In the US, "Hey Jude" was the first Capitol-distributed Beatles single to be issued without a picture sleeve. Instead, the record was presented in a black sleeve bearing the words "The Beatles on Apple".
Author Philip Norman comments that aside from "Sour Milk Sea", which Harrison wrote and produced, the first Apple A-sides were all "either written, vocalised, discovered or produced" by McCartney. Lennon wanted "Revolution" to be the A-side of the Beatles single, but his bandmates opted for "Hey Jude". In his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, he said "Hey Jude" was worthy of an A-side, "but we could have had both." In 1980, he told Playboy he still disagreed with the decision.
Doggett describes "Hey Jude" as a song that "glowed with optimism after a summer that had burned with anxiety and rage within the group and in the troubled world beyond". The single's release coincided with the violent subjugation of Vietnam War protestors at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and condemnation in the West of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia and its crushing of attempts to introduce democratic reforms there. In this climate, Lennon's espousal of a pacifist agenda over violent confrontation in "Revolution" drew heavy criticism from New Left activists. By contrast, with its more universal message, "Hey Jude" was adopted as an anthem by Czech citizens in their struggle.
The song was first released on an album in February 1970, as the title track to Capitol's North American compilation Hey Jude. The album was conceived as a way to generate income for the Beatles by Allen Klein, the American businessman who, despite McCartney's strong opposition, the other Beatles had appointed to manage the ailing Apple organisation in 1969. "Hey Jude" subsequently appeared on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, Volume Two and 1.
Promotion
Apple shop window graffiti
A failed early promotional attempt for the single took place after the Beatles' all-night recording session on 7–8 August 1968. With Apple Boutique having closed a week before, McCartney and Francie Schwartz painted Hey Jude/Revolution across its large, whitewashed shop windows. The words were mistaken for antisemitic graffiti (since Jude means "Jew" in German), leading to complaints from the local Jewish community, and the windows being smashed by a passer-by.
Discussing the episode in The Beatles Anthology, McCartney explained that he had been motivated by the location – "Great opportunity. Baker Street, millions of buses going around…" – and added: "I had no idea it meant 'Jew', but if you look at footage of Nazi Germany, Juden Raus was written in whitewashed windows with a Star of David. I swear it never occurred to me." According to Barry Miles, McCartney caused further controversy in his comments to Alan Smith of the NME that month, when, in an interview designed to promote the single, he said: "Starvation in India doesn't worry me one bit, not one iota … And it doesn't worry you, if you're honest. You just pose."
Promotional film
The Beatles hired Michael Lindsay-Hogg to shoot promotional clips for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution", after he had previously directed the clips for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" in 1966. For "Hey Jude", they settled on the idea of shooting with a live, albeit controlled, audience. In the clip, the Beatles are first seen by themselves, performing the initial chorus and verses, before the audience moves forward and joins them in singing the coda. The decision was made to hire an orchestra and for the vocals to be sung live, to circumvent the Musicians' Union's ban on miming on television, but otherwise the Beatles performed to a backing track. Lindsay-Hogg shot the clip at Twickenham Film Studios on 4 September 1968. Tony Bramwell, a friend of the Beatles, later described the set as "the piano, there; drums, there; and orchestra in two tiers at the back." The event marked Starr's return to the group, after McCartney's criticism of his drumming had led to him walking out during a session for the White Album track "Back in the U.S.S.R." Starr was absent for two weeks.
The final edit was a combination of two different takes and included "introductions" to the song by David Frost (who introduced the Beatles as "the greatest tea-room orchestra in the world") and Cliff Richard, for their respective TV programmes. It first aired in the UK on Frost on Sunday on 8 September 1968, two weeks after Lennon and Ono had appeared on the show to promote their views on performance art and the avant-garde. The "Hey Jude" clip was broadcast in the United States on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on 6 October.
According to Riley, the Frost on Sunday broadcast "kicked 'Hey Jude' into the stratosphere" in terms of popularity. Norman comments that it evoked "palpable general relief" for viewers who had watched Frost's show two weeks before, as Lennon now adopted a supporting role to McCartney, and Ono was "nowhere in sight". Hertsgaard pairs the band's performance with the release of the animated film Yellow Submarine as two events that created "a state of nirvana" for Beatles fans, in contrast with the problems besetting the band regarding Ono's influence and Apple. Referring to the sight of the Beatles engulfed by a crowd made up of "young, old, male, female, black, brown, and white" fans, Hertsgaard describes the promotional clip as "a quintessential sixties moment, a touching tableau of contentment and togetherness".
The 4 September 1968 promo clip is included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1, while the three-disc versions of that compilation, titled 1+, also include an alternate video, with a different introduction and vocal, from the same date.
Critical reception
In his contemporary review of the single, Derek Johnson of the NME wrote: "The intriguing features of 'Hey Jude' are its extreme length and the 40-piece orchestral accompaniment – and personally I would have preferred it without either!" While he viewed the track overall as "a beautiful, compelling song", and the first three minutes as "absolutely sensational", Johnson rued the long coda's "vocal improvisations on the basically repetitive four-bar chorus". Johnson nevertheless concluded that "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" "prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Beatles are still streets ahead of their rivals". Chris Welch of Melody Maker said he had initially been unimpressed, but came to greatly admire "Hey Jude" for its "slow, heavy, piano-ridden beat, sensuous, soulful vocals and nice thumpy drums". He added that the track would have benefited from being edited in length, as the climactic ending was "a couple of minutes too long".
Cash Boxs reviewer said that the extended fadeout, having been a device pioneered by the Beatles on "All You Need Is Love", "becomes something of an art form" in "Hey Jude", comprising a "trance-like ceremonial that becomes almost timeless in its continuity". Time magazine described it as "a fadeout that engagingly spoofs the fadeout as a gimmick for ending pop records". The reviewer contrasted "Hey Jude" with "Revolution", saying that McCartney's song "urges activism of a different sort" by "liltingly exhort[ing] a friend to overcome his fears and commit himself in love". Catherine Manfredi of Rolling Stone also read the lyrics as a message from McCartney to Lennon to end his negative relationships with women: "to break the old pattern; to really go through with love". Manfredi commented on the duality of the song's eponymous protagonist as a representation of good, in Saint Jude, "the Patron of that which is called Impossible", and of evil, in Judas Iscariot. Other commentators interpreted "Hey Jude" as being directed at Bob Dylan, then semi-retired in Woodstock.
Writing in 1971, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called it "one of [McCartney's] truest and most forthright love songs" and said that McCartney's romantic side was ill-served by the inclusion of "'I Will', a piece of fluff" on The Beatles. In their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler wrote that "Hey Jude" "promised great things" for the ill-conceived Apple enterprise and described the song as "the last great Beatles single recorded specifically for the 45s market". They commented also that "the epic proportions of the piece" encouraged many imitators, yet these other artists "[failed] to capture the gentleness and sympathy of the Beatles' communal feel". Walter Everett admires the melody as a "marvel of construction, contrasting wide leaps with stepwise motions, sustained tones with rapid movement, syllabic with melismatic word-setting, and tension ... with resolution". He cites Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks", Donovan's "Atlantis", the Moody Blues' "Never Comes the Day" and the Allman Brothers' "Revival" among the many songs with "mantralike repeated sections" that followed the release of "Hey Jude". In his entry for the song in his 1993 book Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles, Paul Williams describes it as a "song about breathing". He adds: "'Hey Jude' kicks ass like Van Gogh or Beethoven in their prime. It is, let's say, one of the wonders of this corner of creation ... It opens out like the sky at night or the idea of the existence of God."
Alan Pollack highlights the song as "such a good illustration of two compositional lessons – how to fill a large canvas with simple means, and how to use diverse elements such as harmony, bassline, and orchestration to articulate form and contrast." Pollack says that the long coda provides "an astonishingly transcendental effect", while AllMusic's Richie Unterberger similarly opines: "What could have very easily been boring is instead hypnotic because McCartney varies the vocal with some of the greatest nonsense scatting ever heard in rock, ranging from mantra-like chants to soulful lines to James Brown power screams." In his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald wrote that the "pseudo-soul shrieking in the fade-out may be a blemish" but he praised the song as "a pop/rock hybrid drawing on the best of both idioms". MacDonald concluded: "'Hey Jude' strikes a universal note, touching on an archetypal moment in male sexual psychology with a gentle wisdom one might properly call inspired." Lennon said the song was "one of [McCartney's] masterpieces".
Commercial performance
The single was a highly successful debut for Apple Records, a result that contrasted with the public embarrassment the band faced after the recent closure of their short-lived retail venture, Apple Boutique. In the description of music journalist Paul Du Noyer, the song's "monumental quality ... amazed the public in 1968"; in addition, the release silenced detractors in the British mainstream press who had relished the opportunity to criticise the band for their December 1967 television special, Magical Mystery Tour, and their trip to Rishikesh in early 1968. In the US, the single similarly brought an end to speculation that the Beatles' popularity might be diminishing, after "Lady Madonna" had peaked at number 4.
"Hey Jude" reached the top of Britain's Record Retailer chart (subsequently adopted as the UK Singles Chart) in September 1968. It lasted two weeks on top before being replaced by Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", which McCartney helped promote. "Hey Jude" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 13 September; that same week, NME reported that two million copies of the single had been sold. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on 14 September, beginning a nineteen-week chart run there. It reached number one on 28 September and held that position for nine weeks, for three of which "Those Were the Days" held the number-two spot. This was the longest run at number one for a single in the US until 1977. The song was the 16th number-one hit there for the Beatles. Billboard ranked it as the number-one song for 1968. In Australia, "Hey Jude" was number one for 13 weeks, which remained a record there until Abba's "Fernando" in 1976. It also topped the charts in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany.
On 30 November 1968, NME reported that sales had reached nearly six million copies worldwide. By 1999, "Hey Jude" had sold an estimated eight million copies worldwide. That year, it was certified 4x platinum by the RIAA, representing four million units shipped in the US. As of December 2018, "Hey Jude" was the 54th-best-selling single of all time in the UK – one of six Beatles songs included on the top sales rankings published by the Official Charts Company.
Awards and accolades
"Hey Jude" was nominated for the Grammy Awards of 1969 in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, but failed to win any of them. In the 1968 NME Readers' Poll, "Hey Jude" was named the best single of the year, and the song also won the 1968 Ivor Novello Award for "A-Side With the Highest Sales". "Hey Jude" was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001 and it is one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll".
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Hey Jude" at number eight on the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", making it the highest-placed Beatles song on the list; it dropped to number 89 in the 2021 revised list. Among its many appearances in other best-song-of-all-time lists, VH1 placed it ninth in 2000 and Mojo ranked it at number 29 in the same year, having placed the song seventh in a 1997 list of "The 100 Greatest Singles of All Time". In 1976, the NME ranked it 38th on the magazine's "Top 100 Singles of All Time", and the track appeared at number 77 on the same publication's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2014. In January 2001, "Hey Jude" came in third on Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest Singles". The Amusement & Music Operators Association ranks "Hey Jude" as the 11th-best jukebox single of all time. In 2008, the song appeared in eighth place on Billboards "All Time Hot 100 Songs".
In July 2006, Mojo placed "Hey Jude" at number 12 on its list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs". On a similar list compiled four years later, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number seven. In 2015, the ITV program The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One ranked "Hey Jude" in first place. In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked it at number 49 on their list of the best Beatles songs. Writing in the magazine, Nick Levine said: "Don't allow yourself to overlook this song because of its sheer ubiquity ... 'Hey Jude' is a huge-hearted, super-emotional epic that climaxes with one of pop's most legendary hooks."
Auctioned lyrics and memorabilia
In his 1996 article about the single's release, for Mojo, Paul Du Noyer said that the writing of "Hey Jude" had become "one of the best-known stories in Beatles folklore". In a 2005 interview, Ono said that for McCartney and for Julian and Cynthia Lennon, the scenario was akin to a drama, in that "Each person has something to be totally miserable about, because of the way they were put into this play. I have incredible sympathy for each of them." Du Noyer quoted Cynthia Lennon as saying of "Hey Jude", "it always bring tears to my eyes, that song."
Julian discovered that "Hey Jude" had been written for him almost 20 years after the fact. He recalled of his and McCartney's relationship: "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit – more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad." In 1996, Julian paid £25,000($33,958.25) for the recording notes to "Hey Jude" at an auction. He spent a further £35,000($47,543.65) at the auction, buying John Lennon memorabilia. John Cousins, Julian Lennon's manager, stated at the time: "He has a few photographs of his father, but not very much else. He is collecting for personal reasons; these are family heirlooms if you like."
In 2002, the original handwritten lyrics for the song were nearly auctioned off at Christie's in London. The sheet of notepaper with the scrawled lyrics had been expected to fetch up to £80,000($108,671.20) at the auction, which was scheduled for 30 April 2002. McCartney went to court to stop the auction, claiming the paper had disappeared from his West London home. Richard Morgan, representing Christie's, said McCartney had provided no evidence that he had ever owned the piece of paper on which the lyrics were written. The courts decided in McCartney's favour and prohibited the sale of the lyrics. They had been sent to Christie's for auction by Frenchman Florrent Tessier, who said he purchased the piece of paper at a street market stall in London for £10($13.58) in the early 1970s. In the original catalogue for the auction, Julian Lennon had written, "It's very strange to think that someone has written a song about you. It still touches me."
Along with "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" was one of the songs that McCartney has highlighted when attempting to have some of the official Beatles songwriting credits changed to McCartney–Lennon. McCartney applied the revised credit to this and 18 other Lennon–McCartney songs on his 2002 live album Back in the U.S., attracting criticism from Ono, as Lennon's widow, and from Starr, the only other surviving member of the Beatles.
Cover versions and McCartney live performances
In 1968, R&B singer Wilson Pickett released a cover recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, with a guitar part played by a young Duane Allman, who recommended the song to Pickett. Eric Clapton commented, "I remember hearing [it] and calling either Ahmet Ertegun or Tom Dowd and saying, 'Who's that guitar player?' ... To this day, I've never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It's the best." Session musician Jimmy Johnson, who played on the recording, said that Allman's solo "created Southern rock". Pickett's version reached number 23 on the Hot 100 and 13 on the Billboard R&B chart.
"Hey Jude" was one of the few Beatles songs that Elvis Presley covered, when he rehearsed the track at his 1969 Memphis sessions with producer Chips Moman, a recording that appeared on the 1972 album Elvis Now. A medley of "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" was included on the 1999 reissue of Presley's 1970 live album On Stage. Katy Perry performed "Hey Jude" as part of the 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year concert honouring McCartney.
McCartney played "Hey Jude" throughout his 1989–90 world tour, his first tour since Lennon's murder in 1980. McCartney had considered including it as the closing song on his band Wings' 1975 tours, but decided that "it just didn't feel right." He has continued to feature the song in his concerts, leading the audience in organised singalongs whereby different segments of the crowd – such as those in a certain section of the venue, then only men followed by only the women – chant the "Na-na-na na" refrain.
McCartney performed "Hey Jude" in the White House East Room as part of a concert honoring him with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in June 2010.
McCartney also sang the song in the closing moments of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics hosted in London. On 4 August 2012, McCartney led the crowd in a rendition of "Hey Jude" while watching cycling at the velodrome.
Personnel
According to Ian MacDonald and Mark Lewisohn:
The Beatles
Paul McCartney– lead vocal, piano, bass guitar, handclaps
John Lennon– backing vocal, acoustic guitar, handclaps
George Harrison– backing vocal, electric guitar, handclaps
Ringo Starr– backing vocal, drums, tambourine, handclaps
Additional musicians
Uncredited 36-piece orchestra– 10 violins, three violas, three cellos, two double basses, two flutes, two clarinets, one bass clarinet, one bassoon, one contrabassoon, four trumpets, two horns, four trombones, and one percussion instrument; 35 of these musicians on additional backing vocals and handclaps
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications and sales
See also
Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1968
List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1960s
List of Top 25 singles for 1968 in Australia
List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1968
List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1968
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Canada)
List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1968
List of number-one hits of 1968 (Germany)
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Ireland)
List of number-one singles in 1968 (New Zealand)
List of number-one songs in Norway
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Spain)
List of number-one singles from 1968 to 1979 (Switzerland)
List of UK charts and number-one singles (1952–1969)
List of best-selling singles of the 1960s in the United Kingdom
"The Official BBC Children in Need Medley"
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
"David Frost Meets The Beatles" at Mojo4music.com
1968 songs
1968 singles
The Beatles songs
Apple Records singles
Songs written by Lennon–McCartney
Song recordings produced by George Martin
Songs published by Northern Songs
Music videos directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
Single Top 100 number-one singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Number-one singles in Australia
Number-one singles in Austria
Number-one singles in Germany
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Number-one singles in Norway
Number-one singles in Spain
Number-one singles in Switzerland
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
British pop rock songs
Pop ballads
Rock ballads
1960s ballads
Wilson Pickett songs | true | [
"An orthoferrite is any of a class of chemical compounds with the formula RFeO, where R is one or more rare-earth elements. Orthoferrites have an orthorhombic crystal structure with a space group Pbnm and most are weakly ferromagnetic.\nAt the Néel temperature the subsystem of iron ions orders into a slightly canted antiferromagnetic structure with antiferromagnetic moment G and a weak ferromagnetic moment F. The rare-earth ion subsystem acquires magnetization m due to an interaction with the iron subsystem.\n\nThe orthoferrites are particularly interesting because of the presence of an antisymmetric exchange interaction which involves the vector cross product of neighboring spins as opposed to the usual scalar product. In the absence of this interaction, the orthoferrites would be antiferromagnetic. Its presence leads to a small canting of the sublattices, making the orthoferrites “weak” ferromagnets with . Another interesting feature of these materials is the fact that some of them exhibit a transition as a function of temperature, in which the direction of the antiferromagnetically ordered spins and consequently also of the net magnetization rotates by 90°.\n\nApplications\nThe combination of high magnetic resonance frequencies with very large magnetooptical effects makes the orthoferrites interesting objects for study of laser-induced dynamics.\nOrthoferrites are transparent, and can modify the polarisation of a beam of light under the control of a magnetic field (Faraday rotation). This makes them potentially useful as optical sensors and actuators for use in optical communications.\n They were also once used as the magnetic material in bubble memory.\n\nExamples\n Lanthanum orthoferrite, LaFeO\n Dysprosium orthoferrite, DyFeO\n\nReferences\n\nIron(III) compounds",
"Novelty is the characteristic of being new or heretofore unseen. It may also refer to:\n\nScience and technology\n Novelty seeking, psychological stance\n Novelty effect, tendency for human performance to briefly improve given new toys\n Novelty as described by the theory of emergence, regarding how new complexity arises from more simple interactions.\n Novelty (neurology), novelty as neurological stimulus\n Novelty (patent), part of the legal test to determine whether an invention is patentable\n Apomorphy, evolutionary novelty, a characteristic that is different from the form of an ancestor\n\nArts\n Novelty dance, a type of dance that is popular for being unusual or humorous\n Novelty song, a musical item that capitalizes on something new, unusual, or a current fad\n Novelty show, a competition or display in which exhibits or specimens are in way some novel\n\nCommerce\n Novelty item, a small manufactured adornment, toy or collectable\n Promotional item, novelties used in promotional marketing\n\nPhilosophy\n Novelty theory, an eschatological theory promoted by Terence McKenna\n\nFashion\n Novelty architecture, a building or other structure that is interesting because it has an amusing design\n Novelty (chess), a chess term for a move in chess which has never been played before in a recorded game\n\nThings\n Novelty (locomotive), one of the first steam locomotives which was due to compete at the Rainhill Trials of 1829\n Novelty (album) by Jawbox\n\nPlaces\n Novelty, Missouri, a place in the United States\n Novelty, Ohio, an unincorporated community in the United States"
] |
[
"Hey Jude",
"Composition and structure",
"how is the song composed?",
"The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over two nights,",
"how is the song structured?",
"Everett writes that the song's \"most commented-on feature\" is its considerable length, at 7:11.",
"what is an interesting feature regarding the structure of the song?",
"Hey Jude\" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords:"
] | C_1a2d69d190844813a25a154298f9ff5e_1 | what chords? | 4 | What chords are the three chords in Hey Jude based on? | Hey Jude | Having earmarked the song for release as a single, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" during the sessions for their self-titled double album, commonly known as "the White Album". The sessions were marked by an element of discord within the group for the first time, partly as a result of Ono's constant presence at Lennon's side, and also reflective of the four band members' divergence following their communal trip to Rishikesh in the spring of 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation. Author Peter Doggett describes the completed version of "Hey Jude" as a song that "glowed with optimism after a summer that had burned with anxiety and rage within the group". The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over two nights, 29 and 30 July 1968, with George Martin as their producer. These dates served as rehearsals, however, since they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilise their eight-track recording machine (Abbey Road was still limited to four-tracks). A take from 29 July, which author and critic Kenneth Womack describes as a "jovial" session, was issued on the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996. The 30 July rehearsals were filmed for a short documentary titled Music! However, the film shows only three of the Beatles performing "Hey Jude", as George Harrison remained in the studio control room, with Martin and EMI recording engineer Ken Scott. Author Simon Leng views this as indicative of how Harrison was increasingly allowed little room to develop ideas on McCartney compositions, whereas he was free to create empathetic guitar parts for Lennon's songs of the period. During the rehearsals that day, Harrison and McCartney had a heated disagreement over the lead guitar part for the song. Harrison's idea was to play a guitar phrase as a response to each line of the vocal, which did not fit with McCartney's conception of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it. In a 1994 interview, McCartney said, "looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure." Ron Richards, a record producer who worked for Martin at both Parlophone and AIR Studios, said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio", and that he was driven to making the best possible record, at almost any cost. Scott, Martin and the Beatles mixed the finished recording at Abbey Road. The transfer of the Trident master tape to acetate proved problematic due to the recording sounding murky when played back on EMI's equipment. The issue was resolved with the help of Geoff Emerick, whom Scott had recently replaced as the Beatles' principal recording engineer. Emerick happened to be visiting Abbey Road, having recently refused to work with the Beatles any longer, due to the tension and abuse that had become commonplace at their recording sessions. A stereo mix of "Hey Jude" was then completed on 2 August and the mono version on 8 August. Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. The precedent for issuing such a long track on a single had recently been set by Richard Harris' hit recording of "MacArthur Park", the composer of which, Jimmy Webb, was a visitor to the studio around this time. According to Webb, Martin admitted to him that "Hey Jude" was only allowed to run over seven minutes because of the success of "MacArthur Park". In the song's final bridge section, at 2:58, the spoken phrase "Fucking hell!" appears. Scott admits that although he was told about it, he could not hear the words originally. Lennon attributed the expletive to McCartney, according to Emerick, who reports Lennon's comment in his autobiography: "'Paul hit a clunker on the piano and said a naughty word,' Lennon gleefully crowed, 'but I insisted we leave it in [at Trident], buried just low enough so that it can barely be heard. Most people won't ever spot it ... but we'll know it's there.'" Womack considers that the expletive was actually uttered by Lennon. Malcolm Toft, the mix engineer on the Trident recording, also attributes it to Lennon. In Toft's recollection, Lennon was overdubbing his harmony vocal when, in reaction to the volume being too loud in his headphones, he first called out "Whoa!" then, two seconds later, swore as he pulled the headphones off. "Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C, and B (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me". The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the pain')." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na ..."), supported by an electric guitar fill, before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song. The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double plagal cadence. During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out. In his analysis of the composition, musicologist Alan Pollack comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression". Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I-VII-IV-I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally", so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda". CANNOTANSWER | ')." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na ..."), | "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' first release on their Apple record label and one of the "First Four" singles by Apple's roster of artists, marking the label's public launch. "Hey Jude" was a number-one hit in many countries around the world and became the year's top-selling single in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. Its nine-week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 tied the all-time record in 1968 for the longest run at the top of the US charts, a record it held for nine years. It has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on music critics' lists of the greatest songs of all time.
The writing and recording of "Hey Jude" coincided with a period of upheaval in the Beatles. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon's young son Julian, after Lennon had left his wife for the Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The lyrics espouse a positive outlook on a sad situation, while also encouraging "Jude" to pursue his opportunities to find love. After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a coda featuring a "Na-na-na na" refrain that lasts for over four minutes.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track recording equipment. The sessions took place at Trident Studios in central London, midway through the recording of the group's self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"), and led to an argument between McCartney and George Harrison over the song's guitar part. Ringo Starr later left the band only to return shortly before they filmed the promotional clip for the single. The clip was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and first aired on David Frost's UK television show. Contrasting with the problems afflicting the band, this performance captured the song's theme of optimism and togetherness by featuring the studio audience joining the Beatles as they sang the coda.
At over seven minutes in length, "Hey Jude" was the longest single to top the British charts up to that time. Its arrangement and extended coda encouraged many imitative works through to the early 1970s. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 11th "biggest" song of all time in terms of chart success. McCartney has continued to perform "Hey Jude" in concert since Lennon's death in 1980, leading audiences in singing the coda. Julian Lennon and McCartney have each bid successfully at auction for items of memorabilia related to the song's creation.
Inspiration and writing
In May 1968, John Lennon and his wife Cynthia separated due to his affair with Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The following month, Paul McCartney drove out to visit the Lennons' five-year-old son Julian, at Kenwood, the family's home in Weybridge. Cynthia had been part of the Beatles' social circle since before the band's rise to fame in 1963; McCartney later said he found it "a bit much for them suddenly to be personae non gratae and out of my life". Cynthia Lennon recalled of McCartney's surprise visit: "I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare ... On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us." The song's original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to comfort Julian from the stress of his parents' separation. McCartney said, "I knew it was not going to be easy for him", and that he changed the name to "Jude" "because I thought that sounded a bit better".
According to music journalist Chris Hunt, in the weeks after writing the song, McCartney "test[ed] his latest composition on anyone too polite to refuse. And that meant everyone." On 30 June, after recording the Black Dyke Mills Band's rendition of his instrumental "Thingumybob" in Yorkshire, McCartney stopped at the village of Harrold in Bedfordshire and performed "Hey Jude" at a local pub. He also regaled members of the Bonzo Dog Band with the song while producing their single "I'm the Urban Spaceman", in London, and interrupted a recording session by the Barron Knights to do the same. Ron Griffith of the group the Iveys – soon to be known as Badfinger and, like the Black Dyke Mills Band, an early signing to the Beatles' new record label Apple Records – recalled that on one of their first days in the studio, McCartney "gave us a full concert rendition of 'Hey Jude'".
The intensity of Lennon and Ono's relationship made any songwriting collaboration between Lennon and McCartney impossible. Keen to support his friend nevertheless, McCartney let the couple stay at his house in St John's Wood, but when Lennon discovered a note written by McCartney containing disparaging and racist comments about Ono, the couple moved out. McCartney presented "Hey Jude" to Lennon on 26 July, when he and Ono visited McCartney's home. McCartney assured him that he would "fix" the line "the movement you need is on your shoulder", reasoning that "it's a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot." According to McCartney, Lennon replied: "You won't, you know. That's the best line in the song." McCartney retained the phrase. Although McCartney originally wrote "Hey Jude" for Julian, Lennon thought it had actually been written for him. In a 1980 interview, Lennon stated that he "always heard it as a song to me" and contended that, on one level, McCartney was giving his blessing to Lennon and Ono's relationship, while, on another, he was disappointed to be usurped as Lennon's friend and creative partner.
Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, a journalist with the Daily Express. Still others, including Lennon, have speculated that in the lyrics to "Hey Jude", McCartney's failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher provided an unconscious "message to himself". McCartney and Asher had announced their engagement on 25 December 1967, yet he began an affair with Linda Eastman in June 1968; that same month, Francie Schwartz, an American who was in London to discuss a film proposal with Apple, began living with McCartney in St John's Wood. When Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him and Ono, McCartney denied it and told Lennon he had written the song about himself.
Author Mark Hertsgaard has commented that "many of the song's lyrics do seem directed more at a grown man on the verge of a powerful new love, especially the lines 'you have found her now go and get her' and 'you're waiting for someone to perform with.'" Music critic and author Tim Riley writes: "If the song is about self-worth and self-consolation in the face of hardship, the vocal performance itself conveys much of the journey. He begins by singing to comfort someone else, finds himself weighing his own feelings in the process, and finally, in the repeated refrains that nurture his own approbation, he comes to believe in himself."
Production
EMI rehearsals
Having earmarked the song for release as a single, the Beatles recorded "Hey Jude" during the sessions for their self-titled double album, commonly known as "the White Album". The sessions were marked by an element of discord within the group for the first time, partly as a result of Ono's constant presence at Lennon's side. The strained relations were also reflective of the four band members' divergence following their communal trip to Rishikesh in the spring of 1968 to study Transcendental Meditation.
The Beatles first taped 25 takes of the song at EMI Studios in London over two nights, 29 and 30 July 1968, with George Martin as their producer. These dates served as rehearsals, however, since they planned to record the master track at Trident Studios to utilise their eight-track recording machine (EMI was still limited to four-tracks). The first two takes from 29 July, which author and critic Kenneth Womack describes as a "jovial" session, have been released on the 50th Anniversary box set of the White Album in 2018 and the Anthology 3 compilation in 1996, respectively.
The 30 July rehearsals were filmed for a short documentary titled Music!, which was produced by the National Music Council of Great Britain. This was the first time that the Beatles had permitted a camera crew to film them developing a song in the studio. The film shows only three of the Beatles performing "Hey Jude", as George Harrison remained in the studio control room, with Martin and EMI recording engineer Ken Scott. During the rehearsals that day, Harrison and McCartney had a heated disagreement over the lead guitar part for the song. Harrison's idea was to play a guitar phrase as a response to each line of the vocal, which did not fit with McCartney's conception of the song's arrangement, and he vetoed it. Author Simon Leng views this as indicative of how Harrison was increasingly allowed little room to develop ideas on McCartney compositions, whereas he was free to create empathetic guitar parts for Lennon's songs of the period. In a 1994 interview, McCartney said, "looking back on it, I think, Okay. Well, it was bossy, but it was ballsy of me, because I could have bowed to the pressure." Ron Richards, a record producer who worked for Martin at both Parlophone and AIR Studios, said McCartney was "oblivious to anyone else's feelings in the studio", and that he was driven to making the best possible record, at almost any cost.
Trident Studios recording
The Beatles recorded the master track for "Hey Jude" at Trident, where McCartney and Harrison had each produced sessions for their Apple artists, on 31 July. Trident's founder, Norman Sheffield, recalled that Mal Evans, the Beatles' aide and former roadie, insisted that some marijuana plants he had brought be placed in the studio to make the place "soft", consistent with the band's wishes. Barry Sheffield served as recording engineer for the session. The line-up on the basic track was McCartney on piano and lead vocal, Lennon on acoustic guitar, Harrison on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums. The Beatles recorded four takes of "Hey Jude", the first of which was selected as the master. With drums intended to be absent for the first two verses, McCartney began this take unaware that Starr had just left for a toilet break. Starr soon returned – "tiptoeing past my back rather quickly", in McCartney's recollection – and performed his cue perfectly.
On 1 August, the group carried out overdubs on the basic track, again at Trident. These additions included McCartney's lead vocal and bass guitar; backing vocals from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison; and tambourine, played by Starr. McCartney's vocal over the long coda, starting at around three minutes into the song, included a series of improvised shrieks that he later described as "Cary Grant on heat!" They then added a 36-piece orchestra over the coda, scored by Martin. The orchestra consisted of ten violins, three violas, three cellos, two flutes, one contra bassoon, one bassoon, two clarinets, one contra bass clarinet, four trumpets, four trombones, two horns, percussion and two string basses. According to Norman Sheffield, there was dissension initially among the orchestral musicians, some of whom "were looking down their noses at the Beatles, I think". Sheffield recalls that McCartney ensured their cooperation by demanding: "Do you guys want to get fucking paid or not?" During the first few takes, McCartney was unhappy about the lack of energy and passion in the orchestra's performance, so he stood up on the grand piano and started conducting the musicians from there.
The Beatles then asked the orchestra members if they would clap their hands and sing along to the refrain in the coda. All but one of the musicians complied (for a double fee), with the abstainer reportedly saying, "I'm not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney's bloody song!" Apple Records assistant Chris O'Dell says she joined the cast of backing singers on the song; one of the label's first signings, Jackie Lomax, also recalled participating.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track equipment. Trident Studios were paid £25 per hour by EMI for the sessions. Sheffield said that the studio earned about £1,000 in total, but by having the Beatles record there, and in turn raving about the facility, the value was incalculable. The band carried out further work at Trident during 1968, and Apple artists such as Lomax, Mary Hopkin, Billy Preston and the Iveys all recorded there over the next year.
Mixing
Scott, Martin and the Beatles mixed the finished recording at Abbey Road. The transfer of the Trident master tape to acetate proved problematic due to the recording sounding murky when played back on EMI's equipment. The issue was resolved with the help of Geoff Emerick, whom Scott had recently replaced as the Beatles' principal recording engineer. Emerick happened to be visiting Abbey Road, having recently refused to work with the Beatles any longer, due to the tension and abuse that had become commonplace at their recording sessions. A stereo mix of "Hey Jude" was then completed on 2 August and the mono version on 8 August.
Musicologist Walter Everett writes that the song's "most commented-on feature" is its considerable length, at 7:11. Like McCartney, Martin was concerned that radio stations would not play the track because of the length, but Lennon insisted: "They will if it's us." According to Ken Mansfield, Apple's US manager, McCartney remained unconvinced until Mansfield previewed the record for some American disc jockeys and reported that they were highly enthusiastic about the song. "Hey Jude" was one second longer than Richard Harris's recent hit recording of "MacArthur Park", the composer of which, Jimmy Webb, was a visitor to the studio around this time. According to Webb, Martin admitted to him that "Hey Jude" was only allowed to run over seven minutes because of the success of "MacArthur Park". Pleased with the result, McCartney played an acetate copy of "Hey Jude" at a party held by Mick Jagger, at Vesuvio's nightclub in central London, to celebrate the completion of the Rolling Stones' Beggars Banquet album. The song upstaged the Stones' album and, in author John Winn's description, "reportedly ruin[ed]" the party.
In the song's final bridge section, at 2:58, the spoken phrase "Fucking hell!" appears, uttered by Lennon. Scott admits that although he was told about it, he could not hear the words originally. Malcolm Toft, the mix engineer on the Trident recording, recalled that Lennon was overdubbing his harmony vocal when, in reaction to the volume being too loud in his headphones, he first called out "Whoa!" then, two seconds later, swore as he pulled the headphones off.
Composition and structure
"Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C and B (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me".
The second verse of the song adds accompaniment from acoustic guitar and tambourine. Tim Riley writes that, with the "restrained tom-tom and cymbal fill" that introduces the drum part, "the piano shifts downward to add a flat seventh to the tonic chord, making the downbeat of the bridge the point of arrival ('And any time you feel the pain)." At the end of each bridge, McCartney sings a brief phrase ("Na-na-na na …"), supported by an electric guitar fill, before playing a piano fill that leads to the next verse. According to Riley, this vocal phrase serves to "reorient the harmony for the verse as the piano figure turns upside down into a vocal aside". Additional musical details, such as tambourine on the third verse and subtle harmonies accompanying the lead vocal, are added to sustain interest throughout the four-verse, two-bridge song.
The verse-bridge structure persists for approximately three minutes, after which the band leads into a four-minute-long coda, consisting of nineteen rounds of the song's double plagal cadence. During this coda, the rest of the band, backed by an orchestra that also provides backing vocals, repeats the phrase "Na-na-na na" followed by the words "hey Jude" until the song gradually fades out. In his analysis of the composition, musicologist Alan Pollack comments on the unusual structure of "Hey Jude", in that it uses a "binary form that combines a fully developed, hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression".
Riley considers that the coda's repeated chord sequence (I–VII–IV–I) "answers all the musical questions raised at the beginnings and ends of bridges", since "The flat seventh that posed dominant turns into bridges now has an entire chord built on it." This three-chord refrain allows McCartney "a bedding ... to leap about on vocally", so he ad-libs his vocal performance for the rest of the song. In Riley's estimation, the song "becomes a tour of Paul's vocal range: from the graceful inviting tones of the opening verse, through the mounting excitement of the song itself, to the surging raves of the coda".
Release
"Hey Jude" was released on a 7-inch single on 26 August 1968 in the United States and 30 August in the United Kingdom, backed with "Revolution" on the B-side. It was one of four singles issued simultaneously to launch Apple Records – the others being Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", Jackie Lomax's "Sour Milk Sea", and the Black Dyke Mills Band's "Thingumybob". In advance of the release date, Apple declared 11–18 August to be "National Apple Week" in the UK, and sent gift-wrapped boxes of the records, marked "Our First Four", to Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, and to Harold Wilson, the prime minister. The release was promoted by Derek Taylor, who, in author Peter Doggett's description, "hyped the first Apple records with typical elan". "Hey Jude" was the first of the four singles, since it was still designated as an EMI/Parlophone release in the UK and a Capitol release in the US, but with the Apple Records logo now added. In the US, "Hey Jude" was the first Capitol-distributed Beatles single to be issued without a picture sleeve. Instead, the record was presented in a black sleeve bearing the words "The Beatles on Apple".
Author Philip Norman comments that aside from "Sour Milk Sea", which Harrison wrote and produced, the first Apple A-sides were all "either written, vocalised, discovered or produced" by McCartney. Lennon wanted "Revolution" to be the A-side of the Beatles single, but his bandmates opted for "Hey Jude". In his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, he said "Hey Jude" was worthy of an A-side, "but we could have had both." In 1980, he told Playboy he still disagreed with the decision.
Doggett describes "Hey Jude" as a song that "glowed with optimism after a summer that had burned with anxiety and rage within the group and in the troubled world beyond". The single's release coincided with the violent subjugation of Vietnam War protestors at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and condemnation in the West of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia and its crushing of attempts to introduce democratic reforms there. In this climate, Lennon's espousal of a pacifist agenda over violent confrontation in "Revolution" drew heavy criticism from New Left activists. By contrast, with its more universal message, "Hey Jude" was adopted as an anthem by Czech citizens in their struggle.
The song was first released on an album in February 1970, as the title track to Capitol's North American compilation Hey Jude. The album was conceived as a way to generate income for the Beatles by Allen Klein, the American businessman who, despite McCartney's strong opposition, the other Beatles had appointed to manage the ailing Apple organisation in 1969. "Hey Jude" subsequently appeared on the compilation albums 1967–1970, 20 Greatest Hits, Past Masters, Volume Two and 1.
Promotion
Apple shop window graffiti
A failed early promotional attempt for the single took place after the Beatles' all-night recording session on 7–8 August 1968. With Apple Boutique having closed a week before, McCartney and Francie Schwartz painted Hey Jude/Revolution across its large, whitewashed shop windows. The words were mistaken for antisemitic graffiti (since Jude means "Jew" in German), leading to complaints from the local Jewish community, and the windows being smashed by a passer-by.
Discussing the episode in The Beatles Anthology, McCartney explained that he had been motivated by the location – "Great opportunity. Baker Street, millions of buses going around…" – and added: "I had no idea it meant 'Jew', but if you look at footage of Nazi Germany, Juden Raus was written in whitewashed windows with a Star of David. I swear it never occurred to me." According to Barry Miles, McCartney caused further controversy in his comments to Alan Smith of the NME that month, when, in an interview designed to promote the single, he said: "Starvation in India doesn't worry me one bit, not one iota … And it doesn't worry you, if you're honest. You just pose."
Promotional film
The Beatles hired Michael Lindsay-Hogg to shoot promotional clips for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution", after he had previously directed the clips for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" in 1966. For "Hey Jude", they settled on the idea of shooting with a live, albeit controlled, audience. In the clip, the Beatles are first seen by themselves, performing the initial chorus and verses, before the audience moves forward and joins them in singing the coda. The decision was made to hire an orchestra and for the vocals to be sung live, to circumvent the Musicians' Union's ban on miming on television, but otherwise the Beatles performed to a backing track. Lindsay-Hogg shot the clip at Twickenham Film Studios on 4 September 1968. Tony Bramwell, a friend of the Beatles, later described the set as "the piano, there; drums, there; and orchestra in two tiers at the back." The event marked Starr's return to the group, after McCartney's criticism of his drumming had led to him walking out during a session for the White Album track "Back in the U.S.S.R." Starr was absent for two weeks.
The final edit was a combination of two different takes and included "introductions" to the song by David Frost (who introduced the Beatles as "the greatest tea-room orchestra in the world") and Cliff Richard, for their respective TV programmes. It first aired in the UK on Frost on Sunday on 8 September 1968, two weeks after Lennon and Ono had appeared on the show to promote their views on performance art and the avant-garde. The "Hey Jude" clip was broadcast in the United States on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on 6 October.
According to Riley, the Frost on Sunday broadcast "kicked 'Hey Jude' into the stratosphere" in terms of popularity. Norman comments that it evoked "palpable general relief" for viewers who had watched Frost's show two weeks before, as Lennon now adopted a supporting role to McCartney, and Ono was "nowhere in sight". Hertsgaard pairs the band's performance with the release of the animated film Yellow Submarine as two events that created "a state of nirvana" for Beatles fans, in contrast with the problems besetting the band regarding Ono's influence and Apple. Referring to the sight of the Beatles engulfed by a crowd made up of "young, old, male, female, black, brown, and white" fans, Hertsgaard describes the promotional clip as "a quintessential sixties moment, a touching tableau of contentment and togetherness".
The 4 September 1968 promo clip is included in the Beatles' 2015 video compilation 1, while the three-disc versions of that compilation, titled 1+, also include an alternate video, with a different introduction and vocal, from the same date.
Critical reception
In his contemporary review of the single, Derek Johnson of the NME wrote: "The intriguing features of 'Hey Jude' are its extreme length and the 40-piece orchestral accompaniment – and personally I would have preferred it without either!" While he viewed the track overall as "a beautiful, compelling song", and the first three minutes as "absolutely sensational", Johnson rued the long coda's "vocal improvisations on the basically repetitive four-bar chorus". Johnson nevertheless concluded that "Hey Jude" and "Revolution" "prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Beatles are still streets ahead of their rivals". Chris Welch of Melody Maker said he had initially been unimpressed, but came to greatly admire "Hey Jude" for its "slow, heavy, piano-ridden beat, sensuous, soulful vocals and nice thumpy drums". He added that the track would have benefited from being edited in length, as the climactic ending was "a couple of minutes too long".
Cash Boxs reviewer said that the extended fadeout, having been a device pioneered by the Beatles on "All You Need Is Love", "becomes something of an art form" in "Hey Jude", comprising a "trance-like ceremonial that becomes almost timeless in its continuity". Time magazine described it as "a fadeout that engagingly spoofs the fadeout as a gimmick for ending pop records". The reviewer contrasted "Hey Jude" with "Revolution", saying that McCartney's song "urges activism of a different sort" by "liltingly exhort[ing] a friend to overcome his fears and commit himself in love". Catherine Manfredi of Rolling Stone also read the lyrics as a message from McCartney to Lennon to end his negative relationships with women: "to break the old pattern; to really go through with love". Manfredi commented on the duality of the song's eponymous protagonist as a representation of good, in Saint Jude, "the Patron of that which is called Impossible", and of evil, in Judas Iscariot. Other commentators interpreted "Hey Jude" as being directed at Bob Dylan, then semi-retired in Woodstock.
Writing in 1971, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called it "one of [McCartney's] truest and most forthright love songs" and said that McCartney's romantic side was ill-served by the inclusion of "'I Will', a piece of fluff" on The Beatles. In their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler wrote that "Hey Jude" "promised great things" for the ill-conceived Apple enterprise and described the song as "the last great Beatles single recorded specifically for the 45s market". They commented also that "the epic proportions of the piece" encouraged many imitators, yet these other artists "[failed] to capture the gentleness and sympathy of the Beatles' communal feel". Walter Everett admires the melody as a "marvel of construction, contrasting wide leaps with stepwise motions, sustained tones with rapid movement, syllabic with melismatic word-setting, and tension ... with resolution". He cites Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks", Donovan's "Atlantis", the Moody Blues' "Never Comes the Day" and the Allman Brothers' "Revival" among the many songs with "mantralike repeated sections" that followed the release of "Hey Jude". In his entry for the song in his 1993 book Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles, Paul Williams describes it as a "song about breathing". He adds: "'Hey Jude' kicks ass like Van Gogh or Beethoven in their prime. It is, let's say, one of the wonders of this corner of creation ... It opens out like the sky at night or the idea of the existence of God."
Alan Pollack highlights the song as "such a good illustration of two compositional lessons – how to fill a large canvas with simple means, and how to use diverse elements such as harmony, bassline, and orchestration to articulate form and contrast." Pollack says that the long coda provides "an astonishingly transcendental effect", while AllMusic's Richie Unterberger similarly opines: "What could have very easily been boring is instead hypnotic because McCartney varies the vocal with some of the greatest nonsense scatting ever heard in rock, ranging from mantra-like chants to soulful lines to James Brown power screams." In his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald wrote that the "pseudo-soul shrieking in the fade-out may be a blemish" but he praised the song as "a pop/rock hybrid drawing on the best of both idioms". MacDonald concluded: "'Hey Jude' strikes a universal note, touching on an archetypal moment in male sexual psychology with a gentle wisdom one might properly call inspired." Lennon said the song was "one of [McCartney's] masterpieces".
Commercial performance
The single was a highly successful debut for Apple Records, a result that contrasted with the public embarrassment the band faced after the recent closure of their short-lived retail venture, Apple Boutique. In the description of music journalist Paul Du Noyer, the song's "monumental quality ... amazed the public in 1968"; in addition, the release silenced detractors in the British mainstream press who had relished the opportunity to criticise the band for their December 1967 television special, Magical Mystery Tour, and their trip to Rishikesh in early 1968. In the US, the single similarly brought an end to speculation that the Beatles' popularity might be diminishing, after "Lady Madonna" had peaked at number 4.
"Hey Jude" reached the top of Britain's Record Retailer chart (subsequently adopted as the UK Singles Chart) in September 1968. It lasted two weeks on top before being replaced by Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", which McCartney helped promote. "Hey Jude" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 13 September; that same week, NME reported that two million copies of the single had been sold. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on 14 September, beginning a nineteen-week chart run there. It reached number one on 28 September and held that position for nine weeks, for three of which "Those Were the Days" held the number-two spot. This was the longest run at number one for a single in the US until 1977. The song was the 16th number-one hit there for the Beatles. Billboard ranked it as the number-one song for 1968. In Australia, "Hey Jude" was number one for 13 weeks, which remained a record there until Abba's "Fernando" in 1976. It also topped the charts in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany.
On 30 November 1968, NME reported that sales had reached nearly six million copies worldwide. By 1999, "Hey Jude" had sold an estimated eight million copies worldwide. That year, it was certified 4x platinum by the RIAA, representing four million units shipped in the US. As of December 2018, "Hey Jude" was the 54th-best-selling single of all time in the UK – one of six Beatles songs included on the top sales rankings published by the Official Charts Company.
Awards and accolades
"Hey Jude" was nominated for the Grammy Awards of 1969 in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, but failed to win any of them. In the 1968 NME Readers' Poll, "Hey Jude" was named the best single of the year, and the song also won the 1968 Ivor Novello Award for "A-Side With the Highest Sales". "Hey Jude" was inducted into the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001 and it is one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs That Shaped Rock & Roll".
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Hey Jude" at number eight on the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time", making it the highest-placed Beatles song on the list; it dropped to number 89 in the 2021 revised list. Among its many appearances in other best-song-of-all-time lists, VH1 placed it ninth in 2000 and Mojo ranked it at number 29 in the same year, having placed the song seventh in a 1997 list of "The 100 Greatest Singles of All Time". In 1976, the NME ranked it 38th on the magazine's "Top 100 Singles of All Time", and the track appeared at number 77 on the same publication's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2014. In January 2001, "Hey Jude" came in third on Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest Singles". The Amusement & Music Operators Association ranks "Hey Jude" as the 11th-best jukebox single of all time. In 2008, the song appeared in eighth place on Billboards "All Time Hot 100 Songs".
In July 2006, Mojo placed "Hey Jude" at number 12 on its list of "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs". On a similar list compiled four years later, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number seven. In 2015, the ITV program The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One ranked "Hey Jude" in first place. In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked it at number 49 on their list of the best Beatles songs. Writing in the magazine, Nick Levine said: "Don't allow yourself to overlook this song because of its sheer ubiquity ... 'Hey Jude' is a huge-hearted, super-emotional epic that climaxes with one of pop's most legendary hooks."
Auctioned lyrics and memorabilia
In his 1996 article about the single's release, for Mojo, Paul Du Noyer said that the writing of "Hey Jude" had become "one of the best-known stories in Beatles folklore". In a 2005 interview, Ono said that for McCartney and for Julian and Cynthia Lennon, the scenario was akin to a drama, in that "Each person has something to be totally miserable about, because of the way they were put into this play. I have incredible sympathy for each of them." Du Noyer quoted Cynthia Lennon as saying of "Hey Jude", "it always bring tears to my eyes, that song."
Julian discovered that "Hey Jude" had been written for him almost 20 years after the fact. He recalled of his and McCartney's relationship: "Paul and I used to hang about quite a bit – more than Dad and I did. We had a great friendship going and there seems to be far more pictures of me and Paul playing together at that age than there are pictures of me and my dad." In 1996, Julian paid £25,000($33,958.25) for the recording notes to "Hey Jude" at an auction. He spent a further £35,000($47,543.65) at the auction, buying John Lennon memorabilia. John Cousins, Julian Lennon's manager, stated at the time: "He has a few photographs of his father, but not very much else. He is collecting for personal reasons; these are family heirlooms if you like."
In 2002, the original handwritten lyrics for the song were nearly auctioned off at Christie's in London. The sheet of notepaper with the scrawled lyrics had been expected to fetch up to £80,000($108,671.20) at the auction, which was scheduled for 30 April 2002. McCartney went to court to stop the auction, claiming the paper had disappeared from his West London home. Richard Morgan, representing Christie's, said McCartney had provided no evidence that he had ever owned the piece of paper on which the lyrics were written. The courts decided in McCartney's favour and prohibited the sale of the lyrics. They had been sent to Christie's for auction by Frenchman Florrent Tessier, who said he purchased the piece of paper at a street market stall in London for £10($13.58) in the early 1970s. In the original catalogue for the auction, Julian Lennon had written, "It's very strange to think that someone has written a song about you. It still touches me."
Along with "Yesterday", "Hey Jude" was one of the songs that McCartney has highlighted when attempting to have some of the official Beatles songwriting credits changed to McCartney–Lennon. McCartney applied the revised credit to this and 18 other Lennon–McCartney songs on his 2002 live album Back in the U.S., attracting criticism from Ono, as Lennon's widow, and from Starr, the only other surviving member of the Beatles.
Cover versions and McCartney live performances
In 1968, R&B singer Wilson Pickett released a cover recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, with a guitar part played by a young Duane Allman, who recommended the song to Pickett. Eric Clapton commented, "I remember hearing [it] and calling either Ahmet Ertegun or Tom Dowd and saying, 'Who's that guitar player?' ... To this day, I've never heard better rock guitar playing on an R&B record. It's the best." Session musician Jimmy Johnson, who played on the recording, said that Allman's solo "created Southern rock". Pickett's version reached number 23 on the Hot 100 and 13 on the Billboard R&B chart.
"Hey Jude" was one of the few Beatles songs that Elvis Presley covered, when he rehearsed the track at his 1969 Memphis sessions with producer Chips Moman, a recording that appeared on the 1972 album Elvis Now. A medley of "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" was included on the 1999 reissue of Presley's 1970 live album On Stage. Katy Perry performed "Hey Jude" as part of the 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year concert honouring McCartney.
McCartney played "Hey Jude" throughout his 1989–90 world tour, his first tour since Lennon's murder in 1980. McCartney had considered including it as the closing song on his band Wings' 1975 tours, but decided that "it just didn't feel right." He has continued to feature the song in his concerts, leading the audience in organised singalongs whereby different segments of the crowd – such as those in a certain section of the venue, then only men followed by only the women – chant the "Na-na-na na" refrain.
McCartney performed "Hey Jude" in the White House East Room as part of a concert honoring him with the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in June 2010.
McCartney also sang the song in the closing moments of the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics hosted in London. On 4 August 2012, McCartney led the crowd in a rendition of "Hey Jude" while watching cycling at the velodrome.
Personnel
According to Ian MacDonald and Mark Lewisohn:
The Beatles
Paul McCartney– lead vocal, piano, bass guitar, handclaps
John Lennon– backing vocal, acoustic guitar, handclaps
George Harrison– backing vocal, electric guitar, handclaps
Ringo Starr– backing vocal, drums, tambourine, handclaps
Additional musicians
Uncredited 36-piece orchestra– 10 violins, three violas, three cellos, two double basses, two flutes, two clarinets, one bass clarinet, one bassoon, one contrabassoon, four trumpets, two horns, four trombones, and one percussion instrument; 35 of these musicians on additional backing vocals and handclaps
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications and sales
See also
Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1968
List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1960s
List of Top 25 singles for 1968 in Australia
List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1968
List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1968
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Canada)
List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1968
List of number-one hits of 1968 (Germany)
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Ireland)
List of number-one singles in 1968 (New Zealand)
List of number-one songs in Norway
List of number-one singles of 1968 (Spain)
List of number-one singles from 1968 to 1979 (Switzerland)
List of UK charts and number-one singles (1952–1969)
List of best-selling singles of the 1960s in the United Kingdom
"The Official BBC Children in Need Medley"
Notes
References
Sources
External links
Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
"David Frost Meets The Beatles" at Mojo4music.com
1968 songs
1968 singles
The Beatles songs
Apple Records singles
Songs written by Lennon–McCartney
Song recordings produced by George Martin
Songs published by Northern Songs
Music videos directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
Single Top 100 number-one singles
Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Number-one singles in Australia
Number-one singles in Austria
Number-one singles in Germany
Number-one singles in New Zealand
Number-one singles in Norway
Number-one singles in Spain
Number-one singles in Switzerland
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
British pop rock songs
Pop ballads
Rock ballads
1960s ballads
Wilson Pickett songs | false | [
"Little Brother is an EP by punk rock band Dead to Me. It was released in October 2008 on Fat Wreck Chords.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Don't Wanna\" - 2:36\n \"Arrhythmic Palpitations\" - 1:54\n \"Little Brother\" - 4:06\n \"Ran That Scam\" - 2:39\n \"What's Wrong\" - 1:45\n\n2008 EPs\nFat Wreck Chords EPs\nDead to Me albums",
"A three-chord song is a song whose music is built around three chords that are played in a certain sequence. A common type of three-chord song is the simple twelve-bar blues used in blues and rock and roll.\n\nTypically, the three chords used are the chords on the tonic, subdominant, and dominant (scale degrees I, IV and V): in the key of C, these would be the C, F and G chords. Sometimes the V7 chord is used instead of V, for greater tension.\n\nThe I (tonic), IV (subdominant) and V (dominant) chords (primary triads) together encompass all seven tones of the tonic's major scale. These three chords are a simple means of covering many melodies without the use of passing notes.\n\n The order of the chord progression may be varied; popular chord progression variations using the I, IV and V chords of a scale are: \n V – I – IV \n I – V – IV – V \n V – IV – I \nBeside the I, IV and V chord progression, other widely used 3-chord progressions are:\n I – vi – V\n I – ii – V\nIn the mid-1960s, two of the most popular bands, The Beach Boys and The Beatles, began releasing songs that stretched the scope of rock and roll beyond three-chord songs. Even their earlier hits, such as \"The Warmth of the Sun\", or \"She Loves You\", featured chord progressions that were somewhat more complex. This led to a movement away from the country and blues base of rock and roll music, towards what would be termed simply rock music, and eventually resulted in the development of progressive rock and its many derivatives. However, the popularity of the three-chord song has always remained, particularly in punk rock, where the Ramones pioneered the three barre chord approach on their debut album Ramones, although on this album there were songs with five, six or seven chords.\n\nQuotes\nSongwriter Harlan Howard once said \"country music is three chords and the truth.\"\n\nLou Reed said \"One chord is fine. Two chords is pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz.\" Reed nevertheless wrote many songs with unique or complex chord progressions himself, such as the material on Berlin.\n\nSee also\n Cadence (music)\n I–V–vi–IV progression\n Twelve-bar blues\n\nReferences\n\nHarmony\nSong forms\nChord progressions"
] |
[
"Nightcrawler (comics)",
"Returning to the X-Men"
] | C_d2a87c9ef79f483382a0aba5520ca09d_1 | When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men? | 1 | When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men? | Nightcrawler (comics) | For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X. Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in escaping his prison. Later, Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop, Psylocke, Cannonball, and Marvel Girl. In the last mission against the Foursaken, Nightcrawler took Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Bishop, and Cannonball to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control. Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind. Kurt is still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks. CANNOTANSWER | Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, | false | [
"Bamf , originally Bampf, is an onomatopoeic term originating in comic books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those featuring the superhero Nightcrawler of the X-Men. The term is derived from the sound Nightcrawler makes when teleporting.\n\nSound\nThe \"Bamf\" sound is caused by air rushing into the space where Nightcrawler's body once was after he has teleported. It has been borrowed as a teleport sound by fans and a generic term for teleporting in general (\"...and then he bamfed out...\"). The sound has become a standard in pop culture.\n\nRace\n\nBamfs are also a race of creatures described as small imp-like versions of Nightcrawler, which accompany him wherever he goes. They first appeared in the first Nightcrawler miniseries in 1985, and became a regular fixture of X-Men comics in the early 2010s.\n\nEarth-5311\nIn Uncanny X-Men #153, Kitty Pryde tells a fairy tale to six-year-old Illyana Rasputin, which includes a race of creatures called \"Bamfs\", described as small imp-like versions of Nightcrawler, even wearing identical costumes. A Bamf enters the story after catching sight of Pirate Kitty, on whom he developed an instant crush, when she and her entourage landed on Bamf Island. He subsequently joins her team and aids in taking down Princess Jean (the fairy tale equivalent of Jean Grey), aka Dark Phoenix.\n\nEarth-616\nLate, in the first Nightcrawler limited series in 1985, Nightcrawler is sent to another universe that is identical to Kitty's fairy tale, where he encounters the Bamfs, including the heroic Bamf from Kitty's tale. Nightcrawler discovers that female Bamfs differ from the males in that they are taller, resembling female versions of himself. The male Bamfs are lecherous, flirtatious, and skirt-chasing, making them rather tiring company in the presence of attractive females.\n\nAt various times since Kitty's fairy tale, plush versions of Nightcrawler, also called \"Bamfs\", had appeared in many issues of Uncanny X-Men. Kitty Pryde, Illyana Rasputin, Jubilation Lee, and Amanda Sefton have been shown owning Bamf dolls. One issue of Avengers in the '90s showed Deathcry cuddling a Bamf doll.\n\nIn the early 2010s, the Bamfs reappeared at the newly opened Jean Grey School of Higher Learning, infesting the school after Vice-Principal Beast accidentally opened a portal to their home reality on the first day of school. Headmaster Wolverine is the head of a \"Bamf Hunting Club\". In this variation, the Bamfs are mute, naked, seemingly self-aware troublemakers who are depicted defacing school property in various ways. However, it later becomes uncertain whether the creatures infesting the school are Bamfs at all, an alien zoologist commenting that although the staff believe them to be \"interdimensional gremlins\" (i.e., Bamfs), they actually are not. The character is about to reveal what he believes to be the nature of the Bamfs when he is cut off, leaving the revelation for a later date; it is to note, however, that the Bamfs in this instance look more like the real Nightcrawler and sport body markings similar to his live action movie incarnation.\n\nThe Bamfs also helped Doop and Krakoa fight off Swarm when he attacked the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.\n\nBamfs were eventually revealed to be creatures born in the depths of Hell. Their mother is a giant maggot, and their father is a changeling in the form of a face-eating lamprey. As soon as they were born, they were left on the brimstone plains to die. Against all odds, they survived as scavengers, as things lower than the lowest beast of the Pit until they were found by Azazel during one of his raids on Hell.\n\nThe Bamfs were starving, and so Azazel fed them his blood which in turn changed them and remade them in his image. Now with a legion of soldiers bound to his evil will, Azazel used them to raid Heaven for souls, but one of them was left behind and was found by Nightcrawler who made him a deal of his own which yet again changed them from red to blue. When questioned by Firestar about the deal, Nightcrawler only reveals that it wasn't his blood that he promised them but it was something his father could never match.\n\nThe details of the deal are revealed when Kurt uses the Bamfs and his connection to Azazel to restore himself to life back on Earth, thus preventing Azazel from attacking Heaven again by tying them both together, although this results in Kurt sacrificing his own soul to ensure that Azazel will not be able to return to Heaven. Henceforth, the Bamfs enlisted by Nightcrawler continue to keep him company on Earth.\n\nKnown Bamfs\n Chuckles – A Bamf that Wolverine named after Professor X.\n Pickles – A Bamf that lived in the past Beast's van.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Bamfs at Marvel Wiki\n Bamfs at Comic Vine\n Bamfs. The Comic Book Database.\n\nOnomatopoeia\nCharacters created by Chris Claremont\nCharacters created by Dave Cockrum",
"X-Men: The Official Game (also known as X3: The Official Game) is the name of Activision's three tie-in video games to the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand. The game covers the events between the films X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand, specifically following the characters of Logan, Iceman, and Nightcrawler. It also bridges the gap between the two films, explaining why Nightcrawler is not present for The Last Stand, and also introduces new foes for the game, such as HYDRA.\n\nThe game uses several voice actors from the X-Men film franchise. From the films, returning are Hugh Jackman, Alan Cumming, Shawn Ashmore, Patrick Stewart, Tyler Mane, and Eric Dane.\n\nThe game, along with most other games published by Activision that had used the Marvel licence, was de-listed and removed from all digital storefronts on January 1, 2014.\n\nGameplay\nPlayers control the actions of several X-Men-related characters, most notably Logan, Nightcrawler and Iceman, as they uncover a plot to eradicate mutants. Sometimes, another X-Man will help the player's character battle. The Nintendo DS game features Magneto as a playable character, while the Game Boy Advance version features Colossus as a playable character. Many agree that Logan is the only useful character in the Game Boy Advance game, which allows players to cycle through characters at will, as he is the only one who can recover from damage.\n\nConsoles\n Logan's levels involve fighting hordes of soldiers, armed with weapons. He can retract his claws, but any time a button is pressed, they are extracted. Logan heals minor wounds, reflected as yellow on his Life Gauge, but when his minor wound damage empties, all wounds are considered major, taking off his actual life bar. Logan can only heal major damage if he is not engaged in combat at the time. Logan can't target lock like his allies; he can only block, which can fend off weak attacks only until it is built up. Wolverine, after he has attacked for a time, builds up a Fury Bar, which, when activated, increases his healing rate and his strength. It also changes his attacks' appearances.\n Nightcrawler's levels involve mostly platforming missions, running along pipes in the ceiling and teleporting. Nightcrawler can teleport to any area within his visual range. Like Logan, Nightcrawler heals by holding down a button, only Nightcrawler constantly takes life gauge damage, and when he heals, it is called \"Shadowmeld\" or \"Shadow Aura\", a nod to the comic books (Nightcrawler becomes invisible in shadow). Nightcrawler can teleport behind and combo-attack several foes during a brawl.\n Iceman's levels most closely resemble flight-sim games similar to Star Wars: Rogue Squadron as he continuously rides on his trademark ice slide. Iceman creates an icy path in front of him, flying through the air while shooting his ice beam and ice projectiles. Iceman's attacks are an Ice Beam, which cools off fires and damages foes; Frost Shield, which will cancel any damage he takes while it is \"up\"; and Hailstorm, which is his main attack, hurling several balls of ice at targets. Iceman will heal automatically as long as he doesn't incur damage for an amount of time. The player must keep up a quick speed when sliding, as slowing down too much will knock Iceman off the slide.\n\nPlot\nDuring a session in the Xavier institute's Danger Room, Logan / Wolverine battles his brother, Victor Creed / Sabretooth, and ultimately ends up losing the session, though he had been saved by the timely arrival of Iceman, who was there so that Cyclops could train him, but is too crippled with grief to do so due to Jean Grey's apparent death . After Logan trains Iceman in the Danger Room, Professor X warns Logan against trying the Danger Room on \"Danger Level 7\" again, before asking the X-Men to return to Alkali Lake to retrieve irreplaceable parts to Cerebro. Nightcrawler infiltrates the remnants of William Stryker's base with his teleportation ability, since the weapons systems were somehow operational. Once inside, the X-Men discover a group of agents called HYDRA looting the base. Nightcrawler and Colossus go to find the Cerebro parts while Logan and Storm investigate HYDRA's presence. Logan and Storm discover that Stryker had been building giant robots called Sentinels as another plan to eradicate mutantkind.\n\nStorm is abducted by Lady Deathstrike and Logan pursues her, eventually rescuing Storm. Nightcrawler is plagued by visions of Jason Stryker, who reminds Kurt he left him to die. Nightcrawler retrieves the Cerebro parts, battling a Sentinel in the process. A massive Sentinel - the Master Mold is activated and rises from Alkali Lake. The X-Men and Lady Deathstrike escape; Logan attaches himself to Deathstrike's helicopter to follow her while the other X-Men return to the institute.\n\nIceman stops Pyro from triggering a meltdown at a nuclear power plant while Storm and Nightcrawler stop Multiple Man from blowing up a bridge . Meanwhile, Logan follows Deathstrike and her HYDRA agents to Japan. Logan learns that Deathstrike and HYDRA are working for the Silver Samurai. After battling though legions of HYDRA forces and \"killing\" Deathstrike again, Logan confronts Silver Samurai. Samurai reveals that HYDRA helped Stryker build the Sentinels, not realizing he planned to turn them against mutants. Silver Samurai himself is a mutant, and the Master Mold's activation was a mistake. After defeating Silver Samurai, Logan learns that HYDRA has a device in Hong Kong that can stop the Master Mold, where the Master Mold is currently heading. Logan informs Professor Xavier, who contacts Magneto - fearing the X-Men cannot stop the Sentinels alone. Magneto and Sabretooth travel to Hong Kong to help the X-Men. Xavier also reveals that Jason Stryker is still alive; his psyche now fractured into two halves: a good half who has been appearing to Nightcrawler and an evil half that is controlling the Master Mold. He states that another of his students had a similar problem (referring to Jean Grey/Phoenix).\n\nThe X-Jet is shot down by Sentinels upon its arrival in Hong Kong. Iceman battles Sentinels and recovers HYDRA's device. Magneto arrives and uses the device to incapacitate the Master Mold, which crashes to the ground, but his helmet is knocked off of his head and Magneto is subdued by Jason's telepathic powers.\n\nNightcrawler disables the Master Mold's control center, guided by Jason's good half, who helps point the way through the maze of the Mold's body. Nightcrawler disables the Master Mold's neural net, changed by Jason to look like a demonic realm. Meanwhile, Iceman destroys the core of the Master Mold and Logan - in another of Jason's hallucinations - fights several feral clones of himself, emerging victorious. Nightcrawler attempts to save Jason as the Master Mold begins to collapse, but Sabretooth abducts Jason and attempts to make his escape. Logan tracks Sabretooth's scent and confronts him while Kurt escapes with Jason. The two have a vicious battle, ending with Logan throwing Sabretooth from a great height to be impaled below. Jason dies, thanking Nightcrawler for saving him. Magneto leaves, vowing that his next encounter with the X-Men will be as an enemy.\n\nBack at Xavier's mansion, Nightcrawler tells Xavier he does not want to be an X-Man, for their lives are too violent and he is a peaceful man. Xavier tells him he is always welcome in the Mansion, and Kurt leaves . Meanwhile, Cyclops goes to Jean Grey's house and sees her, apparently still alive, with her power spiraling out of control, resulting in her shutting the door on him. The game ends with Cyclops begging to be let inside.\n\nDevelopment\nZak Penn and Chris Claremont co-wrote the story for the game. Penn is the co-writer of X-Men: The Last Stand, and Claremont was a longtime writer of the X-Men comic books, establishing the personas for many of the \"new\" X-Men team, which featured then new members Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee, and Wolverine. Claremont is best known for the Dark Phoenix Saga.\n\nReception\n\nX-Men: The Official Game received \"mixed or average\" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.\n\nOn the consoles and PC, some of the problems cited were repetitive gameplay, poor enemy AI and the fact that the Xbox 360 version looked similar to the other console versions despite the better hardware. Detroit Free Press gave the Xbox 360 version three stars out of four and said, \"I'd be happier if Cyclops were at my fingertips, too. But all in all, the variety these three X-Men provide is adequate for one little video game\". The Times gave the game a mixed review and stated that \"nice graphics and smooth gameplay are no substitute for imagination\". However, The A.V. Club gave it a D and stated that \"almost everything about this movie cash-in is cheap and incompetent, from the short, forgettable levels to the poor control system to the hand-crampingly repetitive action\".\n\nAs for the handhelds, the DS version was considered repetitive and hard to control, and the GBA version as a by-the-book platformer.\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n2006 video games\nAction video games\nActivision games\nBeat 'em ups\nBeenox games\nGame Boy Advance games\nGame Boy Advance-only games\nGameCube games\nHypnos Entertainment games\nNintendo DS games\nPlayStation 2 games\nSingle-player video games\nSuperhero video games\nWindows games\nVideo games based on Marvel Comics films\nVideo games based on X-Men films\nVideo games based on adaptations\nVideo games based on works by Zak Penn\nVideo games developed in the United States\nVideo games scored by Chance Thomas\nVideo games set in Canada\nVideo games set in Hong Kong\nVideo games set in New York City\nVideo games set in Japan\nVideo games using Havok\nX-Men (film series)\nXbox games\nXbox 360 games",
"Amanda Sefton (real name Jimaine Szardos) (also known as Daytripper and the second Magik) is a fictional character, a witch appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is the foster sister and lover of Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler of the X-Men.\n\nPublication history\n\nAmanda Sefton first appeared in X-Men #98 (April 1976), created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. She has appeared occasionally in X-Men titles, most often in Uncanny X-Men and Excalibur.\n\nAs Magik, Amanda had her own eponymous, four-issue mini-series in 2000–2001 from writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, with artist Liam Sharp. The series focused on her taking over Limbo (also known as Otherplace). The series also featured her foster brother/lover, Nightcrawler.\n\nFictional character biography\nJimaine and her mother Margali are witches. When Nightcrawler joined the X-Men, Jimaine eventually followed him to the US, assumed the identity of Amanda Sefton, took a job as a flight attendant, and became Nightcrawler's girlfriend. When Margali attacked the X-Men, believing Nightcrawler to have been responsible for the death of Stefan Szardos (her son; Jimaine's brother), \"Amanda\" revealed herself as Jimaine, convinced her mother to let Kurt live, and resumed her on-and-off relationship with him. Their relationship broke apart when Kurt suffered a severe case of self-doubt following an encounter with the Beyonder upon the latter's arrival on Earth.\n\nDaytripper\nMuch later, in need of her magical abilities, Nightcrawler called his former girlfriend Amanda Sefton to aid Excalibur. For dramatic reasons she chose to adopt the codename Daytripper, playing on Kurt's codename, and presented herself in a new costume. Once familiarized with the problem at hand, Amanda did the best she could to help Meggan and Rachel Summers locate the lost Captain Britain in the timestream, but as they made contact they only achieved to exchange Captain Britain for Rachel, who in his place entered the timestream to emerge in some farfetched future.\n\nFollowing this incident Kurt and Amanda traveled to Germany, where her mother Margali had been taken captive by D'Spayre. As Kurt wondered how such a powerful sorceress could be held captive against her will, Daytripper explained that the Winding Way is not only a mystic discipline, but also it functions like a journey with ups and downs. Currently Margali was at a low point and powerless or else D’Spayre could never have defeated her. The pair rescued their mother and Amanda returned with Kurt to Excalibur.\n\nBack on Muir Island, Amanda was the only one who recognized that the team's scientist Rory Campbell was the man destined to become the future mutant hunter Ahab, but she promised him to keep her knowledge secret and offered to be there for him whenever the need would arise.\n\nAround this time she suffered a mystical/telepathic attack on a plane while taking a shift under her air hostess job. It involved the fate of the Black Queen.\n\nAfter Excalibur had been attacked by opposing sorcerers trying to acquire the Soulsword of the deceased Illyana Rasputin, Amanda convinced Shadowcat to give her Magik's Soul Sword for safe-keeping. Amanda thought it best to hand the sword over to her mother, however, only too late did Amanda realize that she was tricked by her own mother, who wanted the Soulsword to kill all those ahead of her on the Winding Path.\n\nEven though she had never been more powerful it wasn't enough for Margali and so in disguise she joined the London Hellfire Club as their Red Queen, proceeding their plan to destroy London and take over Britain. Shortly after helping to defeat her mother and the Hellfire Club, Amanda left Excalibur without even telling Nightcrawler.\n\nIn fact, it was not Amanda who made that decision, but Margali who had taken over her body. Upon her defeat among the Hellfire Club, Margali had been captured by the villain sorcerer Belasco and been tortured in his realm, from where she secretly switched minds with her daughter so that she could recuperate and win back her freedom and her position on the Winding Way. Eventually Margali, using Amanda's body, made her way back to Limbo, where mother and daughter switched back and defeated Belasco with Nightcrawler's help. Margali apologized for exposing her daughter to such danger, but then quickly left. Only after she was gone, Amanda realized that with both her and Belasco gone, there was no one left besides her capable enough to take over as Limbo's new ruler. To leave the dimension unguarded seemed too dangerous, given that several demons could have used its stepping disks to invade earth.\n\nMagik\nIt was during this time that Amanda was forced to thwart Belasco and the N'Garai’s takeover of Limbo, and Earth, where she was forced to conceal her identity from her closest friends, until the end of the battle where those who had not already worked out that she was not Illyana, learned of Amanda's new role. Following that, Amanda rallied together the rulers of all other various dimensions of Hell to unite them in a common goal: The preservation of Hell.\n\nAmanda has also mastered the ability to magically control the stepping disks of Limbo, just like Belasco did before her, and practiced to wield the Soulsword. During one of Nightcrawler's trips to Limbo, Amanda secretly hid the powerful Soulsword in Kurt's body, thinking it was safe there since his soul was the purest that she could find. There was a shift in the cosmic balance, powerful forces at work, and one thing they were after was the Soulsword, and indeed not much later, Amanda was attacked and overpowered by Nightmare. She was rescued by the timely arrival of her mother Margali, and together, mother and daughter found out that Nightmare had been manipulated into attacking them by someone else. Amanda and Margali immediately sought out Nightcrawler to warn him, but upon their arrival the demon Hive revealed himself and took over the body of Nightcrawler's teammate, Wolverine.\n\nGradually, the demon's essence was disrupted by the Soulsword, though not before he revealed that there is a major war coming, one that has been brewing for a millennium, and that the entire Szardos family factor very importantly into it.\n\nDriven out of Limbo\nAmanda resurfaced in New X-Men when she plunged out of a dimensional portal in a blast of flaming energy and landed in a small German village. She pleaded, \"Help me...someone please...He's back.\" Amanda was driven out of Limbo after being overwhelmed by an invasion led by Belasco; although she had fought and defeated him in the past, Belasco now appeared more powerful and, without the Soulsword, Amanda was no match.\n\nShe assisted New X-Men Hellion and Surge as well as O*N*E Sentinel operative (and former mutant) Lex in finding students that were kidnapped by Belasco. The students were saved due to Illyana Rasputin usurping control of Limbo. Once the heroes were teleported back to Xavier's school though, Amanda found Limbo to be sealed off.\n\nWhile Pixie has stated that she has been approached by both Amanda and Doctor Strange about furthering her magical tutelage when she comes of age, Amanda's whereabouts remained unknown for some time, but she was recently mentioned by Cyclops in the aftermath of Second Coming when he was writing her a letter of condolence over the death of Nightcrawler.\n\nFamily reunion\nAfter Nightcrawler's resurrection and some period of readjustment, he sought out Amanda for a romantic reunion, but then Amanda was almost kidnapped by a villain called Trimega. After Nightcrawler and his Bamfs subdued Trimega, he chose to grant Amanda and Margali sanctuary in the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning; but then an army of Trimegas descended upon the school. During the battle, it turned out that Margali was actually Trimega's creator and had orchestrated the attack in order to gain knowledge of how to cross into the Afterlife. Armed with that knowledge, Margali opened a portal, whose existence would endanger reality. In order to stop her scheme, Nightcrawler and Amanda attempted to pass the gate, but Nightcrawler's voluntary exile from Heaven barred him from entry, stranding Amanda alone in the Void. They met again when Nightcrawler, fatally stabbed in combat by the Crimson Pirates, was intercepted by Amanda at an \"interim station\" between life and death, who successfully encouraged him—with some assistance from Wolverine and Phoenix—to return to the land of the living.\n\nPowers and abilities\nAmanda is a sorceress following the path of the Winding Way. Her power changes in its levels, waxing and waning over time, allowing her to summon such powers as teleportation, illusions casting, shape changing, mystical force bolts, hypnotism, and the manipulation of other complex mystical forces.\n\nWhen she became the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo, Amanda began wielding the powerful Soulsword. While she couldn't access the full power of the sword, she could still create and control teleportation energies in the form of \"stepping discs\". This allows her to absorb souls of others either permanently or to simply store and transfer, to place and store the sword in absolute nothingness and to retrieve it from whence it came with ease. Like Illyana Rasputin, the more Amanda used the Soulsword, the more mystical Eldritch armor appeared on her body in addition to demonic features such as horns and hooves. The armor deflects or limits attacks, both physical and magical. However, on Earth, Amanda's abilities are limited to a different capacity. She has since lost these abilities when Limbo was sealed to her and resumed her normal display of powers.\n\nOther versions\nIn the \"Days of Future Past\" timeline, Amanda and Nightcrawler have a daughter Blue who inherited her father's appearance and similar teleporting powers. Amanda and Nightcrawler, along with that timeline's version of Illyana Rasputin, were gunned down by a government strikeforce deployed to destroy the Xavier Institute after Senator Robert Kelly was assassinated.\n\nIn other media \nIn X-Men: Evolution, Amanda Sefton appears as Nightcrawler's love interest, but she does not have most of the background of her comic counterpart. Her mother's name remains Margali, but the Seftons appear to be a normal family. She is portrayed as an American teenager of African/Romany descent who accepts Kurt completely despite his mutation. She was voiced by Moneca Stori.\n\nIn her first appearance, the episode \"Shadow Dance\", Amanda asks Kurt to be her date for a school dance and tells him that she did have a crush on him for months but was too shy to tell him, and that her feelings remained even after she once accidentally saw him turning off his image inducer. They start dating seriously, and after a time (\"The Toad, the Witch and the Wardrobe\") Amanda attempts to introduce Kurt — as his true self — to her parents. The intention is ruined by Toad, who steals Kurt's image inducer, demolishing the Sefton home and revealing Kurt's true appearance before Amanda can properly prepare her parents. Even though Amanda's parents are understandably upset, Amanda shrugs off any discomforts which they might bring into her relationship with Kurt, and she continues to date him.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nAmanda Sefton at the Marvel Universe\n\nComics characters introduced in 1976\nCharacters created by Chris Claremont\nCharacters created by Dave Cockrum\nFictional flight attendants\nRomani comics characters\nFictional German people\nFictional hypnotists and indoctrinators\nFictional swordfighters\nMarvel Comics witches\nMarvel Comics characters who are shapeshifters\nMarvel Comics characters who use magic\nMarvel Comics characters who can teleport\nMarvel Comics female superheroes\nFictional illusionists\nExcalibur (comics)"
] |
|
[
"Nightcrawler (comics)",
"Returning to the X-Men",
"When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men?",
"Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet,"
] | C_d2a87c9ef79f483382a0aba5520ca09d_1 | Why did Excalibur disband? | 2 | Why did Excalibur from the X-Men disband? | Nightcrawler (comics) | For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X. Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in escaping his prison. Later, Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop, Psylocke, Cannonball, and Marvel Girl. In the last mission against the Foursaken, Nightcrawler took Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Bishop, and Cannonball to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control. Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind. Kurt is still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | false | [
"Excalibur is the mythical sword of King Arthur.\n\nExcalibur may also refer to:\n\nArts, entertainment, and media\n\nFictional entities\n Excalibur (comics), a superhero group in Marvel Comics (see below for comics featuring the group)\n Faiza Hussain, later codenamed Excalibur, a Marvel Comics superhero\n Excalibur, a talking sword character in Soul Eater\n Excalibur, the sword used by Saber throughout most of the Fate series\n Excalibur, the sword which was broken into seven different swords in High School DxD\n Excalibur, the right arm of Capricorn Saint from Saint Seiya\n Excalibur, a sword in the video game Sonic and the Black Knight (2009)\n Excalibur, a sword in the manga The Seven Deadly Sins (Nanatsu no Taizai)\n Excalibur, an obtainable sword in the video game Tomb Raider: Legend (2006)\n Excalibur, a playable character from Warframe\n Excalibur, an obtainable sword in the video game Terraria\n\nLiterature\n Excalibur (comic book), several comic books featuring the Marvel Comics group\n Excalibur (L. Ron Hubbard), an unpublished 1938 manuscript composed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard\n Excalibur (novel), a 1973 fantasy novel by Sanders Anne Laubenthal\n Excalibur: A Novel of Arthur, a 1997 novel by Bernard Cornwell in his series The Warlord Chronicles\n\nMusic\n Excalibur (Grave Digger album), 1999\n Excalibur (rock opera), a 1998 rock opera written and directed by Alan Simon\n Excalibur (Tom Fogerty album), 1972\n\nRollercoasters\n Excalibur (Funtown Splashtown USA), a roller coaster at Funtown Splashtown USA in Saco, Maine, United States\n Excalibur (Valleyfair), a roller coaster at Valleyfair amusement park in Shakopee, Minnesota, United States\n Excalibur, a former roller coaster at Six Flags AstroWorld\n\nTelevision\n \"Excalibur\", a 1985 episode of the cartoon G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero\n Excalibur, a BBC Two television ident first aired in 2000 (see BBC Two '1991–2001' idents)\n\nVideo games\n Excalibur (video game), a 1983 video game \n Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge, a 2007 first-person shooter video game\n Excalibur 2555 AD, a 1997 action-adventure video game\n\nOther uses in arts, entertainment, and media\n Excalibur (film), a 1981 film about the legend of King Arthur\n Excalibur (newspaper), the community newspaper of York University, Toronto\n\nBrands and enterprises\n Excalibur (nightclub), a nightclub in Chicago, Illinois, United States\n Excalibur, a brand of non-stick surface\n Excalibur Airways, a defunct UK airline\n Excalibur Hotel and Casino, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States\n Excalibur series, an electric guitar built by Vigier Guitars\n HTC Excalibur, a smartphone manufactured by High Tech Computer\n\nComputing and technology\n Apache Excalibur, a project to produce a set of software components for the Java programming language\n DARPA's Excalibur program, an attempt to apply phased-array optics to laser weapons\n Excalibur, a prehistoric axe made of red quartzite found at the Archaeological site of Atapuerca, Spain\n Excalibur BBS, a Windows-based GUI BBS client\n Project Excalibur, an initiative to develop an orbiting nuclear-bomb-pumped X-ray laser\n\nPlaces\n Excalibur (Arizona), a summit in Arizona, United States\n Excalibur Estate, a housing estate in Catford, South London, England\n Excalibur Pot, a cave/pothole in the North Yorkshire Moors, United Kingdom\n\nTransport\n Excalibur (automobile), an American specialty car introduced in 1963 with bodywork similar to a 1928 Mercedes-Benz\n Excalibur (racing yacht), an Australian racing yacht\n Excalibur, one of three Sikorsky VS-44 flying boats\n Excalibur Aircraft Excalibur, an ultralight aircraft\n Excalibur 800, an aftermarket conversion of the Beechcraft Twin Bonanza twin-engined aircraft, originally developed by Swearingen Aircraft\n Excalibur Queen Air, a similar aftermarket conversion of the Beechcraft Queen Air twin-engined aircraft, also originally developed by Swearingen\n HMS Excalibur, a ship in the British Royal Navy\n Lockheed Model 44 Excalibur, a cancelled four-engined airliner\n\nWeapons\n Excalibur rifle Mark-I, a modified version of the INSAS assault rifle \n M982 Excalibur, 155mm GPS-guided extended range artillery projectile\n\nOther uses\n British Columbia Excalibur Party, a minor political party in British Columbia, Canada\n Excalibur (wrestler), wrestler for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla\n Excalibur Primary School, a school in Alsager, United Kingdom\n\nSee also\n King Arthur (disambiguation)\n The Sword in the Stone (disambiguation)\n Xcalibur (disambiguation)",
"Marc Letzmann (born July 16, 1980), better known by his ring name Excalibur, is an American former professional wrestler and current color commentator for All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is one of the six founders of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he continues to work as the company's \"Liaison to the Board of Directors\". After retiring from in-ring competition in 2007, he became the company's lead play-by-play commentator.\n\nProfessional wrestling career\n\nEarly career\nWhile writing for a wrestling video game website, Excalibur met Super Dragon online. Through chatting online, the two became friends and it helped spark the beginning of Excalibur's career. After spending a year in college, Excalibur chose to move to California to begin his wrestling career and also get work in his full-time profession, graphic design. He cited having an \"in\" to Revolution Pro Wrestling as the reason he decided to leave his hometown of Detroit. After moving to California in late 1999, Excalibur spent six months living in Super Dragon's garage, until finally renting a place of his own.\n\nPro Wrestling Guerrilla (2003–2008)\nExcalibur is one of the six owners of Southern California-based Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), and is collectively known as one of the \"PWG Six\", in reference to his partial founding of the company. On PWG's debut show, he defeated Chris Bosh. Soon after, Excalibur became a member of the stable SBS with Super Dragon and Disco Machine. While with SBS, Excalibur and Super Dragon won the company's Tag Team Championship from Quicksilver and Chris Bosh. They became the first team in PWG's history to successfully defend the title, but they eventually lost them to Joey Ryan and Scott Lost.\n\nAt All Nude Revue, someone dressed as Super Dragon attacked the real Super Dragon after a match. On May 13 at Jason Takes PWG!, it was revealed that Excalibur was the mastermind of the attacks on Super Dragon and that Kevin Steen was the attacker, resulting in Excalibur becoming a heel. After subsequently turning on Super Dragon, Excalibur defeated him in a Guerrilla Warfare Match. After the match, Disco Machine made his way to the ring to aid Super Dragon. On June 11 at Guitarmegeddon, Disco Machine teamed with Super Dragon in a losing effort to Excalibur and Kevin Steen. After the match, Disco turned on Dragon and united with Excalibur and Steen, with the three now calling themselves the \"new\" SBS. On July 9 at Bicentennial Birthday Extravaganza, the new SBS defeated Dragon, El Generico and Human Tornado in a six-man tag team elimination match. At part two of the event the following night, Excalibur and Disco were unable to win a number one contender's four-team elimination match after Generico pinned Disco. At Zombies Shouldn't Run on August 10, Excalibur and Disco gained an \"apprentice\" in Ronin, and stated that he would face a test to see if he would be allowed to join the group. After the SBS's scheduled opponents, Los Luchas, did not appear, the SBS and Ronin instead competed against and defeated the team of Top Gun Talwar, Hook Bomberry and Mr. Excitement. At the first-ever Battle of Los Angeles event, the SBS and Chris Sabin lost to Talwar, Bomberry and Human Tornado. However, the SBS won at part two of the event the following night, as they and Ronin defeated Sabin, Bomberry and T.J. Perkins. At part two of All Star Weekend 2: Electric Boogaloo on November 20, 2005, the SBS faced Super Dragon and Davey Richards for the World Tag Team Championship, but lost the match. On the first night of Battle of Los Angeles on September 2, 2006, Excalibur took part in a four-way elimination match for the World Championship that included Petey Williams, Human Tornado and then-champion Joey Ryan. After eliminating Williams, Excalibur was eliminated from the match by Ryan after Williams hit Excalibur with a piledriver. In May 2008, at the end of the DDT4 Night One event, Steen's then-six-month-old son appeared in a segment with Excalibur, in which Excalibur called him \"ugly\" and it prompted Steen to perform three consecutive package piledrivers on Excalibur before placing his son on top of Excalibur for the pin.\n\nIndependent circuit, retirement, and return to PWG (2005–present)\nIn addition to PWG, Excalibur began competing for various other promotions. In Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), he began wrestling mostly tag team matches with Super Dragon as his partner before splitting. Excalibur soon joined Beef Wellington and the duo became a comedic, yet popular, tag team dubbed Team Masturbation. While still in CZW, Excalibur had a short feud with Larry Sweeney, which culminated at Cage of Death 7, where they had an \"interpromotional match\", in which they performed promos back and forth between each other before competing in the actual match. In addition to his work in CZW, Excalibur performed at Ring of Honor, where he wrestled Super Dragon at the Do or Die show in 2004, and also Chikara, where he competed until his final match in 2006. After his final professional match in 2007, he returned to PWG and became the \"Commissioner of Food & Beverage\", which was later renamed to the \"Liaison to the Board of Directors\", as well as the company's lead play-by-play commentator. In 2011 on an episode of Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast, Excalibur stated that his reason for retiring was due to fearing that the concussions he suffered through his career would cause him to lose years off his life or that his brain would start to deteriorate at an early age.\n\nOn July 13, 2018, it was announced Excalibur would commentate the All In broadcast with Don Callis, Sean Mooney, Ian Riccaboni, Alicia Atout, Justin Roberts, and Bobby Cruise In December he also was on color commentary for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.\n\nAll Elite Wrestling (2019–present)\nExcalibur was announced as part of the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announce team during Episode 10 of \"The Road to Double or Nothing,\" which premiered on April 10, 2019. AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes said the first time he saw Excalibur and the mask, \"I don't think I really got it, but if you watch All In back, he truly was the anchor of that show. I definitely get it now.\" Excalibur was part of the live stream of the Double or Nothing Ticket Announcement Party from Las Vegas, then was part of Double or Nothing starting with the Buy In pre-show, where he did play-by-play. Excalibur, along with Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone, provide play-by-play and color commentary for matches on Dynamite. Excalibur also provides play-by-play for matches on Rampage and Dark.\n\nChampionships and accomplishments\nDDT Pro-Wrestling\nIronman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)\nPro Wrestling Guerrilla\nPWG Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Super Dragon\nPro Wrestling Illustrated\nRanked No. 334 of the top 500 wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2006\nWrestling Observer Newsletter\nBest Television Announcer (2020, 2021)\n\nLucha de Apuestas record\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nPro Wrestling Guerrilla official website\n\n1980 births\nAll Elite Wrestling personnel\nAmerican color commentators\nAmerican male professional wrestlers\nLiving people\nMasked wrestlers\nProfessional wrestlers from Michigan\nProfessional wrestling announcers\nProfessional wrestling promoters\nSportspeople from Detroit",
"Excalibur is the name of several comic book titles featuring the team Excalibur and published by Marvel Comics, beginning with the original Excalibur comic book series which debuted in 1988.\n\nPublication history\n\nExcalibur (vol. 1, 1988–1998)\nExcalibur's original creative team, writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer Alan Davis, incorporated elements of two Marvel properties: the X-Men and Captain Britain. The resulting superhero team Excalibur first gathered together in Excalibur Special Edition #1 (1988) and were soon featured in a monthly series.\n\nDavis left with Excalibur #24 (1990) and Claremont with Excalibur #34 (1991), leaving a number of various plot points unresolved before his departure. A year later, Davis returned as both writer and illustrator with Excalibur #42. He rejuvenated the series, returning to the (mostly) lighthearted tone of his original run, while resolving many of the plotlines Claremont had left dangling.\n\nAfter Davis left again in 1993 (issue #67), Uncanny X-Men writer Scott Lobdell filled in for over a year (issues #68-82). Lobdell stated one of his key goals was to create a foundation for the series beyond being another X-Men spinoff, something both he and editor Bob Harras felt the series was lacking. In addition, the tone of the series changed as well, from a lighthearted, fun comic to a more grim and depressing series.\n\nIn 1994, Warren Ellis assumed writing duties (issue #83) and, using his dark sense of humor, helped the book gain its own voice once again. Ellis left in 1996 (issue #103) and Ben Raab, his replacement (issue #106), failed to find a voice for the series, often borrowing plotlines from other X-books. Sales fell and Marvel canceled the series, which ended with issue #125 (1998).\n\nExcalibur (vol. 2, 2001)\nIn 2001, a four-issue limited series titled Excalibur was published, written by Raab. Originally solicited as Excalibur: Sword of Power, the subtitle was absent from the published issues, and, due to an error, the indicia described it as Excalibur volume 1. In addition, the solicited cover to issue #1 was unused.\n\nExcalibur (vol. 3, 2004)\nIn 2004, Marvel Comics launched a new ongoing series titled Excalibur. Aside from the name and the writer (Claremont), it had no connection to Marvel's previous Excalibur titles. The series' last issue was #14, released in May, 2005.\n\nThe letters page of the final issue of Excalibur (vol. 3) announced a relaunch of the title as New Excalibur in November, 2005.\n\nExcalibur (vol. 4, 2019)\n\nExcalibur was relaunched as a part of Dawn of X in October 2019. The initial roster comprised includes Betsy Braddock as the new Captain Britain, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Rictor and Apocalypse.\n\nRoster\n\nSupporting characters\nAngel (Warren Worthington III)\nCaptain Britain Corps\nMonarch (Jamie Braddock)\nMerlyn\nMorgan le Fay\nOpal Luna Saturnyne\nShatterstar (Gaveedra-Seven)\nPete Wisdom and S.T.R.I.K.E.\nPsylocke (Kwannon)\n\nPrints\n\nCollected editions\n\nEpic Collections\n\nReferences\n\n1988 comics debuts\nComics by Chris Claremont\nExcalibur (comics)\nX-Men titles"
] |
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[
"Nightcrawler (comics)",
"Returning to the X-Men",
"When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men?",
"Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet,",
"Why did Excalibur disband?",
"I don't know."
] | C_d2a87c9ef79f483382a0aba5520ca09d_1 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 3 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article other than the return of Nightcrawler? | Nightcrawler (comics) | For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X. Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in escaping his prison. Later, Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop, Psylocke, Cannonball, and Marvel Girl. In the last mission against the Foursaken, Nightcrawler took Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Bishop, and Cannonball to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control. Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind. Kurt is still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks. CANNOTANSWER | priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. | false | [
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts",
"This article is about the demographic features of the population of Saint Mary's, including population density, internet access, crime rate, and other aspects of the population.\n\nPopulation \nAccording to the 2011 census the population of Saint Mary was 7,341.\n\nOther demographics statistics (2011)\n\nCensus Data (2011)\n\nIndividual\n\nHousehold \nThere are 2,512 households in Saint Mary Parish.\n\nSee also\nDemographics of Antigua and Barbuda\n\nReferences\n\nAntigua and Barbuda Christians\nDemographics of Antigua and Barbuda"
] |
|
[
"Nightcrawler (comics)",
"Returning to the X-Men",
"When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men?",
"Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet,",
"Why did Excalibur disband?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel."
] | C_d2a87c9ef79f483382a0aba5520ca09d_1 | Who is Archangel? | 4 | Who is Archangel from the X-Men? | Nightcrawler (comics) | For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X. Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in escaping his prison. Later, Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop, Psylocke, Cannonball, and Marvel Girl. In the last mission against the Foursaken, Nightcrawler took Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Bishop, and Cannonball to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control. Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind. Kurt is still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | false | [
"(or ), a Latin sentence meaning \"Who [is] like God?\", is a literal translation of the name Michael (, transliterated Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl).\n\nThe sentence is particularly associated with Archangel Michael. In art, St. Michael is often represented as an angelic warrior, fully armed with helmet, sword, and shield, as he overcomes Satan, sometimes represented as a dragon and sometimes as a man-like figure. The shield at times bears the inscription: , the translation of the archangel's name, but capable also of being seen as his rhetorical and scornful question to Satan.\n\nThe Scapular of St. Michael the Archangel also bears this phrase.\n\nSee also\n\n El (deity)\n Mi Chamocha\n Michaelion\n Michaelmas\n Novena to Saint Michael\n Prayer to Saint Michael\n Saint Michael in the Catholic Church\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nAngels in Christianity\nBiblical phrases\nLatin words and phrases\nMichael (archangel)",
"The Archangel Allied Cemetery is a military cemetery in Archangel, Russia, that is under the management of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Amongst the buried is Samuel George Pearse, an Australian soldier who received the Victoria Cross during the 1919 North Russia intervention in the Russian Civil War.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nCommonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in Russia\nCemeteries in Russia",
"Archangel is a 1996 science fantasy novel by American writer Sharon Shinn. It is the first book in the Samaria series of novels.\n\nPlot summary \nAngels and mortals, who need one another but have a love-hate relationship, inhabit the land of Samaria. The angels have wings and fly, and are taller and stronger than humans. Legends state that angels were made by Jovah to oversee Samaria under the guidance of the Archangel. The angels are supposed to protect humans, answer their petitions, solve their problems, and intercede to god for them by petitioning the god Jovah through song, especially for rain when the crops need it and the sun when it is stormy. In addition, the angels must sing to Jovah at the annual Gloria held on the Plain of Sharon, otherwise god would destroy the world. The Archangel and his consort, the Angelica, lead this mass in praise of Jovah. Archangels do not serve for life, but every twenty years Jovah selects a new Archangel.\n\nSamaria is divided into three regions, Gaza, Bethel and Jordana, separated by rivers. Each region has an angel hold or fortress that acts as the governing center for the region. The citizens of Gaza, the Manadavvi, are highly cultured and wealthy. The Jansai, who are calculating and greedy merchants, and run the Edori slave trade inhabit Jordana. The Edori are the wanderers and frequently become enslaved by the Jansai.\n\nThe Oracle has declared that the angel Gabriel is to be the next Archangel. However, Raphael, the current Archangel, who is corrupt and uses his position for himself, does not want to step down. Gabriel has an additional problem in that he procrastinated getting married. He tracks down the mortal that god has selected be his wife, but she has her own thoughts about the marriage and the expectations of her as the archangel’s consort, the Angelica. Rachel, an Edori slave, dislikes angels because of what they had done to her family when she was younger. Gabriel is faced with many trials having to contend with Raphael on the one hand, and his reluctant wife, who is a constant thorn-in-the-side. But the trials and tribulations confronting Gabriel and Rachel brings them close together and they finally realize that they love each other. The story ends with Gabriel and Rachael singing together at the Gloria, thus satisfying the wishes of the god.\n\nExternal links \nArchangel review from ABC.\nArchangel review from Sci Fi Weekly.\n\n1996 American novels\n1997 science fiction novels\nAmerican science fiction novels\nNovels by Sharon Shinn\nSamaria series\nAce Books books\nDebut speculative fiction novels\n1996 debut novels"
] |
|
[
"Nightcrawler (comics)",
"Returning to the X-Men",
"When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men?",
"Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet,",
"Why did Excalibur disband?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel.",
"Who is Archangel?",
"I don't know."
] | C_d2a87c9ef79f483382a0aba5520ca09d_1 | Who was in the priesthood? | 5 | Who was in the priesthood from the X-Men? | Nightcrawler (comics) | For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X. Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in escaping his prison. Later, Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop, Psylocke, Cannonball, and Marvel Girl. In the last mission against the Foursaken, Nightcrawler took Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Bishop, and Cannonball to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control. Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind. Kurt is still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks. CANNOTANSWER | his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. | false | [
"In the Latter Day Saint movement, priesthood is the power and authority of God given to man, including the authority to perform ordinances and to act as a leader in the church. A group of priesthood holders is referred to as a quorum.\n\nPriesthood denotes elements of both power and authority. The priesthood includes the power Jesus gave his apostles to perform miracles such as the casting out of devils and the healing of sick (Luke 9:1). Latter Day Saints believe that the Biblical miracles performed by prophets and apostles were performed by the power of priesthood, including the miracles of Jesus, who holds all of the keys of the priesthood. The priesthood is formally known as the \"Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God\", but to avoid the too frequent use of the name of deity, the priesthood is referred to as the Melchizedek priesthood (Melchizedek being the high priest to whom Abraham paid tithes).\n\nAs an authority, priesthood is the authority by which a bearer may perform ecclesiastical acts of service in the name of God. Latter Day Saints believe that acts (and in particular, ordinances) performed by one with priesthood authority are recognized by God and are binding in heaven, on earth, and in the afterlife. In addition, Latter Day Saints believe that leadership positions within the church are legitimized by the priesthood authority.\n\nFor most of the history of the Latter Day Saint movement, only men have been ordained to specific offices in the priesthood. The first exception to this policy was within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite), a faction founded by James J. Strang that flourished between 1844 and 1856 (though a diminutive remnant still exists today). In Strang's church, women were—and still are—permitted to hold the offices of priest and teacher (but not any other offices) from as early as 1856. In 1984, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now the Community of Christ), the second largest denomination of the movement, began ordaining women to all of its priesthood offices. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest church in the movement, still restricts its priesthood to men, as do most of the other Latter Day Saint denominations. Mormon feminist Kate Kelly was excommunicated for campaigning to allow women's ordination in the LDS Church. An apostle of the Church has taught that \"[m]en have no greater claim than women upon the blessings that issue from the Priesthood and accompany its possession.\"\n\nOrders of priesthood\nLatter Day Saint theology has recognized at least three orders of priesthood: (1) the Aaronic priesthood, (2) the Melchizedek priesthood; and (3) the Patriarchal priesthood. Although these are different orders, they are, in reality, all subsumed under the priesthood held by Jesus Christ, that is, the Melchizedek priesthood.\n\nThe Aaronic priesthood (also called the Levitical priesthood), is considered to be a lesser priesthood tracing its roots to Aaron, the brother of Moses, through John the Baptist. In Latter Day Saint theology, it derives from the original holy priesthood which Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received on May 15, 1829, when they were ordained by an angel identifying himself as John the Baptist. In 1835, Smith and Cowdery clarified that this authority was the \"Aaronic, or Levitical priesthood\".\n\nBy early 1831, Latter Day Saint theology also recognized a higher order of priesthood, or the high priesthood. This high priesthood had been foreshadowed in the Book of Mormon, which referred to men holding the unique position of high priest in the church organization described in that book, holding the \"high priesthood of the holy order of God\" (, ); however, the office of high priest was not implemented in early Mormonism until some days after Smith was joined in his ministry by Sidney Rigdon, a newly-converted Cambellite minister from Ohio, who merged his congregation with Smith's Church of Christ. Rigdon believed the teachings of the early Mormon missionaries who taught him, but thought the missionaries were lacking in heavenly power. In response to Rigdon's concern, the church's first high priests were ordained at a special conference held in June 1831.\n\nBy 1835, Latter Day Saints began referring to this high priesthood as the Melchizedek priesthood, or, the \"Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God\". This priesthood was so named, according to a revelation, because Melchizedek \"was such a great high priest\" and \"out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name\". This priesthood was thought to be the order of priesthood held by Jesus, and a distinction was made between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, which derives in part from the Epistle to the Hebrews, whose author argues that Jesus arose \"after the order of Melchizedec, and not ... after the order of Aaron\" (Heb. 7:11).\n\nAlthough there were generally considered to be only two orders of priesthood during most of Smith's life, a year before his death, on August 27, 1843, he referred to a third order of priesthood called the Patriarchal priesthood. This one of the \"3 grand orders of priesthood\", Smith said, was second in greatness between the lower Aaronic and the higher Melchizedek. The priesthood included, according to Smith, the \"keys to endowment—tokens, etc.\", the ability to \"walk with God\", and the authority of the \"order of prayer\". Smith taught that this order of priesthood was passed from father to son, and held by Abraham and the biblical patriarchs. However, Smith provided little further information about this third order. Although Smith instituted an office of patriarch in the church, most modern Latter Day Saint denominations classify the Patriarchal priesthood as an office within the Melchizedek priesthood, rather than a separate order.\n\nCalling and ordination\nAccording to Latter Day Saint doctrine, to exercise priesthood authority, a person must (1) be called by God, (2) be ordained or endowed with priesthood authority, and (3) receive the necessary priesthood keys, either through ordination to an office of the priesthood or through delegation or setting apart by someone who does hold the appropriate keys.\n\nCalling to the priesthood\nLatter Day Saints believe that as a prerequisite to receiving the priesthood, a person must be \"called\" to the priesthood. When a person is called, it is the person's opportunity or destiny to hold the priesthood. See (\"Many are called but few are chosen\"). There is some disagreement among the various Latter Day Saint sects as to the manner by which a person may be called to the priesthood; however, there are at least four possibilities expressed in Mormon scripture: (1) calling by prophecy, (2) calling through lineage, (3) calling by foreordination, or (4) calling through faith and good works. In addition, a person's calling through lineage or foreordination may be revealed by prophecy, and a person's faith and good works may identify him as one who was foreordained; thus, these categories are not mutually exclusive.\n\nCalling by prophecy\nDespite the existence in Mormon doctrine of other means by which a person could be called to the priesthood, the most common and standard means by which a person is said to have been called to the priesthood is \"by prophecy\". In his Wentworth letter, Smith stated, \"We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by one who is in authority... to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.\" (See also Fifth Article of Faith.)\n\nIn the early church, many callings came as direct scriptural revelations by Smith. Since Smith's death, most Latter Day Saint denominations consider a person to have been called by prophecy when someone within the church hierarchy, who holds the priesthood, is inspired by the Holy Spirit that the person should hold the priesthood.\n\nRight to the priesthood through lineage\n\nIn some situations, Latter Day Saints believe that a person may also be called through their lineage, so that they have a legal right to a priesthood office by lineal succession. For example, a revelation given to Smith states, \"And if they be literal descendants of Aaron, they have a legal right to the bishopric, if they are the firstborn among the sons of Aaron.\" In a revelation to Joseph Smith, he was promised his lineage would have the priesthood: \"Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began.\" In addition, Smith taught that the Patriarchal priesthood descended from father to son. One who has the right and calling to hold these positions through lineage must still be ordained by the church hierarchy before officiating in the office.\n\nCalling by foreordination\nLatter Day Saints also believe that a person may be called to the priesthood by foreordination. The Book of Mormon refers to priests that were \"called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works.\" (). In the Book of Abraham, Abraham was said to be called to the priesthood in this way:\nNow the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.\n\nIt is generally believed that those who were foreordained to the priesthood earned this right by valiancy or nobility in the pre-mortal life. It is by prophecy that a person's foreordination is thought to be revealed. Latter Day Saints, however, do not believe in predestination, and therefore believe that foreordination is a destiny, but not an immutable destiny. A person can nullify their foreordination through sin.\n\nCalling by faith and good works\nMany Latter Day Saints believe that a person may be called to the priesthood through their faith and good works. This view is based primarily upon the Book of Mormon, which states that \"it was by faith that they of old were called after the holy order of God\". (). Similarly, in the Book of Mormon's first detailed discussion concerning the calling and ordination of high priests, the scripture states, \"And this is the manner after which they were ordained— ... they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling .... And thus they have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith.\" (). In a similar vein, the earliest sections of the Doctrine and Covenants contain statements such as \"if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work\" and \"whosoever will thrust in his sickle and reap, the same is called of God\".\n\nThe gift of the priesthood and ordination to a particular priesthood office\nIn addition to being called by God, Latter Day Saint theology holds that a person must be given priesthood authority by one who currently holds it. While calling represents a general call to receive priesthood authority, a person is not thought to actually possess the priesthood to which they have been called until it is formally conferred or endowed to that person through a sacred ceremony.\n\nMormons generally understand priesthood authority to be given in one of two ways: (1) as part of a priesthood ordination ceremony, or (2) through the endowment ceremony. After a person has received the priesthood, a person may be ordained numerous times to various particular offices within the church. Receiving the priesthood is considered to be a saving ordinance.\n\nRequirement of priesthood succession\nVery early in his ministry, Joseph Smith began to advocate the position that priesthood does not come directly from God through the Holy Spirit, as many Protestants believe, but through a line of direct or apostolic succession. Thus, Latter Day Saints generally believe that priesthood originates with Jesus, and is passed to others through a line of succession. Only one who holds the priesthood can pass it to another. Thus, in 1829, Smith and his associate claimed that the Aaronic priesthood was given to him by John the Baptist, who was thought to have authority through the lineage of his father Zacharias, who was an Aaronic priest. Later, Smith also claimed to have received the Melchizedek priesthood from the apostles Peter, James, and John, who were given their authority by Jesus.\n\nGift of the priesthood through an ordination ceremony\nThe most common and well-recognized manner through which a Latter Day Saint receives the priesthood is as part of a priesthood ordination ceremony. Typically, in an ordination ceremony, before a person is ordained for the first time to a particular office such as elder, deacon, teacher, or priest, the person performing the ceremony will lay their hands upon the recipient's head and in the name of Jesus Christ and by the authority of his priesthood confer upon the recipient the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood.\n\nGift of the priesthood through the endowment ceremony\nWhile most Latter Day Saints recognize that priesthood may be conferred as part of an ordination ceremony, some feminist Mormons understand the endowment ceremony to be an endowment of priesthood authority. In the washing and anointing portion of the endowment, men are washed and anointed (by men) \"to become kings and priests\", while women are washed and anointed (by women) \"to become queens and priestesses\". Later in the ceremony, both men and women are clothed in the \"robes of the priesthood\" and \"prepared to officiate in the ordinances of\" the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods.\n\nThus, it has been suggested that the endowment ceremony was recognized as an endowment of priesthood authority to both men and women, although not an ordination to a specific priesthood office. This view was expressed in 1884 by Eliza R. Snow, president of the Relief Society, who stated:\n\nIs it necessary for sisters to be set apart to officiate in the sacred ordinances of washing, anointing, and laying on of hands in administering to the sick? It certainly is not. Any and all sisters who honor their holy endowments, not only have right, but should feel it a duty, whenever called upon to administer to our sisters in these ordinances, which God has graciously committed to His daughters as well as to His sons; and we testify that when administered and received in faith and humility they are accompanied with almighty power.\n\nA similar view was also expressed by LDS Church apostle James E. Talmage in 1912, who wrote:\nIt is a precept of the Church that women of the Church share the authority of the Priesthood with their husbands, actual or prospective; and therefore women ... taking the endowment ... are not ordained to specific rank in the Priesthood. Nevertheless there is no grade, rank, or phase of the temple endowment to which women are not eligible on an equality with men.\n\nFemale priesthood authority was closely associated with the Relief Society. Joseph F. Smith, an LDS Church apostle, argued that though Mormon women were not ordained as general authorities, elders, or high priests, they are admitted to an \"ecclesiastical or priestly authority\" through the Relief Society, which may include holding offices within the church through that organization.\n\nOrdination to particular priesthood offices in the church through the laying on of hands\nAfter a person has received the priesthood, they may be ordained numerous times to various particular offices within the church. This takes place by the laying on of hands. The ordination to a particular office, such as priest, teacher, or elder, represents a more specific call to perform a particular priesthood duty within the church, and a person may be ordained to numerous offices during their lifetime, depending on the needs of the church.\n\nThat specific ordinations to preach or perform ordinances are made through the laying on of hands was a concept formulated early in Joseph Smith's ministry. He stated the principle as one of the church's articles of faith, that a calling to preach or perform rituals in the name of Christ was to be made through \"prophecy and the laying on of hands by those who are in authority\" (see Fifth Article of Faith in The Wentworth Letter). A Book of Mormon example of ordination by the laying on of hands is found in the Book of Alma, where Alma \"ordained priests and elders, by laying on his hands according to the order of God, to preside and watch over the church\". Modern day priesthood holders ordained to the office of priest (or higher) are able to ordain other worthy members to priesthood offices up to their office.\n\nPriesthood keys\n\nPriesthood keys are conferred upon all the presidents of the quorums. A quorum is a group of priesthood holders who hold the same priesthood office. For a priesthood holder to exercise ecclesiastical power or authority, Latter Day Saints believe that a priesthood holder must have a specific set of keys or be authorized by one who holds those keys. Thus, even though a priesthood holder is called and ordained with general priesthood power, to formally lead others in the church or to conduct specific rites may also require specific keys not held by all priesthood holders. The existence of keys makes possible a church hierarchy, in which particular priesthood holders specialize in a particular ecclesiastical function organized in a top-down manner.\n\nPriesthood keys are passed in much the same way as priesthood power in general, usually through the laying on of hands. The manner and rigor with which the concept of keys is applied varies from denomination to denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement.\n\nIn the LDS Church, the following declaration by Merrill J. Bateman explains how priesthood keys function: \n\"The priesthood is the power and authority of God delegated to man. Priesthood keys are the right to direct the use of that power. The President of the Church holds the keys necessary for governing the entire Church. His counselors in the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles also hold the keys of the kingdom and operate under the President's direction. Stake presidents, bishops, and temple, mission, and quorum presidents are given keys to guide the Church in their jurisdictions. Their counselors do not hold keys.\"\n\nPriesthood offices and quorums\nWithin the priesthood, there are many offices, each of which represents a category of positions within the clerical hierarchy of the church. The number and nature of these offices have changed over time, and may differ between sects of Mormonism; however, by the death of Joseph Smith, these offices included at least the following:\ndeacon\nteacher\npriest\nbishop and Presiding Bishop\nelder\nhigh priest\nseventy\npatriarch and Presiding Patriarch\napostle\n\nOrdination to an office does not necessarily mean ordination to a position of leadership. Priesthood holders are organized into quorums, which each have a president or presidents. Each quorum president holds priesthood keys. The president or presidents may or may not be given counselors to assist them.\n\nHistory of the priesthood in the Latter Day Saint tradition\nBecause Latter Day Saints believe that priesthood authority and keys may be granted only by one who holds that authority or keys, they believe it is important that a person trace their priesthood through a line of succession from a person in the Bible who was known to hold that authority or keys. Moreover, Latter Day Saints believe that the priesthood authority was absent from the earth during the Great Apostasy, and that priesthood had to be restored through Joseph Smith. Catholic and Orthodox Christians do not believe that such a complete apostasy ever took place when defending the validity of their priesthoods, and these churches do not recognize the priesthood exercised by Latter Day Saints.\n\nLatter Day Saints believe that ancient prophets and apostles conferred the priesthood directly upon Smith and other early members of the movement.\n\nRestoration of the Aaronic Priesthood\n\nChurch members initially viewed priesthood as a charismatic authority. By 1832, however, Smith indicated for the first time, in an unpublished history, that the priesthood had been received by the \"ministering of Angels\" In 1834, Oliver Cowdery provided the first public announcement that the priesthood had been conferred by John the Baptist on May 15, 1829. Cowdery's account was essentially confirmed by Smith, who described it as follows:\n[W]e ... went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates, The Book of Mormon. ... While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying:\n\nUpon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.\n\nHe said this Aaronic Priesthood had not the power of laying on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this should be conferred on us hereafter; and he commanded us to go and be baptized, and gave us directions that I should baptize Oliver Cowdery, and that afterwards he should baptize me.\n\nAccordingly we went and were baptized. ...\n\nThe messenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called the first Elder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second. ...\n\nImmediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when, standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.\n\nRestoration of the Melchizedek priesthood\nUnlike the restoration of the Aaronic priesthood, Smith never provided a date for the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood, and never clearly indicated how this authority was conferred. Smith first specifically introduced the Melchizedek or high priesthood to the church in 1831. In his 1832 history, he referred to \"a confirmation and reception of the high Priesthood after the holy order of the son of the living God power and ordinence from on high to preach the Gospel in the administration and demonstration of the spirit the Kees of the Kingdom of God conferred on him [Smith] and the continuation of the blessings of God to him &c\".\n\nThough specific details were lacking, by the turn of the 20th century, Latter Day Saint theologians were convinced that such a conferral had occurred prior to the organization of the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830. This was largely because the early church organization contained the office of elder, which by 1835 was considered an office of the Melchizedek priesthood. As evidence for such a pre-organization angelic conferral, writers referred to a revelation in which Smith said he heard \"[t]he voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness between Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville, Broome county, on the Susquehanna river, declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom, and of the dispensation of the fulness of times!\" Thus, most Latter Day Saints believe that Smith and Cowdery were visited by the three angels and that they conferred the Melchizedek priesthood in the same way John the Baptist had conferred the Aaronic priesthood.\n\nHowever, the official church history, supervised or written by Smith, states that \"the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood was manifested and conferred for the first time upon several of the Elders\" during a general conference of the church in early June 1831. When Smith's official history was first published in 1902, the compiler, B. H. Roberts, thought that this was a mistake, because it would not be consistent with the then-common Mormon belief that the priesthood had been conferred prior to the church's founding in 1830.\n\nHowever, some recent Mormon historians accept Smith's history as correct and consistent with other historical records showing that other Mormons present at the conference dated the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood to 1831. This conference had been a very significant event in the early church history, coming soon after the conversion of Sidney Rigdon, who believed that Mormon missionaries lacked the necessary power to adequately preach the gospel. Thus, in January 1831, Smith issued a revelation where he wrote that after Mormons relocated to Kirtland, Ohio, they would \"be endowed with power from on high\" and \"sent forth\". In a revelation given to an individual, Smith assured the man that \"at the conference meeting he [would] be ordained unto power from on high\". One of Smith's associates that was present at the conference expressed the view that this ordination \"consisted [of] the endowment—it being a new order—and bestowed authority\", and later that year, an early convert who had left the church claimed that many of the Saints \"have been ordained to the High Priesthood, or the order of Melchizedek; and profess to be endowed with the same power as the ancient apostles were\". In 1835, the historical record was muddled a bit when the first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants altered pre-1831 revelations to make a distinction between the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, and to classify the offices of elder and apostle as part of the latter.\n\nRestoration of other Priesthood keys\nIn addition to the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood (and the keys of the apostleship), additional priesthood keys were conferred on Joseph Smith and others. Smith dictated the following passage as a revelation following the dedication of the Kirtland Temple:\n\nAfter this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed. After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said: Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.\n\nPriesthood in the LDS Church\n\nIn the LDS Church, the largest denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement, priesthood is recognized only in men and boys, who are ordained to offices in the priesthood as a matter of course once they reach the age of 12, so long as they meet requirements of worthiness. There are no other requirements for ordination, although prior to 1978, the church did not ordain men or boys who were deemed to be of black African descent, based on the mid-19th century teachings of Brigham Young, which the church felt it could not abandon without a revelation from God. (See Black people and priesthood (LDS)).<ref>Tequitia Andrews (October 4, 2008). [http://www.mormontimes.com/mormon_voices/tequitia_andrews/?id=3971 \"Racism, testimony are barriers for black LDS], Mormon Times, October 4, 2008.</ref> The doctrine was eliminated in 1978 and the church now allows all men to hold the priesthood, subject to worthiness.\n\nPriesthood is structured as a vertical hierarchy with a clear chain of command. At each level in the hierarchy, the priesthood is organized by quorums, led by a presidency, which usually consists of a president and two counselors. The church recognizes the two major \"orders\" of priesthood, Aaronic and Melchizedek, the latter being limited to adult men who have held the Aaronic priesthood.\n\nPriesthood in the Community of Christ\n\nThe Community of Christ teaches that all Christians are called by their gifts and talents to the ministry, priesthood is seen as a particular expression of universal ministry to which all are called. Since 1984, the church has ordained both women and men to the priesthood. All offices are deemed equal in importance, but the duties and responsibilities of each differ.\n\nFor a person to be called to the priesthood for the first time, his or her calling is typically discerned by the pastor of the local congregation. These priesthood calls are approved after review by a Mission Center President and vote of a congregational conference. For certain calls, especially to higher offices of the priesthood, the discernment will come through other church officials and approval will be voted upon at a Mission Center Conference or World Conference. Once the call has been administratively processed it is presented to the individual called. If that individual accepts the call and is sustained by a conference vote, he or she will be ordained to that office.\n\nSee also\n\nOrdinance (Latter Day Saints)\nList of articles about Mormonism\nPriesthood blessing\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\nEliza R. Snow, \"To the Branches of the Relief Society\", Woman's Exponent'' 13 (15 Sept. 1884) (cited in Hanks, p. 85).\n.\n.\n.\n.\n\nLatter Day Saint ordinances, rituals, and symbolism\n1829 establishments in the United States\nLatter Day Saint terms\n1829 in Christianity\nTypes of Latter Day Saint organization\nMale clergy",
"In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the patriarchal priesthood (or Abrahamic priesthood) is sometimes understood as one of types or \"orders\" of priesthood. The two commonly known orders are the Aaronic priesthood and the Melchizedek priesthood. The patriarchal priesthood should not be confused with the calling of the patriarch. The patriarchal priesthood is associated with the patriarchal order found in Mormonism and is especially connected with celestial marriage.\n\nBoyd K. Packer, an LDS Church apostle, has explained that the patriarchal priesthood is included in the Melchizedek priesthood: \"There are references to a patriarchal priesthood. The patriarchal order is not a third, separate priesthood. Whatever relates to the patriarchal order is embraced in the Melchizedek Priesthood. 'All other authorities or offices in the church are appendages to [the Melchizedek] priesthood.' [D&C 107:5] The patriarchal order is a part of the Melchizedek Priesthood which enables endowed and worthy men to preside over their posterity in time and eternity.\"\n\nHistory\nIn Nauvoo, Illinois on August 27, 1843, while the Nauvoo Temple was being constructed, Joseph Smith, the first president of the restored Church of Christ, taught, using Hebrews as background material, the \"Three Grand Orders\" of priesthood:\n\nThere are three grand orders of priesthood referred to here.\n\n1st. The King of Shiloam (Salem) had power and authority over that of Abraham, holding the key and the power of endless life .... The Melchizedek Priesthood holds the right from the eternal God, and not by descent from father and mother; and that priesthood is as eternal as God Himself, having neither beginning of days nor end of life.\n\nThe 2nd Priesthood is Patriarchal authority. Go to and finish the temple, and God will fill it with power, and you will then receive more knowledge concerning this priesthood.\n\nThe 3rd is what is called the Levitical Priesthood, consisting of priests to administer in outward ordinances, made without an oath; but the Priesthood of Melchizedek is by an oath and covenant.\n\nThe Holy Ghost is God's messenger to administer in all those priesthoods.\n\nEight years earlier, Smith had dictated a revelation that declared, \"There are, in the church, two priesthoods, namely, the Melchizedek and Aaronic, including the Levitical Priesthood\". At the time of the 1843 Nauvoo discourse, the temple was under construction and Smith declared that knowledge of the \"patriarchal authority\" would be revealed in the temple. \n\nThe Nauvoo Temple was constructed by 1844 and dedicated in 1846 by Orson Hyde. It was the first Latter Day Saint temple where the ordinance of celestial marriage was practiced. \n\nThe oath of the priesthood referenced in , was revealed to Smith in a revelation in Kirtland, Ohio on September 22 and 23, 1832. This revelation is contained in the section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants and is referred to as the oath and covenant of the priesthood. It includes the following promise that has relation to the doctrine of exaltation. \n\n\"They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God.\n\"And also all they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord;\n\"For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me;\n\"And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father;\n\"And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.\n\"And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood.\"\n\nBruce R. McConkie wrote regarding the subject: \n\n\"Those who shall hereafter rule and reign in eternity as exalted beings will form a patriarchal chain which will begin with Father Adam and spread out until every exalted person is linked in. Exaltation consists in the continuation of the family unit in eternity, and every family which so continues will find its proper place in the eternal organizational framework which the Almighty has ordained. None will be forgotten. Unworthy mortal links will be dropped in eternity, for there is no family in which all generations will attain exaltation; later generations of worthy families will be welded into the links formed by their ancestors who became worthy of a like exaltation with them. All those after the day of Abraham (of whatever literal lineage they may be) who so live as to be worthy of a place in this great patriarchal chain will be welded into Abraham's lineage and shall rise up and bless him as their father.\"\n\nThe word \"patriarch\" means \"Father-Ruler\" and part of the doctrine of the LDS Church is that there cannot be a patriarch without a matriarch. Latter-day Saints believe that a man and a woman can be joined in marriage for all eternity if done with the proper authority and in the temple. This celestial marriage is at the heart of the patriarchal order of the priesthood.\n\nSee also\nLineal succession (Mormonism)\n\nReferences \n\nLatter Day Saint hierarchy\nLatter Day Saint ordinances, rituals, and symbolism\n \nLatter Day Saint terms",
"From 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) prohibited men of black African descent from being ordained to the priesthood. In 1978, the church's First Presidency declared in a statement known as \"Official Declaration 2\" that the restriction had been lifted. Between 1830 and 1849, a few black men had been ordained to the priesthood under Joseph Smith.\n\nAs part of this restriction, both black men and women of African descent at various times were prohibited from taking part in ceremonies in LDS temples, serving in certain leadership church callings, attending priesthood meetings, and speaking at firesides. Spouses of black people of African descent were also prohibited from entering the temple. Over time, the restriction was relaxed so that black people of non African descent could attend priesthood meetings and people with a \"questionable lineage\" were given the priesthood, such as Fijians, Indigenous Australians, Egyptians, as well as Brazilians and South Africans with an unknown heritage who did not appear to have any black heritage.\n\nDuring this time, the church taught that the restriction came from God and many leaders gave several race-based explanations for the ban, including a curse on Cain and his descendants, Ham's marriage to Egyptus, a curse on the descendants of Canaan, and that black people were less valiant in their pre-mortal life. Church leaders used LDS scriptures to justify their explanations, including the Book of Abraham, which teaches that the descendants of Canaan were black and Pharaoh could not have the priesthood because he was a descendant of Canaan. In 1978, it was declared that the restriction was lifted as a result of a revelation given to the church president and apostles. The 1978 declaration was incorporated into the Doctrine and Covenants, a book of Latter-day Saint scripture.\n\nIn December 2013, the LDS Church published an essay approved by the First Presidency which gave context to the restriction. In it, the church disavowed most race-based explanations for the past priesthood restriction and denounced racism.\n\nA 2016 survey of self-identified Mormons revealed that over 60 percent of respondents either \"know\" or \"believe\" that the priesthood/temple ban was God's will.\n\nRacial restrictions\nUnder the racial restrictions that lasted from the presidency of Brigham Young until 1978, people with any black African ancestry could not hold the priesthood in the LDS Church and could not participate in most temple ordinances, including the endowment and celestial marriage. Black people were permitted to be members of the church, and to participate in some temple ordinances, such as baptism for the dead.\n\nThe racial restrictions were applied to black Africans, persons of black African descent, and any one with mixed race that included any black African ancestry. The restrictions were not applied to Native Americans, Hispanics, Melanesians, or Polynesians.\n\nPriesthood\nBrigham Young taught that black men would not receive the priesthood until \"all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the Priesthood and the keys thereof.\"\n\nThe priesthood restriction was particularly limiting, because the LDS Church has a lay priesthood and all worthy male members may receive the priesthood if they choose to do so. Young men are generally admitted to the Aaronic priesthood at age 12, and it is a significant rite of passage. Holders of the priesthood officiate at church meetings, perform blessings of healing, and manage church affairs. Excluding black people from the priesthood meant that they could not hold significant church leadership roles or participate in certain spiritual events such as blessing the sick or giving other blessings reserved for priesthood holders.\n\nTemple ordinances\nBetween 1844 and 1977, most black people were not permitted to participate in ordinances performed in the LDS Church temples, such as the endowment ritual, celestial marriages, and family sealings. These ordinances are considered essential to enter the highest degree of heaven, so this meant that black church members could not enjoy the full privileges enjoyed by other Latter Day Saints during the restriction.\n\nLatter Day Saints believe that those marriages sealed in Mormon temples can become celestial marriages that bind the family together forever, whereas those marriages that are not sealed are terminated upon death. As church president, David O. McKay taught that black people \"need not worry, as those who receive the testimony of the restored gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of Salvation and Exaltation.\"\n\nBrigham Young taught, \"When the ordinances are carried out in the temples that will be erected, [children] will be sealed to their [parents], and those who have slept, clear up to Father Adam. This will have to be done ... until we shall form a perfect chain from Father Adam down to the closing up scene.\"\n\nAn exception to the temple ban for black members was that (except for the complete temple ban period from the mid-1960s until the early 70s under McKay) black members had been allowed a limited use recommend to act as proxies in baptisms for the dead. Additionally, black children who were legally adopted by white parents could be sealed to their parents.\n\nChurch service\nUnder the priesthood ban, black men and women could not hold any significant church callings, be leaders or serve missions. The LDS Church relies heavily on its unpaid members to fulfill leadership positions and serve in church callings. For men, the priesthood is required for many leadership and church callings and is given to virtually every Latter-day Saint male as early as age 11. For both men and women, a temple endowment is required or encouraged for other callings, such as missionary service. This limited the ability of black members to serve in various callings. When the priesthood was given to the blacks under Joseph Smith, they were also able to serve in a variety of callings. For example, Elijah Abel served a mission and was called to be a seventy. When Brigham Young instituted the priesthood restriction, black members were barred from many leadership and service positions, and, initially, from attending priesthood meetings. In 1952, McKay banned black people from speaking at priesthood meetings and firesides.\n\nThrough the years, some exceptions were made to allow black members to serve without the priesthood. For example, Samuel Chamber was appointed to be an assistant deacon in 1873. He had the same duties as a deacon, but without being given the priesthood. In 1945, Abner and Martha Howell were called to serve a mission to establish segregated congregations in the southern states. Howell was given a letter signed by LeGrand Richards that allowed him to speak even though blacks were not permitted to attend services there. He was later given a card designating him as an \"Honorary High Priest\".\n\nBy the 1960s, black men could serve in leadership roles in auxiliary organizations and attend priesthood meetings, including serving in the Sunday School or Young Men presidency. In the 1960s, church president McKay began considering opening up a mission in Nigeria. After several difficulties with visas, LeMar Williams was in Nigeria preparing to open the mission. It was decided that only the auxiliaries would be set up in Nigeria, which could be operated without the priesthood. Nigerian men would be allowed to pass the sacrament, but white missionaries would need to bless it. However, the program was canceled after several members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles objected. In 1971, the Genesis Group was formed as an auxiliary to the church for black members. Black members were able to fill positions in the Relief Society, Young Men, and Young Women presidencies. Mary Bankhead served as the first Relief Society president.\n\nSince the 1978 revelation on the priesthood, black people have been able to serve in church callings and fulfill leadership positions. However, service at general church levels has been limited. While there have been several black members of the Quorums of the Seventy and auxiliary general boards, until 2020 there had not been a member of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, or the general organizational presidencies (Relief Society, Young Women, Primary, Young Men, or Sunday School) that was black. On April 4, 2020, Ahmad Corbitt was sustained as First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, and is the first black person to hold that position.\n\nPatriarchal blessings\n\nIn the LDS Church, a patriarch gives patriarchal blessings to members to help them know their strengths and weaknesses and what to expect in their future life. The blessings also tell members which tribe of Israel they are descended from. Members who are not literally descended from the tribes are adopted into a tribe, usually Ephraim. In the early 19th and 20th centuries, members were more likely to believe they were literally descended from a certain tribe.\n\nIn 1934, a church patriarch, James H. Wallis, recorded in his journal that his understanding of church policy was that black people could not receive a patriarchal blessing because of the priesthood ban, but that they could receive a blessing without a lineage.\" In Brazil, if a patriarch pronounced a lineage, then it was thought that the member was not a descendant of Cain and was therefore eligible for the priesthood, despite physical or genealogical evidence of African ancestry. In this regard, patriarchs did not strictly adhere to any standard or guideline. After the 1978 revelation, patriarchs sometimes declared lineage in patriarchal blessings for black members, but sometimes they did not declare a lineage. Some black members have asked for and received new patriarchal blessings including a lineage.\n\nPeople who married black people\n\nThe first time a church leader taught that a non-black person was cursed for having married a black person was on February 6, 1835. An assistant president of the church, W. W. Phelps, wrote a letter theorizing that Ham's wife was a descendant of Cain and that Ham himself was cursed for \"marrying a black wife\". Young expanded this idea, teaching that non-blacks who had children with a black person would themselves be cursed to the priesthood, and that the law of the Lord required the couple and their children to be killed.\n George Q. Cannon of the First Presidency reaffirmed this was the law of the Lord and explained it was to keep the descendants of Cain from getting the priesthood.\n\nSeveral white members were denied access to temple ceremonies after they had married a black person. One white woman was denied a temple sealing to her white husband because she had previously married a black man, even though she had divorced him. Cannon argued that allowing her access to the temple would not be fair to her two daughters, which she had with her black husband. Another white man was denied the priesthood because he had married a black woman. In 1966, a white woman who had received her endowments was banned by local leaders from going to the temple and was told her endowments were invalid because she had since married a black man. Church president McKay agreed with the ban on going to the temple, but said her endowments were still valid.\n\nAfter the 1978 revelation on the priesthood, husbands of black women could receive the priesthood and spouses of black people could perform temple rituals.\n\nImplementation\nSeveral black men received the priesthood after the racial restrictions were put in place, including Elijah Abel's son Enoch Abel, who was ordained an elder on November 10, 1900. Enoch's son and Elijah Abel's grandson—who was also named Elijah Abel—received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained to the office of priest on July 5, 1934. The younger Elijah Abel also received the Melchizedek priesthood and was ordained to the office of elder on September 29, 1935. One commentator has pointed out that these incidents illustrate the \"ambiguities, contradictions, and paradoxes\" of the issue during the twentieth century.\n\nAs the church began expanding in areas of the world that were not so racially segregated, the church began having problems distinguishing who had black ancestry. In Brazil, which had a high proportion of people with mixed ancestry, LDS officials advised missionaries in the 1920s to avoid teaching people who appeared to have black ancestry, advising them to look for relatives of the investigators if they were not sure about their racial heritage. Despite the precautions, by the 1940s and 1950s some people with African ancestry had unwittingly been given the priesthood, which prompted an emphasis on missionaries scrutinizing people's appearances for hints of black ancestry and an order to avoid teaching those who did not meet the \"one-drop rule\" criteria. Additionally, starting in the 70s \"lineage lessons\" were added to determine that interested persons didn't have any Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Occasionally, members discovered they had African ancestry after being given the priesthood. In some cases, priesthood authority over-ruled genealogy research. For example, the First Presidency reinstated the president of the Ipiranga, Brazil branch, stating he was not of the lineage of Cain, despite genealogy research showing black ancestry. In other cases, members with black ancestry received patriarchal blessings giving lineage through one of the tribes of Israel, which allowed priesthood ordination.\n\nIn South Africa, some mission presidents had not observed the ban, and ordained members with mixed blood. The First Presidency called Evan Wright and instructed him that no one could receive the priesthood unless they were able to trace their genealogy outside of Africa, even if they had no appearance of African descent. Wright called several missionaries full-time to assist in the genealogy work, but the lack of men who could fulfill the requirement proved difficult. In 1954, David O. McKay made a change to allowed men to be ordained who did not appear to have black heritage.\n\nDuring his time as church president in the 1950s, McKay made some decisions allowing peoples of \"questionable lineage\" to receive the priesthood when they previously would not have been allowed. This was one of the first decisions made to broaden access to the priesthood and relax certain aspects of the restrictions imposed because of the priesthood policies of the time. For example, Fijians were not given the priesthood until 1955 when McKay visited Fiji and told the president of the Samoa Mission that proselyting efforts with the Fijians could begin. Four years later, McKay informed his counselors that there was no evidence that the peoples of Fiji were of African descent.\n\nIn 1964, the priesthood was extended to Indigenous Australians and in 1966 to Egyptians.\n\nReasoning for the priesthood ban\nChurch leadership officially cited various reasons for the doctrinal ban, but later leaders have since repudiated them.\n\nThe curse of Cain and his descendants\n\nSome church members, including certain LDS leaders, used the curse of Cain to justify the racial restrictions. In the book of Genesis found in the Bible, God puts a mark on Cain after he kills his brother Abel. Brigham Young taught that Cain killed Abel to get advantage over him, so God cursed Cain's descendants to not receive the priesthood until all the rest of Adam's descendants received the priesthood. During Young's presidency this was the explanation and was consistently taught by all leaders. It was only after Brigham Young died that the Church began teaching that reason for the ban was unknown.\n\nBruce R. McConkie, who was a seventy at the time and who later served as an apostle, wrote in his 1966 edition of Mormon Doctrine that those who were sent to Earth through the lineage of Cain were those who had been less valiant in the premortal life. He also said that because Ham married Egyptus and because she was a descendant of Cain, that he was able to preserve the \"negro lineage.\" The denial of the priesthood to certain men was then mentioned and he explained that in this life, black people would not hold the priesthood, but that those blessings would be available to them in the next life. In 1881, church president John Taylor expounded on the belief that the curse placed on Ham (who was of the lineage of Cain), was continued because Ham's wife was also of that \"seed.\" In 1978, McConkie said the curse of Cain was no longer in effect.\n\nThe curse of Cain is still taught in Old Testament student manual for LDS institute classes.\n\nCurse of Ham and Book of Abraham\n\nAccording to the Bible, Ham discovered his father Noah drunk and naked in his tent. Because of this, Noah cursed Ham's son, Canaan to be \"servants of servants\". Although the scriptures do not mention anything about skin color, many Americans during the 19th century believed that Ham had married a descendant of Cain, who was black, and that black people carried the curse of Ham. W. W. Phelps, a counselor in the presidency of the church, taught that Ham had married a black wife.\n\nThe Book of Abraham, considered scripture in the LDS movement, denotes that an Egyptian king by the name of Pharaoh, was a descendant of Ham and the Canaanites, who were black, () that Noah had cursed his lineage so they did not have the right to the priesthood, and that all Egyptians descended from him. It was later considered scripture by the LDS Church. This passage is the only one found in any Mormon scripture that bars a particular lineage of people from holding the priesthood. While both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young referred to the curse of Ham as a justification for slavery, neither used the curse of Ham or the Book of Abraham to justify the priesthood ban. It wasn't until 1900 that George Q. Cannon, a member of the First Presidency, began using the story of Pharaoh as a scriptural basis for the ban. In 1912, the First Presidency responded to an inquiry about the priesthood ban by using the story of Pharaoh. By the early 1900s, it became the foundation of church reasoning for the priesthood ban.\n\nIn a 1908 Liahona article for missionaries, an anonymous but church-sanctioned author reviewed the scriptures about blackness in the Pearl of Great Price. The author postulated that Ham married a descendant of Cain. Therefore, Canaan received two curses, one from Noah, and one from being a descendant of Cain. The article states that Canaan was the \"sole ancestor of the Negro race\" and explicitly linked his curse to be \"servant of servants\" to black priesthood denial. To support this idea, the article also discussed how Pharaoh, a descendant of Canaan according to LDS scripture, could not have the priesthood, because Noah \"cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood\".\n\nIn 1978, when the church ended the ban on the priesthood, Bruce R. McConkie taught that the seed of Ham, Canaan, Egyptus and Pharaoh were no longer under the ancient curse. The 2002 Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual points to Abraham 1:21-27 as the reasoning behind the not giving black people the priesthood until 1978.\n\nAuthor David Persuitte has pointed out that it was commonplace in the 19th century for theologians, including Joseph Smith, to believe that the curse of Cain was exhibited by black skin, and that this genetic trait had descended through Noah's son Ham, who was understood to have married a black wife. Mormon historian Claudia Bushman also identifies doctrinal explanations for the exclusion of blacks, with one justification originating in papyrus rolls translated by Joseph Smith as the Book of Abraham, a passage of which links ancient Egyptian government to the cursed Ham through Pharaoh, Ham's grandson, who was \"of that lineage by which he could not have the right of priesthood\".\n\nConsequence of premortal existence\nAnother reason for racial restriction advanced by church leadership was called \"Mormon karma\" by historian Colin Kidd, and refers to the idea that skin color is perceived as evidence of righteousness (or lack thereof) in the premortal existence. The doctrine of premortal existence is described in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism in this way: \"to Latter-day Saints premortal life is characterized by individuality, agency, intelligence, and opportunity for eternal progression. It is a central doctrine of the theology of the Church and provides understanding to the age-old question 'Whence cometh man?'\" This idea is based on the opinions of several prominent church leaders, including long-time apostle and later church president Joseph Fielding Smith, who held the view that the premortal life had been a kind of testing ground for the assignment of God's spiritual children to favored or disfavored mortal lineages. Bushman has also noted Smith's long-time teachings that in a premortal war in heaven, blacks were considered to have been those spirits who did not fight as valiantly against Satan and who, as a result, received a lesser earthly stature, with such restrictions as being disqualified from holding the priesthood. In the early 1930s, George F. Richards noted that there was no official position, but argued that God wouldn't have assigned some of his children to be black if they hadn't done something wrong in the pre-existence. According to religious historian Craig Prentiss, the appeal to premortal existence was confirmed as doctrine through statements of the LDS First Presidency in 1949 and 1969.\n\nUnknown reasons\nIn 1969, the First Presidency said blacks did not have the priesthood \"for reasons which we believe are known to God\". When the ban was lifted in 1978, there was no official explanation for the racist language in Mormon scripture or whether the curse had been removed or had never existed. However, some church leaders made some statements. McConkie said that curse had been lifted and the previous statements made by himself and other church leaders on the subject were to be forgotten and that the focus of the gospel should be on current revelations. Church president Gordon B. Hinckley said the ban was not wrong, but there was a reason for it and that the revelation speaks for itself. Apostle Dallin H. Oaks said it wasn't the pattern of the Lord to give reasons.\n\nIn 2003, black LDS Church member Darron Smith wrote in Sunstone that many members held onto previous explanations about the ban because church leadership had not addressed the ban's origins.\n\nProtection from Hell\n\nBrigham Young University Religious Studies professor, Randy L. Bott, suggested that God denied the priesthood to black men in order to protect them from the lowest rung of hell, since one of few damnable sins is to abuse the exercise of the priesthood. Bott compared the priesthood ban to a parent denying young children the keys to the family car, stating: \"You couldn’t fall off the top of the ladder, because you weren’t on the top of the ladder. So, in reality the blacks not having the priesthood was the greatest blessing God could give them.\" In 2012 the official LDS Newsroom responded to Randy Bott's controversial statements sharing \"The positions attributed to BYU professor Randy Bott in a recent Washington Post article absolutely do not represent the teachings and doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\"\n\nHuman error\nReferring to the priesthood ban, apostle Spencer W. Kimball said in 1963, \"The doctrine or policy has not varied in my memory. I know it could. I know the Lord could change his policy and release the ban and forgive the possible error which brought about the deprivation.\"\n\nIn 2013, the LDS Church put out an essay giving background on the racist environment in which the ban was formed and said the ban was based more on racism than revelation.\n\nTeachings about the priesthood ban\n\nDivinity of ban, Doctrine vs. Policy\n\nChurch leaders taught for decades that the priesthood ordination and temple ordinance ban was commanded by God. Brigham Young taught it was a \"true eternal principle the Lord Almighty has ordained.\" In 1949, the First Presidency (under George Albert Smith) officially stated that it was \"not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord\". A second First Presidency statement (this time under McKay) in 1969 reemphasized that this \"seeming discrimination by the Church towards the Negro is not something which originated with man; but goes back into the beginning with God\". As president of the church, Kimball also emphasized in a 1973 press conference that the ban was \"not my policy or the Church’s policy. It is the policy of the Lord who has established it.\" On the topic of doctrine and policy for the race ban lifting the apostle Dallin H. Oaks stated in 1988, \"I don’t know that it’s possible to distinguish between policy and doctrine in a church that believes in continuing revelation and sustains its leader as a prophet. ... I’m not sure I could justify the difference in doctrine and policy in the fact that before 1978 a person could not hold the priesthood and after 1978 they could hold the priesthood.\"\n\nWhen it was announced in the 1978 that the ban was reversed, Kimball wrote a letter saying that the Lord revealed \"that the long-promised day has come\". This was later canonized in LDS scripture as Official Declaration 2. McConkie said that the voice of God had said \"that the time had now come\", and that the entire First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve heard the same voice, and knew that the ancient curse had been lifted. In 1995, black church member A. David Jackson asked church leaders to issue a declaration repudiating that the ban was a direct commandment from the Lord. At first, the church refused.\n\nIn 2012, the church changed the preface to Official Declaration 2 to include these sentences regarding the priesthood ban: \"Church records offer no clear insights into the origins of this practice. Church leaders believed that a revelation from God was needed to alter this practice\". However, it did not specifically say what parts of the ban came from God and which did not. In 2013, the church published an essay which said that the ban had its roots more in racism than revelation. A 2016 landmark survey of 1,156 self-identified Latter-day Saints found that almost two-thirds of surveyed members reported believing the pre-1978 temple and priesthood ban was \"God's will\".\n\nDuration of ban\nBrigham Young taught that black men would not receive the priesthood until \"all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the priesthood and the keys thereof.\" But that meant that those who had been denied the priesthood would one day receive the priesthood and its related blessings. At another time, he stated \"that the time [would] come when they [would] have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more.\"\n\nIn 1963, while discussing when the ban would be lifted, Joseph Fielding Smith told a reporter that \"such a change can come about only through divine revelation, and no one can predict when a divine revelation will occur.\"\n\nMormon apologetics author and lecturer John Lewis Lund wrote in 1967, \"Brigham Young revealed that the negro will not receive the priesthood until a great while after the second advent of Jesus Christ, whose coming will usher in a millennium of peace.\"\n\nWhen the restrictions were reversed in 1978, church president Kimball referred to it as \"the long-promised day\". Critics say that lifting the restriction before the resurrection is contrary to Young's 1854 and 1859 statements, while church apologists say that Brigham Young's statements meant that Africans could receive the priesthood after all other races were eligible to receive it, not all other individuals.\n\nStart of the ban\nUnder John Taylor's presidency (1880–87), there was confusion in the church regarding the origin of the racial restrictions. Zebedee Coltrin and Abraham O. Smoot provided conflicting testimony of whether or not Joseph Smith stated that Elijah Abel was allowed to hold the priesthood, though the veracity of their testimony is doubted. From this point on, many statements on the priesthood restriction were attributed to Joseph Smith; all such statements had actually been made by Brigham Young. The church taught that the ban originated with Joseph Smith, with the First Presidency declaring it so in 1947.\n\nIn 2013, the church issued a statement saying the ban seemed to have started with Brigham Young instead of Joseph Smith.\n\nHistory\n\nBefore 1847\n\nDuring the time Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement (1830–1844), was the leader, there were no official racial policies established in the Church of Christ. Black people were welcomed as members of the church and as evidence of the lack of official policy, in 1836, two black men were ordained priests: Elijah Abel and Walker Lewis. Before 1847 a handful of other black men were ordained to the priesthood. That same year, Abel went on to become a member of the Quorum of the Seventy and received a patriarchal blessing. Although there was no official policy, there is evidence that some black men were denied the priesthood during the Missouri period in order to appease slave owners in the area.\n\nSome researchers have suggested that the actions of Joseph T. Ball and William McCary led to Young's decision to adopt the priesthood ban in the LDS Church.\n\nJoseph T. Ball\n\nA native of Massachusetts, Joseph T. Ball was good friends with William Smith (Joseph Smith's younger brother). Because of his close connection to Smith, he began to engage in polygamy without the approval of Brigham Young. Although he continued to be involved in the practice of polygamy, he served as the branch president in Boston for a time, making him the first black person to preside over an LDS congregation. In August 1845, Ball was separated from the church because Young found out about his previous involvement with polygamy.\n\nWilliam McCary\n\nBecause of events that transpired in both Cincinnati, Ohio and Winter Quarters, Nebraska, McCary lost the favor of Young. McCary was a half-African American convert who, after his baptism and ordination to the priesthood, began to claim to be a prophet and the possessor of other supernatural gifts. At one point, he also claimed to be Adam of the Bible. He was excommunicated for apostasy in March 1847 and expelled from Winter Quarters. After his excommunication, McCary began attracting Latter Day Saint followers and instituted plural marriage among his group, and he had himself sealed to several white wives.\n\nMcCary's behavior angered many of the Latter Day Saints in Winter Quarters. Researchers have stated that his marriages to his white wives most likely had some influence on Young's decision to institute the priesthood and temple bans on black people. A statement from Young to McCary in March 1847 suggested that race had nothing to do with priesthood eligibility, but the earliest known statement about the priesthood restriction from any Mormon leader (including the implication that skin color might be relevant) was made by apostle Parley P. Pratt, a month after McCary was expelled from Winter Quarters. Speaking of McCary, Pratt stated that because he was a descendant of Ham, he was cursed with regards to the priesthood.\n\n1847–1880\nIn 1847, Brigham Young became the second president of the LDS Church. Like many during that time, Young promoted the discrimination of black people. On February 13, 1849, an early statement by Young about the history of the priesthood ban in the LDS Church was made. The statement was given in response to Lorenzo Snow's inquiry about how redemption would come about with regards to black people. Young responded by mentioning the Curse of Cain and said that a similar hierarchy of power that was put in place on Earth because of the curse would remain in the afterlife. Young would make many similar remarks during the rest of his presidency.\n\n1879 meeting at the Smoot residence \n\nOn May 31, 1879 a meeting was held at the residence of Provo mayor Abraham O. Smoot to discuss the conflicting versions of Joseph Smith's views on black men and the priesthood, in response to Elijah Abel's petition to be sealed to his recently deceased wife. Abel, a black male convert to the church, had held the priesthood since 1836, and was now requesting an opportunity to enter the temple. President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles John Taylor, his secretary L. John Nuttall, mayor Smoot, apostle Brigham Young, Jr. (son of the late prophet), and Zebedee Coltrin were in attendance. According to Nuttall, who detailed the meeting in his journal, Coltrin and Smoot made statements about all they could recollect Joseph Smith having ever said about black men and the priesthood.\n\nJohn Taylor recounted a story he had remembered, in which Coltrin had at one time remarked that black people should not have the priesthood, to which Smith had responded with the account of the Apostle Peter's vision in Acts 10, in which he was commanded by God to \"not call any man common or unclean\" and to teach the Gentiles despite being a Jew himself, implying that black men should have the priesthood. However, Coltrin denied that this conversation had ever taken place. The recorded minutes of the meeting do not make it clear where Taylor originally heard the story.\n\nSmoot—a Southerner from a line of slaveholder progenitors who had himself continued his practice of it in Utah—stated that he, Thomas B. Marsh, Warren Parrish, and David W. Patten had asked Joseph Smith in 1836 and 1838 if black men could have the priesthood. Joseph had told them that, while blacks could be baptized, including those who were enslaved (but solely with their master's consent), they could not hold the priesthood (it remains unclear, however, whether Smith was speaking regarding blacks still in bondage). According to Nuttall, Coltrin and Smoot both wrote down their respective accounts during the course of the meeting and signed their names to them. The brethren later adjourned but would, following a brief recess, resume their discussion within a few days' time.\n\nSome scholars of Mormon history describe the recollected statements given at the Smoot home in 1879 as \"apocryphal\" or, collectively, as \"an artifact [...] recorded forty-five years after the fact.\" In his biography of Abel, W. Kesler Jackson states that the two accounts given touching upon the doctrinal \"priesthood and race\" question contradict not only each other but also other historical records, just as the \"facts\" surrounding the actual priesthood ordination of Elijah Abel have long been contradictory, remaining for many years, until only recently, in a rather confused state.\n\n1880–1950\n\nUnder John Taylor's presidency (1880–87), there was confusion in the church regarding the origin of the racial restrictions. Elijah Abel, an African American, after all had been ordained to the priesthood in the days of Joseph Smith. Apostle Joseph F. Smith argued that Abel's priesthood had been declared null and void by Joseph Smith, though this seems to conflict with Joseph F. Smith's teachings that the priesthood could not be removed from any man without removing that man from the church. Zebedee Coltrin and Abraham O. Smoot provided conflicting testimony of whether or not Joseph Smith stated that Abel was allowed hold the priesthood, though the veracity of their testimony is doubted. From this point on, many statements on the priesthood restriction were attributed to Joseph Smith; all such statements had actually been made by Brigham Young.\n\nIn 1947 the First Presidency, consisting of George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark, and David O. McKay, in a private communication with Dr. Lowry Nelson, where Dr. Nelson questioned whether \"there is no irrevocable church doctrine on this subject [of blacks and the priesthood]\" the First Presidency stated:\n\nLater, reflecting on this exchange with the First Presidency, Dr. Nelson would say, \"I believe I was the first Mormon to protest the church policy with regard to blacks in a letter to the First Presidency of the church in 1947\" and in 1953 published the article \"Mormons and the Negro\", saying that \"This was the first [time] the non-Mormon world knew of this policy, and it was widely publicized through the Negro press.\"\n\nIn 1949, the First Presidency under the direction of George Albert Smith made a declaration which included the statement that the priesthood restriction was divinely commanded and not a matter of church policy. The declaration goes on to state that the conditions in which people are born on Earth are affected by their conduct in the premortal existence, although the details of the principle are said not to be known. It then says that the privilege of mortal existence is so great that spirits were willing to come to earth even though they would not be able to possess the priesthood. The mentioning of the curse of Cain began during this time period and took the place of previous justifications for the priesthood ban. The older arguments included the idea that black people were not as valiant in the pre-mortal life and that they had \"inherent inferiority.\"\n\n1951–1977\nIn 1954, church president David O. McKay taught: \"There is not now, and there never has been a doctrine in this church that the negroes are under a divine curse. There is no doctrine in the church of any kind pertaining to the negro. We believe that we have a scriptural precedent for withholding the priesthood from the negro. It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice someday will be changed. And that's all there is to it.\"\n\nIn 1969, church apostle Harold B. Lee and member of the First Presidency Alvin R. Dyer blocked the LDS Church from rescinding the racial restrictions. The idea that a unanimous decision through revelation was needed to change the policy was and is a widespread belief among LDS church leaders. Although many desired a change in the racial policy, they continued waiting for revelation concerning the matter.\n\nDavid O. McKay told several people about his struggles with the restrictions, including Mildred Calderwood McKay, Marion D. Hanks, Lola Gygi Timmins, and Richard Jackson. Jackson quotes McKay as saying: \"I'm badgered constantly about giving the priesthood to the Negro. I've inquired of the Lord repeatedly. The last time I did it was late last night. I was told, with no discussion, not to bring the subject up with the Lord again; that the time will come, but it will not be my time, and to leave the subject alone.\"\n\nOn December 15, 1969, members of the First Presidency, Hugh B. Brown and N. Eldon Tanner (President McKay was 96 years old and incapacitated at that time, passing away the next month), released a First Presidency Statement, \"Letter of First Presidency Clarifies Church's Position on the Negro\" stating\n\nIn her book, Contemporary Mormonism, Claudia Bushman describes the pain that was caused by the racial restrictions of the church. This struggle was felt both to black worshipers, who sometimes found themselves segregated and ostracized, and white members who were embarrassed by the exclusionary practices and who occasionally apostatized over the issue.\n\nIn 1971, three African-American Mormon men petitioned then–church president Joseph Fielding Smith to consider ways to keep black families involved in the church and also re-activate the descendants of black pioneers. As a result, Smith directed three apostles to meet with the men on a weekly basis until, on October 19, 1971, an organization called the Genesis Group was established as an auxiliary unit of LDS Church to meet the needs of black Mormons. The first president of the Genesis Group was Ruffin Bridgeforth, who also became the first black Latter Day Saint to be ordained a high priest after the priesthood ban was lifted later in the decade.\n\nHarold B. Lee, president of the church, stated in 1972: \"For those who don't believe in modern revelation there is no adequate explanation. Those who do understand revelation stand by and wait until the Lord speaks .... It's only a matter of time before the black achieves full status in the Church. We must believe in the justice of God. The black will achieve full status, we're just waiting for that time.\"\n\nAlthough not refuting his belief that the restrictions came from the Lord, apostle Spencer W. Kimball acknowledged in 1963 that it could have been brought about through an error on man's part. In 1963, he said, \"The doctrine or policy has not varied in my memory. I know it could. I know the Lord could change his policy and release the ban and forgive the possible error which brought about the deprivation.\"\n\nRacial restrictions end in 1978\n\nIn the 1970s, LDS Church president Spencer W. Kimball took General Conference on the road, holding area and regional conferences all over the world. He also announced many new temples to be built both in the United States and abroad, including one temple in São Paulo, Brazil. The problem of determining priesthood eligibility in Brazil was thought to be nearly impossible due to the mixing of the races in that country. When the temple was announced, church leaders realized the difficulty of restricting persons with African descent from attending the temple in Brazil.\n\nOn June 8, 1978, the First Presidency released to the press an official declaration, now a part of Doctrine and Covenants, which contained the following statement:\n\nHe has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the church may receive the Holy Priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that follows there from, including the blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy male members of the church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color. Priesthood leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully interviewing all candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the Melchizedek Priesthood to insure that they meet the established standards for worthiness.\n\nAccording to first-person accounts, after much discussion among the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on this matter, they engaged the Lord in prayer. According to the writing of Bruce R. McConkie, \"It was during this prayer that the revelation came. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost and at the Kirtland Temple. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet. The message was that the time had now come to offer the fullness of the everlasting gospel, including celestial marriage, and the priesthood, and the blessings of the temple, to all men, without reference to race or color, solely on the basis of personal worthiness. And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord.\" Immediately after the receipt of this new revelation, an official announcement of the revelation was prepared, and sent out to all of the various leaders of the Church. It was then read to, approved by, and accepted as the word and will of the Lord, by a General Conference of the Church in October 1978. Succeeding editions of the Doctrine and Covenants were printed with this announcement canonized and entitled \"Official Declaration 2\".\n\nApostle Gordon B. Hinckley (a participant in the meetings to reverse the ban), in a churchwide fireside said, \"Not one of us who was present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that. Nor has the Church been quite the same. All of us knew that the time had come for a change and that the decision had come from the heavens. The answer was clear. There was perfect unity among us in our experience and in our understanding.\"\n\nThe announcement about the removal of the priesthood ban was issued to the public in the weekly Church News supplement to the Deseret News, which also included admonitions from Kimball not to \"cross racial lines in dating and marrying\".\n\nOn June 11, 1978, three days after the announcement of the revelation, Joseph Freeman, a member of the church since 1973, became the first black man to be ordained to the office of elder in the Melchizedek priesthood since the ban was lifted, while several others were ordained into the Aaronic priesthood that same day.\n\nLater in 1978, McConkie called to repentance all those who questioned the revelations received by the prophet with regards to the priesthood ban. He went on to clarify that previous statements made by himself and other church leaders on the subject were to be forgotten and that the focus of the gospel should be on current revelations.\n\nCritics of the LDS Church state that the church's 1978 reversal of the racial restrictions was not divinely inspired as the church claimed, but simply a matter of political convenience, as the reversal of restrictions occurred as the church began to expand outside the United States into countries such as Brazil. These countries have ethnically mixed populations, and the reversal was announced just a few months before the church opened its new temple in São Paulo, Brazil.\n\n1978 to 2013\nSince the Revelation on the Priesthood in 1978, the church has made no distinctions in policy for black people, but it remains an issue for many black members of the church. Alvin Jackson, a black bishop in the LDS Church, puts his focus on \"moving forward rather than looking back.\" In an interview with Mormon Century, Jason Smith expresses his viewpoint that the membership of the church was not ready for black people to have the priesthood in the early years of the church, because of prejudice and slavery. He draws analogies to the Bible where only the Israelites have the gospel.\n\nIn a 1997 TV interview, President Gordon B. Hinckley was asked whether the church was wrong to deny the priesthood. He responded, \"No, I don't think it was wrong. It, things, various things happened in different periods. There's a reason for them.\"\n\nIn April 2006 in a general conference talk President Gordon B. Hinckley, the president of the LDS Church, had called racism \"ugly\" and a sin that any guilty of needed to repent from.\n\nIn 1995, black church member A. David Jackson asked church leaders to issue a declaration repudiating past doctrines that denied various privileges to black people. In particular, Jackson asked the church to disavow the 1949 \"Negro Question\" declaration from the church Presidency which stated that \"the attitude of the church with reference to negroes ... is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord ... to the effect that negroes ... are not entitled to the priesthood.\"\n\nThe church leadership did not issue a repudiation, and so in 1997 Jackson, aided by other church members including Armand Mauss, sent a second request to church leaders, which stated that white Mormons felt that the 1978 revelation resolved everything, but that black Mormons react differently when they learn the details. He said that many black Mormons become discouraged and leave the church or become inactive. \"When they find out about this, they exit... You end up with the passive African Americans in the church.\"\n\nOther black church members think giving an apology would be a \"detriment\" to church work and a catalyst to further racial misunderstanding. African-American church member Bryan E. Powell says, \"There is no pleasure in old news, and this news is old.\" Gladys Newkirk agrees, stating, \"I've never experienced any problems in this church. I don't need an apology. . . . We're the result of an apology.\" The large majority of black Mormons say they are willing to look beyond the previous teachings and remain with the church in part because of its powerful, detailed teachings on life after death.\n\nChurch president Hinckley told the Los Angeles Times: \"The 1978 declaration speaks for itself ... I don't see anything further that we need to do.\" Apostle Dallin H. Oaks said:\n\nIt's not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we're on our own. Some people put reasons to [the ban] and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong. There is a lesson in that .... The lesson I've drawn from that, I decided a long time ago that I had faith in the command and I had no faith in the reasons that had been suggested for it .... I'm referring to reasons given by general authorities and reasons elaborated upon [those reasons] by others. The whole set of reasons seemed to me to be unnecessary risk taking .... Let's [not] make the mistake that's been made in the past, here and in other areas, trying to put reasons to revelation. The reasons turn out to be man-made to a great extent. The revelations are what we sustain as the will of the Lord and that's where safety lies.\n\n2013 to present\nOn December 6, 2013, the LDS Church published an essay entitled \"Race and the Priesthood\" on its official website. The essay stated that \"there is no evidence that any black men were denied the priesthood during Joseph Smith's lifetime,\" but that the priesthood restrictions were first publicly introduced by Brigham Young, noting the racism of the era that influenced his thinking. The essay went on to declare that \"Today the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects actions in a premortal life that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form.\"\n\nWhile the essay was approved by the First Presidency, it was not written by them. As of 2015, it has never been mentioned, alluded to, or footnoted in speeches by LDS authorities at the faith's biannual General Conferences. Many members remain unaware of the essays and some hold to racist beliefs that had been taught in the past.\n\nAccording to Richard Bushman, a Mormon historian, the essay removes the revelatory significance of the ban. He states that it requires a reorientation of Mormon thinking, since \"it brings into question all of the prophet's inspiration.\" Critics of the church argue that it could call into question other revelations of the prophets.\n\nAlthough the priesthood restrictions existed historically, the LDS Church reports continued significant growth in church membership in Africa, with growth from 318,947 members in 2010 to 578,310 in 2018. As of 2019, there are two church general authorities of African descent, and another general authority of Melanesian (Fijian) descent.\n\nIn response to a 2016 survey of self-identified Mormons, over 60 percent expressed that they either know (37 percent) or believe (25.5 percent) that the priesthood/temple ban was God's will, with another 17 percent expressing that it might be true, and 22 percent saying they know or believe it is false.\n\nSee also\n\n1978 Revelation on Priesthood\nBlack people and early Mormonism\nInterracial marriage and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\nCriticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\nGenesis Group\nJoseph Freeman (Mormon)\nMormonism and Pacific Islanders\n\nReferences\n\nFootnotes\n\nPrimary sources\n\n.\n\nSecondary sources\n\n.\n\n.\n\n.\n\n.\n\n Stewart, John J. Mormonism and the Negro Salt Lake City, Utah:1960 Bookmark Complete text of the 1960 bookMormonism and the Negro by John J. Stewart, a defense of the former LDS policy of denying the Mormon Priesthood to people of African ancestry:\n\nFurther reading\n .\n Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, eds., Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church, Signature Books, 1984\n\nExternal links\n blacklds.org an independent site (not owned or operated by the LDS Church) maintained by Latter-day Saints\n\nPeople of African descent\nBrigham Young\nCriticism of Mormonism\nHistory of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\nMormonism and race\nLatter Day Saint ordinances, rituals, and symbolism\nThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Africa"
] |
|
[
"Nightcrawler (comics)",
"Returning to the X-Men",
"When did Nightcrawler return to the X-Men?",
"Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet,",
"Why did Excalibur disband?",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel.",
"Who is Archangel?",
"I don't know.",
"Who was in the priesthood?",
"his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood."
] | C_d2a87c9ef79f483382a0aba5520ca09d_1 | Did anyone else return to the X-Men with him>? | 6 | Did anyone else return to the X-Men in addition to Nightcrawler? | Nightcrawler (comics) | For a time, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler express some resentment over the X-Men's failing to contact them after their supposed deaths. Following the wedding of Captain Britain and Meggan, Excalibur disbands and Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, as soon as they return, they face a group of impostors following Cerebro, in the guise of Professor X. Wanting to devote more time to priesthood, Nightcrawler shares team leadership with Archangel. However, his work as a priest is retconned to be an illusion; he had, in fact, never attained priesthood. He has also met his half-brothers Nils Styger, alias Abyss, and Kiwi Black. With them, Nightcrawler defeated his father Azazel, who had tried to use him as a pawn in escaping his prison. Later, Nightcrawler served as the new leader of the Uncanny X-Men team alongside Wolverine, Bishop, Psylocke, Cannonball, and Marvel Girl. In the last mission against the Foursaken, Nightcrawler took Marvel Girl, Psylocke, Bishop, and Cannonball to Central Park. He later helped Storm liberate Africa from her uncle's control. Afterwards, Professor X recruited him, along with Darwin, Havok, Marvel Girl, Warpath, and Polaris, to participate in a space mission to stop Vulcan from laying waste to the Shi'ar empire. During the battle with Vulcan, Nightcrawler helps get the injured Professor X and Darwin back to their spaceship. While there, trying to save Professor X, Lilandra sent the ship on its way back to Earth, leaving half the team behind. Kurt is still part of Professor X's team, helping Charles find Magneto before the government does, while the rest of the team search for the Morlocks. CANNOTANSWER | Nightcrawler returns to the X-Men with Shadowcat and Colossus. Yet, | false | [
"This is a complete list of National Basketball Association players who have blocked 10 or more shots in a game.\n\n44 players have blocked 10 or more shots in a game. It has occurred 160 times (including the playoffs) in NBA history. Mark Eaton accomplished the feat more times than anyone else in league history (19), followed by Manute Bol (18). Eaton, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Andrew Bynum are the only players to block 10 or more shots in a playoff game, with Bynum being the only player to do so with a victory.\n\nThe NBA did not record blocked shots until the 1973–74 season.\n\nSee also\nNBA regular season records\nList of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 13 or more blocks in a game\n\nReferences\n\nSporting News, The (2005). 2005–06 Official NBA Guide.\n\nBlocks",
"\"Anyone Else\" is a song by British singer-songwriter Matt Cardle, co-written by Cardle with Jeff Halatrax. It was released as the second single from his second studio album, The Fire, on 31 December 2012. For the radio version the vocals were reworked slightly, with extra backing vocals added on the last chorus, however this version was not made available to buy. With limited national radio support and no release separate from the album digital download, which was already available, it is perhaps unsurprising that the song did not chart.\n\nBackground\nCardle wrote the song in Los Angeles and it was recorded at Canvas Studios in London and Studio 217 in Los Angeles. Cardle says the song is about \"not being able to make up my mind whether I want to sleep around or not!\" and \"To be with that one person that really means something to you.\" He says it the poppiest track on the album and describes it as \"hooky, it's funky, it's a little more colourful\".\n\nA music video to accompany the song was premiered on YouTube on 4 December 2012, at a total length of three minutes and twenty six seconds. The video was filmed at the Playhouse Theatre in London and features Cardle performing the song on the stage with his band members, as if a rehearsal for a show, with just his girlfriend watching. As the song progresses, Cardle sees the band members appearing to transform into attractive women trying to seduce him.\n\nPromotion\nCardle first performed \"Anyone Else\" on British television programme Daybreak, on 13 December 2012, followed by a performance on Loose Women on 4 January 2013. He then performed it on Irish entertainment programme The Saturday Night Show, on 26 January 2013.\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\nMatt Cardle songs\n2012 singles\nSongs written by Matt Cardle\n2012 songs",
"Marcus Popillius Laenas was a Roman statesman.\n\nHe was praetor in 176 BC. He did not go to his province of Sardinia because he did not want to upset the success that the propraetor, Titus Aebutius, was enjoying. A new leader would need time to get acquainted with the situation and thus precious time would be lost.\n\nHe was consul for the year 173 BC, together with Lucius Postumius Albinus. Popillius went to his province and started fighting a tribe of Ligurians in Northern Italy, the Statellati. He fought a bloody battle at the town of Carystum, which came to a conclusion when Popillius sent in the cavalry that broke through the Ligurian lines. The cavalry then slew many of the men trying to flee to the city. The Romans killed 10,000 Ligurians and took 700 prisoner while losing 3,000 themselves. The remaining Ligurians, thinking that Popillius would be lenient, surrendered themselves. Popillius, however, destroyed their town and sold them and their property. The Senate was outraged when it heard of the treatment shown to a people who had not taken up arms against Rome and were attacked without provocation. The Senate demanded that Popillius restore the Ligurians to their homes and property. Popillius was himself outraged and refused to obey the Senate's commands. He returned to Rome and attacked the Senate for their actions. He claimed that it should have given him a thanksgiving instead of ordering him to return his spoils to his victims. Many senators again attacked him and his actions so Popillius returned to his province having failed to gain the support of the Senate. The following year, Popillius continued his aggressions against the Statellati killing 6,000 more in battle. His actions caused the rest of the Ligurians to rise up in arms. In response the Senate passed a decree that anyone hindering the return of the Statellati to their freedom would face trial. Popillius refused to return to Rome until a tribune of the plebs promised to bring him to trial in absentia. Popillius was tried, but the trial came to nothing due to the influence of his brother, the consul for the year, and other Popillii.\n\nDespite his actions against the Ligurians, Popillius was later elected censor with Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum in 159 BC.\n\nReferences\n\nAncient Roman generals\nRoman Republican praetors\n2nd-century BC Roman consuls\nRoman censors\nLaenas, Marcus"
] |
|
[
"Good Charlotte",
"The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004-07)"
] | C_63f44699604543068fa3c7a751ad2fc2_1 | was the Chronicles of life and death an album? | 1 | was the Chronicles of life and death an album for Good Charlotte? | Good Charlotte | Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base. The album sold 2.2 million copies. The album has been widely considered a departure from the band's previous two albums, mixing new elements such as lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". All of the singles released from the album went top 30 in the UK, except for "We Believe". The band would then go on tour with Sum 41. In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, "Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005." Chris then joined the pop/punk band The Summer Obsession until 2011. He currently plays drums for JMSN. On Good Charlotte's "Noise to the World" Tour, performing with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth (who had previously played for Morrissey) as the band's temporary drummer. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish." CANNOTANSWER | Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004. | Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of Joel Madden (lead vocals), Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (guitar and keyboards), and Dean Butterworth (drums and percussion).
The band released their self-titled debut album in 2000 to mostly positive reviews. In 2002, they achieved breakthrough success with their second album, The Young and the Hopeless. Featuring the hit singles "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "The Anthem" and "Girls & Boys", The Young and the Hopeless sold 3.5 million copies in the US and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, for a total of almost 5 million copies sold worldwide. The band followed up with The Chronicles of Life and Death in 2004; a darker album, both musically and lyrically. Backed by the singles "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", The Chronicles of Life and Death continued the band's success, and the album was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the US alone. In 2007, they released the dance-punk inspired album Good Morning Revival before going back to their pop punk-roots with the album Cardiology in 2010. After a four-year-long hiatus, the band announced its comeback on November 3, 2015. The band released Youth Authority to positive reviews in 2016, and in 2018 they released their latest album, Generation Rx. In addition, they released two compilations: Greatest Remixes in 2008 and Greatest Hits in 2010.
History
Early years (1995–1999)
After watching a Beastie Boys show in 1995, twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden formed Good Charlotte in Waldorf, Maryland, with Joel on vocals and Benji on guitar. Following the brothers' graduation in 1997, instead of going to college they worked full-time on the band. The Madden brothers focused on getting the band signed, reading books and magazines that would aid them in achieving this goal. They made promotional packages which they sent to record labels. Joel Madden learned that the girl he took to homecoming was a sister of bassist Paul Thomas. Thomas met the brothers and was unimpressed with their performance skills. Soon afterwards, the brothers recruited their fellow high-school pupil Aaron Escolopio as a drummer and began playing clubs in the D.C. metro area. The Madden brothers moved to Annapolis, Maryland where they performed acoustic shows. The band named themselves Good Charlotte after the children's book, Good Charlotte: Girls of the Good Day Orphanage, by Carol Beach York.
Guitarist Billy Martin went to one of these shows at the insistence of Jimi HaHa of Jimmie's Chicken Shack. Martin became friends with the Madden brothers and let them move in with him after they were evicted from their apartment. Martin joined Good Charlotte after the trio learned they had a shared interest in the Australian rock band Silverchair and the break up of Martin's band Overflow. They wrote new songs and recorded and performed demos. The band began building a fan base by performing at the HFStival in 1998, and serving as support slots for Blink-182, Lit and Bad Religion. In 1999, Good Charlotte opened for Save Ferris in Philadelphia. After the performance, they left a demo of "Little Things" that soon got airplay on local radio station Y100. Benji Madden was certain of the song's potential hit status with its high-school theme and the reality of its lyrics.
A Sony Music employee passed the band's demo to regional promotion manager Mike Martinovich, who was impressed by the group's writing ability and the autobiographical nature of the songs. He contacted talent manager Steve Feinberg, who flew to Annapolis to watch the group perform and later began working with them. Around the same time, WHFS also began playing the demo. As the track became a hit in the area, record labels began showing interest in Good Charlotte. By the end of 1999, the band went on an east-coast tour with Lit. Representatives from several major labels attended the New York City show of the tour.
Good Charlotte (2000–2001)
Starting in 2000, the group became a full-time touring act with support slots for Lit, Goldfinger, Sum 41, and Mest. Following a showcase in New York City, the group met with people in the music industry. David Massey, executive vice president of A&R at major label Epic Records, signed the band to the label in May.
Good Charlotte's debut studio album Good Charlotte was released on September 26, 2000 through Epic and Daylight Records. The Japanese edition included "The Click", a cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "If You Leave" and a live acoustic version of "The Motivation Proclamation" as bonus tracks. Sales did not meet the label's expectations, and the group were nearly dropped from the label. In October and November, the group went on a US tour with Fenix TX, followed by a US tour with MxPx until the end of the year.
In December, the group appeared at HFSmas, the winter version of HFStival. On March 1, 2001, "Little Things" was released as a single in Australia. The CD version included "The Click" and "Thank You Mom" as B-sides. Despite the lack of success for "Little Things", the group's label allowed them to make another video, which was for "The Motivation Proclamation". It was directed by Webb and features the band members on the ground, waking up one-by-one and starting to perform. Scenes from Undergrads were played on a TV. Between March and May, the group supported MxPx on their headlining US tour. In April, the video for "The Motivation Proclamation" was receiving airplay from video outlets. While on the MxPx tour, the album was consistently selling 3,000 copies per week. As a result, the group wanted to make a live music video. At the end of May, the group performed at HFStival. During their set, a music video was filmed for "Festival Song", directed by Marc Webb. The video ended up being a mini-documentary on the day. Members of Mest, New Found Glory, and Linkin Park appear in the video.
The Young and the Hopeless (2002–2003)
2002's The Young and the Hopeless sold 4.9 million copies and thrust the band into mainstream popularity. The band's breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that were released from the album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "The Young & the Hopeless", and "Hold On". The band cited Rancid, Social Distortion, and The Clash as influences for the album.
The Young and the Hopeless debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 copies. By August 2003, the album had sold over 2 million copies, and by October 2004, 3 million. At that time, the album was still charting on the Billboard 200, 2 years after its release. The album's singles lifted the band from modern rock to top 40 radio stations, with all three major singles crossing over to the format. Each had major success in MTV's Total Request Live. As of 2011, it had sold over 3.5 million copies in the US. The album reached number 18 and 104 on the Billboard 200 year-end charts in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The album charted at number 6 in New Zealand, number 7 in Sweden, number 9 in Australia, number 15 in the UK, number 20 in Austria, number 24 in Japan, number 46 in Switzerland, number 52 in France, and number 57 in the Netherlands.
Around this time, The Used were aware that Good Charlotte were in need of a drummer, and introduced them to Chris Wilson. Shortly after this, he became the group's drummer. In July, the group filmed a video for "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous". Directed by Bill Fishman, it features appearances from 'NSYNC vocalist Chris Kirkpatrick, Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass and Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. In the video, the group perform inside a mansion, before police surround the mansion. The band is subsequently arrested and appear before a courtroom. The song was released to modern rock radio on August 13, and released as a CD single on September 9. It featured "Cemetery", "The Click" and an acoustic version of "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" as B-sides. The Young and the Hopeless was released on October 1 through Epic and Daylight Records. The group supported No Doubt on their arena tour for a few shows in early October. In October and November, the group went on a headlining US tour.
Between September and November, the group embarked on a headlining US arena tour. The first half was supported by Mest and Something Corporate, while the remaining half was supported by Eve 6 and Goldfinger. At the start of the tour, "Hold On" was released to alternative rock radio. In October, the group filmed a music video for "Hold On" with director Samuel Bayer. The video premiered on November 12 on Total Request Live. For the video, the group collaborated with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It features people with deceased relatives and people who have attempted suicide. In December, the group went on a UK tour with Sugarcult and Mest. In January 2004, the group went on a tour of Japan. "Hold On" and "The Young & the Hopeless" were released as a joint single on January 13. A music video was made for "The Young & the Hopeless", directed by Sam Erickson and the Madden brothers. The video was filmed on a sound stage in Indianapolis, Indiana and the set was filled with a variety of trophies and ribbons, which the band destroy towards the end of the video. In September, the album was reissued as a two-CD package with Good Charlotte.
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004–2006)
The Chronicles of Life and Death was made available for streaming on October 1 through MTV's The Leak. Initially planned for release in September, The Chronicles of Life and Death was officially released on October 5 through Epic and Daylight Records. It was released in two different editions: Life (with "Falling Away" as a bonus track) and Death (with "Meet My Maker" as a bonus track), both with different artwork created by Martin. The art for the Life resembles a first-edition book, while the art for the Death version resembles a 100-year-old book. The album booklet is done in the style of a storybook with the song lyrics detailing a story accompanied by illustrations. The album sold nearly 200,000 copies in its first week and reached number three on the Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album in the United States. The group debuted material from the album during a show in New York. Alkaline Trio drummer Derek Grant temporarily substituted for drummer Chris Wilson during the show as Wilson was reportedly receiving therapy. Grant subsequently played with the group for a few more promotional events, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and in-store performances.
In October and November, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Sum 41. They were supported by Lola Ray and Hazen Street. "I Just Wanna Live" was released as a CD single in Australia on January 17, 2005, with live versions of "S.O.S." and "The World Is Black" as B-sides. The song's music video, directed by Brett Simon, features the group performing in a dive bar before the members return to their day jobs. Eventually, someone from the music industry signs the band, known as the Food Group, who are dressed as an array of food items. In February 2005, the band appeared at MTV Asia's tsunami-relief event for the tsunami in Southeast Asia, before touring Australia. The group embarked on a tour of Europe and the UK in March with support from The Explosion. In early April, a music video was filmed for "We Believe" with director Sam Erickson at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The video features the group performing in an abandoned theatre overlapped with war imagery and people suffering.
In May and June, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Simple Plan, dubbed the Noise to the World tour. They were supported by Relient K. A few dates into the tour, Wilson left the group citing to health concerns. He was replaced by Dean Butterworth. The group met him through John Feldmann of Goldfinger. "The Chronicles of Life and Death" was released as a CD single in Australia on June 3 with live versions of "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "Mountain", and a remix of "I Just Wanna Live" as B-sides. "We Believe" was released as a single on August 15. In October, the band appeared at the Bridge School Benefit and on November 13 the album was released on the DualDisc format. It included a making-of documentary and live performances. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish."
Good Morning Revival and Greatest Remixes (2007–2008)
Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow-up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country. Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of its highest international chart positions thus far, and went on to sell 4.5 million copies. At midnight, on January 23, 2007, the record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single "The River" could be downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album was queued to be downloaded on the release date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provided the exclusive bonus acoustic version of the song. This album was suggested a different sound for the group apart from the group's pop punk roots.
The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4, 2007, and was released as the first single from the album in North America. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on April 13, 2007, making it the second single released from the album in the UK. The song charted at No. 108. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at No. 36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to No. 23 when released in stores. The second single released in North America was "Dance Floor Anthem", with which the band had scored a surprise hit, making it onto 11 different Billboard charts and peaking at No. 2 in Australia. The "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" video was certified gold by MTV International in December 2007. It was played 3,000 times on over four continents during the first half of 2007. On January 1, 2008, Good Charlotte was featured on Tila Tequila's New Year's Eve Masquerade on MTV, as the band was the second performance of the new year and performed its hit "Dance Floor Anthem".
The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 9, 2007, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on April 29, 2007 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl". In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte supported Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. The band was present for the show of August 16, 2007 in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast.
On November 25, 2008, Greatest Remixes was released. This compilation album includes 15 songs from previous Good Charlotte albums remixed by other artists such as Metro Station, Junior Sanchez, William Beckett from The Academy Is..., Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, and The White Tie Affair featuring Mat Devine of Kill Hannah.
Cardiology and Greatest Hits (2009–2011)
Describing the sound to MTV news, Joel Madden said it would sound a lot like Blink-182. Joel Madden went on to say in the same MTV interview that "There's nothing dance-y on the record, though, at all, which is different from our last one," further implying a movement away from the sound of Good Morning Revival. On December 3, 2008, Kerrang! magazine announced that Good Charlotte would be releasing its fifth studio album, Cardiology in 2009. The title of which, according to Joel, comes from the lyrical content of the album, which he explained is "all connected to the heart". Madden also added that the band had already written 20 songs for the new album, and are said to be heading back to their pop-punk roots. On January 24, 2010 Good Charlotte announced that the band had finished the album, but were going to completely scrap it and record with a different producer, Don Gilmore, who also produced the band's first and fourth records, Good Charlotte and Good Morning Revival.
The band released its first single "Like It's Her Birthday" featuring Tonight Alive from the new album on August 24, 2010. The band posted the song online August 5, 2010, and wrote on its website that if the video of the song received more than 100,000 views, the band would post another song from the album. The video reached 100,000 views on August 15, 2010 and the band released "Counting the Days" as a video on its YouTube channel and announced that it will be the second single from the album. The music video for "Like It's Her Birthday" has cameos from The Maine's lead singer John O'Callaghan and guitarist Kennedy Brock and Boys Like Girls' lead singer Martin Johnson, and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.
On November 5, 2010, Good Charlotte's former label, Sony Music, released a Greatest Hits compilation for Australia, spanning 16 singles from the band's four studio albums released on that label. The compilation was later released in the US on January 6, 2011, and in Japan on February 16, 2011.
On September 13, 2010, it was announced that Good Charlotte will be headlining the 2011 Kerrang! Relentless Tour, with supporting acts Four Year Strong, Framing Hanley, and The Wonder Years. On March 3, 2011, Good Charlotte went on tour with This Century and Forever The Sickest Kids throughout North America, playing multiple shows at small high schools across the country. In June 2011 Good Charlotte set out on a U.S. tour co-headlining with Yellowcard and opening act Runner Runner. In June 2011 on an interview with Punkvideosrock.com Billy and Paul stated they were in the process of planning tours for the next 5 years.
On September 1, 2011, Good Charlotte announced a hiatus via interview with Rolling Stone, but The Madden Brothers released a free mix tape in October 2011, Before — Volume One. and their debut album Greetings From California was released in September 2014, which featured Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth as session performer.
Youth Authority and Generation Rx (2015–2020)
On June 2, 2015, Good Charlotte was featured in Waka Flocka's song "Game On", a song from the soundtrack to Pixels movie.
On November 3, 2015, the band announced an official end to the hiatus through Alternative Press and on November 5 the band released a single, "Makeshift Love". A music video for "Makeshift Love" featuring Mikey Way and John Feldmann, including a cameo of the band Waterparks, was released on November 13, 2015. The band performed its first show since its reformation on November 19, 2015, at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. The band supported All Time Low on the UK and Ireland leg of the Back to the Future Hearts tour in 2016.
The group released their sixth studio album, Youth Authority, on July 15, 2016, with guest appearances from Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens and Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro. The album release date was announced on March 30, 2016, with the album title and art following several days later. Discussing the album title, Joel Madden said Youth Authority was the concept that "there's a kid out there right now who has a guitar, or a microphone, or a laptop, with a dream that is going to beat the odds." He said the album felt like the "GC of the past" with "a new energy to it."
On December 8, 2017, the band released a three-song EP, A GC Christmas, Pt. 1, which included a cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas, a full-band version of their previously unreleased song, Christmas by the Phone, and an alternate version of Let the World Be Still, originally by their side project, The Madden Brothers.
On May 24, 2018, the band announced a new album set for September 14, 2018 called Generation Rx. This coincided with the release of a new single called "Actual Pain". They have also announced a tour for 2019 to promote the album. The opioid epidemic inspired the album's title Generation Rx: Rx is often used as an abbreviation for medical prescriptions in the US. The album initially had the working title Cold Song, but was changed after the band realised pain was a running theme throughout the album. Generation Rx talks about several issues: the opioid epidemic, struggles with mental health, difficulty with self-esteem, and the effect of organized religion on other peoples' lives. According to Joel Madden, the album was "all about that inner struggle, and ... the emotional experience we're all going through that gets us to a place where we want to kill the pain that's in all of us." The band played a surprise guest set on the final Vans Warped Tour on July 29, 2018.
On April 2, 2020, Benji and Joel Madden did a Good Charlotte performance livestream via Veeps, a live streaming company owned by Joel Madden, with all proceeds going to "charitable efforts in our community in the COVID-19 pandemic". On September 25, 2020, Billy Martin did a guitar play through livestream on the 20th anniversary of the band's debut album. On December 18, 2020, after a week of previous teasing, Good Charlotte released a single called "Last December", which was the band's first new music in two years.
Musical style and influences
Good Charlotte has been mainly described as a pop punk band. The band also has been described as alternative rock, emo, punk rock, pop rock, skate punk, and emo pop. According to writer Bruce Britt, Good Charlotte combine "the hard-charging fury of skate-punk, the melodiousness of pop, and the spooky, mascara-smeared sensibilities of '80s goth". According to program director Robert Benjamin, Benji Madden told him Good Charlotte "wanted to be a combination of the Backstreet Boys and Minor Threat". Benji was a fan of punk band Social Distortion whereas his brother Joel was interested in bands like The Smiths and The Cure. Good Charlotte cite Beastie Boys, Minor Threat, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Rancid, and Green Day as their influences.
Activism
Billy Martin is a vegetarian and won PETA's vegetarian of the year in 2012. In the past, the band actively supported PETA's animal rights campaigns. Members of the group recorded a track, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", on PETA's Liberation CD and appeared at PETA's 25th Anniversary Gala and Humanitarian Awards Show. Group members have also demonstrated against KFC's treatment of chickens.
In 2012 and 2013, band members heavily promoted Kentucky Fried Chicken in a series of Australian television commercials, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
Band members
Current members
Joel Madden – lead and occasional backing vocals (1995–present), keyboards (1995–1998)
Benji Madden – lead guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals (1995–present), rhythm guitar (1995–1998)
Paul Thomas – bass (1995–present)
Billy Martin – rhythm guitar, keyboards (1998–present)
Dean Butterworth – drums (2005–present)
Session musicians
Josh Freese – drums on The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
David Campbell – string arrangements, string conducting on Good Charlotte (2000), The Young and the Hopeless (2002), and The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Former members
Aaron Escolopio – drums (1995–2001)
Chris Wilson – drums (2002–2005)
Timeline
Discography
Good Charlotte (2000)
The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Good Morning Revival (2007)
Cardiology (2010)
Youth Authority (2016)
Generation Rx (2018)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
1995 establishments in Maryland
Pop punk groups from Maryland
American pop rock music groups
Alternative rock groups from Maryland
Rock music groups from Maryland
Kerrang! Awards winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quintets
People from Waldorf, Maryland
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups from Washington, D.C. | false | [
"The discography of Good Charlotte, an American pop punk band, consists of seven studio albums, two live albums, two extended plays, 28 singles, 34 music videos and three music DVDs.\n\nGood Charlotte released their self-titled debut album, Good Charlotte, in September 2000 with the single \"Little Things\", which peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. Two more singles were released from the album: \"The Motivation Proclamation\" and \"Festival Song\". Their second album The Young and the Hopeless was released in 2002. The album produced five singles: \"Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous\", \"The Anthem\", \"Girls & Boys\", \"The Young & the Hopeless\" and \"Hold On\". The album went on to receive a triple platinum certification from the RIAA. In October 2004, the band released their third studio album The Chronicles of Life and Death. Singles released from the album include \"Predictable\", \"I Just Wanna Live\", \"The Chronicles of Life and Death\" and \"We Believe\". Their fourth album, Good Morning Revival, was released in March 2007 and produced the singles \"The River\", \"Keep Your Hands off My Girl\" and \"Dance Floor Anthem (I Don't Want to Be in Love)\". Their fifth album, Cardiology, was released on November 2, 2010. \"Like It's Her Birthday\" was released as the first single from the album, followed by \"Sex on the Radio\" and \"Last Night\".\n\nAlbums\n\nStudio albums\n\nCompilation albums\n\nLive albums\n\nExtended plays\n\nSingles\n\nNotes\n\nA. \"Little Things\", \"Predictable\", and \"Like It's Her Birthday\" peaked outside of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, therefore they are listed on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart at number 16, 6 and 14 respectively.\n\nVideo albums\n\nMusic videos\n\nReferences\nCitations\n\nSources\n\n \n \n\nGood Charlotte\nDiscographies of American artists\nPop punk group discographies",
"The Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles video game series consists of Crystal Chronicles, a spin-off of the main Final Fantasy series, its sequels My Life as a King and My Life as a Darklord, and their spin-offs, Ring of Fates, Echoes of Time and The Crystal Bearers. Crystal Chronicles, Ring of Fates, and Echoes of Time have had released soundtrack albums to date, and Crystal Chronicles and Ring of Fates each have an associated single. Kumi Tanioka is the main composer for the series, having composed the three released soundtracks as well as the music for My Life as a King and My Life as a Darklord. Hidenori Iwasaki is filling that role for The Crystal Bearers. Nobuo Uematsu, the main composer for the regular Final Fantasy series, contributed one track to the Ring of Fates soundtrack. Yae and Donna Burke sang the Japanese and English versions of the theme song for Crystal Chronicles, respectively, while Aiko sang the theme song for Ring of Fates.\n\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Original Soundtrack was released by Pony Canyon in 2003, as was its single, \"Kaze no Ne\", and a promotional album Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - A Musical Journey. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates Original Soundtrack and the double A-side \"Hoshi no Nai Sekai\"/\"Yokogao\" were released by Pony Canyon in 2007. The latest release is that of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Original Soundtrack by Square Enix in 2009. All the albums and the singles received generally positive reviews, although the Crystal Chronicles album was the most universally appreciated of the three soundtracks. Unlike the soundtracks to the numbered Final Fantasy games, no compositions from the Crystal Chronicles soundtracks have appeared in any compilation albums produced by Square Enix or any official Final Fantasy concerts. \"Morning Sky\", the opening theme for Crystal Chronicles, was played in the first Games in Concert performance in Utrecht, Netherlands on November 26, 2006.\n\nCreation and influence \n\nKumi Tanioka has described the musical style for the soundtrack to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles as being based on \"ancient instruments\". She says that the idea came to her while looking at illustrations of the game world, which gave her the idea of making \"world music\", where the tracks would \"not [be] limited to a single country or culture\". She also credits Hidenori Iwasaki, the synthesizer operator for the game, with doing \"fantastic technical work\" that brought her vision to life. For the soundtrack to Ring of Fates, Tanioka purposefully did not focus on \"world music\", instead focusing on \"creating a new landscape containing the same atmosphere\". The piano performances in the Ring of Fates soundtrack were done by Kumi Tanioka. She did the performances herself rather than use an outside performer as most Final Fantasy soundtracks have done primarily because she \"likes to play piano\", and were done without any sheet music, as she preferred instead to improvise. She took extensive piano lessons as a child, and lists piano and choral music as the biggest influences on her musical style. She also claims to have been influenced by music from a wide variety of cultures, such as Indonesian, Irish and Balinese music. She did not compose the soundtrack for The Crystal Bearers; this role was instead performed by Hidenori Iwasaki.\n\nTanioka has said that in composing the soundtrack for Echoes of Time she tried to \"paint the world in an ethnic manner once again\". She has said that she tried throughout the soundtracks of the first four Crystal Chronicles games to \"maintain a common atmosphere between each installment, [but] always introduce a new concept\". With Echoes of Time Tanioka wanted to go back to the \"tribal\" concept of the original Crystal Chronicles. She has said in regards to the soundtrack that \"instead of the traditional sound endemic to the specific areas, I wanted to use them as one flavor and blend many colors just like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles\" and that many of the tracks she created would be \"actually impossible to perform\" in real life.\n\nAlbums\n\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Original Soundtrack \n\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, containing the majority of the musical tracks from the game, and was composed by Kumi Tanioka. It was released on the Pony Canyon label on August 20, 2003. The album did not include the English versions of the opening song, \"Sound of the Wind\" and the ending theme, \"Moonless Starry Night\", all sung by Donna Burke. The style of the music on this album is not defined, but was described by Kumi Tanioka as being based on \"ancient instruments\". The soundtrack has extensive use of many medieval and Renaissance musical instruments such as the recorder, the crumhorn and the lute, creating a distinctively rustic feel, and also follows the practices and styles of medieval music. The soundtrack spans 52 tracks over 2 discs, covering a duration of 2:11:38, and has the catalog number PCCG-00613.\n\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: A Musical Journey was a European promotional album which was given alongside the game on March 11, 2004 if the game had been pre-ordered. It contains six tracks from the soundtrack, including \"Kaze no Ne\" in both Japanese and English, the only time the English version has been released. It was published by Nintendo of Europe, and covers a duration of 17:37.\n\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Original Soundtrack sold over 5,800 copies. It was well received; Daniel Space of RPGFan praised it, saying that \"the music is fun, extremely well written and interesting to hear\". He enjoyed the alternative instruments used in the tunes, calling them \"successful in providing imagery of renaissance times\", although he felt that much more of them would have begun to drag the soundtrack down. Chris of Square Enix Music Online also enjoyed the soundtrack, although he noted that it was \"not for everyone\". He did, however, feel that the constant use of Renaissance-themed music resulted in a \"lack of diversity of styles\" that made several of the tracks \"bland and indistinctive\". Jared of Square Enix Music Online was more enthusiastic about the soundtrack, terming it \"a stunning soundtrack full of feeling and emotion\" and praising its \"unique\" style. As a promotional album, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - A Musical Journey was not as noted by critics. Jared felt that it was \"a decent look into the soundtrack of Crystal Chronicles\", but not as good of a sampler disc as it could have been due to the track selection.\n\nTrack listing\n\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates Original Soundtrack \nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, containing all of the musical tracks from the game, and was composed and produced by Kumi Tanioka. The ending theme song for the game, , was sung by Aiko, though it was not included in the album, and Nobuo Uematsu contributed one track to the soundtrack. The soundtrack continues the musical theme of \"ancient instruments\" prevalent in the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack, but additionally incorporates more modern orchestral instruments such as string and horn pieces. The tracks on the album cover a wide range of emotional themes, from \"joyful and whimsical tracks\" to \"lugubrious emotional tracks\" to \"bombastic battle tracks\". In keeping with the lighthearted nature of the game, any darker-themed tracks are exaggerated to make them less serious. The soundtrack spans 57 tracks, covering a duration of 1:16:06. It was released on September 19, 2007 in Japan by Square Enix bearing the catalog number SQEX-10101. The single for Hoshi no Nai Sekai, released in 2007, sold 112,000 copies and reached #2 on the Oricon singles chart.\n\nRing of Fates was well received by reviewers; Neal Chandran of RPGFan, although finding the original soundtrack to be \"bland\", felt that the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack was \"quite varied, exciting, and dare I say really freaking good\" and praised the variety of styles and moods of the tracks. Chris was also enthusiastic about the soundtrack, praising it as \"one of the finest accompaniments to a Final Fantasy game ever produced\". He noted, however, that the soundtrack works best as a \"flowing\" work or accompaniment to the game, with a lack of individual tracks that stood out as memorable. Don of Square Enix Music Online was much harsher towards the soundtrack, terming it an \"extremely underwhelming album\". He disapproved of the change from the medieval instrumentation to a more orchestral score, and felt that the pieces had much less emotional intensity than the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack.\n\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Original Soundtrack \nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, containing the majority of the musical tracks from the game, and was composed by Kumi Tanioka. It was released by Square Enix on February 18, 2009. Like previous Crystal Chronicles soundtracks, Echoes incorporates a variety of instruments, including oboes, xylophones, marimbas and Latin guitars. Unlike the previous Crystal Chronicles soundtracks, the Echoes does not include a theme song. The soundtrack spans 51 tracks over 2 discs, covering a duration of 2:07:30, and has the catalog numbers SQEX-10137~8.\n\nTrack listing\n\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers Original Soundtrack \nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers, containing the majority of the musical tracks from the game, composed by Hidenori Iwasaki and Ryo Yamazaki, with the vocal talent of Donna Burke. The soundtrack spans 70 tracks over 2 discs.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPiano Collections\nOn April 7, 2021, Square Enix released Piano Collections Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles to correspond with the release of the remastered edition of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. The ten-track, 40:38 album contains piano arrangements by Kumi Tanioka of her compositions for the game, performed by Tanioka with accompaniment by Yui Morishita on four duets. Patrick Gann of RPGFan heavily praised the album, particularly the duets.\n\nSingles\n\nKaze no Ne \n\n is the opening song of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, composed by Kumi Tanioka and performed by Yae. It was released as a single by Pony Canyon, featuring the \"Kaze No Ne\" song, an arranged version, and two other songs by Yae from her album Blue Line, \"Carol (scat)\" and . The single was released on July 30, 2003, has a length of 14:12, and has a catalog number of PCCA-01915. While \"Kaze No Ne\" follows the medieval theme of the rest of the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack, the arranged version is a more \"produced\" techno-sounding track. The two unrelated tracks are vocal and instrumental pieces, with \"Carol\" as a scat song, and \"Flower of Love\" more of a slower \"ethnic/world\" piece.\n\nPatrick Gann of RPGFan called \"Kaze no Ne\" one of the few singles he had purchased that was \"worth holding onto\". He described all of the tracks as \"beautiful\", and felt that the arranged version of \"Sound of the Wind\" was \"charming and enigmatic\". Dave of Square Enix Music Online concurred, calling the single \"a potentially excellent addition to anyone's discography\". He described Yae's voice as \"angelic\" \"mature\" and \"fresh\" and summed up the album as \"a definitive Yae experience accessible to game music fans\".\n\nHoshi no Nai Sekai / Yokogao \n\"Hoshi no Nai Sekai\"/\"Yokogao\" is double A-side containing the theme song to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates , as well as two original tracks, and , and instrumental versions of \"A World Without Stars\" and \"Profile\". The single is performed by Aiko. All of the songs are primarily focused on the vocals along with piano and electric guitar accompaniments. \"A World Without Stars\" is a primarily piano-based song with lyrics in Japanese, while \"Profile\" and \"Love\" are mid-tempo pop songs. The album was released on August 22, 2007 by Pony Canyon, covers a duration of 24:40, and has the catalog number PCCA-02546.\n\nNeal Chandran approved of \"Hoshi no Nai Sekai\" / \"Yokogao\", finding it to be enjoyable despite its short length. He felt that \"A World Without Stars\" was a \"terrific piece, and that the other two songs, while \"not as strong\", were \"still decent tracks that were easy on the ears\", and approved of the instrumental versions included in the single. Don also appreciated the soundtrack, calling it \"a nice choice\" and saying that it \"complements a rather weak original soundtrack\". He felt that the balance in the songs between the piano and electric guitar was well done.\n\nLegacy \nUnlike the soundtracks to the numbered Final Fantasy games, no songs from the Crystal Chronicles soundtracks have appeared in any compilation albums produced by Square Enix. Songs from the series have also not appeared in any of the official Final Fantasy music concerts, although \"Morning Sky\" from the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack was played in the first Games in Concert performance in Utrecht, Netherlands on November 26, 2006. It was performed by Floor Jansen of the band After Forever and the Metropole Orchestra.\n\nSee also\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official Kumi Tanioka Site\n Official Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Original Soundtrack home page at Pony Canyon\n Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates Original Soundtrack home page at Square Enix\n\nCrystal Chronicles\nFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles"
] |
[
"Good Charlotte",
"The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004-07)",
"was the Chronicles of life and death an album?",
"Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004."
] | C_63f44699604543068fa3c7a751ad2fc2_1 | were there any singles? | 2 | were there any singles from the album The Chronicles of Life and Death? | Good Charlotte | Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base. The album sold 2.2 million copies. The album has been widely considered a departure from the band's previous two albums, mixing new elements such as lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". All of the singles released from the album went top 30 in the UK, except for "We Believe". The band would then go on tour with Sum 41. In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, "Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005." Chris then joined the pop/punk band The Summer Obsession until 2011. He currently plays drums for JMSN. On Good Charlotte's "Noise to the World" Tour, performing with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth (who had previously played for Morrissey) as the band's temporary drummer. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish." CANNOTANSWER | The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". | Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of Joel Madden (lead vocals), Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (guitar and keyboards), and Dean Butterworth (drums and percussion).
The band released their self-titled debut album in 2000 to mostly positive reviews. In 2002, they achieved breakthrough success with their second album, The Young and the Hopeless. Featuring the hit singles "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "The Anthem" and "Girls & Boys", The Young and the Hopeless sold 3.5 million copies in the US and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, for a total of almost 5 million copies sold worldwide. The band followed up with The Chronicles of Life and Death in 2004; a darker album, both musically and lyrically. Backed by the singles "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", The Chronicles of Life and Death continued the band's success, and the album was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the US alone. In 2007, they released the dance-punk inspired album Good Morning Revival before going back to their pop punk-roots with the album Cardiology in 2010. After a four-year-long hiatus, the band announced its comeback on November 3, 2015. The band released Youth Authority to positive reviews in 2016, and in 2018 they released their latest album, Generation Rx. In addition, they released two compilations: Greatest Remixes in 2008 and Greatest Hits in 2010.
History
Early years (1995–1999)
After watching a Beastie Boys show in 1995, twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden formed Good Charlotte in Waldorf, Maryland, with Joel on vocals and Benji on guitar. Following the brothers' graduation in 1997, instead of going to college they worked full-time on the band. The Madden brothers focused on getting the band signed, reading books and magazines that would aid them in achieving this goal. They made promotional packages which they sent to record labels. Joel Madden learned that the girl he took to homecoming was a sister of bassist Paul Thomas. Thomas met the brothers and was unimpressed with their performance skills. Soon afterwards, the brothers recruited their fellow high-school pupil Aaron Escolopio as a drummer and began playing clubs in the D.C. metro area. The Madden brothers moved to Annapolis, Maryland where they performed acoustic shows. The band named themselves Good Charlotte after the children's book, Good Charlotte: Girls of the Good Day Orphanage, by Carol Beach York.
Guitarist Billy Martin went to one of these shows at the insistence of Jimi HaHa of Jimmie's Chicken Shack. Martin became friends with the Madden brothers and let them move in with him after they were evicted from their apartment. Martin joined Good Charlotte after the trio learned they had a shared interest in the Australian rock band Silverchair and the break up of Martin's band Overflow. They wrote new songs and recorded and performed demos. The band began building a fan base by performing at the HFStival in 1998, and serving as support slots for Blink-182, Lit and Bad Religion. In 1999, Good Charlotte opened for Save Ferris in Philadelphia. After the performance, they left a demo of "Little Things" that soon got airplay on local radio station Y100. Benji Madden was certain of the song's potential hit status with its high-school theme and the reality of its lyrics.
A Sony Music employee passed the band's demo to regional promotion manager Mike Martinovich, who was impressed by the group's writing ability and the autobiographical nature of the songs. He contacted talent manager Steve Feinberg, who flew to Annapolis to watch the group perform and later began working with them. Around the same time, WHFS also began playing the demo. As the track became a hit in the area, record labels began showing interest in Good Charlotte. By the end of 1999, the band went on an east-coast tour with Lit. Representatives from several major labels attended the New York City show of the tour.
Good Charlotte (2000–2001)
Starting in 2000, the group became a full-time touring act with support slots for Lit, Goldfinger, Sum 41, and Mest. Following a showcase in New York City, the group met with people in the music industry. David Massey, executive vice president of A&R at major label Epic Records, signed the band to the label in May.
Good Charlotte's debut studio album Good Charlotte was released on September 26, 2000 through Epic and Daylight Records. The Japanese edition included "The Click", a cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "If You Leave" and a live acoustic version of "The Motivation Proclamation" as bonus tracks. Sales did not meet the label's expectations, and the group were nearly dropped from the label. In October and November, the group went on a US tour with Fenix TX, followed by a US tour with MxPx until the end of the year.
In December, the group appeared at HFSmas, the winter version of HFStival. On March 1, 2001, "Little Things" was released as a single in Australia. The CD version included "The Click" and "Thank You Mom" as B-sides. Despite the lack of success for "Little Things", the group's label allowed them to make another video, which was for "The Motivation Proclamation". It was directed by Webb and features the band members on the ground, waking up one-by-one and starting to perform. Scenes from Undergrads were played on a TV. Between March and May, the group supported MxPx on their headlining US tour. In April, the video for "The Motivation Proclamation" was receiving airplay from video outlets. While on the MxPx tour, the album was consistently selling 3,000 copies per week. As a result, the group wanted to make a live music video. At the end of May, the group performed at HFStival. During their set, a music video was filmed for "Festival Song", directed by Marc Webb. The video ended up being a mini-documentary on the day. Members of Mest, New Found Glory, and Linkin Park appear in the video.
The Young and the Hopeless (2002–2003)
2002's The Young and the Hopeless sold 4.9 million copies and thrust the band into mainstream popularity. The band's breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that were released from the album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "The Young & the Hopeless", and "Hold On". The band cited Rancid, Social Distortion, and The Clash as influences for the album.
The Young and the Hopeless debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 copies. By August 2003, the album had sold over 2 million copies, and by October 2004, 3 million. At that time, the album was still charting on the Billboard 200, 2 years after its release. The album's singles lifted the band from modern rock to top 40 radio stations, with all three major singles crossing over to the format. Each had major success in MTV's Total Request Live. As of 2011, it had sold over 3.5 million copies in the US. The album reached number 18 and 104 on the Billboard 200 year-end charts in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The album charted at number 6 in New Zealand, number 7 in Sweden, number 9 in Australia, number 15 in the UK, number 20 in Austria, number 24 in Japan, number 46 in Switzerland, number 52 in France, and number 57 in the Netherlands.
Around this time, The Used were aware that Good Charlotte were in need of a drummer, and introduced them to Chris Wilson. Shortly after this, he became the group's drummer. In July, the group filmed a video for "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous". Directed by Bill Fishman, it features appearances from 'NSYNC vocalist Chris Kirkpatrick, Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass and Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. In the video, the group perform inside a mansion, before police surround the mansion. The band is subsequently arrested and appear before a courtroom. The song was released to modern rock radio on August 13, and released as a CD single on September 9. It featured "Cemetery", "The Click" and an acoustic version of "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" as B-sides. The Young and the Hopeless was released on October 1 through Epic and Daylight Records. The group supported No Doubt on their arena tour for a few shows in early October. In October and November, the group went on a headlining US tour.
Between September and November, the group embarked on a headlining US arena tour. The first half was supported by Mest and Something Corporate, while the remaining half was supported by Eve 6 and Goldfinger. At the start of the tour, "Hold On" was released to alternative rock radio. In October, the group filmed a music video for "Hold On" with director Samuel Bayer. The video premiered on November 12 on Total Request Live. For the video, the group collaborated with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It features people with deceased relatives and people who have attempted suicide. In December, the group went on a UK tour with Sugarcult and Mest. In January 2004, the group went on a tour of Japan. "Hold On" and "The Young & the Hopeless" were released as a joint single on January 13. A music video was made for "The Young & the Hopeless", directed by Sam Erickson and the Madden brothers. The video was filmed on a sound stage in Indianapolis, Indiana and the set was filled with a variety of trophies and ribbons, which the band destroy towards the end of the video. In September, the album was reissued as a two-CD package with Good Charlotte.
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004–2006)
The Chronicles of Life and Death was made available for streaming on October 1 through MTV's The Leak. Initially planned for release in September, The Chronicles of Life and Death was officially released on October 5 through Epic and Daylight Records. It was released in two different editions: Life (with "Falling Away" as a bonus track) and Death (with "Meet My Maker" as a bonus track), both with different artwork created by Martin. The art for the Life resembles a first-edition book, while the art for the Death version resembles a 100-year-old book. The album booklet is done in the style of a storybook with the song lyrics detailing a story accompanied by illustrations. The album sold nearly 200,000 copies in its first week and reached number three on the Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album in the United States. The group debuted material from the album during a show in New York. Alkaline Trio drummer Derek Grant temporarily substituted for drummer Chris Wilson during the show as Wilson was reportedly receiving therapy. Grant subsequently played with the group for a few more promotional events, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and in-store performances.
In October and November, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Sum 41. They were supported by Lola Ray and Hazen Street. "I Just Wanna Live" was released as a CD single in Australia on January 17, 2005, with live versions of "S.O.S." and "The World Is Black" as B-sides. The song's music video, directed by Brett Simon, features the group performing in a dive bar before the members return to their day jobs. Eventually, someone from the music industry signs the band, known as the Food Group, who are dressed as an array of food items. In February 2005, the band appeared at MTV Asia's tsunami-relief event for the tsunami in Southeast Asia, before touring Australia. The group embarked on a tour of Europe and the UK in March with support from The Explosion. In early April, a music video was filmed for "We Believe" with director Sam Erickson at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The video features the group performing in an abandoned theatre overlapped with war imagery and people suffering.
In May and June, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Simple Plan, dubbed the Noise to the World tour. They were supported by Relient K. A few dates into the tour, Wilson left the group citing to health concerns. He was replaced by Dean Butterworth. The group met him through John Feldmann of Goldfinger. "The Chronicles of Life and Death" was released as a CD single in Australia on June 3 with live versions of "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "Mountain", and a remix of "I Just Wanna Live" as B-sides. "We Believe" was released as a single on August 15. In October, the band appeared at the Bridge School Benefit and on November 13 the album was released on the DualDisc format. It included a making-of documentary and live performances. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish."
Good Morning Revival and Greatest Remixes (2007–2008)
Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow-up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country. Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of its highest international chart positions thus far, and went on to sell 4.5 million copies. At midnight, on January 23, 2007, the record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single "The River" could be downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album was queued to be downloaded on the release date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provided the exclusive bonus acoustic version of the song. This album was suggested a different sound for the group apart from the group's pop punk roots.
The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4, 2007, and was released as the first single from the album in North America. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on April 13, 2007, making it the second single released from the album in the UK. The song charted at No. 108. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at No. 36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to No. 23 when released in stores. The second single released in North America was "Dance Floor Anthem", with which the band had scored a surprise hit, making it onto 11 different Billboard charts and peaking at No. 2 in Australia. The "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" video was certified gold by MTV International in December 2007. It was played 3,000 times on over four continents during the first half of 2007. On January 1, 2008, Good Charlotte was featured on Tila Tequila's New Year's Eve Masquerade on MTV, as the band was the second performance of the new year and performed its hit "Dance Floor Anthem".
The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 9, 2007, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on April 29, 2007 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl". In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte supported Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. The band was present for the show of August 16, 2007 in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast.
On November 25, 2008, Greatest Remixes was released. This compilation album includes 15 songs from previous Good Charlotte albums remixed by other artists such as Metro Station, Junior Sanchez, William Beckett from The Academy Is..., Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, and The White Tie Affair featuring Mat Devine of Kill Hannah.
Cardiology and Greatest Hits (2009–2011)
Describing the sound to MTV news, Joel Madden said it would sound a lot like Blink-182. Joel Madden went on to say in the same MTV interview that "There's nothing dance-y on the record, though, at all, which is different from our last one," further implying a movement away from the sound of Good Morning Revival. On December 3, 2008, Kerrang! magazine announced that Good Charlotte would be releasing its fifth studio album, Cardiology in 2009. The title of which, according to Joel, comes from the lyrical content of the album, which he explained is "all connected to the heart". Madden also added that the band had already written 20 songs for the new album, and are said to be heading back to their pop-punk roots. On January 24, 2010 Good Charlotte announced that the band had finished the album, but were going to completely scrap it and record with a different producer, Don Gilmore, who also produced the band's first and fourth records, Good Charlotte and Good Morning Revival.
The band released its first single "Like It's Her Birthday" featuring Tonight Alive from the new album on August 24, 2010. The band posted the song online August 5, 2010, and wrote on its website that if the video of the song received more than 100,000 views, the band would post another song from the album. The video reached 100,000 views on August 15, 2010 and the band released "Counting the Days" as a video on its YouTube channel and announced that it will be the second single from the album. The music video for "Like It's Her Birthday" has cameos from The Maine's lead singer John O'Callaghan and guitarist Kennedy Brock and Boys Like Girls' lead singer Martin Johnson, and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.
On November 5, 2010, Good Charlotte's former label, Sony Music, released a Greatest Hits compilation for Australia, spanning 16 singles from the band's four studio albums released on that label. The compilation was later released in the US on January 6, 2011, and in Japan on February 16, 2011.
On September 13, 2010, it was announced that Good Charlotte will be headlining the 2011 Kerrang! Relentless Tour, with supporting acts Four Year Strong, Framing Hanley, and The Wonder Years. On March 3, 2011, Good Charlotte went on tour with This Century and Forever The Sickest Kids throughout North America, playing multiple shows at small high schools across the country. In June 2011 Good Charlotte set out on a U.S. tour co-headlining with Yellowcard and opening act Runner Runner. In June 2011 on an interview with Punkvideosrock.com Billy and Paul stated they were in the process of planning tours for the next 5 years.
On September 1, 2011, Good Charlotte announced a hiatus via interview with Rolling Stone, but The Madden Brothers released a free mix tape in October 2011, Before — Volume One. and their debut album Greetings From California was released in September 2014, which featured Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth as session performer.
Youth Authority and Generation Rx (2015–2020)
On June 2, 2015, Good Charlotte was featured in Waka Flocka's song "Game On", a song from the soundtrack to Pixels movie.
On November 3, 2015, the band announced an official end to the hiatus through Alternative Press and on November 5 the band released a single, "Makeshift Love". A music video for "Makeshift Love" featuring Mikey Way and John Feldmann, including a cameo of the band Waterparks, was released on November 13, 2015. The band performed its first show since its reformation on November 19, 2015, at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. The band supported All Time Low on the UK and Ireland leg of the Back to the Future Hearts tour in 2016.
The group released their sixth studio album, Youth Authority, on July 15, 2016, with guest appearances from Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens and Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro. The album release date was announced on March 30, 2016, with the album title and art following several days later. Discussing the album title, Joel Madden said Youth Authority was the concept that "there's a kid out there right now who has a guitar, or a microphone, or a laptop, with a dream that is going to beat the odds." He said the album felt like the "GC of the past" with "a new energy to it."
On December 8, 2017, the band released a three-song EP, A GC Christmas, Pt. 1, which included a cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas, a full-band version of their previously unreleased song, Christmas by the Phone, and an alternate version of Let the World Be Still, originally by their side project, The Madden Brothers.
On May 24, 2018, the band announced a new album set for September 14, 2018 called Generation Rx. This coincided with the release of a new single called "Actual Pain". They have also announced a tour for 2019 to promote the album. The opioid epidemic inspired the album's title Generation Rx: Rx is often used as an abbreviation for medical prescriptions in the US. The album initially had the working title Cold Song, but was changed after the band realised pain was a running theme throughout the album. Generation Rx talks about several issues: the opioid epidemic, struggles with mental health, difficulty with self-esteem, and the effect of organized religion on other peoples' lives. According to Joel Madden, the album was "all about that inner struggle, and ... the emotional experience we're all going through that gets us to a place where we want to kill the pain that's in all of us." The band played a surprise guest set on the final Vans Warped Tour on July 29, 2018.
On April 2, 2020, Benji and Joel Madden did a Good Charlotte performance livestream via Veeps, a live streaming company owned by Joel Madden, with all proceeds going to "charitable efforts in our community in the COVID-19 pandemic". On September 25, 2020, Billy Martin did a guitar play through livestream on the 20th anniversary of the band's debut album. On December 18, 2020, after a week of previous teasing, Good Charlotte released a single called "Last December", which was the band's first new music in two years.
Musical style and influences
Good Charlotte has been mainly described as a pop punk band. The band also has been described as alternative rock, emo, punk rock, pop rock, skate punk, and emo pop. According to writer Bruce Britt, Good Charlotte combine "the hard-charging fury of skate-punk, the melodiousness of pop, and the spooky, mascara-smeared sensibilities of '80s goth". According to program director Robert Benjamin, Benji Madden told him Good Charlotte "wanted to be a combination of the Backstreet Boys and Minor Threat". Benji was a fan of punk band Social Distortion whereas his brother Joel was interested in bands like The Smiths and The Cure. Good Charlotte cite Beastie Boys, Minor Threat, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Rancid, and Green Day as their influences.
Activism
Billy Martin is a vegetarian and won PETA's vegetarian of the year in 2012. In the past, the band actively supported PETA's animal rights campaigns. Members of the group recorded a track, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", on PETA's Liberation CD and appeared at PETA's 25th Anniversary Gala and Humanitarian Awards Show. Group members have also demonstrated against KFC's treatment of chickens.
In 2012 and 2013, band members heavily promoted Kentucky Fried Chicken in a series of Australian television commercials, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
Band members
Current members
Joel Madden – lead and occasional backing vocals (1995–present), keyboards (1995–1998)
Benji Madden – lead guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals (1995–present), rhythm guitar (1995–1998)
Paul Thomas – bass (1995–present)
Billy Martin – rhythm guitar, keyboards (1998–present)
Dean Butterworth – drums (2005–present)
Session musicians
Josh Freese – drums on The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
David Campbell – string arrangements, string conducting on Good Charlotte (2000), The Young and the Hopeless (2002), and The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Former members
Aaron Escolopio – drums (1995–2001)
Chris Wilson – drums (2002–2005)
Timeline
Discography
Good Charlotte (2000)
The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Good Morning Revival (2007)
Cardiology (2010)
Youth Authority (2016)
Generation Rx (2018)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
1995 establishments in Maryland
Pop punk groups from Maryland
American pop rock music groups
Alternative rock groups from Maryland
Rock music groups from Maryland
Kerrang! Awards winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quintets
People from Waldorf, Maryland
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups from Washington, D.C. | false | [
"Lena Rice defeated May Jacks 6–4, 6–1 in the all comers' final to win the ladies' singles tennis title at the 1889 Wimbledon Championships. The reigning champion Blanche Hillyard did not defend her title. Despite previous draws there were only four competitors in the tournament, the smallest entry ever for any competition at Wimbledon.\n\nDraw\n\nAll Comers'\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nLadies' Singles\nWimbledon Championship by year – Women's singles\nWimbledon Championships - Singles\nWimbledon Championships - Singles",
"\"If There's Any Justice\" is the first single taken from British R&B singer Lemar's second album, Time to Grow (2004). Originally offered to Hear'Say, the song was rejected by the group after they decided it was \"too mature\" for them. It would eventually become a top-10 hit for Lemar, peaking at 3 on the UK Singles Chart, his fourth in a row to reach the top 10. Outside the UK, the song reached No. 1 in Hungary and entered the top 40 in France, Ireland, and New Zealand.\n\nLyrical content\nThe lyrics refer to Lemar being in love with a girl who already has a man. He claims that if he had met her first, he would be her man instead. He is making it clear in the song that he feels that there is no justice in the world because of this fact.\n\nCover versions\nDutch singer Floortje Smit covered the song—retitled \"Justice\"—for her debut album \"Fearless\". James Blunt performed an acoustic version of the song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge (part of Jo Wiley's show), later released on the compilation album \"Radio 1's Live Lounge\".\n\nTrack listings\n UK CD1\n \"If There's Any Justice\" (radio edit) – 3:29\n \"If There's Any Justice\" (Ron G remix featuring Cassidy) – 3:55\n\n UK CD2\n \"If There's Any Justice\" (album version) – 3:49\n \"If There's Any Justice\" (5am remix featuring Cassidy) – 3:34\n \"All I Ever Do/My Boo (Part II)\" – 4:12\n \"If There's Any Justice\" (video) – 3:49\n\n UK 12-inch vinyl\nA1. \"If There's Any Justice\" (Kardinal Beats remix featuring Cassidy) – 3:34\nA2. \"If There's Any Justice\" (Ron G remix featuring Cassidy) – 3:53\nA3. \"If There's Any Justice\" (Cutfather & Joe remix featuring Cassidy) – 3:17\nB1. \"If There's Any Justice\" (5am remix featuring Cassidy) – 3:34\nB2. \"If There's Any Justice\" (First Man remix) – 3:30\nB3. \"If There's Any Justice\" (accapella) – 3:40\n\nCharts and certifications\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\n2004 singles\n2004 songs\nLemar songs\nNumber-one singles in Hungary\nSongs written by Mick Leeson\nSongs written by Peter Vale\nSony Music UK singles"
] |
[
"Good Charlotte",
"The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004-07)",
"was the Chronicles of life and death an album?",
"Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004.",
"were there any singles?",
"The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit \"I Just Wanna Live\"."
] | C_63f44699604543068fa3c7a751ad2fc2_1 | was the album well received? | 3 | was the album The Chronicles of Life and Death well received? | Good Charlotte | Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base. The album sold 2.2 million copies. The album has been widely considered a departure from the band's previous two albums, mixing new elements such as lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". All of the singles released from the album went top 30 in the UK, except for "We Believe". The band would then go on tour with Sum 41. In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, "Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005." Chris then joined the pop/punk band The Summer Obsession until 2011. He currently plays drums for JMSN. On Good Charlotte's "Noise to the World" Tour, performing with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth (who had previously played for Morrissey) as the band's temporary drummer. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish." CANNOTANSWER | The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base. | Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of Joel Madden (lead vocals), Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (guitar and keyboards), and Dean Butterworth (drums and percussion).
The band released their self-titled debut album in 2000 to mostly positive reviews. In 2002, they achieved breakthrough success with their second album, The Young and the Hopeless. Featuring the hit singles "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "The Anthem" and "Girls & Boys", The Young and the Hopeless sold 3.5 million copies in the US and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, for a total of almost 5 million copies sold worldwide. The band followed up with The Chronicles of Life and Death in 2004; a darker album, both musically and lyrically. Backed by the singles "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", The Chronicles of Life and Death continued the band's success, and the album was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the US alone. In 2007, they released the dance-punk inspired album Good Morning Revival before going back to their pop punk-roots with the album Cardiology in 2010. After a four-year-long hiatus, the band announced its comeback on November 3, 2015. The band released Youth Authority to positive reviews in 2016, and in 2018 they released their latest album, Generation Rx. In addition, they released two compilations: Greatest Remixes in 2008 and Greatest Hits in 2010.
History
Early years (1995–1999)
After watching a Beastie Boys show in 1995, twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden formed Good Charlotte in Waldorf, Maryland, with Joel on vocals and Benji on guitar. Following the brothers' graduation in 1997, instead of going to college they worked full-time on the band. The Madden brothers focused on getting the band signed, reading books and magazines that would aid them in achieving this goal. They made promotional packages which they sent to record labels. Joel Madden learned that the girl he took to homecoming was a sister of bassist Paul Thomas. Thomas met the brothers and was unimpressed with their performance skills. Soon afterwards, the brothers recruited their fellow high-school pupil Aaron Escolopio as a drummer and began playing clubs in the D.C. metro area. The Madden brothers moved to Annapolis, Maryland where they performed acoustic shows. The band named themselves Good Charlotte after the children's book, Good Charlotte: Girls of the Good Day Orphanage, by Carol Beach York.
Guitarist Billy Martin went to one of these shows at the insistence of Jimi HaHa of Jimmie's Chicken Shack. Martin became friends with the Madden brothers and let them move in with him after they were evicted from their apartment. Martin joined Good Charlotte after the trio learned they had a shared interest in the Australian rock band Silverchair and the break up of Martin's band Overflow. They wrote new songs and recorded and performed demos. The band began building a fan base by performing at the HFStival in 1998, and serving as support slots for Blink-182, Lit and Bad Religion. In 1999, Good Charlotte opened for Save Ferris in Philadelphia. After the performance, they left a demo of "Little Things" that soon got airplay on local radio station Y100. Benji Madden was certain of the song's potential hit status with its high-school theme and the reality of its lyrics.
A Sony Music employee passed the band's demo to regional promotion manager Mike Martinovich, who was impressed by the group's writing ability and the autobiographical nature of the songs. He contacted talent manager Steve Feinberg, who flew to Annapolis to watch the group perform and later began working with them. Around the same time, WHFS also began playing the demo. As the track became a hit in the area, record labels began showing interest in Good Charlotte. By the end of 1999, the band went on an east-coast tour with Lit. Representatives from several major labels attended the New York City show of the tour.
Good Charlotte (2000–2001)
Starting in 2000, the group became a full-time touring act with support slots for Lit, Goldfinger, Sum 41, and Mest. Following a showcase in New York City, the group met with people in the music industry. David Massey, executive vice president of A&R at major label Epic Records, signed the band to the label in May.
Good Charlotte's debut studio album Good Charlotte was released on September 26, 2000 through Epic and Daylight Records. The Japanese edition included "The Click", a cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "If You Leave" and a live acoustic version of "The Motivation Proclamation" as bonus tracks. Sales did not meet the label's expectations, and the group were nearly dropped from the label. In October and November, the group went on a US tour with Fenix TX, followed by a US tour with MxPx until the end of the year.
In December, the group appeared at HFSmas, the winter version of HFStival. On March 1, 2001, "Little Things" was released as a single in Australia. The CD version included "The Click" and "Thank You Mom" as B-sides. Despite the lack of success for "Little Things", the group's label allowed them to make another video, which was for "The Motivation Proclamation". It was directed by Webb and features the band members on the ground, waking up one-by-one and starting to perform. Scenes from Undergrads were played on a TV. Between March and May, the group supported MxPx on their headlining US tour. In April, the video for "The Motivation Proclamation" was receiving airplay from video outlets. While on the MxPx tour, the album was consistently selling 3,000 copies per week. As a result, the group wanted to make a live music video. At the end of May, the group performed at HFStival. During their set, a music video was filmed for "Festival Song", directed by Marc Webb. The video ended up being a mini-documentary on the day. Members of Mest, New Found Glory, and Linkin Park appear in the video.
The Young and the Hopeless (2002–2003)
2002's The Young and the Hopeless sold 4.9 million copies and thrust the band into mainstream popularity. The band's breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that were released from the album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "The Young & the Hopeless", and "Hold On". The band cited Rancid, Social Distortion, and The Clash as influences for the album.
The Young and the Hopeless debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 copies. By August 2003, the album had sold over 2 million copies, and by October 2004, 3 million. At that time, the album was still charting on the Billboard 200, 2 years after its release. The album's singles lifted the band from modern rock to top 40 radio stations, with all three major singles crossing over to the format. Each had major success in MTV's Total Request Live. As of 2011, it had sold over 3.5 million copies in the US. The album reached number 18 and 104 on the Billboard 200 year-end charts in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The album charted at number 6 in New Zealand, number 7 in Sweden, number 9 in Australia, number 15 in the UK, number 20 in Austria, number 24 in Japan, number 46 in Switzerland, number 52 in France, and number 57 in the Netherlands.
Around this time, The Used were aware that Good Charlotte were in need of a drummer, and introduced them to Chris Wilson. Shortly after this, he became the group's drummer. In July, the group filmed a video for "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous". Directed by Bill Fishman, it features appearances from 'NSYNC vocalist Chris Kirkpatrick, Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass and Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. In the video, the group perform inside a mansion, before police surround the mansion. The band is subsequently arrested and appear before a courtroom. The song was released to modern rock radio on August 13, and released as a CD single on September 9. It featured "Cemetery", "The Click" and an acoustic version of "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" as B-sides. The Young and the Hopeless was released on October 1 through Epic and Daylight Records. The group supported No Doubt on their arena tour for a few shows in early October. In October and November, the group went on a headlining US tour.
Between September and November, the group embarked on a headlining US arena tour. The first half was supported by Mest and Something Corporate, while the remaining half was supported by Eve 6 and Goldfinger. At the start of the tour, "Hold On" was released to alternative rock radio. In October, the group filmed a music video for "Hold On" with director Samuel Bayer. The video premiered on November 12 on Total Request Live. For the video, the group collaborated with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It features people with deceased relatives and people who have attempted suicide. In December, the group went on a UK tour with Sugarcult and Mest. In January 2004, the group went on a tour of Japan. "Hold On" and "The Young & the Hopeless" were released as a joint single on January 13. A music video was made for "The Young & the Hopeless", directed by Sam Erickson and the Madden brothers. The video was filmed on a sound stage in Indianapolis, Indiana and the set was filled with a variety of trophies and ribbons, which the band destroy towards the end of the video. In September, the album was reissued as a two-CD package with Good Charlotte.
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004–2006)
The Chronicles of Life and Death was made available for streaming on October 1 through MTV's The Leak. Initially planned for release in September, The Chronicles of Life and Death was officially released on October 5 through Epic and Daylight Records. It was released in two different editions: Life (with "Falling Away" as a bonus track) and Death (with "Meet My Maker" as a bonus track), both with different artwork created by Martin. The art for the Life resembles a first-edition book, while the art for the Death version resembles a 100-year-old book. The album booklet is done in the style of a storybook with the song lyrics detailing a story accompanied by illustrations. The album sold nearly 200,000 copies in its first week and reached number three on the Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album in the United States. The group debuted material from the album during a show in New York. Alkaline Trio drummer Derek Grant temporarily substituted for drummer Chris Wilson during the show as Wilson was reportedly receiving therapy. Grant subsequently played with the group for a few more promotional events, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and in-store performances.
In October and November, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Sum 41. They were supported by Lola Ray and Hazen Street. "I Just Wanna Live" was released as a CD single in Australia on January 17, 2005, with live versions of "S.O.S." and "The World Is Black" as B-sides. The song's music video, directed by Brett Simon, features the group performing in a dive bar before the members return to their day jobs. Eventually, someone from the music industry signs the band, known as the Food Group, who are dressed as an array of food items. In February 2005, the band appeared at MTV Asia's tsunami-relief event for the tsunami in Southeast Asia, before touring Australia. The group embarked on a tour of Europe and the UK in March with support from The Explosion. In early April, a music video was filmed for "We Believe" with director Sam Erickson at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The video features the group performing in an abandoned theatre overlapped with war imagery and people suffering.
In May and June, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Simple Plan, dubbed the Noise to the World tour. They were supported by Relient K. A few dates into the tour, Wilson left the group citing to health concerns. He was replaced by Dean Butterworth. The group met him through John Feldmann of Goldfinger. "The Chronicles of Life and Death" was released as a CD single in Australia on June 3 with live versions of "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "Mountain", and a remix of "I Just Wanna Live" as B-sides. "We Believe" was released as a single on August 15. In October, the band appeared at the Bridge School Benefit and on November 13 the album was released on the DualDisc format. It included a making-of documentary and live performances. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish."
Good Morning Revival and Greatest Remixes (2007–2008)
Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow-up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country. Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of its highest international chart positions thus far, and went on to sell 4.5 million copies. At midnight, on January 23, 2007, the record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single "The River" could be downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album was queued to be downloaded on the release date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provided the exclusive bonus acoustic version of the song. This album was suggested a different sound for the group apart from the group's pop punk roots.
The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4, 2007, and was released as the first single from the album in North America. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on April 13, 2007, making it the second single released from the album in the UK. The song charted at No. 108. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at No. 36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to No. 23 when released in stores. The second single released in North America was "Dance Floor Anthem", with which the band had scored a surprise hit, making it onto 11 different Billboard charts and peaking at No. 2 in Australia. The "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" video was certified gold by MTV International in December 2007. It was played 3,000 times on over four continents during the first half of 2007. On January 1, 2008, Good Charlotte was featured on Tila Tequila's New Year's Eve Masquerade on MTV, as the band was the second performance of the new year and performed its hit "Dance Floor Anthem".
The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 9, 2007, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on April 29, 2007 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl". In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte supported Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. The band was present for the show of August 16, 2007 in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast.
On November 25, 2008, Greatest Remixes was released. This compilation album includes 15 songs from previous Good Charlotte albums remixed by other artists such as Metro Station, Junior Sanchez, William Beckett from The Academy Is..., Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, and The White Tie Affair featuring Mat Devine of Kill Hannah.
Cardiology and Greatest Hits (2009–2011)
Describing the sound to MTV news, Joel Madden said it would sound a lot like Blink-182. Joel Madden went on to say in the same MTV interview that "There's nothing dance-y on the record, though, at all, which is different from our last one," further implying a movement away from the sound of Good Morning Revival. On December 3, 2008, Kerrang! magazine announced that Good Charlotte would be releasing its fifth studio album, Cardiology in 2009. The title of which, according to Joel, comes from the lyrical content of the album, which he explained is "all connected to the heart". Madden also added that the band had already written 20 songs for the new album, and are said to be heading back to their pop-punk roots. On January 24, 2010 Good Charlotte announced that the band had finished the album, but were going to completely scrap it and record with a different producer, Don Gilmore, who also produced the band's first and fourth records, Good Charlotte and Good Morning Revival.
The band released its first single "Like It's Her Birthday" featuring Tonight Alive from the new album on August 24, 2010. The band posted the song online August 5, 2010, and wrote on its website that if the video of the song received more than 100,000 views, the band would post another song from the album. The video reached 100,000 views on August 15, 2010 and the band released "Counting the Days" as a video on its YouTube channel and announced that it will be the second single from the album. The music video for "Like It's Her Birthday" has cameos from The Maine's lead singer John O'Callaghan and guitarist Kennedy Brock and Boys Like Girls' lead singer Martin Johnson, and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.
On November 5, 2010, Good Charlotte's former label, Sony Music, released a Greatest Hits compilation for Australia, spanning 16 singles from the band's four studio albums released on that label. The compilation was later released in the US on January 6, 2011, and in Japan on February 16, 2011.
On September 13, 2010, it was announced that Good Charlotte will be headlining the 2011 Kerrang! Relentless Tour, with supporting acts Four Year Strong, Framing Hanley, and The Wonder Years. On March 3, 2011, Good Charlotte went on tour with This Century and Forever The Sickest Kids throughout North America, playing multiple shows at small high schools across the country. In June 2011 Good Charlotte set out on a U.S. tour co-headlining with Yellowcard and opening act Runner Runner. In June 2011 on an interview with Punkvideosrock.com Billy and Paul stated they were in the process of planning tours for the next 5 years.
On September 1, 2011, Good Charlotte announced a hiatus via interview with Rolling Stone, but The Madden Brothers released a free mix tape in October 2011, Before — Volume One. and their debut album Greetings From California was released in September 2014, which featured Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth as session performer.
Youth Authority and Generation Rx (2015–2020)
On June 2, 2015, Good Charlotte was featured in Waka Flocka's song "Game On", a song from the soundtrack to Pixels movie.
On November 3, 2015, the band announced an official end to the hiatus through Alternative Press and on November 5 the band released a single, "Makeshift Love". A music video for "Makeshift Love" featuring Mikey Way and John Feldmann, including a cameo of the band Waterparks, was released on November 13, 2015. The band performed its first show since its reformation on November 19, 2015, at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. The band supported All Time Low on the UK and Ireland leg of the Back to the Future Hearts tour in 2016.
The group released their sixth studio album, Youth Authority, on July 15, 2016, with guest appearances from Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens and Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro. The album release date was announced on March 30, 2016, with the album title and art following several days later. Discussing the album title, Joel Madden said Youth Authority was the concept that "there's a kid out there right now who has a guitar, or a microphone, or a laptop, with a dream that is going to beat the odds." He said the album felt like the "GC of the past" with "a new energy to it."
On December 8, 2017, the band released a three-song EP, A GC Christmas, Pt. 1, which included a cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas, a full-band version of their previously unreleased song, Christmas by the Phone, and an alternate version of Let the World Be Still, originally by their side project, The Madden Brothers.
On May 24, 2018, the band announced a new album set for September 14, 2018 called Generation Rx. This coincided with the release of a new single called "Actual Pain". They have also announced a tour for 2019 to promote the album. The opioid epidemic inspired the album's title Generation Rx: Rx is often used as an abbreviation for medical prescriptions in the US. The album initially had the working title Cold Song, but was changed after the band realised pain was a running theme throughout the album. Generation Rx talks about several issues: the opioid epidemic, struggles with mental health, difficulty with self-esteem, and the effect of organized religion on other peoples' lives. According to Joel Madden, the album was "all about that inner struggle, and ... the emotional experience we're all going through that gets us to a place where we want to kill the pain that's in all of us." The band played a surprise guest set on the final Vans Warped Tour on July 29, 2018.
On April 2, 2020, Benji and Joel Madden did a Good Charlotte performance livestream via Veeps, a live streaming company owned by Joel Madden, with all proceeds going to "charitable efforts in our community in the COVID-19 pandemic". On September 25, 2020, Billy Martin did a guitar play through livestream on the 20th anniversary of the band's debut album. On December 18, 2020, after a week of previous teasing, Good Charlotte released a single called "Last December", which was the band's first new music in two years.
Musical style and influences
Good Charlotte has been mainly described as a pop punk band. The band also has been described as alternative rock, emo, punk rock, pop rock, skate punk, and emo pop. According to writer Bruce Britt, Good Charlotte combine "the hard-charging fury of skate-punk, the melodiousness of pop, and the spooky, mascara-smeared sensibilities of '80s goth". According to program director Robert Benjamin, Benji Madden told him Good Charlotte "wanted to be a combination of the Backstreet Boys and Minor Threat". Benji was a fan of punk band Social Distortion whereas his brother Joel was interested in bands like The Smiths and The Cure. Good Charlotte cite Beastie Boys, Minor Threat, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Rancid, and Green Day as their influences.
Activism
Billy Martin is a vegetarian and won PETA's vegetarian of the year in 2012. In the past, the band actively supported PETA's animal rights campaigns. Members of the group recorded a track, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", on PETA's Liberation CD and appeared at PETA's 25th Anniversary Gala and Humanitarian Awards Show. Group members have also demonstrated against KFC's treatment of chickens.
In 2012 and 2013, band members heavily promoted Kentucky Fried Chicken in a series of Australian television commercials, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
Band members
Current members
Joel Madden – lead and occasional backing vocals (1995–present), keyboards (1995–1998)
Benji Madden – lead guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals (1995–present), rhythm guitar (1995–1998)
Paul Thomas – bass (1995–present)
Billy Martin – rhythm guitar, keyboards (1998–present)
Dean Butterworth – drums (2005–present)
Session musicians
Josh Freese – drums on The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
David Campbell – string arrangements, string conducting on Good Charlotte (2000), The Young and the Hopeless (2002), and The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Former members
Aaron Escolopio – drums (1995–2001)
Chris Wilson – drums (2002–2005)
Timeline
Discography
Good Charlotte (2000)
The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Good Morning Revival (2007)
Cardiology (2010)
Youth Authority (2016)
Generation Rx (2018)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
1995 establishments in Maryland
Pop punk groups from Maryland
American pop rock music groups
Alternative rock groups from Maryland
Rock music groups from Maryland
Kerrang! Awards winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quintets
People from Waldorf, Maryland
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups from Washington, D.C. | false | [
"Strange Fruit is the second solo album by Trijntje Oosterhuis and was released on 22 March 2004 on Blue Note records. Trijntje's solo debut album was well received, and consisted mainly of pop ballads not reflective of her personal fondness for jazz.\n\nDuring 2003 Trijntje made a tour with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Houdini's playing covers of Billie Holiday and George Gershwin. Trijntje decided to record the 7 January 2003 concert in the Concertzaal in Tilburg and the 8 January 2003 concert in Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden and release it as an album. The album was named after Billie Holiday's song \"Strange Fruit.\"\n\nStrange Fruit was very well received, received critical acclaim, with Trijntje gaining notoriety beyond The Netherlands. It was released outside the Netherlands under the artist name Traincha. The album has been certified two times Platinum and peaked at number 2 on the Dutch album charts.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official site\n\nTrijntje Oosterhuis albums\n2004 live albums\nBlue Note Records live albums",
"Post Paradise is the debut album by Australian band The Holidays. In Australia, it was released on 24 September 2010, and in Japan in January 2011 on the Rallye Label. Among other accolades, The Holidays won the Australian Music Prize's Red Bull Award for Best Debut Album, as well as being shortlisted for the actual Australian Music Prize.\n\nRecorded at home and self-produced, with additional recording and production at BJB Studios, Post Paradise was mixed at Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne by Tony Espie and mastered by David Walker at Stepford Audio Melbourne. Recording began in September 2009, and was completed sporadically throughout most of 2010, finishing in June 2010.\n\nThe first single from the album \"Moonlight Hours\" was released in December 2009, followed by \"Golden Sky\" in May 2010 and Broken Bones upon the release of the album. A music video was made for all three tracks, and they all received solid airplay on Australian community radio stations and Triple J.\n\nThe album has received positive reviews since its release, including \"Album of the Week\" in Drum Media, Beat Magazine, The Brag, and received 5 stars in BMA Mag, 4.5 stars in The Herald Sun, The Courier Mail and The Daily Telegraph as well as positive reviews in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Post Paradise won Album of the Year in the EG Awards 2010, and was the Triple J Feature Album for the week commencing 26 December 2010. It also won Best Debut Album in the Australian Music Prize's Red Bull Award.\n\nThe Holidays completed a national album tour following the release of Post Paradise, in late September/early October 2010 in Australia.\n\nFourth single \"6am\" was added to radio nationwide in early January 2011, whilst track \"2 Days\" was picked up by Triple J in early 2011.\n\nTrack listing\n\niTunes/Japanese release bonus tracks\n\nExternal links\n Official website\n MySpace\n Liberation Music\n\nReferences\n\n2010 albums\nThe Holidays albums"
] |
[
"Good Charlotte",
"The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004-07)",
"was the Chronicles of life and death an album?",
"Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004.",
"were there any singles?",
"The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit \"I Just Wanna Live\".",
"was the album well received?",
"The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base."
] | C_63f44699604543068fa3c7a751ad2fc2_1 | how many albums did they sell? | 4 | how many albums did Good Charlotte sell? | Good Charlotte | Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base. The album sold 2.2 million copies. The album has been widely considered a departure from the band's previous two albums, mixing new elements such as lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". All of the singles released from the album went top 30 in the UK, except for "We Believe". The band would then go on tour with Sum 41. In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, "Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005." Chris then joined the pop/punk band The Summer Obsession until 2011. He currently plays drums for JMSN. On Good Charlotte's "Noise to the World" Tour, performing with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth (who had previously played for Morrissey) as the band's temporary drummer. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish." CANNOTANSWER | The album sold 2.2 million copies. | Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of Joel Madden (lead vocals), Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (guitar and keyboards), and Dean Butterworth (drums and percussion).
The band released their self-titled debut album in 2000 to mostly positive reviews. In 2002, they achieved breakthrough success with their second album, The Young and the Hopeless. Featuring the hit singles "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "The Anthem" and "Girls & Boys", The Young and the Hopeless sold 3.5 million copies in the US and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, for a total of almost 5 million copies sold worldwide. The band followed up with The Chronicles of Life and Death in 2004; a darker album, both musically and lyrically. Backed by the singles "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", The Chronicles of Life and Death continued the band's success, and the album was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the US alone. In 2007, they released the dance-punk inspired album Good Morning Revival before going back to their pop punk-roots with the album Cardiology in 2010. After a four-year-long hiatus, the band announced its comeback on November 3, 2015. The band released Youth Authority to positive reviews in 2016, and in 2018 they released their latest album, Generation Rx. In addition, they released two compilations: Greatest Remixes in 2008 and Greatest Hits in 2010.
History
Early years (1995–1999)
After watching a Beastie Boys show in 1995, twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden formed Good Charlotte in Waldorf, Maryland, with Joel on vocals and Benji on guitar. Following the brothers' graduation in 1997, instead of going to college they worked full-time on the band. The Madden brothers focused on getting the band signed, reading books and magazines that would aid them in achieving this goal. They made promotional packages which they sent to record labels. Joel Madden learned that the girl he took to homecoming was a sister of bassist Paul Thomas. Thomas met the brothers and was unimpressed with their performance skills. Soon afterwards, the brothers recruited their fellow high-school pupil Aaron Escolopio as a drummer and began playing clubs in the D.C. metro area. The Madden brothers moved to Annapolis, Maryland where they performed acoustic shows. The band named themselves Good Charlotte after the children's book, Good Charlotte: Girls of the Good Day Orphanage, by Carol Beach York.
Guitarist Billy Martin went to one of these shows at the insistence of Jimi HaHa of Jimmie's Chicken Shack. Martin became friends with the Madden brothers and let them move in with him after they were evicted from their apartment. Martin joined Good Charlotte after the trio learned they had a shared interest in the Australian rock band Silverchair and the break up of Martin's band Overflow. They wrote new songs and recorded and performed demos. The band began building a fan base by performing at the HFStival in 1998, and serving as support slots for Blink-182, Lit and Bad Religion. In 1999, Good Charlotte opened for Save Ferris in Philadelphia. After the performance, they left a demo of "Little Things" that soon got airplay on local radio station Y100. Benji Madden was certain of the song's potential hit status with its high-school theme and the reality of its lyrics.
A Sony Music employee passed the band's demo to regional promotion manager Mike Martinovich, who was impressed by the group's writing ability and the autobiographical nature of the songs. He contacted talent manager Steve Feinberg, who flew to Annapolis to watch the group perform and later began working with them. Around the same time, WHFS also began playing the demo. As the track became a hit in the area, record labels began showing interest in Good Charlotte. By the end of 1999, the band went on an east-coast tour with Lit. Representatives from several major labels attended the New York City show of the tour.
Good Charlotte (2000–2001)
Starting in 2000, the group became a full-time touring act with support slots for Lit, Goldfinger, Sum 41, and Mest. Following a showcase in New York City, the group met with people in the music industry. David Massey, executive vice president of A&R at major label Epic Records, signed the band to the label in May.
Good Charlotte's debut studio album Good Charlotte was released on September 26, 2000 through Epic and Daylight Records. The Japanese edition included "The Click", a cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "If You Leave" and a live acoustic version of "The Motivation Proclamation" as bonus tracks. Sales did not meet the label's expectations, and the group were nearly dropped from the label. In October and November, the group went on a US tour with Fenix TX, followed by a US tour with MxPx until the end of the year.
In December, the group appeared at HFSmas, the winter version of HFStival. On March 1, 2001, "Little Things" was released as a single in Australia. The CD version included "The Click" and "Thank You Mom" as B-sides. Despite the lack of success for "Little Things", the group's label allowed them to make another video, which was for "The Motivation Proclamation". It was directed by Webb and features the band members on the ground, waking up one-by-one and starting to perform. Scenes from Undergrads were played on a TV. Between March and May, the group supported MxPx on their headlining US tour. In April, the video for "The Motivation Proclamation" was receiving airplay from video outlets. While on the MxPx tour, the album was consistently selling 3,000 copies per week. As a result, the group wanted to make a live music video. At the end of May, the group performed at HFStival. During their set, a music video was filmed for "Festival Song", directed by Marc Webb. The video ended up being a mini-documentary on the day. Members of Mest, New Found Glory, and Linkin Park appear in the video.
The Young and the Hopeless (2002–2003)
2002's The Young and the Hopeless sold 4.9 million copies and thrust the band into mainstream popularity. The band's breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that were released from the album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "The Young & the Hopeless", and "Hold On". The band cited Rancid, Social Distortion, and The Clash as influences for the album.
The Young and the Hopeless debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 copies. By August 2003, the album had sold over 2 million copies, and by October 2004, 3 million. At that time, the album was still charting on the Billboard 200, 2 years after its release. The album's singles lifted the band from modern rock to top 40 radio stations, with all three major singles crossing over to the format. Each had major success in MTV's Total Request Live. As of 2011, it had sold over 3.5 million copies in the US. The album reached number 18 and 104 on the Billboard 200 year-end charts in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The album charted at number 6 in New Zealand, number 7 in Sweden, number 9 in Australia, number 15 in the UK, number 20 in Austria, number 24 in Japan, number 46 in Switzerland, number 52 in France, and number 57 in the Netherlands.
Around this time, The Used were aware that Good Charlotte were in need of a drummer, and introduced them to Chris Wilson. Shortly after this, he became the group's drummer. In July, the group filmed a video for "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous". Directed by Bill Fishman, it features appearances from 'NSYNC vocalist Chris Kirkpatrick, Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass and Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. In the video, the group perform inside a mansion, before police surround the mansion. The band is subsequently arrested and appear before a courtroom. The song was released to modern rock radio on August 13, and released as a CD single on September 9. It featured "Cemetery", "The Click" and an acoustic version of "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" as B-sides. The Young and the Hopeless was released on October 1 through Epic and Daylight Records. The group supported No Doubt on their arena tour for a few shows in early October. In October and November, the group went on a headlining US tour.
Between September and November, the group embarked on a headlining US arena tour. The first half was supported by Mest and Something Corporate, while the remaining half was supported by Eve 6 and Goldfinger. At the start of the tour, "Hold On" was released to alternative rock radio. In October, the group filmed a music video for "Hold On" with director Samuel Bayer. The video premiered on November 12 on Total Request Live. For the video, the group collaborated with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It features people with deceased relatives and people who have attempted suicide. In December, the group went on a UK tour with Sugarcult and Mest. In January 2004, the group went on a tour of Japan. "Hold On" and "The Young & the Hopeless" were released as a joint single on January 13. A music video was made for "The Young & the Hopeless", directed by Sam Erickson and the Madden brothers. The video was filmed on a sound stage in Indianapolis, Indiana and the set was filled with a variety of trophies and ribbons, which the band destroy towards the end of the video. In September, the album was reissued as a two-CD package with Good Charlotte.
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004–2006)
The Chronicles of Life and Death was made available for streaming on October 1 through MTV's The Leak. Initially planned for release in September, The Chronicles of Life and Death was officially released on October 5 through Epic and Daylight Records. It was released in two different editions: Life (with "Falling Away" as a bonus track) and Death (with "Meet My Maker" as a bonus track), both with different artwork created by Martin. The art for the Life resembles a first-edition book, while the art for the Death version resembles a 100-year-old book. The album booklet is done in the style of a storybook with the song lyrics detailing a story accompanied by illustrations. The album sold nearly 200,000 copies in its first week and reached number three on the Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album in the United States. The group debuted material from the album during a show in New York. Alkaline Trio drummer Derek Grant temporarily substituted for drummer Chris Wilson during the show as Wilson was reportedly receiving therapy. Grant subsequently played with the group for a few more promotional events, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and in-store performances.
In October and November, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Sum 41. They were supported by Lola Ray and Hazen Street. "I Just Wanna Live" was released as a CD single in Australia on January 17, 2005, with live versions of "S.O.S." and "The World Is Black" as B-sides. The song's music video, directed by Brett Simon, features the group performing in a dive bar before the members return to their day jobs. Eventually, someone from the music industry signs the band, known as the Food Group, who are dressed as an array of food items. In February 2005, the band appeared at MTV Asia's tsunami-relief event for the tsunami in Southeast Asia, before touring Australia. The group embarked on a tour of Europe and the UK in March with support from The Explosion. In early April, a music video was filmed for "We Believe" with director Sam Erickson at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The video features the group performing in an abandoned theatre overlapped with war imagery and people suffering.
In May and June, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Simple Plan, dubbed the Noise to the World tour. They were supported by Relient K. A few dates into the tour, Wilson left the group citing to health concerns. He was replaced by Dean Butterworth. The group met him through John Feldmann of Goldfinger. "The Chronicles of Life and Death" was released as a CD single in Australia on June 3 with live versions of "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "Mountain", and a remix of "I Just Wanna Live" as B-sides. "We Believe" was released as a single on August 15. In October, the band appeared at the Bridge School Benefit and on November 13 the album was released on the DualDisc format. It included a making-of documentary and live performances. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish."
Good Morning Revival and Greatest Remixes (2007–2008)
Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow-up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country. Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of its highest international chart positions thus far, and went on to sell 4.5 million copies. At midnight, on January 23, 2007, the record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single "The River" could be downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album was queued to be downloaded on the release date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provided the exclusive bonus acoustic version of the song. This album was suggested a different sound for the group apart from the group's pop punk roots.
The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4, 2007, and was released as the first single from the album in North America. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on April 13, 2007, making it the second single released from the album in the UK. The song charted at No. 108. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at No. 36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to No. 23 when released in stores. The second single released in North America was "Dance Floor Anthem", with which the band had scored a surprise hit, making it onto 11 different Billboard charts and peaking at No. 2 in Australia. The "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" video was certified gold by MTV International in December 2007. It was played 3,000 times on over four continents during the first half of 2007. On January 1, 2008, Good Charlotte was featured on Tila Tequila's New Year's Eve Masquerade on MTV, as the band was the second performance of the new year and performed its hit "Dance Floor Anthem".
The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 9, 2007, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on April 29, 2007 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl". In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte supported Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. The band was present for the show of August 16, 2007 in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast.
On November 25, 2008, Greatest Remixes was released. This compilation album includes 15 songs from previous Good Charlotte albums remixed by other artists such as Metro Station, Junior Sanchez, William Beckett from The Academy Is..., Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, and The White Tie Affair featuring Mat Devine of Kill Hannah.
Cardiology and Greatest Hits (2009–2011)
Describing the sound to MTV news, Joel Madden said it would sound a lot like Blink-182. Joel Madden went on to say in the same MTV interview that "There's nothing dance-y on the record, though, at all, which is different from our last one," further implying a movement away from the sound of Good Morning Revival. On December 3, 2008, Kerrang! magazine announced that Good Charlotte would be releasing its fifth studio album, Cardiology in 2009. The title of which, according to Joel, comes from the lyrical content of the album, which he explained is "all connected to the heart". Madden also added that the band had already written 20 songs for the new album, and are said to be heading back to their pop-punk roots. On January 24, 2010 Good Charlotte announced that the band had finished the album, but were going to completely scrap it and record with a different producer, Don Gilmore, who also produced the band's first and fourth records, Good Charlotte and Good Morning Revival.
The band released its first single "Like It's Her Birthday" featuring Tonight Alive from the new album on August 24, 2010. The band posted the song online August 5, 2010, and wrote on its website that if the video of the song received more than 100,000 views, the band would post another song from the album. The video reached 100,000 views on August 15, 2010 and the band released "Counting the Days" as a video on its YouTube channel and announced that it will be the second single from the album. The music video for "Like It's Her Birthday" has cameos from The Maine's lead singer John O'Callaghan and guitarist Kennedy Brock and Boys Like Girls' lead singer Martin Johnson, and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.
On November 5, 2010, Good Charlotte's former label, Sony Music, released a Greatest Hits compilation for Australia, spanning 16 singles from the band's four studio albums released on that label. The compilation was later released in the US on January 6, 2011, and in Japan on February 16, 2011.
On September 13, 2010, it was announced that Good Charlotte will be headlining the 2011 Kerrang! Relentless Tour, with supporting acts Four Year Strong, Framing Hanley, and The Wonder Years. On March 3, 2011, Good Charlotte went on tour with This Century and Forever The Sickest Kids throughout North America, playing multiple shows at small high schools across the country. In June 2011 Good Charlotte set out on a U.S. tour co-headlining with Yellowcard and opening act Runner Runner. In June 2011 on an interview with Punkvideosrock.com Billy and Paul stated they were in the process of planning tours for the next 5 years.
On September 1, 2011, Good Charlotte announced a hiatus via interview with Rolling Stone, but The Madden Brothers released a free mix tape in October 2011, Before — Volume One. and their debut album Greetings From California was released in September 2014, which featured Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth as session performer.
Youth Authority and Generation Rx (2015–2020)
On June 2, 2015, Good Charlotte was featured in Waka Flocka's song "Game On", a song from the soundtrack to Pixels movie.
On November 3, 2015, the band announced an official end to the hiatus through Alternative Press and on November 5 the band released a single, "Makeshift Love". A music video for "Makeshift Love" featuring Mikey Way and John Feldmann, including a cameo of the band Waterparks, was released on November 13, 2015. The band performed its first show since its reformation on November 19, 2015, at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. The band supported All Time Low on the UK and Ireland leg of the Back to the Future Hearts tour in 2016.
The group released their sixth studio album, Youth Authority, on July 15, 2016, with guest appearances from Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens and Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro. The album release date was announced on March 30, 2016, with the album title and art following several days later. Discussing the album title, Joel Madden said Youth Authority was the concept that "there's a kid out there right now who has a guitar, or a microphone, or a laptop, with a dream that is going to beat the odds." He said the album felt like the "GC of the past" with "a new energy to it."
On December 8, 2017, the band released a three-song EP, A GC Christmas, Pt. 1, which included a cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas, a full-band version of their previously unreleased song, Christmas by the Phone, and an alternate version of Let the World Be Still, originally by their side project, The Madden Brothers.
On May 24, 2018, the band announced a new album set for September 14, 2018 called Generation Rx. This coincided with the release of a new single called "Actual Pain". They have also announced a tour for 2019 to promote the album. The opioid epidemic inspired the album's title Generation Rx: Rx is often used as an abbreviation for medical prescriptions in the US. The album initially had the working title Cold Song, but was changed after the band realised pain was a running theme throughout the album. Generation Rx talks about several issues: the opioid epidemic, struggles with mental health, difficulty with self-esteem, and the effect of organized religion on other peoples' lives. According to Joel Madden, the album was "all about that inner struggle, and ... the emotional experience we're all going through that gets us to a place where we want to kill the pain that's in all of us." The band played a surprise guest set on the final Vans Warped Tour on July 29, 2018.
On April 2, 2020, Benji and Joel Madden did a Good Charlotte performance livestream via Veeps, a live streaming company owned by Joel Madden, with all proceeds going to "charitable efforts in our community in the COVID-19 pandemic". On September 25, 2020, Billy Martin did a guitar play through livestream on the 20th anniversary of the band's debut album. On December 18, 2020, after a week of previous teasing, Good Charlotte released a single called "Last December", which was the band's first new music in two years.
Musical style and influences
Good Charlotte has been mainly described as a pop punk band. The band also has been described as alternative rock, emo, punk rock, pop rock, skate punk, and emo pop. According to writer Bruce Britt, Good Charlotte combine "the hard-charging fury of skate-punk, the melodiousness of pop, and the spooky, mascara-smeared sensibilities of '80s goth". According to program director Robert Benjamin, Benji Madden told him Good Charlotte "wanted to be a combination of the Backstreet Boys and Minor Threat". Benji was a fan of punk band Social Distortion whereas his brother Joel was interested in bands like The Smiths and The Cure. Good Charlotte cite Beastie Boys, Minor Threat, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Rancid, and Green Day as their influences.
Activism
Billy Martin is a vegetarian and won PETA's vegetarian of the year in 2012. In the past, the band actively supported PETA's animal rights campaigns. Members of the group recorded a track, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", on PETA's Liberation CD and appeared at PETA's 25th Anniversary Gala and Humanitarian Awards Show. Group members have also demonstrated against KFC's treatment of chickens.
In 2012 and 2013, band members heavily promoted Kentucky Fried Chicken in a series of Australian television commercials, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
Band members
Current members
Joel Madden – lead and occasional backing vocals (1995–present), keyboards (1995–1998)
Benji Madden – lead guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals (1995–present), rhythm guitar (1995–1998)
Paul Thomas – bass (1995–present)
Billy Martin – rhythm guitar, keyboards (1998–present)
Dean Butterworth – drums (2005–present)
Session musicians
Josh Freese – drums on The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
David Campbell – string arrangements, string conducting on Good Charlotte (2000), The Young and the Hopeless (2002), and The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Former members
Aaron Escolopio – drums (1995–2001)
Chris Wilson – drums (2002–2005)
Timeline
Discography
Good Charlotte (2000)
The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Good Morning Revival (2007)
Cardiology (2010)
Youth Authority (2016)
Generation Rx (2018)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
1995 establishments in Maryland
Pop punk groups from Maryland
American pop rock music groups
Alternative rock groups from Maryland
Rock music groups from Maryland
Kerrang! Awards winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quintets
People from Waldorf, Maryland
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups from Washington, D.C. | false | [
"My So-Called Life is the second and final album by the Chicago-based nu metal music group From Zero. The album was released on May 6, 2003 via Arista Records. Due to a lack of promotion by Arista Records, poor reviews, and general changes in mainstream music tastes, the album did not sell many copies. The album features a cover of Phil Collins' \"I Don't Care Anymore\".\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nJett – vocals, bass\nPete Capizzi – guitar, backing vocals\nJoe Pettinato – guitar\nKid – drums\n\nReferences\n\n2003 albums\nFrom Zero albums\nArista Records albums",
"How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? is the tenth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released August 7, 2007 on Slam Jamz Recordings in the United States. Its release coincided with the 20th anniversary of their career. The album debuted at number 49 on Independent Albums chart, and it received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 71/100 from Metacritic. Music critic Robert Christgau named How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? his second favorite album that didn't make Rolling Stone's Top 50 albums of 2007. In September 2012 the album finally entered the UK chart at number 199, followed by success of the top 5 single 'Harder Than YouThink'.\n\nReception\nAlternative Press (p. 176) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- \"Public Enemy remain fiercely independent and definitely seem revitalized.\"\nThe Wire (p. 75) - \"[T]his is PE's tenth studio album in their 20th year and their blunt anti-artiste, anti-materialist stance carries serious weight.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\"How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???\" – 2:36\n\"Black Is Back\" – 2:42\n\"Harder Than You Think\" – 4:09\n\"Between Hard and a Rock Place\" – 0:59\n\"Sex, Drugs & Violence\" (feat. KRS-One) – 3:35\n\"Amerikan Gangster\" (feat. E.Infinite) – 4:03\n\"Can You Hear Me Now\" – 3:58\n\"Head Wide Shut\" – 1:31\n\"Flavor Man\" – 3:44\n\"The Enemy Battle Hymn of the Public\" – 3:24\n\"Escapism\" – 4:53\n\"Frankenstar\" – 3:23\n\"Col-Leepin\" – 3:58\n\"Radiation of a RADIOTVMOVIE Nation\" – 1:10\n\"See Something, Say Something\" – 3:46\n\"Long and Whining Road\" – 4:24\n\"Bridge of Pain\" – 3:07\n\"Eve of Destruction\" – 4:15\n\"How You Sell Soul (Time Is God Refrain)\" – 2:31\n\nPersonnel\nCredits adapted from Allmusic.\n\n James Bomb (S1W) – group member \n Chuck D – executive producer, group member, vocals \n Flavor Flav - group member, vocals\n Bernie Larsen – guitar\n Khari Wynn – guitar \n Michael Faulkner – drums \n Pop Diesel (S1W) – group member \n La Aerial Owens – vocals (background) \n E. Infinite – choir, chorus \n Gene Barge – saxophone\n Gebre Waddell - engineer\n Vincent Arbelet – photography \n Le Bijoutier – photography \n Mathieu Cavaliere – photography \n Derek Welte – photography\n Gary G-Wiz – Producer \n Mike \"mGee\" Gregoire – package design \n Earle Holder – mastering \n Walter Leapheart – liner notes \n Amani K. Smith – associate producer, mixing, producer \n Paul Stone – cover illustration \n Andrew Williams – sound technician \n Ron Wynn – liner notes\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? at Discogs\n \n Album Review at South Florida Times\n\n2007 albums\nPublic Enemy (band) albums"
] |
[
"Good Charlotte",
"The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004-07)",
"was the Chronicles of life and death an album?",
"Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004.",
"were there any singles?",
"The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit \"I Just Wanna Live\".",
"was the album well received?",
"The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base.",
"how many albums did they sell?",
"The album sold 2.2 million copies."
] | C_63f44699604543068fa3c7a751ad2fc2_1 | did they go on tour? | 5 | did Good Charlotte go on tour? | Good Charlotte | Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base. The album sold 2.2 million copies. The album has been widely considered a departure from the band's previous two albums, mixing new elements such as lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". All of the singles released from the album went top 30 in the UK, except for "We Believe". The band would then go on tour with Sum 41. In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, "Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005." Chris then joined the pop/punk band The Summer Obsession until 2011. He currently plays drums for JMSN. On Good Charlotte's "Noise to the World" Tour, performing with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth (who had previously played for Morrissey) as the band's temporary drummer. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish." CANNOTANSWER | The band would then go on tour with Sum 41. | Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of Joel Madden (lead vocals), Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (guitar and keyboards), and Dean Butterworth (drums and percussion).
The band released their self-titled debut album in 2000 to mostly positive reviews. In 2002, they achieved breakthrough success with their second album, The Young and the Hopeless. Featuring the hit singles "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "The Anthem" and "Girls & Boys", The Young and the Hopeless sold 3.5 million copies in the US and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, for a total of almost 5 million copies sold worldwide. The band followed up with The Chronicles of Life and Death in 2004; a darker album, both musically and lyrically. Backed by the singles "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", The Chronicles of Life and Death continued the band's success, and the album was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the US alone. In 2007, they released the dance-punk inspired album Good Morning Revival before going back to their pop punk-roots with the album Cardiology in 2010. After a four-year-long hiatus, the band announced its comeback on November 3, 2015. The band released Youth Authority to positive reviews in 2016, and in 2018 they released their latest album, Generation Rx. In addition, they released two compilations: Greatest Remixes in 2008 and Greatest Hits in 2010.
History
Early years (1995–1999)
After watching a Beastie Boys show in 1995, twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden formed Good Charlotte in Waldorf, Maryland, with Joel on vocals and Benji on guitar. Following the brothers' graduation in 1997, instead of going to college they worked full-time on the band. The Madden brothers focused on getting the band signed, reading books and magazines that would aid them in achieving this goal. They made promotional packages which they sent to record labels. Joel Madden learned that the girl he took to homecoming was a sister of bassist Paul Thomas. Thomas met the brothers and was unimpressed with their performance skills. Soon afterwards, the brothers recruited their fellow high-school pupil Aaron Escolopio as a drummer and began playing clubs in the D.C. metro area. The Madden brothers moved to Annapolis, Maryland where they performed acoustic shows. The band named themselves Good Charlotte after the children's book, Good Charlotte: Girls of the Good Day Orphanage, by Carol Beach York.
Guitarist Billy Martin went to one of these shows at the insistence of Jimi HaHa of Jimmie's Chicken Shack. Martin became friends with the Madden brothers and let them move in with him after they were evicted from their apartment. Martin joined Good Charlotte after the trio learned they had a shared interest in the Australian rock band Silverchair and the break up of Martin's band Overflow. They wrote new songs and recorded and performed demos. The band began building a fan base by performing at the HFStival in 1998, and serving as support slots for Blink-182, Lit and Bad Religion. In 1999, Good Charlotte opened for Save Ferris in Philadelphia. After the performance, they left a demo of "Little Things" that soon got airplay on local radio station Y100. Benji Madden was certain of the song's potential hit status with its high-school theme and the reality of its lyrics.
A Sony Music employee passed the band's demo to regional promotion manager Mike Martinovich, who was impressed by the group's writing ability and the autobiographical nature of the songs. He contacted talent manager Steve Feinberg, who flew to Annapolis to watch the group perform and later began working with them. Around the same time, WHFS also began playing the demo. As the track became a hit in the area, record labels began showing interest in Good Charlotte. By the end of 1999, the band went on an east-coast tour with Lit. Representatives from several major labels attended the New York City show of the tour.
Good Charlotte (2000–2001)
Starting in 2000, the group became a full-time touring act with support slots for Lit, Goldfinger, Sum 41, and Mest. Following a showcase in New York City, the group met with people in the music industry. David Massey, executive vice president of A&R at major label Epic Records, signed the band to the label in May.
Good Charlotte's debut studio album Good Charlotte was released on September 26, 2000 through Epic and Daylight Records. The Japanese edition included "The Click", a cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "If You Leave" and a live acoustic version of "The Motivation Proclamation" as bonus tracks. Sales did not meet the label's expectations, and the group were nearly dropped from the label. In October and November, the group went on a US tour with Fenix TX, followed by a US tour with MxPx until the end of the year.
In December, the group appeared at HFSmas, the winter version of HFStival. On March 1, 2001, "Little Things" was released as a single in Australia. The CD version included "The Click" and "Thank You Mom" as B-sides. Despite the lack of success for "Little Things", the group's label allowed them to make another video, which was for "The Motivation Proclamation". It was directed by Webb and features the band members on the ground, waking up one-by-one and starting to perform. Scenes from Undergrads were played on a TV. Between March and May, the group supported MxPx on their headlining US tour. In April, the video for "The Motivation Proclamation" was receiving airplay from video outlets. While on the MxPx tour, the album was consistently selling 3,000 copies per week. As a result, the group wanted to make a live music video. At the end of May, the group performed at HFStival. During their set, a music video was filmed for "Festival Song", directed by Marc Webb. The video ended up being a mini-documentary on the day. Members of Mest, New Found Glory, and Linkin Park appear in the video.
The Young and the Hopeless (2002–2003)
2002's The Young and the Hopeless sold 4.9 million copies and thrust the band into mainstream popularity. The band's breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that were released from the album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "The Young & the Hopeless", and "Hold On". The band cited Rancid, Social Distortion, and The Clash as influences for the album.
The Young and the Hopeless debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 copies. By August 2003, the album had sold over 2 million copies, and by October 2004, 3 million. At that time, the album was still charting on the Billboard 200, 2 years after its release. The album's singles lifted the band from modern rock to top 40 radio stations, with all three major singles crossing over to the format. Each had major success in MTV's Total Request Live. As of 2011, it had sold over 3.5 million copies in the US. The album reached number 18 and 104 on the Billboard 200 year-end charts in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The album charted at number 6 in New Zealand, number 7 in Sweden, number 9 in Australia, number 15 in the UK, number 20 in Austria, number 24 in Japan, number 46 in Switzerland, number 52 in France, and number 57 in the Netherlands.
Around this time, The Used were aware that Good Charlotte were in need of a drummer, and introduced them to Chris Wilson. Shortly after this, he became the group's drummer. In July, the group filmed a video for "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous". Directed by Bill Fishman, it features appearances from 'NSYNC vocalist Chris Kirkpatrick, Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass and Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. In the video, the group perform inside a mansion, before police surround the mansion. The band is subsequently arrested and appear before a courtroom. The song was released to modern rock radio on August 13, and released as a CD single on September 9. It featured "Cemetery", "The Click" and an acoustic version of "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" as B-sides. The Young and the Hopeless was released on October 1 through Epic and Daylight Records. The group supported No Doubt on their arena tour for a few shows in early October. In October and November, the group went on a headlining US tour.
Between September and November, the group embarked on a headlining US arena tour. The first half was supported by Mest and Something Corporate, while the remaining half was supported by Eve 6 and Goldfinger. At the start of the tour, "Hold On" was released to alternative rock radio. In October, the group filmed a music video for "Hold On" with director Samuel Bayer. The video premiered on November 12 on Total Request Live. For the video, the group collaborated with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It features people with deceased relatives and people who have attempted suicide. In December, the group went on a UK tour with Sugarcult and Mest. In January 2004, the group went on a tour of Japan. "Hold On" and "The Young & the Hopeless" were released as a joint single on January 13. A music video was made for "The Young & the Hopeless", directed by Sam Erickson and the Madden brothers. The video was filmed on a sound stage in Indianapolis, Indiana and the set was filled with a variety of trophies and ribbons, which the band destroy towards the end of the video. In September, the album was reissued as a two-CD package with Good Charlotte.
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004–2006)
The Chronicles of Life and Death was made available for streaming on October 1 through MTV's The Leak. Initially planned for release in September, The Chronicles of Life and Death was officially released on October 5 through Epic and Daylight Records. It was released in two different editions: Life (with "Falling Away" as a bonus track) and Death (with "Meet My Maker" as a bonus track), both with different artwork created by Martin. The art for the Life resembles a first-edition book, while the art for the Death version resembles a 100-year-old book. The album booklet is done in the style of a storybook with the song lyrics detailing a story accompanied by illustrations. The album sold nearly 200,000 copies in its first week and reached number three on the Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album in the United States. The group debuted material from the album during a show in New York. Alkaline Trio drummer Derek Grant temporarily substituted for drummer Chris Wilson during the show as Wilson was reportedly receiving therapy. Grant subsequently played with the group for a few more promotional events, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and in-store performances.
In October and November, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Sum 41. They were supported by Lola Ray and Hazen Street. "I Just Wanna Live" was released as a CD single in Australia on January 17, 2005, with live versions of "S.O.S." and "The World Is Black" as B-sides. The song's music video, directed by Brett Simon, features the group performing in a dive bar before the members return to their day jobs. Eventually, someone from the music industry signs the band, known as the Food Group, who are dressed as an array of food items. In February 2005, the band appeared at MTV Asia's tsunami-relief event for the tsunami in Southeast Asia, before touring Australia. The group embarked on a tour of Europe and the UK in March with support from The Explosion. In early April, a music video was filmed for "We Believe" with director Sam Erickson at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The video features the group performing in an abandoned theatre overlapped with war imagery and people suffering.
In May and June, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Simple Plan, dubbed the Noise to the World tour. They were supported by Relient K. A few dates into the tour, Wilson left the group citing to health concerns. He was replaced by Dean Butterworth. The group met him through John Feldmann of Goldfinger. "The Chronicles of Life and Death" was released as a CD single in Australia on June 3 with live versions of "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "Mountain", and a remix of "I Just Wanna Live" as B-sides. "We Believe" was released as a single on August 15. In October, the band appeared at the Bridge School Benefit and on November 13 the album was released on the DualDisc format. It included a making-of documentary and live performances. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish."
Good Morning Revival and Greatest Remixes (2007–2008)
Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow-up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country. Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of its highest international chart positions thus far, and went on to sell 4.5 million copies. At midnight, on January 23, 2007, the record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single "The River" could be downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album was queued to be downloaded on the release date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provided the exclusive bonus acoustic version of the song. This album was suggested a different sound for the group apart from the group's pop punk roots.
The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4, 2007, and was released as the first single from the album in North America. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on April 13, 2007, making it the second single released from the album in the UK. The song charted at No. 108. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at No. 36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to No. 23 when released in stores. The second single released in North America was "Dance Floor Anthem", with which the band had scored a surprise hit, making it onto 11 different Billboard charts and peaking at No. 2 in Australia. The "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" video was certified gold by MTV International in December 2007. It was played 3,000 times on over four continents during the first half of 2007. On January 1, 2008, Good Charlotte was featured on Tila Tequila's New Year's Eve Masquerade on MTV, as the band was the second performance of the new year and performed its hit "Dance Floor Anthem".
The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 9, 2007, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on April 29, 2007 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl". In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte supported Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. The band was present for the show of August 16, 2007 in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast.
On November 25, 2008, Greatest Remixes was released. This compilation album includes 15 songs from previous Good Charlotte albums remixed by other artists such as Metro Station, Junior Sanchez, William Beckett from The Academy Is..., Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, and The White Tie Affair featuring Mat Devine of Kill Hannah.
Cardiology and Greatest Hits (2009–2011)
Describing the sound to MTV news, Joel Madden said it would sound a lot like Blink-182. Joel Madden went on to say in the same MTV interview that "There's nothing dance-y on the record, though, at all, which is different from our last one," further implying a movement away from the sound of Good Morning Revival. On December 3, 2008, Kerrang! magazine announced that Good Charlotte would be releasing its fifth studio album, Cardiology in 2009. The title of which, according to Joel, comes from the lyrical content of the album, which he explained is "all connected to the heart". Madden also added that the band had already written 20 songs for the new album, and are said to be heading back to their pop-punk roots. On January 24, 2010 Good Charlotte announced that the band had finished the album, but were going to completely scrap it and record with a different producer, Don Gilmore, who also produced the band's first and fourth records, Good Charlotte and Good Morning Revival.
The band released its first single "Like It's Her Birthday" featuring Tonight Alive from the new album on August 24, 2010. The band posted the song online August 5, 2010, and wrote on its website that if the video of the song received more than 100,000 views, the band would post another song from the album. The video reached 100,000 views on August 15, 2010 and the band released "Counting the Days" as a video on its YouTube channel and announced that it will be the second single from the album. The music video for "Like It's Her Birthday" has cameos from The Maine's lead singer John O'Callaghan and guitarist Kennedy Brock and Boys Like Girls' lead singer Martin Johnson, and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.
On November 5, 2010, Good Charlotte's former label, Sony Music, released a Greatest Hits compilation for Australia, spanning 16 singles from the band's four studio albums released on that label. The compilation was later released in the US on January 6, 2011, and in Japan on February 16, 2011.
On September 13, 2010, it was announced that Good Charlotte will be headlining the 2011 Kerrang! Relentless Tour, with supporting acts Four Year Strong, Framing Hanley, and The Wonder Years. On March 3, 2011, Good Charlotte went on tour with This Century and Forever The Sickest Kids throughout North America, playing multiple shows at small high schools across the country. In June 2011 Good Charlotte set out on a U.S. tour co-headlining with Yellowcard and opening act Runner Runner. In June 2011 on an interview with Punkvideosrock.com Billy and Paul stated they were in the process of planning tours for the next 5 years.
On September 1, 2011, Good Charlotte announced a hiatus via interview with Rolling Stone, but The Madden Brothers released a free mix tape in October 2011, Before — Volume One. and their debut album Greetings From California was released in September 2014, which featured Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth as session performer.
Youth Authority and Generation Rx (2015–2020)
On June 2, 2015, Good Charlotte was featured in Waka Flocka's song "Game On", a song from the soundtrack to Pixels movie.
On November 3, 2015, the band announced an official end to the hiatus through Alternative Press and on November 5 the band released a single, "Makeshift Love". A music video for "Makeshift Love" featuring Mikey Way and John Feldmann, including a cameo of the band Waterparks, was released on November 13, 2015. The band performed its first show since its reformation on November 19, 2015, at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. The band supported All Time Low on the UK and Ireland leg of the Back to the Future Hearts tour in 2016.
The group released their sixth studio album, Youth Authority, on July 15, 2016, with guest appearances from Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens and Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro. The album release date was announced on March 30, 2016, with the album title and art following several days later. Discussing the album title, Joel Madden said Youth Authority was the concept that "there's a kid out there right now who has a guitar, or a microphone, or a laptop, with a dream that is going to beat the odds." He said the album felt like the "GC of the past" with "a new energy to it."
On December 8, 2017, the band released a three-song EP, A GC Christmas, Pt. 1, which included a cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas, a full-band version of their previously unreleased song, Christmas by the Phone, and an alternate version of Let the World Be Still, originally by their side project, The Madden Brothers.
On May 24, 2018, the band announced a new album set for September 14, 2018 called Generation Rx. This coincided with the release of a new single called "Actual Pain". They have also announced a tour for 2019 to promote the album. The opioid epidemic inspired the album's title Generation Rx: Rx is often used as an abbreviation for medical prescriptions in the US. The album initially had the working title Cold Song, but was changed after the band realised pain was a running theme throughout the album. Generation Rx talks about several issues: the opioid epidemic, struggles with mental health, difficulty with self-esteem, and the effect of organized religion on other peoples' lives. According to Joel Madden, the album was "all about that inner struggle, and ... the emotional experience we're all going through that gets us to a place where we want to kill the pain that's in all of us." The band played a surprise guest set on the final Vans Warped Tour on July 29, 2018.
On April 2, 2020, Benji and Joel Madden did a Good Charlotte performance livestream via Veeps, a live streaming company owned by Joel Madden, with all proceeds going to "charitable efforts in our community in the COVID-19 pandemic". On September 25, 2020, Billy Martin did a guitar play through livestream on the 20th anniversary of the band's debut album. On December 18, 2020, after a week of previous teasing, Good Charlotte released a single called "Last December", which was the band's first new music in two years.
Musical style and influences
Good Charlotte has been mainly described as a pop punk band. The band also has been described as alternative rock, emo, punk rock, pop rock, skate punk, and emo pop. According to writer Bruce Britt, Good Charlotte combine "the hard-charging fury of skate-punk, the melodiousness of pop, and the spooky, mascara-smeared sensibilities of '80s goth". According to program director Robert Benjamin, Benji Madden told him Good Charlotte "wanted to be a combination of the Backstreet Boys and Minor Threat". Benji was a fan of punk band Social Distortion whereas his brother Joel was interested in bands like The Smiths and The Cure. Good Charlotte cite Beastie Boys, Minor Threat, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Rancid, and Green Day as their influences.
Activism
Billy Martin is a vegetarian and won PETA's vegetarian of the year in 2012. In the past, the band actively supported PETA's animal rights campaigns. Members of the group recorded a track, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", on PETA's Liberation CD and appeared at PETA's 25th Anniversary Gala and Humanitarian Awards Show. Group members have also demonstrated against KFC's treatment of chickens.
In 2012 and 2013, band members heavily promoted Kentucky Fried Chicken in a series of Australian television commercials, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
Band members
Current members
Joel Madden – lead and occasional backing vocals (1995–present), keyboards (1995–1998)
Benji Madden – lead guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals (1995–present), rhythm guitar (1995–1998)
Paul Thomas – bass (1995–present)
Billy Martin – rhythm guitar, keyboards (1998–present)
Dean Butterworth – drums (2005–present)
Session musicians
Josh Freese – drums on The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
David Campbell – string arrangements, string conducting on Good Charlotte (2000), The Young and the Hopeless (2002), and The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Former members
Aaron Escolopio – drums (1995–2001)
Chris Wilson – drums (2002–2005)
Timeline
Discography
Good Charlotte (2000)
The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Good Morning Revival (2007)
Cardiology (2010)
Youth Authority (2016)
Generation Rx (2018)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
1995 establishments in Maryland
Pop punk groups from Maryland
American pop rock music groups
Alternative rock groups from Maryland
Rock music groups from Maryland
Kerrang! Awards winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quintets
People from Waldorf, Maryland
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups from Washington, D.C. | false | [
"Andrew Butterfield (born 7 January 1972) is an English professional golfer who plays on the Challenge Tour.\n\nCareer\nButterfield was born in London, England. He turned professional in 1993 and joined the Challenge Tour in 1996. He played on the Challenge Tour until qualifying for the European Tour through Q-School in 1999. Butterfield did not perform well enough on tour in 2000 to retain his card and had to go back to the Challenge Tour in 2001. He got his European Tour card back through Q-School again in 2001 and played on the European Tour in 2002 but did not find any success on tour. He returned to the Challenge Tour and played there until 2005 when he finished 4th on the Challenge Tour's Order of Merit which earned him his European Tour card for 2006. He did not play well enough in 2006 to retain his tour card but was able to get temporary status on tour for 2007 by finishing 129th on the Order of Merit. He played on the European Tour and the Challenge Tour in 2007 and has played only on the Challenge Tour since 2008. He picked up his first win on the Challenge Tour in Sweden at The Princess in June 2009. He also won an event on the PGA EuroPro Tour in 2004.\n\nProfessional wins (2)\n\nChallenge Tour wins (1)\n\nChallenge Tour playoff record (0–1)\n\nPGA EuroPro Tour wins (1)\n2004 Matchroom Golf Management International at Owston Hall\n\nPlayoff record\nEuropean Tour playoff record (0–1)\n\nResults in major championships\n\nNote: Butterfield only played in The Open Championship.\nCUT = missed the half-way cut\n\nSee also\n2005 Challenge Tour graduates\n2009 Challenge Tour graduates\n\nExternal links\n\nEnglish male golfers\nEuropean Tour golfers\nSportspeople from London\nPeople from the London Borough of Bromley\n1972 births\nLiving people",
"The Bob Dylan England Tour 1965 was a concert tour by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan during late April and early May 1965. The tour was widely documented by filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, who used the footage of the tour in his documentary Dont Look Back.\n\nTour dates\n\nSet lists \nAs Dylan was still playing exclusively folk music live, much of the material performed during this tour was written pre-1965. Each show was divided into two halves, with seven songs performed during the first, and eight during the second. The set consisted of two songs from The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, three from The Times They Are a-Changin', three from Another Side of Bob Dylan, a comic-relief concert staple; \"If You Gotta Go, Go Now\", issued as a single in Europe, and six songs off his then-recent album, Bringing It All Back Home, including the second side in its entirety.\n\n First half\n\"The Times They Are a-Changin'\"\n\"To Ramona\"\n\"Gates of Eden\"\n\"If You Gotta Go, Go Now (or Else You Got to Stay All Night)\"\n\"It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)\"\n\"Love Minus Zero/No Limit\"\n\"Mr. Tambourine Man\"\n\nSecond Half\n\"Talkin' World War III Blues\"\n\"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right\"\n\"With God on Our Side\"\n\"She Belongs to Me\"\n\"It Ain't Me Babe\"\n\"The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll\"\n\"All I Really Want to Do\"\n\"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue\"\n\nSet list per Olof Bjorner.\n\nAftermath \nJoan Baez accompanied him on the tour, but she was never invited to play with him in concert. In fact, they did not tour together again until 1975. After this tour, Dylan was hailed as a hero of folk music, but two months later, at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, he would alienate his fans and go electric. Dylan was the only artist apart from the Beatles to sell out the De Montfort Hall in the 1960s. Even the Rolling Stones did not sell out this venue.\n\nReferences \n\nHoward Sounes: Down the Highway. The Life of Bob Dylan.. 2001.\n\nExternal links \n Bjorner's Still on the Road 1965: Tour dates & set lists\n\nBob Dylan concert tours\n1965 concert tours\nConcert tours of the United Kingdom\n1965 in England"
] |
[
"Good Charlotte",
"The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004-07)",
"was the Chronicles of life and death an album?",
"Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004.",
"were there any singles?",
"The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit \"I Just Wanna Live\".",
"was the album well received?",
"The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base.",
"how many albums did they sell?",
"The album sold 2.2 million copies.",
"did they go on tour?",
"The band would then go on tour with Sum 41."
] | C_63f44699604543068fa3c7a751ad2fc2_1 | where did they tour? | 6 | where did Good Charlotte tour? | Good Charlotte | Good Charlotte's third album, The Chronicles of Life and Death, was released by Epic Records in 2004. The album received mixed reactions from both the music press and Good Charlotte's fan base. The album sold 2.2 million copies. The album has been widely considered a departure from the band's previous two albums, mixing new elements such as lyrical topics into Good Charlotte's youthful sound. Singles released from the album include the two hits "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", as well as "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "We Believe". The only single from The Chronicles of Life and Death which managed to chart on the U.S. Hot 100 was the hit "I Just Wanna Live". All of the singles released from the album went top 30 in the UK, except for "We Believe". The band would then go on tour with Sum 41. In May 2005, after much speculation from fans, it was officially confirmed that Chris Wilson had left the band citing personal health reasons. Benji also told Kerrang! magazine that, for him, "Chris leaving the band was the worst part of 2005." Chris then joined the pop/punk band The Summer Obsession until 2011. He currently plays drums for JMSN. On Good Charlotte's "Noise to the World" Tour, performing with Simple Plan and Relient K, the band recruited Dean Butterworth (who had previously played for Morrissey) as the band's temporary drummer. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish." CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of Joel Madden (lead vocals), Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (guitar and keyboards), and Dean Butterworth (drums and percussion).
The band released their self-titled debut album in 2000 to mostly positive reviews. In 2002, they achieved breakthrough success with their second album, The Young and the Hopeless. Featuring the hit singles "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", "The Anthem" and "Girls & Boys", The Young and the Hopeless sold 3.5 million copies in the US and was certified triple platinum by the RIAA, for a total of almost 5 million copies sold worldwide. The band followed up with The Chronicles of Life and Death in 2004; a darker album, both musically and lyrically. Backed by the singles "Predictable" and "I Just Wanna Live", The Chronicles of Life and Death continued the band's success, and the album was certified platinum by the RIAA, selling over one million copies in the US alone. In 2007, they released the dance-punk inspired album Good Morning Revival before going back to their pop punk-roots with the album Cardiology in 2010. After a four-year-long hiatus, the band announced its comeback on November 3, 2015. The band released Youth Authority to positive reviews in 2016, and in 2018 they released their latest album, Generation Rx. In addition, they released two compilations: Greatest Remixes in 2008 and Greatest Hits in 2010.
History
Early years (1995–1999)
After watching a Beastie Boys show in 1995, twin brothers Joel and Benji Madden formed Good Charlotte in Waldorf, Maryland, with Joel on vocals and Benji on guitar. Following the brothers' graduation in 1997, instead of going to college they worked full-time on the band. The Madden brothers focused on getting the band signed, reading books and magazines that would aid them in achieving this goal. They made promotional packages which they sent to record labels. Joel Madden learned that the girl he took to homecoming was a sister of bassist Paul Thomas. Thomas met the brothers and was unimpressed with their performance skills. Soon afterwards, the brothers recruited their fellow high-school pupil Aaron Escolopio as a drummer and began playing clubs in the D.C. metro area. The Madden brothers moved to Annapolis, Maryland where they performed acoustic shows. The band named themselves Good Charlotte after the children's book, Good Charlotte: Girls of the Good Day Orphanage, by Carol Beach York.
Guitarist Billy Martin went to one of these shows at the insistence of Jimi HaHa of Jimmie's Chicken Shack. Martin became friends with the Madden brothers and let them move in with him after they were evicted from their apartment. Martin joined Good Charlotte after the trio learned they had a shared interest in the Australian rock band Silverchair and the break up of Martin's band Overflow. They wrote new songs and recorded and performed demos. The band began building a fan base by performing at the HFStival in 1998, and serving as support slots for Blink-182, Lit and Bad Religion. In 1999, Good Charlotte opened for Save Ferris in Philadelphia. After the performance, they left a demo of "Little Things" that soon got airplay on local radio station Y100. Benji Madden was certain of the song's potential hit status with its high-school theme and the reality of its lyrics.
A Sony Music employee passed the band's demo to regional promotion manager Mike Martinovich, who was impressed by the group's writing ability and the autobiographical nature of the songs. He contacted talent manager Steve Feinberg, who flew to Annapolis to watch the group perform and later began working with them. Around the same time, WHFS also began playing the demo. As the track became a hit in the area, record labels began showing interest in Good Charlotte. By the end of 1999, the band went on an east-coast tour with Lit. Representatives from several major labels attended the New York City show of the tour.
Good Charlotte (2000–2001)
Starting in 2000, the group became a full-time touring act with support slots for Lit, Goldfinger, Sum 41, and Mest. Following a showcase in New York City, the group met with people in the music industry. David Massey, executive vice president of A&R at major label Epic Records, signed the band to the label in May.
Good Charlotte's debut studio album Good Charlotte was released on September 26, 2000 through Epic and Daylight Records. The Japanese edition included "The Click", a cover of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "If You Leave" and a live acoustic version of "The Motivation Proclamation" as bonus tracks. Sales did not meet the label's expectations, and the group were nearly dropped from the label. In October and November, the group went on a US tour with Fenix TX, followed by a US tour with MxPx until the end of the year.
In December, the group appeared at HFSmas, the winter version of HFStival. On March 1, 2001, "Little Things" was released as a single in Australia. The CD version included "The Click" and "Thank You Mom" as B-sides. Despite the lack of success for "Little Things", the group's label allowed them to make another video, which was for "The Motivation Proclamation". It was directed by Webb and features the band members on the ground, waking up one-by-one and starting to perform. Scenes from Undergrads were played on a TV. Between March and May, the group supported MxPx on their headlining US tour. In April, the video for "The Motivation Proclamation" was receiving airplay from video outlets. While on the MxPx tour, the album was consistently selling 3,000 copies per week. As a result, the group wanted to make a live music video. At the end of May, the group performed at HFStival. During their set, a music video was filmed for "Festival Song", directed by Marc Webb. The video ended up being a mini-documentary on the day. Members of Mest, New Found Glory, and Linkin Park appear in the video.
The Young and the Hopeless (2002–2003)
2002's The Young and the Hopeless sold 4.9 million copies and thrust the band into mainstream popularity. The band's breakthrough single, titled "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", topped both pop and rock charts around the globe. Singles that were released from the album include "The Anthem", "Girls & Boys", "The Young & the Hopeless", and "Hold On". The band cited Rancid, Social Distortion, and The Clash as influences for the album.
The Young and the Hopeless debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 117,000 copies. By August 2003, the album had sold over 2 million copies, and by October 2004, 3 million. At that time, the album was still charting on the Billboard 200, 2 years after its release. The album's singles lifted the band from modern rock to top 40 radio stations, with all three major singles crossing over to the format. Each had major success in MTV's Total Request Live. As of 2011, it had sold over 3.5 million copies in the US. The album reached number 18 and 104 on the Billboard 200 year-end charts in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The album charted at number 6 in New Zealand, number 7 in Sweden, number 9 in Australia, number 15 in the UK, number 20 in Austria, number 24 in Japan, number 46 in Switzerland, number 52 in France, and number 57 in the Netherlands.
Around this time, The Used were aware that Good Charlotte were in need of a drummer, and introduced them to Chris Wilson. Shortly after this, he became the group's drummer. In July, the group filmed a video for "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous". Directed by Bill Fishman, it features appearances from 'NSYNC vocalist Chris Kirkpatrick, Tenacious D guitarist Kyle Gass and Minutemen bassist Mike Watt. In the video, the group perform inside a mansion, before police surround the mansion. The band is subsequently arrested and appear before a courtroom. The song was released to modern rock radio on August 13, and released as a CD single on September 9. It featured "Cemetery", "The Click" and an acoustic version of "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" as B-sides. The Young and the Hopeless was released on October 1 through Epic and Daylight Records. The group supported No Doubt on their arena tour for a few shows in early October. In October and November, the group went on a headlining US tour.
Between September and November, the group embarked on a headlining US arena tour. The first half was supported by Mest and Something Corporate, while the remaining half was supported by Eve 6 and Goldfinger. At the start of the tour, "Hold On" was released to alternative rock radio. In October, the group filmed a music video for "Hold On" with director Samuel Bayer. The video premiered on November 12 on Total Request Live. For the video, the group collaborated with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It features people with deceased relatives and people who have attempted suicide. In December, the group went on a UK tour with Sugarcult and Mest. In January 2004, the group went on a tour of Japan. "Hold On" and "The Young & the Hopeless" were released as a joint single on January 13. A music video was made for "The Young & the Hopeless", directed by Sam Erickson and the Madden brothers. The video was filmed on a sound stage in Indianapolis, Indiana and the set was filled with a variety of trophies and ribbons, which the band destroy towards the end of the video. In September, the album was reissued as a two-CD package with Good Charlotte.
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004–2006)
The Chronicles of Life and Death was made available for streaming on October 1 through MTV's The Leak. Initially planned for release in September, The Chronicles of Life and Death was officially released on October 5 through Epic and Daylight Records. It was released in two different editions: Life (with "Falling Away" as a bonus track) and Death (with "Meet My Maker" as a bonus track), both with different artwork created by Martin. The art for the Life resembles a first-edition book, while the art for the Death version resembles a 100-year-old book. The album booklet is done in the style of a storybook with the song lyrics detailing a story accompanied by illustrations. The album sold nearly 200,000 copies in its first week and reached number three on the Billboard 200, making it the band's highest-charting album in the United States. The group debuted material from the album during a show in New York. Alkaline Trio drummer Derek Grant temporarily substituted for drummer Chris Wilson during the show as Wilson was reportedly receiving therapy. Grant subsequently played with the group for a few more promotional events, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and in-store performances.
In October and November, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Sum 41. They were supported by Lola Ray and Hazen Street. "I Just Wanna Live" was released as a CD single in Australia on January 17, 2005, with live versions of "S.O.S." and "The World Is Black" as B-sides. The song's music video, directed by Brett Simon, features the group performing in a dive bar before the members return to their day jobs. Eventually, someone from the music industry signs the band, known as the Food Group, who are dressed as an array of food items. In February 2005, the band appeared at MTV Asia's tsunami-relief event for the tsunami in Southeast Asia, before touring Australia. The group embarked on a tour of Europe and the UK in March with support from The Explosion. In early April, a music video was filmed for "We Believe" with director Sam Erickson at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The video features the group performing in an abandoned theatre overlapped with war imagery and people suffering.
In May and June, the group went on a co-headlining US tour with Simple Plan, dubbed the Noise to the World tour. They were supported by Relient K. A few dates into the tour, Wilson left the group citing to health concerns. He was replaced by Dean Butterworth. The group met him through John Feldmann of Goldfinger. "The Chronicles of Life and Death" was released as a CD single in Australia on June 3 with live versions of "The Chronicles of Life and Death" and "Mountain", and a remix of "I Just Wanna Live" as B-sides. "We Believe" was released as a single on August 15. In October, the band appeared at the Bridge School Benefit and on November 13 the album was released on the DualDisc format. It included a making-of documentary and live performances. Later, in March 2007, Butterworth was confirmed as the band's permanent drummer. Benji Madden has claimed in interviews that he feels this record was not as successful as the previous record due to it being "too selfish."
Good Morning Revival and Greatest Remixes (2007–2008)
Good Morning Revival is the fourth album by Good Charlotte and the follow-up to 2004's The Chronicles of Life and Death. It was officially released in March 2007, with the precise date varying by country. Good Morning Revival debuted in the top 10 of thirteen countries worldwide including the U.S., giving the band some of its highest international chart positions thus far, and went on to sell 4.5 million copies. At midnight, on January 23, 2007, the record was made available for pre-order on iTunes. When pre-ordered, the single "The River" could be downloaded immediately, while the rest of the album was queued to be downloaded on the release date. Pre-ordering on iTunes also provided the exclusive bonus acoustic version of the song. This album was suggested a different sound for the group apart from the group's pop punk roots.
The first single from the album, "The River", featuring Avenged Sevenfold's lead singer M. Shadows and guitarist Synyster Gates, appeared online on January 4, 2007, and was released as the first single from the album in North America. The music video for "The River" was added to UK music channels Kerrang! and Scuzz on April 13, 2007, making it the second single released from the album in the UK. The song charted at No. 108. "Keep Your Hands off My Girl" was released as the first single in the UK and Australia. "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" charted on the UK Singles Chart at No. 36 the first week of release through download sales and then climbed to No. 23 when released in stores. The second single released in North America was "Dance Floor Anthem", with which the band had scored a surprise hit, making it onto 11 different Billboard charts and peaking at No. 2 in Australia. The "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl" video was certified gold by MTV International in December 2007. It was played 3,000 times on over four continents during the first half of 2007. On January 1, 2008, Good Charlotte was featured on Tila Tequila's New Year's Eve Masquerade on MTV, as the band was the second performance of the new year and performed its hit "Dance Floor Anthem".
The band made multiple U.S. and international TV appearances in support of the album. First, Good Charlotte appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 9, 2007, the Outdoor Stage on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on April 11, and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 27. Joel and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte's lead singer and guitarist respectively, co-hosted the Australian MTV Video Music Awards with Fergie on April 29, 2007 where the band also won the "Viewers Choice Australia" award for "Keep Your Hands Off My Girl". In August 2007, the band embarked on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour, as Timberlake's opening act. Good Charlotte supported Timberlake throughout his second leg North American dates. The band was present for the show of August 16, 2007 in Madison Square Garden, which was taped for a HBO broadcast.
On November 25, 2008, Greatest Remixes was released. This compilation album includes 15 songs from previous Good Charlotte albums remixed by other artists such as Metro Station, Junior Sanchez, William Beckett from The Academy Is..., Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, and The White Tie Affair featuring Mat Devine of Kill Hannah.
Cardiology and Greatest Hits (2009–2011)
Describing the sound to MTV news, Joel Madden said it would sound a lot like Blink-182. Joel Madden went on to say in the same MTV interview that "There's nothing dance-y on the record, though, at all, which is different from our last one," further implying a movement away from the sound of Good Morning Revival. On December 3, 2008, Kerrang! magazine announced that Good Charlotte would be releasing its fifth studio album, Cardiology in 2009. The title of which, according to Joel, comes from the lyrical content of the album, which he explained is "all connected to the heart". Madden also added that the band had already written 20 songs for the new album, and are said to be heading back to their pop-punk roots. On January 24, 2010 Good Charlotte announced that the band had finished the album, but were going to completely scrap it and record with a different producer, Don Gilmore, who also produced the band's first and fourth records, Good Charlotte and Good Morning Revival.
The band released its first single "Like It's Her Birthday" featuring Tonight Alive from the new album on August 24, 2010. The band posted the song online August 5, 2010, and wrote on its website that if the video of the song received more than 100,000 views, the band would post another song from the album. The video reached 100,000 views on August 15, 2010 and the band released "Counting the Days" as a video on its YouTube channel and announced that it will be the second single from the album. The music video for "Like It's Her Birthday" has cameos from The Maine's lead singer John O'Callaghan and guitarist Kennedy Brock and Boys Like Girls' lead singer Martin Johnson, and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni.
On November 5, 2010, Good Charlotte's former label, Sony Music, released a Greatest Hits compilation for Australia, spanning 16 singles from the band's four studio albums released on that label. The compilation was later released in the US on January 6, 2011, and in Japan on February 16, 2011.
On September 13, 2010, it was announced that Good Charlotte will be headlining the 2011 Kerrang! Relentless Tour, with supporting acts Four Year Strong, Framing Hanley, and The Wonder Years. On March 3, 2011, Good Charlotte went on tour with This Century and Forever The Sickest Kids throughout North America, playing multiple shows at small high schools across the country. In June 2011 Good Charlotte set out on a U.S. tour co-headlining with Yellowcard and opening act Runner Runner. In June 2011 on an interview with Punkvideosrock.com Billy and Paul stated they were in the process of planning tours for the next 5 years.
On September 1, 2011, Good Charlotte announced a hiatus via interview with Rolling Stone, but The Madden Brothers released a free mix tape in October 2011, Before — Volume One. and their debut album Greetings From California was released in September 2014, which featured Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth as session performer.
Youth Authority and Generation Rx (2015–2020)
On June 2, 2015, Good Charlotte was featured in Waka Flocka's song "Game On", a song from the soundtrack to Pixels movie.
On November 3, 2015, the band announced an official end to the hiatus through Alternative Press and on November 5 the band released a single, "Makeshift Love". A music video for "Makeshift Love" featuring Mikey Way and John Feldmann, including a cameo of the band Waterparks, was released on November 13, 2015. The band performed its first show since its reformation on November 19, 2015, at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, California. The band supported All Time Low on the UK and Ireland leg of the Back to the Future Hearts tour in 2016.
The group released their sixth studio album, Youth Authority, on July 15, 2016, with guest appearances from Kellin Quinn of Sleeping with Sirens and Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro. The album release date was announced on March 30, 2016, with the album title and art following several days later. Discussing the album title, Joel Madden said Youth Authority was the concept that "there's a kid out there right now who has a guitar, or a microphone, or a laptop, with a dream that is going to beat the odds." He said the album felt like the "GC of the past" with "a new energy to it."
On December 8, 2017, the band released a three-song EP, A GC Christmas, Pt. 1, which included a cover of Wham!'s Last Christmas, a full-band version of their previously unreleased song, Christmas by the Phone, and an alternate version of Let the World Be Still, originally by their side project, The Madden Brothers.
On May 24, 2018, the band announced a new album set for September 14, 2018 called Generation Rx. This coincided with the release of a new single called "Actual Pain". They have also announced a tour for 2019 to promote the album. The opioid epidemic inspired the album's title Generation Rx: Rx is often used as an abbreviation for medical prescriptions in the US. The album initially had the working title Cold Song, but was changed after the band realised pain was a running theme throughout the album. Generation Rx talks about several issues: the opioid epidemic, struggles with mental health, difficulty with self-esteem, and the effect of organized religion on other peoples' lives. According to Joel Madden, the album was "all about that inner struggle, and ... the emotional experience we're all going through that gets us to a place where we want to kill the pain that's in all of us." The band played a surprise guest set on the final Vans Warped Tour on July 29, 2018.
On April 2, 2020, Benji and Joel Madden did a Good Charlotte performance livestream via Veeps, a live streaming company owned by Joel Madden, with all proceeds going to "charitable efforts in our community in the COVID-19 pandemic". On September 25, 2020, Billy Martin did a guitar play through livestream on the 20th anniversary of the band's debut album. On December 18, 2020, after a week of previous teasing, Good Charlotte released a single called "Last December", which was the band's first new music in two years.
Musical style and influences
Good Charlotte has been mainly described as a pop punk band. The band also has been described as alternative rock, emo, punk rock, pop rock, skate punk, and emo pop. According to writer Bruce Britt, Good Charlotte combine "the hard-charging fury of skate-punk, the melodiousness of pop, and the spooky, mascara-smeared sensibilities of '80s goth". According to program director Robert Benjamin, Benji Madden told him Good Charlotte "wanted to be a combination of the Backstreet Boys and Minor Threat". Benji was a fan of punk band Social Distortion whereas his brother Joel was interested in bands like The Smiths and The Cure. Good Charlotte cite Beastie Boys, Minor Threat, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Rancid, and Green Day as their influences.
Activism
Billy Martin is a vegetarian and won PETA's vegetarian of the year in 2012. In the past, the band actively supported PETA's animal rights campaigns. Members of the group recorded a track, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", on PETA's Liberation CD and appeared at PETA's 25th Anniversary Gala and Humanitarian Awards Show. Group members have also demonstrated against KFC's treatment of chickens.
In 2012 and 2013, band members heavily promoted Kentucky Fried Chicken in a series of Australian television commercials, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
Band members
Current members
Joel Madden – lead and occasional backing vocals (1995–present), keyboards (1995–1998)
Benji Madden – lead guitar, backing and occasional lead vocals (1995–present), rhythm guitar (1995–1998)
Paul Thomas – bass (1995–present)
Billy Martin – rhythm guitar, keyboards (1998–present)
Dean Butterworth – drums (2005–present)
Session musicians
Josh Freese – drums on The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
David Campbell – string arrangements, string conducting on Good Charlotte (2000), The Young and the Hopeless (2002), and The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Former members
Aaron Escolopio – drums (1995–2001)
Chris Wilson – drums (2002–2005)
Timeline
Discography
Good Charlotte (2000)
The Young and the Hopeless (2002)
The Chronicles of Life and Death (2004)
Good Morning Revival (2007)
Cardiology (2010)
Youth Authority (2016)
Generation Rx (2018)
Awards and nominations
References
External links
1995 establishments in Maryland
Pop punk groups from Maryland
American pop rock music groups
Alternative rock groups from Maryland
Rock music groups from Maryland
Kerrang! Awards winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quintets
People from Waldorf, Maryland
Sibling musical groups
Musical groups from Washington, D.C. | false | [
"\nThis is a list of the 29 players who earned their 2011 PGA Tour card through Q School in 2010. Note: Michael Putnam and Justin Hicks had already qualified for the PGA Tour by placing in the Top 25 during the 2010 Nationwide Tour season; they did not count among the Top 25 Q school graduates, but Putnam did improve his status.\n\nPlayers in yellow are 2011 PGA Tour rookies.\n\n2011 Results\n\n*PGA Tour rookie in 2011\nT = Tied \nGreen background indicates the player retained his PGA Tour card for 2012 (finished inside the top 125). \nYellow background indicates the player did not retain his PGA Tour card for 2012, but retained conditional status (finished between 126-150). \nRed background indicates the player did not retain his PGA Tour card for 2012 (finished outside the top 150).\n\nWinners on the PGA Tour in 2011\n\nRunners-up on the PGA Tour in 2011\n\nSee also\n2010 Nationwide Tour graduates\n\nReferences\nShort bios from pgatour.com\n\nPGA Tour Qualifying School\nPGA Tour Qualifying School Graduates\nPGA Tour Qualifying School Graduates",
"\nThis is a list of the 29 players who earned their 2012 PGA Tour card through Q School in 2011. Note: Roberto Castro and Mark Anderson had already qualified for the PGA Tour by placing in the Top 25 during the 2011 Nationwide Tour season; they did not count among the Top 25 Q school graduates.\n\nPlayers in yellow were 2012 PGA Tour rookies.\n\n2012 Results\n\n*PGA Tour rookie in 2012\nT = Tied \nGreen background indicates the player retained his PGA Tour card for 2013 (won or finished inside the top 125). \nYellow background indicates the player did not retain his PGA Tour card for 2013, but retained conditional status (finished between 126-150). \nRed background indicates the player did not retain his PGA Tour card for 2013 (finished outside the top 150).\n\nWinners on the PGA Tour in 2012\n\nRunners-up on the PGA Tour in 2012\n\nSee also\n2011 Nationwide Tour graduates\n\nReferences\nResults from pgatour.com\n\nPGA Tour Qualifying School\nPGA Tour Qualifying School Graduates\nPGA Tour Qualifying School Graduates"
] |
[
"Kumar Sangakkara",
"Captaincy"
] | C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_0 | How did he become captain? | 1 | How did Kumar Sangakkara become captain? | Kumar Sangakkara | In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2-0 and ODI series 3-1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. CANNOTANSWER | In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". | Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016.
He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title.
In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan.
Early life
Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents.
Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin.
Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year.
Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University.
His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983.
International career
Early career
At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.
He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart.
Vice-captaincy
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.
On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010.
Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.
Captaincy
In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup.
Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.
Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.
A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo.
Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."
The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Post-captaincy
Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.
Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI.
Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.
On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.
Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.
His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.
Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.
Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup.
His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.
On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.
On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.
On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.
During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.
Retirement
During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015.
On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement.
On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series.
The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements.
After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK".
In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade.
Cowdrey Lecture
Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history".
Beyond playing cricket
Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015.
On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence.
In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities."
Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield.
Domestic cricket
Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s.
County cricket
Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.
Indian Premier League
Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.
In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021.
Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ]
In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.
Caribbean Premier League
On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.
Pakistan Super League
In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans.
Return to county cricket
Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket.
Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.
On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.
MCC
On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5.
Cricket All-Stars Series
Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series.
Masters Champion League
Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.
Selection committee
On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.
On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling.
Coaching career
He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021.
Personal life
Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith
He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara.
Playing style
Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him.
He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:
Commentary career
Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England.
Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE
International records
NOTE: World records are bold
Tests
Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman.
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches.
Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers.
Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list.
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.
Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings)
Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings)
Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings)
Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings)
Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings)
Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09
Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37)
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)
One-Day Internationals
Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list.
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list.
Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches.
Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51
First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance.
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.
T20I records
He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket)
He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014)
Aggregate records
Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is)
Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs.
Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678).
World Cups
Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups
Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015.
Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition
Player statistics
Centuries
Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs.
Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012
ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012
ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013
ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014
ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014
Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012
LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012
Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards.
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award
Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015
See also
Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy
References
External links
Official Website
Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news
Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket
1977 births
Living people
ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers
ICC World XI One Day International cricketers
Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers
Warwickshire cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricket captains
Punjab Kings cricketers
Sri Lankan terrorism victims
Sinhalese sportspeople
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Alumni of the University of Colombo
Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy
Kandurata cricketers
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Cricketers from Kandy
Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers
International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year
Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers
Durham cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Quetta Gladiators cricketers
Karachi Kings cricketers
Deccan Chargers cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers
Hobart Hurricanes cricketers
Multan Sultans cricketers
Sri Lankan cricket commentators
Wicket-keepers | true | [
"\"Garbage Island\" is the 17th episode of the sixth season of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and the 129th episode overall. It aired on February 21, 2011.\n\nPlot\nAt Hong Kong International Airport in 2021, Ted's flight to New York City has been cancelled. While arguing with an attendant at the departure lounge, he runs into Wendy the Waitress. Future Ted describes how it happened.\n\nAt MacLaren's, Ted and Zoey tell Wendy the Waitress how they ended up together. Ted says Zoey was unhappy with her marriage to the Captain, and after a serious fight that ended with the Captain wanting a divorce, Zoey and Ted decided to give a relationship a try. Zoey asks Ted to get her personal belongings from the Captain's apartment. The stuff has been left at the lobby. Just as Ted comes to get the box, the Captain encounters him and at his study, says that Zoey left him for a mustachioed man, narrating a different version of his last argument with Zoey. Ted fails to get the box. He later returns to the apartment building, where the Captain claims that the doorman seduced Zoey. He threatens to harm the doorman but Ted convinces him to let her go because they have nothing in common anyway. Before leaving the apartment with Zoey's box, he admits that he was the one for whom Zoey left the Captain. Later at MacLaren's, Zoey says that good things can come out of something bad.\n\nMeanwhile, Barney reports to the gang that his laser tag date on Valentine's Day with Nora did not go well, despite her giving him her calling card which he later tears up. Robin catches Barney smiling whenever he mentions Nora, and gives him a napkin with Nora's phone number so he can call her. Robin eventually dares him to sleep with her to prove he does not like Nora. Barney shows up at Ted and Robin's apartment, which infuriates Robin because she had been encouraging him to pursue Nora. However, Barney reveals he had actually come to ask for Nora's phone number; pleased, Robin gives it to him and tells him to go for it.\n\nLily is frustrated at home because Marshall is too fixated with watching a documentary about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to even think about sex. He creates a presentation for a new GNB environmental campaign, but it is negatively received and Arthur Hobbs fires Meeker, the only employee who liked the presentation. Lily catches Marshall in the dumpster trying to find a set of Tallboy O-rings. Marshall tells Lily that his father's death affected his career choices and fears that starting a family right away could force him to work at GNB forever. Lily asks him to save the planet first then start raising a family.\n\nMarshall's obsession also angers Wendy the Waitress because his advocacy prompts MacLaren's to have her carry spent bottles to the recycling center every night, which results in her having back pains. Future Ted says Meeker was a MacLaren's patron who met Wendy the night he goes to the bar to confront Marshall over his dismissal. Wendy's bag of bottles breaks and Meeker helps Wendy pick them up.\n\nThe ending scene shows that because they both hated Marshall, Wendy and Meeker did end up together, being on their second honeymoon when they encountered Ted at the airport. Ted says he is already married with two kids, and his relationship with Zoey did not end well. Ted begins the story of how he met his wife starting from the wedding, but Wendy interrupts saying they have to go. Ted immediately calls Marshall about the encounter.\n\nCritical response\n\nRobert Canning of IGN gave the episode a rating of 7 out of 10.\n\nDonna Bowman of The A.V. Club gave the episode an A−.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Barney's Blog\n \n\nHow I Met Your Mother (season 6) episodes\n2011 American television episodes",
"Captain Miho Otani (大谷 三穂) (born May 28, 1971) is an officer in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. She was the first woman to become the captain of a naval training vessel and a destroyer. Otani was also a member of the first female class to enter the National Defense Academy of Japan.\n\nCareer \nOtani initially planned to study at Ryukoku University. When she was in her second year of high school she saw news about the Gulf War and decided to apply to the National Defense Academy of Japan instead. Though her family did not approve, she entered the Academy in April 1992 as a member of the first female class. At first she wanted to be a pilot, but she ended up being assigned to the Maritime Self-Defense Force, where she worked on the training ship JDS Natsugumo.\n\nThe ban on women serving in destroyers had been lifted in 2008, and so in 2011 she became the vice captain of . In March 2013, Otani became the captain of the training ship Shimayuki. Alongside Ryoko Azuma, she was the first woman to become the captain of a training ship. In February 2016, Otani took command of , making her the first woman in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force to command a destroyer. On July 1, 2017, she was promoted to captain. On December 2, 2019, She took command of making her the first woman to command a JMSDF Aegis destroyer.\n\nSee also \n\n Misa Matsushima – First woman in the Japanese Self-Defense Force to become a fighter pilot\n\nReferences \n\nLiving people\n1971 births\nPeople from Osaka Prefecture\nNational Defense Academy of Japan alumni\nJapan Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel"
] |
[
"Kumar Sangakkara",
"Captaincy",
"How did he become captain?",
"In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy \"in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team\"."
] | C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_0 | What made him want to step down? | 2 | What made Kumar Sangakkara want to step down? | Kumar Sangakkara | In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2-0 and ODI series 3-1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. CANNOTANSWER | He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. | Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016.
He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title.
In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan.
Early life
Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents.
Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin.
Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year.
Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University.
His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983.
International career
Early career
At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.
He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart.
Vice-captaincy
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.
On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010.
Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.
Captaincy
In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup.
Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.
Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.
A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo.
Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."
The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Post-captaincy
Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.
Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI.
Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.
On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.
Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.
His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.
Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.
Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup.
His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.
On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.
On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.
On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.
During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.
Retirement
During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015.
On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement.
On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series.
The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements.
After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK".
In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade.
Cowdrey Lecture
Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history".
Beyond playing cricket
Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015.
On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence.
In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities."
Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield.
Domestic cricket
Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s.
County cricket
Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.
Indian Premier League
Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.
In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021.
Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ]
In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.
Caribbean Premier League
On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.
Pakistan Super League
In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans.
Return to county cricket
Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket.
Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.
On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.
MCC
On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5.
Cricket All-Stars Series
Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series.
Masters Champion League
Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.
Selection committee
On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.
On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling.
Coaching career
He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021.
Personal life
Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith
He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara.
Playing style
Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him.
He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:
Commentary career
Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England.
Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE
International records
NOTE: World records are bold
Tests
Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman.
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches.
Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers.
Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list.
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.
Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings)
Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings)
Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings)
Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings)
Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings)
Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09
Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37)
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)
One-Day Internationals
Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list.
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list.
Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches.
Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51
First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance.
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.
T20I records
He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket)
He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014)
Aggregate records
Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is)
Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs.
Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678).
World Cups
Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups
Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015.
Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition
Player statistics
Centuries
Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs.
Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012
ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012
ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013
ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014
ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014
Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012
LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012
Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards.
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award
Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015
See also
Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy
References
External links
Official Website
Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news
Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket
1977 births
Living people
ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers
ICC World XI One Day International cricketers
Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers
Warwickshire cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricket captains
Punjab Kings cricketers
Sri Lankan terrorism victims
Sinhalese sportspeople
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Alumni of the University of Colombo
Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy
Kandurata cricketers
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Cricketers from Kandy
Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers
International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year
Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers
Durham cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Quetta Gladiators cricketers
Karachi Kings cricketers
Deccan Chargers cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers
Hobart Hurricanes cricketers
Multan Sultans cricketers
Sri Lankan cricket commentators
Wicket-keepers | true | [
"Practical Aesthetics is an acting technique originally conceived by David Mamet and William H. Macy, based on the teachings of Stanislavsky, Sanford Meisner, and the Stoic philosopher Epictetus.\n\nTechnique\nPractical Aesthetics is based on the practice of breaking down a scene using a four-step analysis that entails the following:\n\n1) The \"Literal\": The essential and most basic, uninterpretive, description of what is taking place. 'What is Literally happening for your character within the scene?'. For example; 'My character is literally proposing marriage to their partner of 6 months'\n\n2) The \"Want\": What does one character ultimately want the other character to say or do. \"What does my character want from the other person within the scene?\". For example; 'I want the other character to accept my marriage proposal\"\n\n3) The \"Essential Action\": A universal human desire that relates to the specific and essential nature of what your character wants within the scene. In this step, you must distill the given circumstances and the actions of your character, given to you by the playwright, to a universal human desire that underlies the text. For example; if your 'Want' is \"I want the other character to accept my marriage proposal\" the 'Universal Human Desire' or 'Essential Action' underlying that specific 'Want' could be 'To get my soulmate to take a brave step'. \n\n4) The \"As If\": This relates the \"essential action\" to the actor's own life. (Often the most difficult step of Analysis)\n\nFor example: \"Essential Action\" – To retrieve what is rightfully mine. \"As If\" – It's as if my girlfriend has taken away my favorite album that I was going to give as a gift. I need to retrieve it because it is mine.\n\nUnlike other acting techniques, this step is NOT a memory device. In Practical Aesthetics actors are taught that using the memory of past experiences hinders the truth of the moment within a scene because you already know how that memory ends, there is a resolution inherently tied to that memory. Therefore if you choose to use memory to replicate an emotional response within the scene, you have to ignore the resolution or pretend as if it has not occurred, you are playing a 'double fiction'. Firstly you are playing the fiction of the scene and secondly, you are acting as if you don't know the outcome of the memory you are drawing an emotional response from.\n\nTherefore the Practical Aesthetic 'As If' is something that could feasibly happen in your life, that has not yet happened, that produces a galvanized response within you; a spark to involve the actor in the scene. It helps the actor escape the fiction, find the truth, and apply it elsewhere. \n\nThis technique is aimed at making the experience of acting entirely based on the will of the actor. It is in response to \"The Method, \" which some believe uses more introverted and self-based practices. The Practical Aesthetic asks an actor only to commit his will to the pursuit of an action based on the other actor.\n\nPractitioners\nFamous practitioners of Practical Aesthetics include: William H Macy, Felicity Huffman, Rose Byrne, Jessica Alba, Rhea Seehorn, and Clark Gregg.\n\nSee also\nGOTE: This acronym (Goal, Obstacle, Tactics, and Expectation) was devised by Robert Cohen to remind his students of his acting \"method\" – a method often linked with practical aesthetics.\n\nTo my knowledge, the GOTE system has never been directly linked with Practical Aesthetics, and is not a formal part of the Practical Aesthetics curriculum. Thank God. – Lee Michael Cohn, co-author of A Practical Handbook for the Actor\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography\nBruder, Melissa, et al. (1986). A Practical Handbook for the Actor. New York: Vintage Books. \nCohen, Robert (1978). Acting Power. New York: McGraw-Hill. \nCohen, Robert (2003). Acting Professionally: Raw Facts About Careers in Acting. New York: McGraw-Hill. \nMamet, David (1999). True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor. New York: Vintage Books.\n\nExternal links\nAtlantic Theater Company\nAtlantic Acting School\n\nActing techniques",
"\"What They Want\" is a song by American rapper Russ. It was released on his SoundCloud page on August 19, 2015. Russ included this song on his 12th (and major-label debut) album There's Really a Wolf. The song was mixed, mastered, engineered, produced, written, and performed by Russ.\n\nBackground \nThe song is a response to labels and women who now want to approach him due to his success as a rapper. In the songs hook, Russ states \"Dollar signs, yeah, I know it's what they want\", as women now want him for his money, and labels want him for the money they can make off of his hard work.\n\nCommercial performance \n\"What They Want\" debuted at number 99 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, on the week of November 12, 2016. This became Russ' first song to appear on the chart. Three weeks later, the single reached its peak at number 83 on the week of December 3, 2016. The song also managed to chart at number 12 on the US Rhythmic Airplay chart on the week of December 3, 2016. On July 26, 2021, the single was certified four times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and streaming units of over four million units in the United States.\n\nRuss debuted the music video to \"What They Want\" through his Vevo account on May 3, 2016. As of June 2021, the song has over 320 million views on YouTube.\n\nCharts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\n2015 singles\n2015 songs"
] |
[
"Kumar Sangakkara",
"Captaincy",
"How did he become captain?",
"In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy \"in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team\".",
"What made him want to step down?",
"He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup."
] | C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_0 | Did he win the 2011 Cricket World Cup? | 3 | Did his successor win the 2011 Cricket World Cup? | Kumar Sangakkara | In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2-0 and ODI series 3-1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. CANNOTANSWER | Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain | Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016.
He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title.
In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan.
Early life
Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents.
Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin.
Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year.
Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University.
His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983.
International career
Early career
At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.
He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart.
Vice-captaincy
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.
On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010.
Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.
Captaincy
In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup.
Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.
Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.
A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo.
Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."
The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Post-captaincy
Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.
Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI.
Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.
On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.
Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.
His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.
Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.
Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup.
His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.
On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.
On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.
On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.
During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.
Retirement
During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015.
On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement.
On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series.
The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements.
After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK".
In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade.
Cowdrey Lecture
Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history".
Beyond playing cricket
Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015.
On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence.
In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities."
Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield.
Domestic cricket
Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s.
County cricket
Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.
Indian Premier League
Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.
In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021.
Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ]
In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.
Caribbean Premier League
On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.
Pakistan Super League
In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans.
Return to county cricket
Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket.
Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.
On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.
MCC
On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5.
Cricket All-Stars Series
Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series.
Masters Champion League
Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.
Selection committee
On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.
On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling.
Coaching career
He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021.
Personal life
Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith
He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara.
Playing style
Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him.
He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:
Commentary career
Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England.
Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE
International records
NOTE: World records are bold
Tests
Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman.
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches.
Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers.
Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list.
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.
Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings)
Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings)
Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings)
Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings)
Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings)
Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09
Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37)
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)
One-Day Internationals
Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list.
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list.
Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches.
Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51
First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance.
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.
T20I records
He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket)
He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014)
Aggregate records
Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is)
Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs.
Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678).
World Cups
Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups
Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015.
Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition
Player statistics
Centuries
Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs.
Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012
ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012
ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013
ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014
ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014
Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012
LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012
Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards.
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award
Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015
See also
Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy
References
External links
Official Website
Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news
Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket
1977 births
Living people
ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers
ICC World XI One Day International cricketers
Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers
Warwickshire cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricket captains
Punjab Kings cricketers
Sri Lankan terrorism victims
Sinhalese sportspeople
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Alumni of the University of Colombo
Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy
Kandurata cricketers
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Cricketers from Kandy
Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers
International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year
Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers
Durham cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Quetta Gladiators cricketers
Karachi Kings cricketers
Deccan Chargers cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers
Hobart Hurricanes cricketers
Multan Sultans cricketers
Sri Lankan cricket commentators
Wicket-keepers | true | [
"Bastiaan (\"Bas\") Zuiderent (born 3 March 1977) is a former Dutch international cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He is one of very few Dutchmen, to have appeared in six International Cricket Council events.\n\nInternational career\nAt the age of 18, Zuiderent was selected in the Netherlands squad for their inaugural appearance at the Cricket World Cup in 1996. In his second World Cup match, he scored 54 against England at Peshawar.\n\nThe following year, Zuiderent was selected in the Dutch squad for the 1997 ICC Trophy, but the team was unable to secure qualification for the 1999 Cricket World Cup.\n\nMost notably, he missed the 2001 ICC Trophy competition in which the Netherlands earned qualification for the 2003 Cricket World Cup, but he did later represent his country in all their matches at the 2003 Cricket World Cup.\n\nAfter leaving Sussex, Zuiderent returned to the Netherlands and once again was a regular member of the national team. In the 2005 ICC Trophy, he scored three centuries and finished as the tournament's top run-scorer. He produced a man of the match performance in the 5th/6th place play-off against the United Arab Emirates, carrying his bat and scoring 116 not out. The win ensured that the Netherlands would qualify for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and receive ICC funding and ODI status for four years. Zuiderent was named as the Player of the Tournament.\n\nIn February 2007, Zuiderent was named in the Dutch squad for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.\n\nCounty career\nIn 1999, Zuiderent was signed by Sussex County Cricket Club, and played for them up until the end of the 2003 season. During this period, he did not always appear regularly for the Netherlands team as he believed that playing in matches for Sussex would be more beneficial to his career.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n Bas Zuiderent Interview\n\n1977 births\nLiving people\nDutch cricketers\nNetherlands One Day International cricketers\nNetherlands Twenty20 International cricketers\nCricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup\nCricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup\nCricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup\nCricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup\nSussex cricketers\nSportspeople from Utrecht (city)",
"The New Zealand blind cricket team is the national blind cricket team of New Zealand. New Zealand blind cricket team participates in One Day Internationals and T20 Internationals. New Zealand team also participated in the inaugural Blind Cricket World Cup in 1998 and ended up as semifinalists.\nIn the inaugural Blind Cricket World Cup, the following cricketers of New Zealand blind cricket team went on to bag some awards.\n\n(A) Best bowlers of the World Cup\n B1 (Totally Blind)\tKevin Murray (New Zealand)\t5 for 240\n(B) Best Player of the First World Cup - (Rs 5,000 each)\n B2 (Partially blind)\tJames Dunn (New Zealand)\t332 runs and 5 wickets\n\nTournament History\n\n40 Over Blind Cricket World Cup \n 1998 Blind Cricket World Cup-Groupstage\n 2002 Blind Cricket World Cup-Did not participate\n 2006 Blind Cricket World Cup-Did not participate\n 2014 Blind Cricket World Cup-Groupstage\n\nBlind T20 World Cup \n 2012 Blind World T20-Groupstage\n 2017 Blind World T20-Groupstage\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n \n\nBlind cricket teams\nMen's national sports teams of New Zealand\nParasports in New Zealand"
] |
[
"Kumar Sangakkara",
"Captaincy",
"How did he become captain?",
"In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy \"in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team\".",
"What made him want to step down?",
"He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup.",
"Did he win the 2011 Cricket World Cup?",
"Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain"
] | C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_0 | Why did he step down? | 4 | Why did Kumar Sangakkara step down? | Kumar Sangakkara | In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2-0 and ODI series 3-1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. CANNOTANSWER | captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... | Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016.
He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title.
In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan.
Early life
Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents.
Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin.
Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year.
Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University.
His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983.
International career
Early career
At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.
He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart.
Vice-captaincy
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.
On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010.
Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.
Captaincy
In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup.
Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.
Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.
A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo.
Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."
The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Post-captaincy
Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.
Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI.
Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.
On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.
Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.
His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.
Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.
Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup.
His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.
On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.
On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.
On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.
During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.
Retirement
During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015.
On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement.
On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series.
The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements.
After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK".
In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade.
Cowdrey Lecture
Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history".
Beyond playing cricket
Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015.
On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence.
In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities."
Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield.
Domestic cricket
Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s.
County cricket
Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.
Indian Premier League
Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.
In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021.
Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ]
In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.
Caribbean Premier League
On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.
Pakistan Super League
In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans.
Return to county cricket
Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket.
Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.
On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.
MCC
On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5.
Cricket All-Stars Series
Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series.
Masters Champion League
Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.
Selection committee
On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.
On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling.
Coaching career
He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021.
Personal life
Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith
He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara.
Playing style
Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him.
He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:
Commentary career
Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England.
Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE
International records
NOTE: World records are bold
Tests
Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman.
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches.
Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers.
Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list.
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.
Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings)
Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings)
Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings)
Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings)
Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings)
Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09
Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37)
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)
One-Day Internationals
Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list.
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list.
Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches.
Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51
First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance.
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.
T20I records
He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket)
He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014)
Aggregate records
Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is)
Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs.
Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678).
World Cups
Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups
Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015.
Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition
Player statistics
Centuries
Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs.
Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012
ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012
ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013
ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014
ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014
Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012
LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012
Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards.
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award
Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015
See also
Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy
References
External links
Official Website
Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news
Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket
1977 births
Living people
ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers
ICC World XI One Day International cricketers
Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers
Warwickshire cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricket captains
Punjab Kings cricketers
Sri Lankan terrorism victims
Sinhalese sportspeople
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Alumni of the University of Colombo
Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy
Kandurata cricketers
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Cricketers from Kandy
Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers
International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year
Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers
Durham cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Quetta Gladiators cricketers
Karachi Kings cricketers
Deccan Chargers cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers
Hobart Hurricanes cricketers
Multan Sultans cricketers
Sri Lankan cricket commentators
Wicket-keepers | false | [
"\"Tell Me Why\" is the opening track on Neil Young's album After the Gold Rush. Written by Young, it was first introduced during the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young shows of 1970 prior to the release of Déjà Vu. The song also appears on Live at Massey Hall 1971.\n\nComposition and lyrics\nMusically, the song marks a shift from the hard rock of 1969's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and bears more folk and country influences, which would continue onto 1972's Harvest. The only instruments are two acoustic guitars, played by Young and Nils Lofgren. He is, however, backed by the vocal harmonies of Crazy Horse during the choruses. 'Tell Me Why' has a simple lyrical structure, with two verses each followed by a bridge then chorus, and one final bridge and chorus before a short instrumental outro. The chorus line \"Tell me why, tell me why/Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself/When you're old enough to repay/but young enough to sell?\" is the most famous line from the song, typifying the introspective and melancholic nature of not just this song, but the whole album.\n\nThe guitar is tuned down to D Standard (every string tuned a whole step down from standard tuning).\n\nCover versions\nNorah Jones has been known to cover 'Tell Me Why' as well as Radiohead, most notably at the White River Amphitheatre and the Hollywood Bowl in 2008.\nThe song is famously popular with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea.\n\nReferences\n\nNeil Young songs\n1970 songs\nSongs written by Neil Young\nSong recordings produced by David Briggs (record producer)\nHemingway Corner songs\nSong recordings produced by Neil Young",
"Face Down in Turpentine is the first full-length album by the band Baboon. It was released in June 1994 on Grass Records.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Master Salvatoris\" – 1:44\n \"Tool\" – 4:05\n \"Step Away\" – 3:53\n \"Good Friend\" – 3:19\n \"Happy Life\" – 2:40\n \"Positive\" – 4:04\n \"Why'd You Say Die?\" – 3:49\n \"Emotionless\" – 3:20\n \"Thumbhead\" – 1:57\n \"Sucker\" – 4:02\n \"Kamikaze\" – 1:55\n \"Naked in the Mall/California Dreaming\" – 4:01\n \"Bright Lights Big Mommy\" – 2:50\n \"E\" – 4:31\n\nAll songs by Baboon.\n\nPersonnel\n Steven Barnett - drums\n Andrew Huffstetler - vocals, trombone\n Bart Rogers - bass guitar, backing vocals\n Mike Rudnicki - guitar, backing vocals\n Sam McCall - producer\n\nReferences\n\n1994 debut albums\nBaboon (band) albums"
] |
[
"Kumar Sangakkara",
"Captaincy",
"How did he become captain?",
"In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy \"in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team\".",
"What made him want to step down?",
"He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup.",
"Did he win the 2011 Cricket World Cup?",
"Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain",
"Why did he step down?",
"captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ..."
] | C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_0 | Did he retire after this? | 5 | Did Kumar Sangakkara retire after capaitaning? | Kumar Sangakkara | In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2-0 and ODI series 3-1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016.
He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title.
In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan.
Early life
Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents.
Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin.
Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year.
Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University.
His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983.
International career
Early career
At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.
He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart.
Vice-captaincy
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.
On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010.
Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.
Captaincy
In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup.
Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.
Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.
A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo.
Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."
The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Post-captaincy
Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.
Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI.
Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.
On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.
Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.
His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.
Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.
Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup.
His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.
On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.
On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.
On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.
During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.
Retirement
During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015.
On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement.
On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series.
The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements.
After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK".
In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade.
Cowdrey Lecture
Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history".
Beyond playing cricket
Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015.
On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence.
In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities."
Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield.
Domestic cricket
Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s.
County cricket
Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.
Indian Premier League
Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.
In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021.
Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ]
In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.
Caribbean Premier League
On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.
Pakistan Super League
In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans.
Return to county cricket
Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket.
Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.
On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.
MCC
On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5.
Cricket All-Stars Series
Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series.
Masters Champion League
Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.
Selection committee
On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.
On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling.
Coaching career
He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021.
Personal life
Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith
He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara.
Playing style
Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him.
He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:
Commentary career
Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England.
Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE
International records
NOTE: World records are bold
Tests
Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman.
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches.
Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers.
Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list.
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.
Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings)
Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings)
Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings)
Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings)
Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings)
Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09
Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37)
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)
One-Day Internationals
Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list.
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list.
Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches.
Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51
First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance.
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.
T20I records
He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket)
He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014)
Aggregate records
Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is)
Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs.
Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678).
World Cups
Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups
Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015.
Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition
Player statistics
Centuries
Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs.
Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012
ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012
ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013
ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014
ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014
Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012
LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012
Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards.
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award
Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015
See also
Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy
References
External links
Official Website
Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news
Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket
1977 births
Living people
ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers
ICC World XI One Day International cricketers
Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers
Warwickshire cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricket captains
Punjab Kings cricketers
Sri Lankan terrorism victims
Sinhalese sportspeople
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Alumni of the University of Colombo
Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy
Kandurata cricketers
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Cricketers from Kandy
Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers
International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year
Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers
Durham cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Quetta Gladiators cricketers
Karachi Kings cricketers
Deccan Chargers cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers
Hobart Hurricanes cricketers
Multan Sultans cricketers
Sri Lankan cricket commentators
Wicket-keepers | false | [
"Øyvind Gjerde (born 18 March 1977) is a Norwegian former footballer who played for Molde. He has previously played for the clubs Åndalsnes, Lillestrøm and Aalesund.\n\nAfter the 2010 season, when he did not get a new contract with Molde after 7 years in the club, Gjerde announced that he would most likely retire.\n\nReferences \n\n1977 births\nLiving people\nPeople from Møre og Romsdal\nNorwegian footballers\nEliteserien players\nNorwegian First Division players\nAalesunds FK players\nLillestrøm SK players\nMolde FK players\n\nAssociation football defenders",
"Eleni Daniilidou was the defending champion, but did not compete this year.\n\nKim Clijsters won the title after Justine Henin-Hardenne was forced to retire due to a left wrist injury. The score was 6–7(4–7), 3–0.\n\nSeeds\nThe first two seeds received a bye into the second round.\n\nDraw\n\nFinals\n\nTop half\n\nBottom half\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Official results archive (ITF)\n Official results archive (WTA)\n\nWomen's Singles\nSingles"
] |
[
"Kumar Sangakkara",
"Captaincy",
"How did he become captain?",
"In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy \"in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team\".",
"What made him want to step down?",
"He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup.",
"Did he win the 2011 Cricket World Cup?",
"Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain",
"Why did he step down?",
"captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ...",
"Did he retire after this?",
"I don't know."
] | C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_0 | What did he do after stepping down? | 6 | What did Kumar Sangakkara do after stepping down? | Kumar Sangakkara | In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2-0 and ODI series 3-1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. CANNOTANSWER | In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. | Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016.
He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title.
In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan.
Early life
Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents.
Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin.
Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year.
Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University.
His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983.
International career
Early career
At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.
He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart.
Vice-captaincy
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.
On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010.
Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.
Captaincy
In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup.
Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.
Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.
A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo.
Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."
The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Post-captaincy
Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.
Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI.
Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.
On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.
Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.
His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.
Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.
Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup.
His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.
On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.
On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.
On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.
During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.
Retirement
During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015.
On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement.
On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series.
The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements.
After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK".
In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade.
Cowdrey Lecture
Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history".
Beyond playing cricket
Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015.
On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence.
In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities."
Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield.
Domestic cricket
Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s.
County cricket
Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.
Indian Premier League
Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.
In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021.
Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ]
In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.
Caribbean Premier League
On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.
Pakistan Super League
In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans.
Return to county cricket
Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket.
Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.
On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.
MCC
On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5.
Cricket All-Stars Series
Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series.
Masters Champion League
Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.
Selection committee
On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.
On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling.
Coaching career
He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021.
Personal life
Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith
He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara.
Playing style
Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him.
He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:
Commentary career
Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England.
Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE
International records
NOTE: World records are bold
Tests
Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman.
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches.
Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers.
Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list.
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.
Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings)
Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings)
Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings)
Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings)
Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings)
Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09
Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37)
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)
One-Day Internationals
Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list.
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list.
Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches.
Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51
First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance.
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.
T20I records
He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket)
He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014)
Aggregate records
Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is)
Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs.
Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678).
World Cups
Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups
Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015.
Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition
Player statistics
Centuries
Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs.
Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012
ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012
ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013
ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014
ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014
Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012
LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012
Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards.
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award
Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015
See also
Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy
References
External links
Official Website
Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news
Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket
1977 births
Living people
ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers
ICC World XI One Day International cricketers
Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers
Warwickshire cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricket captains
Punjab Kings cricketers
Sri Lankan terrorism victims
Sinhalese sportspeople
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Alumni of the University of Colombo
Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy
Kandurata cricketers
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Cricketers from Kandy
Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers
International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year
Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers
Durham cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Quetta Gladiators cricketers
Karachi Kings cricketers
Deccan Chargers cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers
Hobart Hurricanes cricketers
Multan Sultans cricketers
Sri Lankan cricket commentators
Wicket-keepers | true | [
"\"What Did I Do to You?\" is a song recorded by British singer Lisa Stansfield for her 1989 album, Affection. It was written by Stansfield, Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, and produced by Devaney and Morris. The song was released as the fourth European single on 30 April 1990. It included three previously unreleased songs written by Stansfield, Devaney and Morris: \"My Apple Heart,\" \"Lay Me Down\" and \"Something's Happenin'.\" \"What Did I Do to You?\" was remixed by Mark Saunders and by the Grammy Award-winning American house music DJ and producer, David Morales. The single became a top forty hit in the European countries reaching number eighteen in Finland, number twenty in Ireland and number twenty-five in the United Kingdom. \"What Did I Do to You?\" was also released in Japan.\n\nIn 2014, the remixes of \"What Did I Do to You?\" were included on the deluxe 2CD + DVD re-release of Affection and on People Hold On ... The Remix Anthology. They were also featured on The Collection 1989–2003 box set (2014), including previously unreleased Red Zone Mix by David Morales.\n\nCritical reception\nThe song received positive reviews from music critics. Matthew Hocter from Albumism viewed it as a \"upbeat offering\". David Giles from Music Week said it is \"beautifully performed\" by Stansfield. A reviewer from Reading Eagle wrote that \"What Did I Do to You?\" \"would be right at home on the \"Saturday Night Fever\" soundtrack.\"\n\nMusic video\nA music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Philip Richardson, who had previously directed the videos for \"All Around the World\" and \"Live Together\". It features Stansfield with her kiss curls, dressed in a white outfit and performing with her band on a stage in front of a jumping audience. The video was later published on Stansfield's official YouTube channel in November 2009. It has amassed more than 1,6 million views as of October 2021.\n\nTrack listings\n\n European/UK 7\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix Edit) – 4:20\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n European/UK/Japanese CD single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix Edit) – 4:20\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 5:19\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 4:17\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n UK 10\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Mark Saunders Remix) – 5:52\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 5:19\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 4:17\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:59\n\n European/UK 12\" single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Morales Mix) – 7:59\n\"My Apple Heart\" – 4:22\n\"Lay Me Down\" – 3:19\n\"Something's Happenin'\" – 3:15\n\n UK 12\" promotional single\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Morales Mix) – 7:59\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Anti Poll Tax Dub) – 6:31\n\n Other remixes\n\"What Did I Do to You?\" (Red Zone Mix) – 7:45\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nLisa Stansfield songs\n1990 singles\nSongs written by Lisa Stansfield\n1989 songs\nArista Records singles\nSongs written by Ian Devaney\nSongs written by Andy Morris (musician)",
"Songs from the Edge is the second album by British musician Dirty Harry (formerly known as Harry).\n\nIt was recorded as the follow-up to The Trouble with... Harry (2003) and produced by multi-platinum Grammy-nominated producer Luke Ebbin (Bon Jovi, Rival Schools). The album features Curt Schneider engineering and playing bass guitar, David Levita on guitar, and Victor Indrizzo on drums.\n\nTrack listing \n \"Frayed at the Edges\"\n \"Takes One to Know One\"\n \"Welcome to What Is Meant to Be\"\n \"Do You Remember Those Days?\"\n \"Dirty Boys & Girls\"\n \"Stepping Stones\"\n \"Drunks of London Town\"\n \"Let Go of Me\"\n \"Fake It Like You\"\n \"Not That Girl / Been Down\"\n \"Sweet Sound of Rock'n'roll\"\n\nExternal links \nHarry's Myspace\nHarry's Online Community\nGirlBand.Org Entry for Dirty Harry\n\n2007 albums\nDirty Harry (musician) albums\nAlbums produced by Luke Ebbin"
] |
[
"Kumar Sangakkara",
"Captaincy",
"How did he become captain?",
"In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy \"in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team\".",
"What made him want to step down?",
"He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup.",
"Did he win the 2011 Cricket World Cup?",
"Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain",
"Why did he step down?",
"captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ...",
"Did he retire after this?",
"I don't know.",
"What did he do after stepping down?",
"In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year."
] | C_964679c689e843edacbcf364c7d2417f_0 | Why was he honored? | 7 | Why was Kumar Sangakkara honored? | Kumar Sangakkara | In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2-0 and ODI series 3-1. Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia. A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game." The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Kumar Chokshanada Sangakkara (; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee, and the former president of Marylebone Cricket Club. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wicket-keeper-batters in the history of the sport. He was officially rated in the top three current batsmen in the world in all three formats of the game at various stages of his international career. Sangakkara scored 28,016 runs in international cricket across all formats in a career that spanned 15 years. At retirement, he was the second-highest run-scorer in ODI cricket, next only to Sachin Tendulkar, and the sixth-highest run scorer in Test cricket.
As a player, Sangakkara was a left-handed top-order batsman and was also a wicket-keeper for a large proportion of his career. Sangakkara holds many Test records, having been the fastest, or joint-fastest (in terms of innings) to various run milestones in Test cricket. Sangakkara's partnership with Mahela Jayawardene was the second most prolific in the history of Test cricket. Additionally, he holds the record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in ODI cricket.
Sangakkara won the ICC Cricketer of the Year in 2012 and won many other awards for both Test and ODI cricket. He was selected as Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2012 and 2015 editions of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, becoming the second player to have won this award twice. Sangakkara was rated as the Greatest ODI player of all time in a public poll conducted by Cricket Australia in 2016.
He won the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 tournament and was part of the team that made the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup, 2011 Cricket World Cup, 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and 2012 ICC World Twenty20. He won the Man of the Match award in the final of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, where he helped Sri Lanka win their first title.
In 2019, he was appointed President of the MCC, the first non-British person to be appointed to the position since the club was founded in 1787. He was the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver the MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community for its outspoken nature. In June 2021, he was inducted to the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame and became the second Sri Lankan to be inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame after Muttiah Muralitharan.
Early life
Sangakkara was born in Matale, Central Province near the city of Kandy in 1977. He grew up in Kandy with three siblings and his parents.
Sangakkara received his education at Trinity College, Kandy. During his school days, he was a chorister and played the violin.
Sangakkara excelled in many sports and his college principal encouraged him to focus on cricket. He represented his school's Under-13, Under-15, Under-17, Under-19 and first XI squads and was awarded his school's The Trinity Lion award and Ryde Gold Medal. Sangakkara was selected to represent Sri Lankan A cricket team's tour to South Africa in 1999-00. His knock of an unbeaten 156 against Zimbabwe A team during a one-day match helped him secure a place in the Sri Lankan national cricket team later that year.
Sanga was the Senior Prefect (Head Boy) of school and entered the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, but was unable to finish his degree initially due to his cricketing commitments. He later completed his Masters in Law from the University.
His parents sheltered Tamil families during the Black July riots in 1983.
International career
Early career
At the age of 22 Sangakkara made his Test debut on 20 July 2000, keeping wicket in the first fixture of a three-match series against South Africa. Sri Lanka won the match and in his side's only innings Sangakarra batted at the fall of the third wicket and scored 23 runs before he was dismissed leg before wicket by spin bowler Nicky Boje. He made 35 runs in his One-day cricket debut against Pakistan and he received his first man of the match award in the 2nd match of the Singer Triangular Series, 2000, scoring 85 runs against South Africa. He ended the series with 199 runs, at an average of 66.33, securing his place for the upcoming Test series against South Africa. Before reaching his first Test century, he was twice dismissed in the 90s, once against each of South Africa and England. In August 2001, India toured Sri Lanka for three Tests and in the opening match Sangakkara scored his first century. His innings of 105 not out at number three helped set up a ten-wicket victory for Sri Lanka. Later that year Sangakkara scored his second Test century, this time in the first of three matches against the touring West Indians.
He scored his first double-century against Pakistan in 2002, at the 2nd Asian Test Championship final. His performance helped Sri Lanka secure the Test championship. In April 2003, Sangakkara made his first ODI century against Pakistan, in a losing effort. Together with Marvan Atapattu, he made a partnership of 438 for the 2nd wicket—4th highest in the world—against Zimbabwe in 2004. In that game, he scored 270, his first 250+ score. In July 2005, he was selected to the ICC World XI ODI team but missed out from its Test counterpart.
Vice-captaincy
When Sri Lanka toured Bangladesh in February 2006 regular captain Marvan Atapattu was injured and Mahela Jayawardene became captain while Sangakkara was made vice-captain. Pakistan toured Sri Lanka for two Test and three ODIs in March 2006, and with Atapattu still injured Jayawardene and Sangakkara remained captain and vice-captain respectively. The pair had only expected to hold the positions on an interim basis, but extended into a third series as Atapattu failed to recover in time to tour England in April and ended up filling the roles full-time. In July 2006, Sangakkara made his second-highest Test score to-date (287) against South Africa. In a record-breaking partnership with Mahela Jayawardene, he set up the world record for the highest partnership in Test cricket—624 runs—in this match.
On 6 December 2007 he made it to the top spot of ICC Test player rankings with a rating of 938, the highest rating ever achieved by a Sri Lankan player, and became the first batsman ever to score in excess of 150 in four consecutive tests. His skill was recognised worldwide when he earned selection for the ICC World XI One-Day International team that competed against Australia in the Johnnie Walker Series in October 2005. Despite the World XI losing all of the one-day games by considerable margins, Sangakkara left the series with some credit, averaging 46. He was one of the winners of the 2008 inaugural Cricinfo awards for outstanding batting in Test cricket. He was once again named in the World Test XI by the ICC in 2010.
Sangakkara holds the record for being the fastest man to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 (jointly held), 11,000 and 12,000 runs in Test cricket. During Sri Lanka's tour to England in May 2006, he was named the vice-captain of the side. On 3 March 2009, a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team convoy in Pakistan injured 6 Sri Lankan players including Sangakkara. Sangakkara suffered shrapnel wounds in his shoulder. In November 2006, Sangakkara was included in the ICC World XI Test team. Next year, he signed an agreement to join Warwickshire County Cricket Club. That year, he scored back-to-back double centuries in Tests and became only the fifth cricketer in the history to do so.
Captaincy
In February 2009, the then captain of the Sri Lankan side, Mahela Jayawardene announced that he would step down from captaincy "in the best interests of the Sri Lankan team". He said he believed that it would give his successor around two years to build up to the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Therefore, at the age of 31 and with the experience of 80 Tests and 246 ODIs, Sangakkara succeeded Jayawardene as Sri Lanka's captain in all formats of the game. His first engagement in the role was the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 hosted by England in June. Sri Lanka became runners-up in the series after winning all the game in group and knock-out stages and being defeated by Pakistan in the final. Sangakkara made 64 not-out in the final, but was unable to take Sri Lanka for the championship. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo for the 2009 T20I World Cup.
Sri Lanka failed to reach to the knock-out stage of the ICC Champions Trophy in September 2009. The next Indian tour proved to be disastrous for the team, with Sri Lanka being beaten by India in Test series 2–0 and ODI series 3–1.
Sri Lankan team under the captaincy of Sangakkara gained momentum and won the next Tri-series in Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, beating India as well. The Sri Lankans' tour of Australia proved to be very successful, in winning both the T20 and ODI series. This was Sri Lanka's first ever series victory in Australia.
A month in advance of the 2011 World Cup in March, Sangakkara decided that he would resign the captaincy after the tournament. Sri Lanka reached the final of the tournament. Throughout the tournament Sangakkara was in prolific form with the bat scoring 465 runs from 9 matches and was the third highest run-scorer behind teammate Tillakaratne Dilshan and India's Sachin Tendulkar. He was named as captain and wicket keeper of the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2011 World Cup by the ICC. He was also named in the 'Team of the Tournament' by Cricinfo.
Days after guiding Sri Lanka to the finals of the World Cup, Sangakkara announced to the public he was stepping down as captain of the T20 and ODI teams. He offered to continue as Test captain if deemed necessary for transition to new skipper, but Dilshan was appointed captain across all formats. Reflecting on the decision afterwards, he said that "captaining Sri Lanka is a job that ages you very quickly ... It's rarely a job you will last long in ... I also had a two-year stint, and I enjoyed it at times, certainly on the field where our results showed we were one of the top two sides in the world for one-and-a-half years, especially in the shorter form of the game."
The same year, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year at the ICC awards ceremony. In 2012, he was honored as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Post-captaincy
Sri Lanka's first fixture after the World Cup was a Sri Lanka tour of England in 2011 beginning in May. During the second match of a three Test series Tillakaratne Dilshan, Sangakkara's successor as captain, suffered a broken thumb. Sangakkara filled in while Dilshan was off the pitch and formally assumed the captaincy for the final Test. The match ended in a draw and the series ended in a 1–0 victory for England; Sangakarra scored a century in the match, his first against England in nine Tests.
Sangakkara was named the man of the series in Test series with Pakistan in 2011/12—his first man of the series award in Test cricket. He made 516 runs in the 3 match series which was won by Pakistan 1–0. On August in 2013, he was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, wicket keeper-captain of the ICC World XI Test team, and won the ICC People's Choice Award in 2011 ICC Awards. In 2012, he was named one of the Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. He was also named as captain and wicket keeper of the 2011 World Test XI by the ICC and named in the 2012 World Test XI and ODI XI.
Sangakkara struggled with his form when England toured Sri Lanka in 2012. He failed to score a half century during The Two Test match series. But he regained his form in the ODI series against Pakistan where his batting score reached the 90s. In the Test series that followed, Sangakkara continued his form with a 199, the scoreboard originally said he had scored the double century but it turned out to be a mistake. Sri Lanka later won the Test match. He followed this up with 192 in the same game, again missing out on the double century. The next two matches were drawn, which meant Sri Lanka won the series 1–0. This was their first time winning a Test series since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.
On the Sri Lankan tour of Bangladesh in 2014, Sangakkara hit his highest test score to date with 319 in the first innings of the second test. Making him only the third Sri Lankan player to hit a triple century after Sanath Jayasuria and Mahela Jayawardena. He followed his triple century with a knock of 105 in the 2nd innings and the game finished as a draw. He continued his good batting run with another century in the 2nd ODI.
Along with teammate Mahela Jayawardene, he recorded the most partnership runs for the 3rd wicket in Test history, scoring 5890 runs surpassing the 5826 runs of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, during the first Test match against Pakistan at Galle International Stadium. The two also hold the record for the highest partnership for any wicket in Test matches, scoring 624 runs for the 3rd wicket against South Africa in July 2006. This still stands as the largest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket, anywhere.
His impressive form with the bat continued at the 2014 Asia Cup where he amassed a total of 245 runs in five innings. He started the tournament with a 63 against Pakistan before hitting a match winning 103 against India. He then added scores of 77 and 2 against Afghanistan and Bangladesh before being dismissed for a golden duck in the final against Pakistan. Sri Lanka went on to win the game and the tournament.
Sangakkara decided to retire from T20 internationals after playing the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Afterwards, Jayawardene also followed him into retirement. Sangakkara under-performed in the World T20, but in the final match against India, he scored 51 not out off just 33 balls making his team win their second ICC trophy since 1996.
Sri Lanka played their first 7-match ODI series at home, against England from 26 November to 16 December 2014. On 3 December 2014 Sangakkara reached 13,000 runs in One-day internationals in the third match of the series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium, Hambantota, and became the fourth player in One-day history to achieve the feat after Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Sanath Jayasuriya. He also became the second most prolific half-century maker in One-day internationals during this match. He scored 4 consecutive half-centuries followed by a century. On 13 December 2014, he scored his 20th ODI century, becoming the second Sri Lankan to score 20 ODI centuries, after 28 by Sanath Jayasuriya, and 9th overall to do so. He also took 4 catches as a wicket-keeper in this match taking the player of the match award. This match was his last match in his home town, due to his retirement from ODI arena after 2015 Cricket World Cup.
His last One-day innings in Sri Lanka was played on 13 December 2014 in the last match of the England ODI series. He was caught while on 33 in his last innings on home soil.
On 4 January 2015, Sangakkara scored his 38th test century by making 203 against New Zealand during the second match of the 2 Test match series. With this feat, he is only one short to become the highest double-century maker in test history. He has 11 test double centuries, only one short of 12 double centuries by Don Bradman. He also surpassed 12,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming the first Sri Lankan and 5th overall cricketer to achieve that mark.
On 14 February 2015, Sangakkara became the second highest run scorer in One-Day International history, by surpassing Australian Ricky Ponting. He achieved this milestone during the first match of 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against New Zealand, but Sri Lanka lost the match.
On 26 February 2015 in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup against Bangladesh, Sangakkara scored his 22nd ODI century in his 400th appearance in One-Day Internationals. The 210* second wicket partnership between Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan on that day was broken again on 1 March 2015, in the next group match in World Cup against England, where Sangakkara joined Lahiru Thirimanne with 212* for the second wicket. Sangakkara scored his 23rd century in this match and this 70-ball century was his fastest century overall and the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in World Cup history.
During the same World Cup, against Australia, when chasing a massive score of 377, Sangakkara passed 14,000 ODI runs, becoming the first Sri Lankan and second overall cricketer to pass it. He scored 124 runs in the next match against Scotland, becoming first batsman in World Cup history to score 4 consecutive hundreds.
Sangakkara's last ODI innings were disappointing from him and his teams' point of view, where Sri Lanka lost the quarter-final against South Africa on 18 March 2015. He only scored 45 runs, it was Sri Lanka's first World Cup defeat in a quarter final after 1999. His teammate Mahela also retired from ODI career with this match. He was named in the 'Team of the Tournament' for the 2015 World Cup by the ICC.
Retirement
During the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 championship, Sangakkara announced his retirement from the Twenty20 International arena after the championship with his teammate Mahela. Then in December 2014, he announced that he would also retire from ODI cricket after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, again with Mahela. As he said, he retired from T20I cricket in April 2014 and from ODI cricket on 18 March 2015.
On 1 April 2015, Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Navin Dissanayake stated that Sangakkara should reconsider his intention to retire in August 2015. He said that Sangakarra was disillusioned by some of the actions of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board in the past, and now that attempts have been made to change personnel and practices, Sangakkara should reconsider his decision. Sangakkara did not give an answer to the statement.
On 27 June 2015, Sangakkara officially announced his retirement from Test cricket as well. He retired from Test cricket after the second Test match against India. He scored 32 runs in the first innings and 18 in the second of his last test match and got out to Ravichandran Ashwin for the fourth consecutive time in the series.
The P Sara Oval ground was decorated with numerous banners and posters of Sangakkara with messages such as "Thank You Sanga" and "Class Never Retires". His teammates including Mahela, Thilan Thushara, and Sanath Jayasuriya, Murali came to the ground to bid farewell to Sangakkara. Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation recognized Sangakkara as the "Player of the Century" citing many of Sangakkara's memories and achievements.
After the conclusion of the second test, a special farewell presentation was held for Sangakkara with the presence of President Maithreepala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe, former Sri Lankan Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga, former Indian Test captain Sunil Gavaskar, and several cricket celebrities. Several mementos were given for the behalf of his cricket career and Gavaskar invited him to the former cricketer's club. Indian captain Virat Kohli described Sangakkara as "a lovely person". President Sirisena offered him to work as the Commissioner for the United Kingdom in Sri Lanka stating "He has been a great face for our country and it gives me immense pleasure in offering him the post of High Commissioner to the UK".
In November 2020, Sangakkara was nominated for the Sir Garfield Sobers Award for ICC Male Cricketer of the Decade, and the award for ODI cricketer of the decade.
Cowdrey Lecture
Sangakkara delivered the 2011 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lords. He became the youngest person and the first active international player to deliver that lecture, which was widely praised by the cricketing community. The one-hour-long speech was based on the history and the corruption in the cricket administration in Sri Lanka. In his speech, he said: "accountability and transparency in administration and credibility of conduct were lost in a mad power struggle that would leave Sri Lankan cricket with no clear, consistent administration", and observed that these problems in administration had risen only after Sri Lanka's 1996 Cricket World Cup victory. He also blamed "a handful of well-meaning individuals" who control the game, wasting the cricket board's finances and resources. Immediately after the lecture, the Sri Lankan sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage ordered an investigation into the speech. Despite the critical comments by the Sri Lankan government officials, it has been described as "the most important speech in cricket history".
Beyond playing cricket
Sangakarra retired from ODI cricket in 2015.
On 19 August 2015, just after the end of Sri Lankan Parliamentary election of 2015, president Maithripala Sirisena appointed Sangakkara as the Ambassador Of Anti-narcotics program In Sri Lanka. The letter of appointment was handed over to Sangakkara by the president at President's official residence.
In January 2019, Sangakkara accepted an invitation from the incumbent President of the MCC Anthony Wreford to be his successor. The decision was announced on 1 May 2019, at which time Sangakkara became the President Designate. His one-year term began on 1 October 2019. Sangakkara was the first non-British MCC President since the club was founded in 1787. The MCC are the custodians of the Laws of Cricket, which are applied by the International Cricket Council in its role as the global governing body for the game. Sangakkara was awarded honorary life membership of the MCC in 2012 and joined its world cricket committee the same year. Sangakarra described the MCC as "the greatest cricket club in the world" and described being named as its President as a "huge honour". Kumar Sangakkara has become the first non-British President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), with effect from 1 October 2019 for a period of one year which was extended for further one year till October 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "I am thrilled to hold the prestigious position of MCC President and I look forward to working hard with the MCC to build on this incredible year of cricket. We have the opportunity to convert more supporters to the game we love and educate them about the fantastic work MCC does locally, nationally and globally for cricket and those communities."
Sangakkara has a long association with MCC. He played against the Club in 2002, opening the batting for the touring Sri Lankans in a first-class match at Queen's Park Chesterfield.
Domestic cricket
Sangakkara used to play domestic cricket for Nondescripts in Sri Lanka, as well as Surrey in England and also various T20 tournaments around the world. He made his Twenty20 debut on 17 August 2004, for Nondescripts Cricket Club in the 2004 SLC Twenty20 Tournament. He currently only plays for the MCC as a player-president in T20s.
County cricket
Sangakkara has played English county cricket with Warwickshire in the 2007 County Championship. In 2010 Sangakkara was contracted to represent Lancashire in the 2010 County Championship, but never represented the club because of international commitments. For the 2015 and 2016 seasons Sangakkara was contracted to play for Surrey. After his international retirement, Sangakkara continued to play for Surrey and in 2017 scored his 100th century in all formats of the game combined on 13 June 2017.
Indian Premier League
Sangakkara has played in five seasons of the Indian Premier League. Winning bids for him in 2008 and 2011 were US$700,000 by Kings XI Punjab and US$300,000 by Deccan Chargers respectively. He was the captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team. Sangakkara has scored 1567 runs with 10 half-centuries in 62 matches in IPL.
In January 2021, Sangakkara was named the director of cricket of Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2021.
Sri Lanka Premier League [ SLPL ]
In the Sri Lanka Premier League which officially started in 2012, Sangakkara was named the captain and icon player of the Kandurata Warriors franchise. Unfortunately, he couldn't participate as a player in the inaugural edition in 2012 as he suffered a finger injury weeks before the tournament during a One Day International against India. However, he appeared as a television commentator during some matches.
Caribbean Premier League
On 18 August 2013, Sangakkarra joined the Jamaica Tallawahs of the Caribbean Premier League.
Pakistan Super League
In 2015, Sangakkarra joined the Quetta Gladiators of the Pakistan Super League. He was later released by the franchise and was picked by Karachi Kings as captain for the 2017 edition. Under his captaincy team reached play-offs. The following year, in the 3rd edition of PSL, Sangakkarra was picked by Multan Sultans.
Return to county cricket
Before Sri Lanka's Test series against England in 2014, Sangakkara returned to county cricket, playing two matches for Durham, which included 159 against Sussex in his final innings. On 16 January 2015, it was announced that he would be joining Surrey on a two-year contract. Sangakkara scored a brilliant century against Glamorgan, where he scored 149 runs, which was his maiden century for Surrey in this county season. After the match, he said that he is willing to see the comeback of English batsman Kevin Pietersen to the international cricket.
Sangakkara represented Surrey from 2015 till 2017, helping them win Division Two of LV= 2015 County Championship and gaining promotion to Division One for the Specsavers 2016 County Championship season. Surrey also reached the finals of 2015 Royal London One-Day Cup before losing by six runs to Gloucestershire.
On 22 May 2017, Sangakkara announced that the following season would be his last in first-class cricket. He made the announcement after scoring four consecutive centuries becoming the fourth Surrey batsman to achieve this feat (Ian Ward was the last to do it in 2002), pass 20,000 first-class and having scored 592 runs in the said four games. He scored the fifth consecutive century on 26 May against Essex at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. becoming only the eighth player to achieve this feat. In the quarter-final of the Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire, he scored 121 from as many balls, which became his 100th century in all formats of the game combined, that now included 61 in first-class and 39 in List A games. Sangakkara became the first batsman to reach 1,000 runs for the season when he brought up his sixth century for the season against Yorkshire.
MCC
On the 2020 MCC tour of Pakistan, with all matches played in Lahore, Sangakkara played in all matches, registering 25 runs in the first T20 match with 1 catch behind the stumps, 3 runs in the only LA game (where he did not keep wicket), 1 catch behind the stumps and 10 with the bat in the second T20, and 52 and 1 catch keeping wicket in the third and tour-ending T20, giving him a total of 3 dismissals credited to his name and 90 runs in total on the tour, giving him a T20 average of 30 and a tour average of 22.5.
Cricket All-Stars Series
Sangakkara, though retired from international cricket, participated in the 2015 Cricket All-Stars Series for Warne's Warriors under Shane Warne's captaincy. In the three T20 matches, he scored 153 runs, more than any other cricketer in the series, and included one fifty. His average in the series was 51.00. He also hit the most fours and sixes, 12 apiece. For his overall performance, Sangakkara was judged player of the series.
Masters Champion League
Sangakkara also played for Gemini Arabians in the first edition of Masters Champions League T20 tournament which took place in the UAE. In the first match against Gemini and Libra Legends, Sangakkara scored 86 runs from just 43 balls and helped the team post a huge total of 234 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Libra Legends only scored 156 in their 20 overs and thus Gemini Arabians won the match courtesy of Sangakkara's knock. Sangakkara was also awarded man of the match. Sangakkara scored four consecutive fifties (65, 51, 51, 62) in the other matches played during the series, this secured a place in the final for the Arabians. In the final against Leo Lions, he scored 30 runs to become top run scorer of the series. His team won the series and remained undefeated throughout the tournament. Sangakkara won player of the series for his 386 runs with 5 fifties.
Selection committee
On 7 March 2016, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of Sri Lanka's selection committee by sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. The committee was tasked to select the Sri Lankan squad for 2016 ICC World Twenty20 tournament, as Sri Lanka suffered heavy defeats in recent times with the previous squad. The chairman of the selection committee is Aravinda de Silva. The other members are Romesh Kaluwitharana, Ranjith Madurasinghe, and Lalith Kaluperuma.
On August 20, 2020, Sangakkara was appointed as a member of the National Sports Council under the overview of Cabinet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Namal Rajapakse. The council is headed by his teammate Mahela Jayawardena and includes notable sporting personalities such as Dilantha Malagamuwa and Julian Bolling.
Coaching career
He was appointed as Director of cricket for Rajasthan Royals in January, 2021.
Personal life
Sangakkara is married to his longtime partner, Yehali with whom he has twin children.Daughter Swyree and son Kavith
He is involved in a lot of charity work in Sri Lanka. He is a member of the Think Wise Initiative, launched by International Cricket Council, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and UNICEF, this initiative is aimed at raising awareness of HIV prevention and eliminating discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS. He is also a partner of the Foundation of Goodness, a charity launched by Kushil Gunasekara.
Playing style
Sangakkara is a left-handed top order batsman who likes to hit the ball square of the stumps on the off-side. While the cut and the pull are natural strokes for him, he tends to play off the front foot. The cover drive is one of his regular scoring shots. Sangakkara averaged 57.40 in Test cricket. In ODI cricket, he retired with an average of 42. Sangakkara handed his wicket-keeping duties in Test cricket to Prasanna Jayawardene in 2006. He played as a specialist batsman in Tests, and retired as a wicket keeper-batsman in other formats of the game. He is the first on the list of wicket keepers who contributed to the most dismissals in ODI cricket, with 499. He is also the wicket keeper with the second highest number of stumpings—99—in ODI cricket after Mahendra Singh Dhoni surpassed him.
He has won a certain degree of admiration for his clever use of sledging and is one of few cricketers who are willing to talk about it openly. In an interview in 2004 he explained his approach to sledging:
Commentary career
Kumar Sangakkara made his ICC TV commentary debut during the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy along with newcomers Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting. Sangakkara was also one of the commentators for the global broadcast of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019.
Kumar Sangakkara has joined SkySports for commentary throughout the English summer of 2018. He also commentated in Pakistan's tour of England as well as India's tour of England.
Sangakkara is also a part of the IPL commentary panel in 2019 as well as in the 2020 edition that was taking place in the UAE
International records
NOTE: World records are bold
Tests
Sixth highest aggregate of runs (12,400) in 134 matches at an Average of 57.40
Second most double centuries in a career – Sangakkara has 11 double centuries in Tests, second only to 12 by Don Bradman.
Fourth highest number of centuries – Sangakkara has 38 centuries in 134 matches.
Highest average (qualification 5000 runs.) by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara (57.40)- fifth highest overall after Donald Bradman, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond and Garfield Sobers.
Half centuries – Sangakkara has 52 half-centuries in 134 matches. He is ninth in the list.
First player to score 150+ scores in four consecutive Test matches.
Fastest 8,000 runs – Sangakkara (152 innings)
Fastest 9,000 runs – Sangakkara (172 innings)
Joint fastest to 10,000 runs – Sangakkara along with Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar (195 innings)
Fastest 11,000 runs – Sangakkara (208 innings)
Fastest 12,000 runs – Sangakkara (224 innings)
Highest partnership for any wicket – 624 for the third wicket by Kumara Sangakkara (287) & Mahela Jayawardene (374) against South Africa in 2006. This pair is the only on to score a 600+ partnership for any wicket in first-class history
Most partnership runs – Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene scored 6554 runs together, which is the second highest by any partnership.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1493 runs in 12 matches with 4 hundreds and 9 fifties with average 71.09
Most test centuries when batting at number 3 position(37)
Most career runs when batting at number 3 position in test history(11679)
One-Day Internationals
Aggregate runs (14,234 in 404 matches at an Average of 41.98) – Sangakkara is second on the list.
First Sri Lankan to pass 14,000 runs.
Most half centuries – Sangakkara has 93 half-centuries in 404 matches. He is second in the list.
Most dismissals (includes wicket-keeping) – Sangakkara has taken (482 dismissals = 383 ct. + 99 st.) in 404 matches.
Second most stumpings in a career as a wicketkeeper in ODIs – 99 by Sangakkara.
Most runs in Year 2014 – 1256 runs in 28 matches with 4 hundreds and 8 fifties with the average 46.51
First and only batsman to score four consecutive hundreds – centuries against Bangladesh (105*), England (117*), Australia (104) and Scotland (124) in the 2015 ICC World Cup.
Sangakkara was the first Sri Lankan and 4th overall batsman to reach List of cricketers who scored a century in their hundred in his 100th ODI appearance.
Most runs as wicketkeeper batsman in ODI history (13,262 runs) and the first wicketkeeper batsman to score over 10000 runs in One Day Internationals.
T20I records
He along with Mahela Jayawardene holds the record for the highest ever partnership for any wicket in ICC World T20 history(166 for the 2nd wicket)
He was the first batsman to score half centuries in 2 different ICC T20 World Cup finals(in 2009 and 2014)
Aggregate records
Most runs in cricket in all formats of the game in a calendar year – Sangakkara scored 2868 runs in the year 2014. (1493 Tests + 1256 ODIs + 119 T20Is)
Total runs scored in all forms of the game – Sangakkara is second only to Indian Sachin Tendulkar, scoring 28,016 international runs.
Fourth in the list of most dismissals as wicketkeeper across all formats (678).
World Cups
Most dismissals as wicketkeeper – Kumara Sangakkara (54) in 37 matches. He was also the second wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist to effect in 50+ dismissals in World Cups
Fastest century by a Sri Lankan – Sangakkara scored his 23rd ODI century by 70 balls against England on 1 March 2015.
Most consecutive centuries in a single World Cup (4). He is first the player to have scored 4 centuries in a single WorldCup. Second Is Rohit Sharma From India who scored 5 centuries in 2019 edition
Player statistics
Centuries
Sangakkara has scored 38 centuries in Test cricket, more than any other Sri Lankan. Additionally, Sangakkara has scored 25 centuries in ODIs.
Awards
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2012
ICC Test Player of the Year: 2012
ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2011, 2013
ICC Test Team of the Year:2006-2008, 2010-2012, 2014
ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2011-2013, 2015
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2011, 2014
Wisden Cricketers of the Year: 2012
LG People's Choice Award: 2011 & 2012
Outstanding Achievement in Sport 2015, The Asian Awards.
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2015
Ada Derana Sri Lankan of the Year 2016 – Icon of the Year Award
Dialog SLC ODI Batsman of the Year: 2015
See also
Mahela-Sanga Challenge Trophy
References
External links
Official Website
Kumara Sangakkara videos, photos and news
Kumar Sangakkara: The Gentleman Stylist Of Sri Lankan Cricket
1977 births
Living people
ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers
ICC World XI One Day International cricketers
Nondescripts Cricket Club cricketers
Warwickshire cricketers
Sri Lanka One Day International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricketers
Sri Lanka Twenty20 International cricketers
Sri Lanka Test cricket captains
Punjab Kings cricketers
Sri Lankan terrorism victims
Sinhalese sportspeople
Sri Lankan Buddhists
Alumni of the University of Colombo
Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup
Alumni of Trinity College, Kandy
Kandurata cricketers
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Cricketers from Kandy
Sunrisers Hyderabad cricketers
International Cricket Council Cricketer of the Year
Jamaica Tallawahs cricketers
Durham cricketers
Surrey cricketers
Quetta Gladiators cricketers
Karachi Kings cricketers
Deccan Chargers cricketers
Dhaka Dynamites cricketers
Hobart Hurricanes cricketers
Multan Sultans cricketers
Sri Lankan cricket commentators
Wicket-keepers | false | [
"José Mari Uhler Vélez (May 27, 1942 – June 3, 1991) was a Filipino lawyer, journalist, business executive, and activist best remembered for his long career as television newscaster anchoring The Big News on ABC-5 and for his service as an oppositionist delegate to the Philippine Constitutional Convention of 1971. He was one of the opposition delegates at the convention, which was why he was one of the first to be arrested when Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial law in September 1972. In April 1989, Velez became one of the first recipients of the Ninoy Aquino Fellowship Award for his accomplishments in journalism, with President Corazon Aquino stating that she believes he \"share[s] in Ninoy's vision of preserving and strengthening our democracy.\"\n\nVélez died on June 3, 1991 at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City after battling lung cancer. He was a graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman and of the Center for Research and Communication, which eventually evolved into the University of Asia and the Pacific.\n\nReferences\n\nUniversity of Asia and the Pacific alumni\nIndividuals honored at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani\n1942 births\n1991 deaths\n20th-century Filipino businesspeople\nNews5 people\nMarcos martial law victims\nJournalists honored at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani",
"The Centre for Investigative Journalism Award (1986–1990) was given for excellence in investigative journalism by Canadian journalists. It was administered by the Canadian Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ).\n\nHistory\n\nFounded in 1978, CIJ began giving the awards in 1986. The inaugural awards had just two categories: print and broadcast. The categories were refined in 1987 to be newspaper, magazine, television, and radio. The 1990 awards split the newspaper category into open newspaper and small newspaper, and the radio and television categories were each split into network and regional. They were the final awards given under the organization's name before it was changed to the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) the day after the awards ceremony. The CAJ continued giving awards from 1991 onward under its new name.\n\n1986 Awardees\n\nBroadcast\n\n Eric Malling, The Fifth Estate\nHe was honored for an investigation into the federal government's decision to allow StarKist to ship cans of tainted tuna from its Saint Andrews, New Brunswick. Fisheries minister John Fraser resigned as a consequence of the report, and millions of cans of tuna were recalled.\n\nVideo:\n\"Product of Canada\", September 17, 1985\n\n Honorable Mention: Pierre Leduc, CFCF-TV\nHe was honored for a story about a vendetta against a lawyer in Quebec City, Quebec, by other lawyers.\n\nPrint\n\n Kevin Cavanagh, Michael Clarkson, Doug Herod, and Kevin McMahon, St. Catharines Standard\nThey were honored for a series of articles on the mass arrest of 32 men who were charged with committing sex offenses in a washroom at a shopping mall in St. Catharines, Ontario. The St. Catharines police department changed its procedures for handling such offenses as a result of the series.\n Honorable Mention: Brian Power and Nicole Parton, The Vancouver Sun\nThey were honored for a story about a yougurt-like milk culture sold as a cancer and cosmetic treatment.\n\nStory:\n\"U.S. pyramid fleece hits city\", July 26, 1985\n\n Honorable Mention: Linda Diebel, Montreal Gazette\nShe was honored for a story on Canadian banks involved in money laundering in the Bahamas.\n\nStory:\n\"Bahamians ask probe of Canada's banks and drugs\", October 22, 1985\n\n Honorable Mention: Elaine Dewar, Canadian Business\nShe was honored for her series on Unicorp's takeover of Union Enterprises.\n Honorable Mention: Kate Dunn, Calgary Herald\nShe was honored for a story on a scam arising from federal scientific research tax credits.\n\nStory:\n\"At one time, Albion boss 'was on the street'\", June 22, 1985\n\n Horoable Mention: Jock Furguson, The Globe and Mail\nHe was honored for a series on pollution in Sarnia, Ontario.\n\n1987–1989 Awardees\n\nMagazine\n\n 1987: Carolyn Walton, Harrowsmith\nShe was honored for her story on the dangers of a fungus found in many older Canadian homes.\n\nArticle:\n\"Bucolic Plague\", March–April 1986\n\n 1988: Paul McKay, Harrowsmith\nHe was honored for a report on Canadian and U.S. wildlife officers pursuing a fictitious falcon smuggling ring in the Yukon.\n\nArticle:\n\"Operation Falcon\", November–December 1987\n\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Michael Webster, Harrowsmith\nHe was honored for an article on lawsuits related to odor problems on farms.\n\nArticle:\n\"Law and Odour\", January–February 1987\n\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Andrew Nikiforuk, Saturday Night\nHe was honored for a report on labor unrest in Edmonton during the Gainer's strike.\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Stephen Kimber and Kelly Shiers, Cities Magazine (Halifax, Nova Scotia)\nThey were honored for a story about a botched search in Nova Scotia for a little boy lost in the woods.\n 1989: Andrew Nikiforuk, Report on Business\nHe was honored for an article on the decline of the prairie wheat economy.\n\nNewspaper\n\n 1987: David Prosser and Ian Hamilton, The Kingston Whig-Standard\nThey were honored for their stories about five Soviet Red Army deserters they interviewed in Afghanistan who were being held captive by rebel Afghan forces, the soldier's petition for asylum in Canada, and the aborted mission to rescue them. The reporters worked with the Department of External Affairs and International Trade to liberate the soldiers and bring them to Canada, and delayed publication of their stories until the soldiers were safe.\n\nStories in Series:\n \"How bid to save six Soviet POWs in Afghanistan turned into fiasco\", printed in The Leader Post on April 21, 1986\n\"Why bid to save Soviet PoWs failed\", printed in The Leader-Post on April 22, 1986\n\n 1987 Honorable Mention: Andrew McIntosh, The Globe and Mail\nHe was honored for a five-part series descriing the politics and costs of picking a federal prison site in Prime Minister Brian Mulrooney's riding.\n 1987 Honorable Mention: Andre Noel, La Presse\nHe was honored for a report comparing the academic performance of students in Quebec and their counterparts in Europe.\n 1987 Honorable Mention: Reporting staff of the Star-Phoenix, including Verne Clemence, Earl Fowler, Deanna Herman, Kim Humphries, Gerry Klein, Daryl Oshanek, Bill Peterson, Sheila Robertson, Lorraine Stewart, Gary Taljit, Clarence Trotchie, Kathryn Warden, Peter Wilson, and Dave Yanko\nThey were honored for their stories on the poor living conditions of the native population in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.\n\nSpecial Report:\n\"Natives in Saskatoon: A People Apart\", October 7, 1986\n\n 1988: Jock Ferguson and Paul Taylor, The Globe and Mail\nThey were honored for a report alleging secret financial transactions between Toronto municipal politicians, lawyers, and developers.\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Peter Moon, The Globe and Mail\nHe was honored for a report on Canadian lawbreakers on St. Kitts.\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Neil Macdonald, The Ottawa Citizen\nHe was honored for a report on problems within the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.\n\nStory:\n\"CSIS: Making a cop into a spy just doesn't fly\", July 4, 1987\n\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Stevie Cameron, The Globe and Mail\n She was honored for a story on the amounts the PC Canada fund paid for decorating the prime minister's residence.\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Claude Arpin, The Gazette\nHe was honored for his account of real estate flipping that greatly increased the price of an Oerlikon Aerospace land purchase. The day after the story was published, Prime Minister Brian Mulrooney fired André Bissonnette, the minister of small business, and ordered the RCMP to open an investigation because of the suspicious timing of the transactions relative to Oerlikon being awarded a government contract.\n\nStory:\n\"How real-estate 'flip' forced up firm's cost for land\", January 17, 1987\n\n 1989: Jock Furguson and Dawn King, The Globe and Mail\nThey were honored for an eight-part series examining the links between municipal politicians and developers in a Toronto suburb.\n\nSeries:\n\"Behind the Boom – the Story of York Region\"\n\n 1989 Honorable Mention: Bob Sarti, Chris Rose, and Kim Pemberton, The Vancouver Sun\nThey were honored for a story about a three month investigation into links between Vancouver barber Gilbert Paul Jordan and the alcohol-relate deaths of at least nine native women he got drunk for sexual gratification. Jordan was convicted of manslaughter the day before the series was published, and later sentenced to 15 years.\n\nSeries:\n\"Death by Alcohol\", October 22, 1988\nStories in Series:\n\"Race bias charged in Jordan case\"\n\"A life of empty bottles\"\n\"A life on the wrong side of the law\"\n\"Crimes and Punishment\"\n\"5 years of violence in Prince George\"\n\"He's the scariest man I've ever met, prosecutor says\"\n\"Bodies in the barbershop\"\n\"Drinking party leads to suspect\"\n\"Alcohol as a lethal weapon: a legal first in Canada?\"\n\"She's just the cleaning lady\"\n\"Down the hatch, honey\"\n\"The better side of a bad man\"\n\nRadio\n\n 1987: Larry Powell, CBC Radio\nHe was honored for a story about a government and industry coverup of uranium spills at Wollaston Lake in northern Saskatchewan.\n 1988: Martha Honey, Sunday Morning\nShe was honored for her report on the \"drugs for guns\" scandal in the Iran–Contra affair.\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Stephen Wadhams, Sunday Morning\nHe was honored for a story on Canadian servicemen held in North Africa and French prisoners of war who were never recognized by the Canadian government.\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Susan Cardinal, Sunday Morning\nShe was honored for a vivid chronicle of an AIDS patient's final six months of life.\n\nTelevision\n\n 1987: Pierre Leduc, CFCF-TV\nHe was honored for a story on industrial accidents in Quebec resulting from poor labor safety standards enforcement.'\n 1988: Brian Stewart, The Journal\nHe was honored for his ground breaking report on the Air India Flight 182 crash.\n 1988 Honorable Mention: Pierre Leduc, CFCF-TV\nHe was honored for a story on Barney Senez's 21-year solo fight against corruption.\n 1988 Honorable Mention: 24-hour investigative team at CBC Winnipeg\nThey were honored for a story showing that the government's new penalties for drunk driving were not working.\n\n1990 Awardees\n\nMagazine\n\n Andrew Nikiforuk and Ed Struzik, Report on Business\n\nStory:\n\"The Great Forest Sell-Off\"\n\nNetwork Radio\n\n Penny Clark, Jay Ingram, Anita Gordon, Quirks and Quarks\n\nStory:\n\"The Race Science of Philippe Rushton\"\n\nOpen Newspaper\n\n Linda McQuaig, The Globe and Mail\nShe was honored for stories about the Patti Starr affair.\n\nRegional Radio\n\n Bill Smith and Peter Puxley, CBC Manitoba\n\nStory:\n\"A Room with No Doors\"\n\nSmall Newspaper\n\n Philip Lee, Michael Harris, and the Staff of The Sunday Express\nThey were awarded for investigating sexual abuse at Mount Cashel Orphanage.\n\nStory:\n\"Unheard Cries: The Burial of Sexual Abuse at Mt. Cashel Orphanage\"\n\nNetwork Television\n\n Eric Malling, Sarah Spinks, and Cathy Forrest, The Fifth Estate\nThey were honored for a report on Saskatchewan's Bosco Homes for troubeled children.\n\nRegional Television\n BCTV\n\nStory:\n\"Knight Street Pub Controversy\"\n\nReferences\n\nLists of award winners\nCanadian journalism awards"
] |
[
"Blackfoot Confederacy",
"Early history"
] | C_de2f5c0e98744f069aac69b83a73fc48_1 | When is the Blackfoot confederacy started ? | 1 | When is the Blackfoot confederacy started ? | Blackfoot Confederacy | The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black. Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west. When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains. The Plains had covered approximately 780,000 square miles (2,000,000 km2) with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial." CANNOTANSWER | Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika. | The Blackfoot Confederacy, Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika ("Blackfoot"), the Kainai or Blood ("Many Chiefs"), and two sections of the Peigan or Piikani ("Splotchy Robe") – the Northern Piikani (Aapátohsipikáni) and the Southern Piikani (Amskapi Piikani or Pikuni). Broader definitions include groups such as the Tsúùtínà (Sarcee) and A'aninin (Gros Ventre) who spoke quite different languages but allied with or joined the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of western North America, specifically the semi-arid shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens. The Blackfoot used these to expand their territory at the expense of neighboring tribes.
Today, three Blackfoot First Nation band governments (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations) reside in the Canadian province of Alberta, while the Blackfeet Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Southern Piikani in Montana, United States. Additionally, the Gros Ventre are members of the federally recognized Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana in the United States and the Tsuutʼina Nation is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada.
Government
The four Blackfoot nations come together to make up what is known as the Blackfoot Confederacy, meaning that they have banded together to help one another. The nations have their own separate governments ruled by a head chief, but regularly come together for religious and social celebrations.
Originally the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy consisted of three peoples ("nation", "tribes", "tribal nations") based on kinship and dialect, but all speaking the common language of Blackfoot, one of the Algonquian languages family. The three were the Piikáni (historically called "Piegan Blackfeet" in English-language sources), the Káínaa (called "Bloods"), and the Siksikáwa ("Blackfoot"). They later allied with the unrelated Tsuu T'ina ("Sarcee"), who became merged into the Confederacy and, (for a time) with the Atsina, or A'aninin (Gros Ventre).
Each of these highly decentralized peoples were divided into many bands, which ranged in size from 10 to 30 lodges, or about 80 to 240 persons. The band was the basic unit of organization for hunting and defence.
The Confederacy occupied a large territory where they hunted and foraged; in the 19th century it was divided by the current Canada–US international border. But during the late nineteenth century, both governments forced the peoples to end their nomadic traditions and settle on "Indian reserves" (Canadian terminology) or "Indian reservations" (US terminology). The South Peigan are the only group who chose to settle in Montana. The other three Blackfoot-speaking peoples and the Sarcee are located in Alberta. Together, the Blackfoot-speakers call themselves the Niitsítapi (the "Original People"). After leaving the Confederacy, the Gros Ventres also settled on a reservation in Montana.
When these peoples were forced to end their nomadic traditions, their social structures changed. Tribal nations, which had formerly been mostly ethnic associations, were institutionalized as governments (referred to as "tribes" in the United States and "bands" or "First Nations" in Canada). The Piegan were divided into the North Peigan in Alberta, and the South Peigan in Montana.
History
The Confederacy had a territory that stretched from the North Saskatchewan River (called Ponoká'sisaahta) along what is now Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, to the Yellowstone River (called Otahkoiitahtayi) of Montana in the United States, and from the Rocky Mountains (called Miistakistsi) and along the South Saskatchewan River to the present Alberta-Saskatchewan border (called Kaayihkimikoyi), east past the Cypress Hills. They called their tribal territory Niitsitpiis-stahkoii (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ)- "Original People
s Land." To the east, the Innu and Naskapi called their territory Nitassinan – "Our Land." They had adopted the use of the horse from other Plains tribes, probably by the early eighteenth century, which gave them expanded range and mobility, as well as advantages in hunting.
The basic social unit of the Niitsitapi above the family was the band, varying from about 10 to 30 lodges, about 80 to 241 people. This size group was large enough to defend against attack and to undertake communal hunts, but was also small enough for flexibility. Each band consisted of a respected leader , possibly his brothers and parents, and others who were not related. Since the band was defined by place of residence, rather than by kinship, a person was free to leave one band and join another, which tended to ameliorate leadership disputes. As well, should a band fall upon hard times, its members could split up and join other bands. In practice, bands were constantly forming and breaking up. The system maximized flexibility and was an ideal organization for a hunting people on the northwestern Great Plains.
During the summer, the people assembled for nation gatherings. In these large assemblies, warrior societies played an important role for the men. Membership into these societies was based on brave acts and deeds.
For almost half the year in the long northern winter, the Niitsitapi lived in their winter camps along a wooded river valley. They were located perhaps a day's march apart, not moving camp unless food for the people and horses, or firewood became depleted. Where there was adequate wood and game resources, some bands would camp together. During this part of the year, buffalo also wintered in wooded areas, where they were partially sheltered from storms and snow. They were easier prey as their movements were hampered. In spring the buffalo moved out onto the grasslands to forage on new spring growth. The Blackfoot did not follow immediately, for fear of late blizzards. As dried food or game became depleted, the bands would split up and begin to hunt the buffalo.
In midsummer, when the chokecherries ripened, the people regrouped for their major ceremony, the Okan (Sun Dance). This was the only time of year when the four nations would assemble. The gathering reinforced the bonds among the various groups and linked individuals with the nations. Communal buffalo hunts provided food for the people, as well as offerings of the bulls' tongues (a delicacy) for the ceremonies. These ceremonies are sacred to the people. After the Okan, the people again separated to follow the buffalo. They used the buffalo hides to make their dwellings and temporary tipis.
In the fall, the people would gradually shift to their wintering areas. The men would prepare the buffalo jumps and pounds for capturing or driving the bison for hunting. Several groups of people might join together at particularly good sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. As the buffalo were naturally driven into the area by the gradual late summer drying off of the open grasslands, the Blackfoot would carry out great communal buffalo kills.
The women processed the buffalo, preparing dried meat, and combining it for nutrition and flavor with dried fruits into pemmican, to last them through winter and other times when hunting was poor. At the end of the fall, the Blackfoot would move to their winter camps. The women worked the buffalo and other game skins for clothing, as well as to reinforce their dwellings; other elements were used to make warm fur robes, leggings, cords and other needed items. Animal sinews were used to tie arrow points and lances to throwing sticks, or for bridles for horses.
The Niitsitapi maintained this traditional way of life based on hunting bison, until the near extirpation of the bison by 1881 forced them to adapt their ways of life in response to the encroachment of the European settlers and their descendants. In the United States, they were restricted to land assigned in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Nearly three decades later, they were given a distinct reservation in the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty of 1887. In 1877, the Canadian Niitsitapi signed Treaty 7 and settled on reserves in southern Alberta.
This began a period of great struggle and economic hardship; the Niitsitapi had to try to adapt to a completely new way of life. They suffered a high rate of fatalities when exposed to Eurasian diseases, for which they had no natural immunity.
Eventually, they established a viable economy based on farming, ranching, and light industry. Their population has increased to about 16,000 in Canada and 15,000 in the U.S. today. With their new economic stability, the Niitsitapi have been free to adapt their culture and traditions to their new circumstances, renewing their connection to their ancient roots.
Early history
The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Originally, only one of the Niitsitapi tribes was called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.
Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west.
When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains.
The Plains had covered approximately with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial."
Importance and uses of bison
The Niitsitapi main source of food on the plains was the American bison (buffalo), the largest mammal in North America, standing about tall and weighing up to . Before the introduction of horses, the Niitsitapi needed other ways to get in range. The buffalo jump was one of the most common ways. The hunters would round up the buffalo into V-shaped pens, and drive them over a cliff (they hunted pronghorn antelopes in the same way). Afterwards the hunters would go to the bottom and take as much meat as they could carry back to camp. They also used camouflage for hunting. The hunters would take buffalo skins from previous hunting trips and drape them over their bodies to blend in and mask their scent. By subtle moves, the hunters could get close to the herd. When close enough, the hunters would attack with arrows or spears to kill wounded animals.
The people used virtually all parts of the body and skin. The women prepared the meat for food: by boiling, roasting or drying for jerky. This processed it to last a long time without spoiling, and they depended on bison meat to get through the winters. The winters were long, harsh, and cold due to the lack of trees in the Plains, so people stockpiled meat in summer. As a ritual, hunters often ate the bison heart minutes after the kill. The women tanned and prepared the skins to cover the tepees. These were made of log poles, with the skins draped over it. The tepee remained warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and was a great shield against the wind.
The women also made clothing from the skins, such as robes and moccasins, and made soap from the fat. Both men and women made utensils, sewing needles and tools from the bones, using tendon for fastening and binding. The stomach and bladder were cleaned and prepared for use for storing liquids. Dried bison dung was fuel for the fires. The Niitsitapi considered the animal sacred and integral to their lives.
Discovery and uses of horses
Up until around 1730, the Blackfoot traveled by foot and used dogs to carry and pull some of their goods. They had not seen horses in their previous lands, but were introduced to them on the Plains, as other tribes, such as the Shoshone, had already adopted their use. They saw the advantages of horses and wanted some. The Blackfoot called the horses ponokamita (elk dogs). The horses could carry much more weight than dogs and moved at a greater speed. They could be ridden for hunting and travel.
Horses revolutionised life on the Great Plains and soon came to be regarded as a measure of wealth. Warriors regularly raided other tribes for their best horses. Horses were generally used as universal standards of barter. Medicine men were paid for cures and healing with horses. Those who designed shields or war bonnets were also paid in horses. The men gave horses to those who were owed gifts as well as to the needy. An individual's wealth rose with the number of horses accumulated, but a man did not keep an abundance of them. The individual's prestige and status was judged by the number of horses that he could give away. For the Indians who lived on the Plains, the principal value of property was to share it with others.
After having driven the hostile Shoshone and Arapaho from the Northwestern Plains, the Niitsitapi began in 1800 a long phase of keen competition in the fur trade with their former Cree allies, which often escalated militarily. In addition both groups had adapted to using horses about 1730, so by mid-century an adequate supply of horses became a question of survival. Horse theft was at this stage not only a proof of courage, but often a desperate contribution to survival, for many ethnic groups competed for hunting in the grasslands.
The Cree and Assiniboine continued horse raiding against the Gros Ventre (in Cree: Pawistiko Iyiniwak – "Rapids People" – "People of the Rapids"), allies of the Niitsitapi. The Gros Ventres were also known as Niya Wati Inew, Naywattamee ("They Live in Holes People"), because their tribal lands were along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of North and South Saskatchewan River). They had to withstand attacks of enemies with guns. In retaliation for Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) supplying their enemies with weapons, the Gros Ventre attacked and burned in 1793 South Branch House of the HBC on the South Saskatchewan River near the present village of St. Louis, Saskatchewan. Then, the tribe moved southward to the Milk River in Montana and allied themselves with the Blackfoot. The area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war fought between these two tribal groups) was the limit of the now warring tribal alliances.
Enemies and warrior culture
Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him. Warriors would strive to perform various acts of bravery called counting coup, in order to move up in social rank. The coups in order of importance were: taking a gun from a living enemy and or touching him directly; capturing lances, and bows; scalping an enemy; killing an enemy; freeing a tied horse from in front of an enemy lodge; leading a war party; scouting for a war party; stealing headdresses, shields, pipes (sacred ceremonial pipes); and driving a herd of stolen horses back to camp.
The Niitsitapi were enemies of the Crow, Cheyenne (kiihtsipimiitapi – ″Pinto People″), and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota) (called pinaapisinaa – "East Cree") on the Great Plains; and the Shoshone, Flathead, Kalispel, Kootenai (called kotonáá'wa) and Nez Perce (called komonóítapiikoan) in the mountain country to their west and southwest. Their most mighty and most dangerous enemy, however, were the political/military/trading alliance of the Iron Confederacy or Nehiyaw-Pwat (in Plains Cree: Nehiyaw – 'Cree' and Pwat or Pwat-sak – 'Sioux, i.e. Assiniboine') – named after the dominating Plains Cree (called Asinaa) and Assiniboine (called Niitsísinaa – "Original Cree"). These included the Stoney (called Saahsáísso'kitaki or Sahsi-sokitaki – ″Sarcee trying to cut″), Saulteaux (or Plains Ojibwe), and Métis to the north, east and southeast.
With the expansion of the Nehiyaw-Pwat to the north, west and southwest, they integrated larger groups of Iroquois, Chipewyan, Danezaa (Dunneza – 'The real (prototypical) people'), Ktunaxa, Flathead, and later Gros Ventre (called atsíína – "Gut People" or "like a Cree"), in their local groups. Loosely allied with the Nehiyaw-Pwat, but politically independent, were neighboring tribes like the Ktunaxa, Secwepemc and in particular the arch enemy of the Blackfoot, the Crow, or Indian trading partners like the Nez Perce and Flathead.
The Shoshone acquired horses much sooner than the Blackfoot and soon occupied much of present-day Alberta, most of Montana, and parts of Wyoming, and raided the Blackfoot frequently. Once the Piegan gained access to horses of their own and guns, obtained from the HBC via the Cree and Assiniboine, the situation changed. By 1787 David Thompson reports that the Blackfoot had completely conquered most of Shoshone territory, and frequently captured Shoshone women and children and forcibly assimilated them into Blackfoot society, further increasing their advantages over the Shoshone. Thompson reports that Blackfoot territory in 1787 was from the North Saskatchewan River in the north to the Missouri River in the South, and from Rocky Mountains in the west out to a distance of to the east.
Between 1790 and 1850, the Nehiyaw-Pwat were at the height of their power; they could successfully defend their territories against the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota) and the Niitsitapi Confederacy. During the so-called Buffalo Wars (about 1850 – 1870), they penetrated further and further into the territory from the Niitsitapi Confederacy in search for the buffalo, so that the Piegan were forced to give way in the region of the Missouri River (in Cree: Pikano Sipi – "Muddy River", "Muddy, turbid River"), the Kainai withdrew to the Bow River and Belly River; only the Siksika could hold their tribal lands along the Red Deer River. Around 1870, the alliance between the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventre broke, and the latter began to look to their former enemies, the Southern Assiniboine (or Plains Assiniboine), for protection.
First contact with Europeans and the fur trade
Anthony Henday of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) met a large Blackfoot group in 1754 in what is now Alberta. The Blackfoot had established dealings with traders connected to the Canadian and English fur trade before meeting the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. Lewis and Clark and their men had embarked on mapping the Louisiana Territory and upper Missouri River for the United States government.
On their return trip from the Pacific Coast, Lewis and three of his men encountered a group of young Blackfoot warriors with a large herd of horses, and it was clear to Meriwether Lewis that they were not far from much larger groups of warriors. Lewis explained to them that the United States government wanted peace with all Indian nations, and that the US leaders had successfully formed alliances with other Indian nations. The group camped together that night, and at dawn there was a scuffle as it was discovered that the Blackfoot were trying to steal guns and run off with their horses while the Americans slept. In the ensuing struggle, one warrior was fatally stabbed and another shot by Lewis and presumed killed.
In subsequent years, American mountain men trapping in Blackfoot country generally encountered hostility. When John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, returned to Blackfoot country soon after, he barely escaped with his life. In 1809, Colter and his companion were trapping on the Jefferson River by canoe when they were surrounded by hundreds of Blackfoot warriors on horseback on both sides of the river bank. Colter's companion, John Potts, did not surrender and was killed. Colter was stripped of his clothes and forced to run for his life, after being given a head start (famously known in the annals of the West as "Colter's Run.") He eventually escaped by reaching a river five miles away and diving under either an island of driftwood or a beaver dam, where he remained concealed until after nightfall. He trekked another 300 miles to a fort.
In the context of shifting tribal politics due to the spread of horses and guns, the Niitsitapi initially tried to increase their trade with the HBC traders in Rupert's Land whilst blocking access to the HBC by neighboring peoples to the West. But the HBC trade eventually reached into what is now inland British Columbia.
By the late 1820s, [this prompted] the Niitsitapiksi, and in particular the Piikani, whose territory was rich in beaver, [to] temporarily put aside cultural prohibitions and environmental constraints to trap enormous numbers of these animals and, in turn, receive greater quantities of trade items.
The HBC encouraged Niitsitapiksi to trade by setting up posts on the North Saskatchewan River, on the northern boundary of their territory. In the 1830s the Rocky Mountain region and the wider Saskatchewan District were the HBC's most profitable, and Rocky Mountain House was the HBC's busiest post. It was primarily used by the Piikani. Other Niitsitapiksi nations traded more in pemmican and buffalo skins than beaver, and visited other posts such as Fort Edmonton.
Meanwhile, in 1822 the American Fur Company entered the Upper Missouri region from the south for the first time, without Niitsitapiksi permission. This led to tensions and conflict until 1830, when peaceful trade was established. This was followed by the opening of Fort Piegan as the first American trading post in Niitsitapi territory in 1831, joined by Fort MacKenzie in 1833. The Americans offered better terms of trade and were more interested in buffalo skins than the HBC, which brought them more trade from the Niitsitapi. The HBC responded by building Bow Fort (Peigan Post) on the Bow River in 1832, but it was not a success.
In 1833, German explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss painter Karl Bodmer spent months with the Niitsitapi to get a sense of their culture. Bodmer portrayed their society in paintings and drawings.
Contact with the Europeans caused a spread of infectious diseases to the Niitsitapi, mostly cholera and smallpox. In one instance in 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat, the St. Peter's, was headed to Fort Union and several passengers contracted smallpox on the way. They continued to send a smaller vessel with supplies farther up the river to posts among the Niitsitapi. The Niitsitapi contracted the disease and eventually 6,000 died, marking an end to their dominance among tribes over the Plains. The Hudson's Bay Company did not require or help their employees get vaccinated; the English doctor Edward Jenner had developed a technique 41 years before but its use was not yet widespread.
Indian Wars
Like many other Great Plains Indian nations, the Niitsitapi often had hostile relationships with white settlers. Despite the hostilities, the Blackfoot stayed largely out of the Great Plains Indian Wars, neither fighting against nor scouting for the United States army. One of their friendly bands, however, was attacked by mistake and nearly destroyed by the US Army in the Marias Massacre on 23 January 1870, undertaken as an action to suppress violence against settlers. A friendly relationship with the North-West Mounted Police and learning of the brutality of the Marias Massacre discouraged the Blackfoot from engaging in wars against Canada and the United States.
When the Lakota, together with their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, were fighting the United States Army, they sent runners into Blackfoot territory, urging them to join the fight. Crowfoot, one of the most influential Blackfoot chiefs, dismissed the Lakota messengers. He threatened to ally with the NWMP to fight them if they came north into Blackfoot country again. News of Crowfoot's loyalty reached Ottawa and from there London; Queen Victoria praised Crowfoot and the Blackfoot for their loyalty. Despite his threats, Crowfoot later met those Lakota who had fled with Sitting Bull into Canada after defeating George Armstrong Custer and his battalion at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Crowfoot considered the Lakota then to be refugees and was sympathetic to their strife, but retained his anti-war stance. Sitting Bull and Crowfoot fostered peace between the two nations by a ceremonial offering of tobacco, ending hostilities between them. Sitting Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him.
The Blackfoot also chose to stay out of the North- West Rebellion, led by the famous Métis leader Louis Riel. Louis Riel and his men added to the already unsettled conditions facing the Blackfoot by camping near them. They tried to spread discontent with the government and gain a powerful ally. The North-West Rebellion was made up mostly of Métis, Assiniboine (Nakota) and Plains Cree, who all fought against European encroachment and destruction of Bison herds. The Plains Cree were one of the Blackfoot's most hated enemies; however, the two nations made peace when Crowfoot adopted Poundmaker, an influential Cree chief and great peacemaker, as his son. Although he refused to fight, Crowfoot had sympathy for those with the rebellion, especially the Cree led by such notable chiefs as Poundmaker, Big Bear, Wandering Spirit and Fine-Day.
When news of continued Blackfoot neutrality reached Ottawa, Lord Lansdowne, the governor general, expressed his thanks to Crowfoot again on behalf of the Queen back in London. The cabinet of John A. Macdonald (the current Prime Minister of Canada at the time) gave Crowfoot a round of applause.
Hardships of the Niitsitapi
During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were hired by the U.S government to kill bison so the Blackfeet would remain in their reservation. Settlers were also encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi were forced to depend on the United States government for food supplies. In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.
In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it, or supplies failed to arrive at all. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies, and outlaws on both sides stirred up trouble.
Events were catalyzed by Owl Child, a young Piegan warrior who stole a herd of horses in 1867 from an American trader named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke retaliated by tracking Owl Child down and severely beating him in full view of Owl Child's camp, and humiliating him. According to Piegan oral history, Clarke had also raped Owl Child's wife. But, Clarke was long married to Coth-co-co-na, a Piegan woman who was Owl Child's cousin. The raped woman gave birth to a child as a result of the rape, which oral history said was stillborn or killed by band elders. Two years after the beating, in 1869 Owl Child and some associates killed Clarke at his ranch after dinner, and severely wounded his son Horace. Public outcry from news of the event led to General Philip Sheridan to dispatch a band of cavalry, led by Major Eugene Baker, to find Owl Child and his camp and punish them.
On 23 January 1870, a camp of Piegan Indians were spotted by army scouts and reported to the dispatched cavalry, but it was mistakenly identified as a hostile band. Around 200 soldiers surrounded the camp the following morning and prepared for an ambush. Before the command to fire, the chief Heavy Runner was alerted to soldiers on the snowy bluffs above the encampment. He walked toward them, carrying his safe-conduct paper. Heavy Runner and his band of Piegans shared peace between American settlers and troops at the time of the event. Heavy Runner was shot and killed by army scout Joe Cobell, whose wife was part of the camp of the hostile Mountain Chief, further along the river, from whom he wanted to divert attention. Fellow scout Joe Kipp had realized the error and tried to signal the troops. He was threatened by the cavalry for reporting that the people they attacked were friendly.
Following the death of Heavy Runner, the soldiers attacked the camp. According to their count, they killed 173 Piegan and suffered just one U.S Army soldier casualty, who fell off his horse and broke his leg, dying of complications. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, as most of the younger men were out hunting. The Army took 140 Piegan prisoner and then released them. With their camp and belongings destroyed, they suffered terribly from exposure, making their way as refugees to Fort Benton.
As reports of the massacre gradually were learned in the east, members of the United States congress and press were outraged. General William Sherman reported that most of the killed were warriors under Mountain Chief. An official investigation never occurred, and no official monument marks the spot of the massacre. Compared to events such as the massacres at Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, the Marias Massacre remains largely unknown. But, it confirmed President Ulysses S. Grant in his decision not to allow the Army to take over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as it had been suggesting to combat corruption among Indian agents. Grant chose to appoint numerous Quakers to those positions as he pursued a peace policy with Native Americans.
The Cree and Assiniboine also suffered from the dwindling herds of the buffalo. By 1850 herds were found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore, in 1870 various Nehiyaw-Pwat bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up (called Akaisakoyi – "Many Dead"). But they were defeated in the so-called Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, called Assini-etomochi – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.
The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.
The winter of 1883–1884 became known as "Starvation Winter" because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.
In efforts to assimilate the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing. In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development. The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.
In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act, passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures. In 1935, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.
Culture
Electing a leader
Family was highly valued by the Blackfoot Indians. For traveling, they also split into bands of 20-30 people, but would come together for times of celebration. They valued leadership skills and chose the chiefs who would run their settlements wisely. During times of peace, the people would elect a peace chief, meaning someone who could lead the people and improve relations with other tribes. The title of war chief could not be gained through election and needed to be earned by successfully performing various acts of bravery including touching a living enemy. Blackfoot bands often had minor chiefs in addition to an appointed head chief.
Societies
Within the Blackfoot nation, there were different societies to which people belonged, each of which had functions for the tribe. Young people were invited into societies after proving themselves by recognized passages and rituals. For instance, young men had to perform a vision quest, begun by a spiritual cleansing in a sweat lodge. They went out from the camp alone for four days of fasting and praying. Their main goal was to see a vision that would explain their future. After having the vision, a youth returned to the village ready to join society.
In a warrior society, the men had to be prepared for battle. Again, the warriors would prepare by spiritual cleansing, then paint themselves symbolically; they often painted their horses for war as well. Leaders of the warrior society carried spears or lances called a coup stick, which was decorated with feathers, skin, and other tokens. They won prestige by "counting coup", tapping the enemy with the stick and getting away.
Members of the religious society protected sacred Blackfoot items and conducted religious ceremonies. They blessed the warriors before battle. Their major ceremony was the Sun Dance, or Medicine Lodge Ceremony. By engaging in the Sun Dance, their prayers would be carried up to the Creator, who would bless them with well-being and abundance of buffalo.
Women's societies also had important responsibilities for the communal tribe. They designed refined quillwork on clothing and ceremonial shields, helped prepare for battle, prepared skins and cloth to make clothing, cared for the children and taught them tribal ways, skinned and tanned the leathers used for clothing and other purposes, prepared fresh and dried foods, and performed ceremonies to help hunters in their journeys.
Ethnobotany
Sage and sweet grass are both used by Blackfoot and other Plains tribes for ceremonial purposes and are considered sacred plants. Sage and sweet grass are burned with the user inhaling and covering themselves in the smoke in a process known widely as smudging. Sage is said to rid the body of negative emotions such as anger. Sweet grass is said to draw in positive energy. Both are used for purification purposes. The pleasant and natural odor of the burning grass is said to attract spirits. Sweet grass is prepared for ceremony by braiding the stems together then drying them before burning.
Sweet grass is also often present and burned in pipe-smoking mixtures alongside bearberry and red willow plants. The smoke from the pipe is said to carry the users prayers up to the creator with the rising smoke. Large medicine bags often decorated with ornate beaded designs were used by medicine men to carry sage, sweet grass, and other important plants. Blackfoot also used sweet grass smoke, or sachets of sweet grass in their clothing, as an effective insect repellent.
They apply a poultice of chewed roots Asclepias viridiflora to swellings, to "diarrhea rash", to rashes, to the sore gums of nursing infants and to sore eyes. They also chew the root of Asclepias viridiflora for sore throats, and use the plant to spice soups, and use the fresh roots for food. They make use of Viola adunca, applying an infusion of the roots and leaves to sore and swollen joints, giving an infusion of the leaves and roots to asthmatic children, and using the plant to dye their arrows blue. They put Carex in moccasins to protect the feet during winter horse stealing expeditions.
Marriage
In the Blackfoot culture, men were responsible for choosing their marriage partners, but women had the choice to accept them or not. The male had to show the woman's father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and approved of the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothing and were considered married. The married couple would reside in their own tipi or with the husband's family. Although the man was permitted more than one wife, typically he only chose one. In cases of more than one wife, quite often the male would choose a sister of the wife, believing that sisters would not argue as much as total strangers.
Responsibilities and clothing
In a typical Blackfoot family, the father would go out and hunt and bring back supplies that the family might need. The mother would stay close to home and watch over the children while the father was out. The children were taught basic survival skills and culture as they grew up. It was generally said that both boys and girls learned to ride horses early. Boys would usually play with toy bows and arrows until they were old enough to learn how to hunt.
They would also play a popular game called shinny, which later became known as ice hockey. They used a long curved wooden stick to knock a ball, made of baked clay covered with buckskin, over a goal line. Girls were given a doll to play with, which also doubled as a learning tool because it was fashioned with typical tribal clothing and designs and also taught the young women how to care for a child. As they grew older, more responsibilities were placed upon their shoulders. The girls were then taught to cook, prepare hides for leather, and gather wild plants and berries. The boys were held accountable for going out with their father to prepare food by means of hunting.
Typically clothing was made primarily of softened and tanned antelope and deer hides. The women would make and decorate the clothes for everyone in the tribe. Men wore moccasins, long leggings that went up to their hips, a loincloth, and a belt. Occasionally they would wear shirts but generally they would wrap buffalo robes around their shoulders. The distinguished men of bravery would wear a necklace made of grizzly bear claws.
Boys dressed much like the older males, wearing leggings, loincloths, moccasins, and occasionally an undecorated shirt. They kept warm by wearing a buffalo robe over their shoulders or over their heads if it became cold. Women and girls wore dresses made from two or three deerskins. The women wore decorative earrings and bracelets made from sea shells, obtained through trade with distant tribes, or different types of metal. They would sometimes wear beads in their hair or paint the part in their hair red, which signified that they were old enough to bear children.
Headdresses
Similar to other Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains, the Blackfoot developed a variety of different headdresses that incorporated elements of creatures important to them; these served different purposes and symbolized different associations. The typical war bonnet was made from eagle feathers, because the bird was considered powerful. It was worn by prestigious warriors and chiefs (including war-chiefs) of the Blackfoot. The straight-up headdress is a uniquely Blackfoot headdress that, like the war bonnet, is made with eagle feathers. The feathers on the straight-up headdress point directly straight upwards from the rim (hence the name). Often a red plume is attached to the front of the headdress; it also points straight upward.
The split-horn headdress was very popular among Northern Plains Indians, particularly those nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Many warrior societies, including the Horn Society of the Blackfoot, wore the split-horn headdress. The split-horn headdress was made from a single bison horn, split in two and reshaped as slimmer versions of a full-sized bison horn, and polished. The horns were attached to a beaded, rimmed felt hat. Furs from weasels (taken when carrying heavy winter coats) were attached to the top of the headdress, and dangled from the sides. The side furs were often finished with bead work where attached to the headdress. A similar headdress, called the antelope horn headdress, was made in a similar fashion using the horn or horns from a pronghorn antelope.
Blackfoot men, particularly warriors, sometimes wore a roach made from porcupine hair. The hairs of the porcupine are most often dyed red. Eagle and other bird feathers were occasionally attached to the roach.
Buffalo scalps, often with horns still attached and often with a beaded rim, were also worn. Fur "turbans" made from soft animal fur (most often otter) were also popular. Buffalo scalps and fur turbans were worn in the winter to protect the head from the cold.
The Blackfoot have continued to wear traditional headdresses at special ceremonies. They are worn mostly by elected chiefs, members of various traditional societies (including the Horn, Crazy Dog and Motokik societies), powwow dancers and spiritual leaders.
Sun and the Moon
One of the most famous traditions held by the Blackfoot is their story of sun and the moon. It starts with a family of a man, wife, and two sons, who live off berries and other food they can gather, as they have no bows and arrows, or other tools. The man had a dream: he was told by the Creator Napi, Napiu, or Napioa (depending on the band) to get a large spider web and put it on the trail where the animals roamed, and they would get caught up and could be easily killed with the stone axe he had. The man had done so and saw that it was true. One day, he came home from bringing in some fresh meat from the trail and discovered his wife to be applying perfume on herself. He thought that she must have another lover since she never did this before. He then told his wife that he was going to move a web and asked if she could bring in the meat and wood he had left outside from a previous hunt. She had reluctantly gone out and passed over a hill. The wife looked back three times and saw her husband in the same place she had left him, so she continued on to retrieve the meat. The father then asked his children if they went with their mother to find wood, but they never had. However they knew the location in which she retrieved it from. The man set out and found the timber along with a den of rattlesnakes, one of which was his wife's lover. He set the timber on fire and killed the snakes. He knew by doing this that his wife would become enraged, so the man returned home. He told the children to flee and gave them a stick, stone, and moss to use if their mother chased after them. He remained at the house and put a web over his front door. The wife tried to get in but became stuck and had her leg cut off. She then put her head through and he cut that off also. While the body followed the husband to the creek, the head followed the children. The oldest boy saw the head behind them and threw the stick. The stick turned into a great forest. The head made it through, so the younger brother instructed the elder to throw the stone. He did so, and where the stone landed a huge mountain popped up. It spanned from big water (ocean) to big water and the head was forced to go through it, not around. The head met a group of rams and said to them she would marry their chief if they butted their way through the mountain. The chief agreed and they butted until their horns were worn down, but this still was not through. She then asked the ants if they could burrow through the mountain with the same stipulations, it was agreed and they get her the rest of the way through. The children were far ahead, but eventually saw the head rolling behind them. The boys wet the moss and wrung it out behind themselves. They were then in a different land. The country they had just left was now surrounded by water. The head rolled into the water and drowned. They decided to build a raft and head back. Once they returned to their land, they discovered that it was occupied by the crows and the snakes so they decided to split up.
One brother was simple and went north to discover what he could and make people. The other was smart and went south to make white people and taught them valuable skills. The simple brother created the Blackfeet. He became known as Left Hand, and later by the Blackfeet as Old Man. The woman still chases the man: she is the moon and he is the sun, and if she ever catches him, it will always be night.
Blackfoot creation story
The creation myth is part of the oral history of the Blackfoot nation. It was said that in the beginning, Napio floated on a log with four animals. The animals were: Mameo (fish), Matcekups (frog), Maniskeo (lizard), and Sopeo (turtle). Napio sent all of them into the deep water, one after another. The first three had gone down and returned with nothing. The turtle went down and retrieved mud from the bottom and gave it to Napio.
He took the mud and rolled it in his hand and created the earth. He let it roll out of his hand and over time, it has grown to what it is today. After he created the earth, he created women first, followed by men. He had them living separately from one another. The men were shy and afraid, but Napio said to them to not fear and take one as their wife. They had done as he asked, and Napio continued to create the buffalo and bows and arrows for the people so that they could hunt them.
People
Ethnic divisions
The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the Piegan, also spelled Peigan or Pikuni. Their name derives from the Blackfoot term Piikáni. They are divided into the Piikani Nation (Aapátohsipikáni ("the companion up there") or simply Piikáni) in present-day Alberta, and the South Peigan or Piegan Blackfeet (Aamsskáápipikani) in Montana, United States. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans") of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan.
The modern Kainai Nation is named for the Blackfoot-language term Káínaa, meaning "Many Chief people". These were historically also called the "Blood," from a Plains Cree name for the Kainai: Miko-Ew, meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe.
The Siksika Nation's name derives from Siksikáwa, meaning "Those of like". The Siksika also call themselves Sao-kitapiiksi, meaning "Plains People".
The Sarcee call themselves the Tsu T'ina, meaning "a great number of people." During early years of conflict, the Blackfoot called them Saahsi or Sarsi, "the stubborn ones", in their language. The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the Athabascan or Dené language family, most of whose members are located in the Subarctic of Northern Canada. Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the Beaver (Danezaa) people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had").
The Gros Ventre people call themselves the Haaninin ("white clay people"), also spelled A'aninin. The French called them Gros Ventres ("fat bellies"), misinterpreting a physical sign for waterfall; and the English called them the Fall Indians, related to waterfalls in the mountains. The Blackfoot referred to them as the Piik-siik-sii-naa ("snakes") or Atsina ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity. Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the Arapaho Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming. They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter.
Modern communities
Economy and services
Today, many of the Blackfoot live on reserves in Canada. About 8,500 live on the Montana reservation of . In 1896, the Blackfoot sold a large portion of their land to the United States government, which hoped to find gold or copper deposits. No such mineral deposits were found. In 1910, the land was set aside as Glacier National Park. Some Blackfoot work there and occasional Native American ceremonies are held there.
Unemployment is a challenging problem on the Blackfeet Reservation and on Canadian Blackfoot reserves, because of their isolation from major urban areas. Many people work as farmers, but there are not enough other jobs nearby. To find work, many Blackfoot have relocated from the reservation to towns and cities. Some companies pay the Blackfoot governments to lease use of lands for extracting oil, natural gas, and other resources. The nations have operated such businesses such as the Blackfoot Writing Company, a pen and pencil factory, which opened in 1972, but it closed in the late 1990s. In Canada, the Northern Piegan make traditional craft clothing and moccasins, and the Kainai operate a shopping center and factory.
In 1974, the Blackfoot Community College, a tribal college, opened in Browning, Montana. The school is also the location of the tribal headquarters. As of 1979, the Montana state government requires all public school teachers on or near the reservation to have a background in American Indian studies.
In 1986, the Kainai Nation opened the Red Crow Community College in Stand Off, Alberta. In 1989, the Siksika tribe in Canada completed the construction of a high school to go along with its elementary school.
Traditional culture
The Blackfoot continue many cultural traditions of the past and hope to extend their ancestors' traditions to their children. They want to teach their children the Pikuni language as well as other traditional knowledge. In the early 20th century, a white woman named Frances Densmore helped the Blackfoot record their language. During the 1950s and 1960s, few Blackfoot spoke the Pikuni language. In order to save their language, the Blackfoot Council asked elders who still knew the language to teach it. The elders had agreed and succeeded in reviving the language, so today the children can learn Pikuni at school or at home. In 1994, the Blackfoot Council accepted Pikuni as the official language.
The people have revived the Black Lodge Society, responsible for protecting songs and dances of the Blackfoot. They continue to announce the coming of spring by opening five medicine bundles, one at every sound of thunder during the spring. One of the biggest celebrations is called the North American Indian Days. Lasting four days, it is held during the second week of July in Browning. Lastly, the Sun Dance, which was illegal from the 1890s-1934, has been practiced again for years. While it was illegal, the Blackfoot held it in secret. Since 1934, they have practised it every summer. The event lasts eight days – time filled with prayers, dancing, singing, and offerings to honor the Creator. It provides an opportunity for the Blackfoot to get together and share views and ideas with each other, while celebrating their culture's most sacred ceremonies.
The Blackfeet Nation in Montana have a blue tribal flag. The flag shows a ceremonial lance or coup stick with 29 feathers. The center of the flag contains a ring of 32 white and black eagle feathers. Within the ring is an outline map of the Blackfoot Reservation. Within the map is depicted a warrior's headdress and the words "Blackfeet Nation" and "Pikuni" (the name of the tribe in the Algonquian native tongue of the Blackfoot).
Notable Blackfoot people
Elouise Cobell, banker and activist who led the 20th-century lawsuit that forced the US Government to reform individual Indian trusts
Byron Chief-Moon, performer and choreographer
Crowfoot (ISAPO-MUXIKA – "Crow Indian's Big Foot", also known in French as Pied de Corbeau), Chief of the Big Pipes band (later renamed Moccasin band, a splinter band of the Biters band), Head Chief of the South Siksika, by 1870 one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika or the Blackfoot proper
Aatsista-Mahkan ("Running Rabbit", * about 1833 – d. January 1911), since 1871 Chief of the Biters band (Ai-sik'-stuk-iks) of the Siksika, signed Treaty No.7 in 1877, along with Crowfoot, Old Sun, Red Crow, and other leaders
A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye (Ac ko mok ki, Ak ko mock ki, A'kow-muk-ai – "Feathers", since he took the name Old Swan), since about 1820 Chief of the Old Feathers' band, his personal following was known as the Bad Guns band, consisted of about 400 persons, along with Old Sun and Three Suns (No-okskatos) one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika
Stu-mick-o-súcks ("Buffalo Bull's Back Fat"), Head Chief of the Kainai, had his portrait painted at Fort Union in 1832
Faye HeavyShield, Kainai sculptor and installation artist
Joe Hipp, Heavyweight boxer, the first Native American to compete for the WBA World Heavyweight Title.
Beverly Hungry Wolf, author
Stephen Graham Jones, author
Earl Old Person (Cold Wind or Changing Home), Blackfoot tribal chairman from 1964-2008 and honorary lifetime chief of the Blackfoot
Jerry Potts (1840–1896), (also known as Ky-yo-kosi – "Bear Child"), was a Canadian-American plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai-Scottish descent. He identified as Piegan and became a minor Kainai chief.
Steve Reevis, actor who appeared in Fargo, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Dogmen, Comanche Moon and many other films and TV.
Misty Upham (1982-2014), actress
James Welch (1940–2003), Blackfoot-Gros Ventre author
The Honourable Eugene Creighton, judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.
Gyasi Ross, author, attorney, musician and political activist.
Representation in other media
Hergé's Tintin in America (1932) featured Blackfoot people.
Jimmy P (2013) is a Franco-American film exploring the psychoanalysis of a Blackfoot, Jimmy Picard, in the post-World War II period at a veterans' hospital by a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, George Devereux. The screenplay was adapted from his book about this process, published in 1951.
See also
Blackfeet music
Blackfoot language
List of Native American peoples in the United States
Palliser Region
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Blackfoot homepage
Blackfoot Confederacy
Blackfoot Language and the Blackfoot Indian Tribe
Map of Blackfeet tribal lands
Walter McClintock Glass Lantern Slides Photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, material culture, and ceremonies from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
Blackfoot Digital Library, project of Red Crow Community College and the University of Lethbridge
Blackfoot Anthropological Notes at Dartmouth College Library
Algonquian peoples
Plains tribes
First Nations history
Native American history of Montana
First Nations in Alberta
Native American tribes in Montana
Native American tribes in Wyoming | false | [
"Blackfoot Trail is a super-4 expressway in Calgary, Alberta. It is named for the Blackfoot Confederacy, and more specifically the Siksika Nation, located east of Calgary. The road runs from 17 Avenue SE in the north, where Blackfoot Trail meets Deerfoot Trail (Highway 2), to Southland Drive in the south. It is the historical alignment of Highway 2 in south Calgary. The section of Blackfoot Trail between 19 Street SE and Deerfoot Trail is a former alignment, and still technically part of, 17 Avenue SE; however, it is generally referred to as being part of Blackfoot Trail.\n\nHistory\n\nPrior to the construction of Deerfoot Trail, which was originally named the Blackfoot Trail Freeway, Blackfoot Trail was the routing of Highway 2 through the southern portion of Calgary. It continued south to 66 Avenue SE (present-day Glenmore Trail) and Macleod Trail. At the north end, Highway 2 continued east on 17 Avenue SE, before turning north to Barlow Trail.\n\nMajor intersections\nFrom south to north.\n\nSee also\n\nTransportation in Calgary\n\nReferences\n\nRoads in Calgary",
"The Battle of the Belly River was the last major conflict between the Cree (the Iron Confederacy) and the Blackfoot Confederacy, and the last major battle between First Nations on Canadian soil.\n\nThe battle took place within the present limits of the city of Lethbridge on the banks of the Oldman River, which at the time of the battle, was called the Belly River. A devastating outbreak of smallpox had reduced the strength of the Blackfoot, and a Cree war party had come south in late October 1870 to take advantage of that weakness. An advance party of Crees had stumbled upon a Peigan camp and decided to attack instead of informing the main Cree body of their find. Soon word passed to other Blackfoot, Blood and Peigan camps in the immediate area, and warriors were sent to join battle. After several hours of trading shots, a Blackfoot party gained the high ground and made the Cree positions untenable. The retreat became a rout, and up to 300 Cree warriors were killed trying to make their escape.\n\nApproximately a year after the battle, the Cree and Blackfoot made a formal peace. This was formalized by Crowfoot, a Blackfoot chief, ritually adopting Poundmaker, an up-and-coming Cree leader in 1873. Treaty No.7, between the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Crown, was signed in 1877. In 1906, the town of Lethbridge was founded near the battle site. The battle itself is commemorated in Indian Battle Park.\n\nSee also\nFort Whoop-Up\nJerry Potts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe Shrine of Dreams\n\nHistory of Lethbridge\nFirst Nations history\nCree\nBlackfoot tribe\nBelly River\nBelly River\nBelly River\n1870 in Canada\nBelly River\nHistory of the Northwest Territories\nOctober 1870 events\nEvents of National Historic Significance (Canada)"
] |
[
"Blackfoot Confederacy",
"Early history",
"When is the Blackfoot confederacy started ?",
"Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika."
] | C_de2f5c0e98744f069aac69b83a73fc48_1 | Does any record exist of the Blackfoots' early history ? | 2 | Does any record exist of the Blackfoots' early history ? | Blackfoot Confederacy | The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black. Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west. When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains. The Plains had covered approximately 780,000 square miles (2,000,000 km2) with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial." CANNOTANSWER | The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. | The Blackfoot Confederacy, Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika ("Blackfoot"), the Kainai or Blood ("Many Chiefs"), and two sections of the Peigan or Piikani ("Splotchy Robe") – the Northern Piikani (Aapátohsipikáni) and the Southern Piikani (Amskapi Piikani or Pikuni). Broader definitions include groups such as the Tsúùtínà (Sarcee) and A'aninin (Gros Ventre) who spoke quite different languages but allied with or joined the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of western North America, specifically the semi-arid shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens. The Blackfoot used these to expand their territory at the expense of neighboring tribes.
Today, three Blackfoot First Nation band governments (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations) reside in the Canadian province of Alberta, while the Blackfeet Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Southern Piikani in Montana, United States. Additionally, the Gros Ventre are members of the federally recognized Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana in the United States and the Tsuutʼina Nation is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada.
Government
The four Blackfoot nations come together to make up what is known as the Blackfoot Confederacy, meaning that they have banded together to help one another. The nations have their own separate governments ruled by a head chief, but regularly come together for religious and social celebrations.
Originally the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy consisted of three peoples ("nation", "tribes", "tribal nations") based on kinship and dialect, but all speaking the common language of Blackfoot, one of the Algonquian languages family. The three were the Piikáni (historically called "Piegan Blackfeet" in English-language sources), the Káínaa (called "Bloods"), and the Siksikáwa ("Blackfoot"). They later allied with the unrelated Tsuu T'ina ("Sarcee"), who became merged into the Confederacy and, (for a time) with the Atsina, or A'aninin (Gros Ventre).
Each of these highly decentralized peoples were divided into many bands, which ranged in size from 10 to 30 lodges, or about 80 to 240 persons. The band was the basic unit of organization for hunting and defence.
The Confederacy occupied a large territory where they hunted and foraged; in the 19th century it was divided by the current Canada–US international border. But during the late nineteenth century, both governments forced the peoples to end their nomadic traditions and settle on "Indian reserves" (Canadian terminology) or "Indian reservations" (US terminology). The South Peigan are the only group who chose to settle in Montana. The other three Blackfoot-speaking peoples and the Sarcee are located in Alberta. Together, the Blackfoot-speakers call themselves the Niitsítapi (the "Original People"). After leaving the Confederacy, the Gros Ventres also settled on a reservation in Montana.
When these peoples were forced to end their nomadic traditions, their social structures changed. Tribal nations, which had formerly been mostly ethnic associations, were institutionalized as governments (referred to as "tribes" in the United States and "bands" or "First Nations" in Canada). The Piegan were divided into the North Peigan in Alberta, and the South Peigan in Montana.
History
The Confederacy had a territory that stretched from the North Saskatchewan River (called Ponoká'sisaahta) along what is now Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, to the Yellowstone River (called Otahkoiitahtayi) of Montana in the United States, and from the Rocky Mountains (called Miistakistsi) and along the South Saskatchewan River to the present Alberta-Saskatchewan border (called Kaayihkimikoyi), east past the Cypress Hills. They called their tribal territory Niitsitpiis-stahkoii (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ)- "Original People
s Land." To the east, the Innu and Naskapi called their territory Nitassinan – "Our Land." They had adopted the use of the horse from other Plains tribes, probably by the early eighteenth century, which gave them expanded range and mobility, as well as advantages in hunting.
The basic social unit of the Niitsitapi above the family was the band, varying from about 10 to 30 lodges, about 80 to 241 people. This size group was large enough to defend against attack and to undertake communal hunts, but was also small enough for flexibility. Each band consisted of a respected leader , possibly his brothers and parents, and others who were not related. Since the band was defined by place of residence, rather than by kinship, a person was free to leave one band and join another, which tended to ameliorate leadership disputes. As well, should a band fall upon hard times, its members could split up and join other bands. In practice, bands were constantly forming and breaking up. The system maximized flexibility and was an ideal organization for a hunting people on the northwestern Great Plains.
During the summer, the people assembled for nation gatherings. In these large assemblies, warrior societies played an important role for the men. Membership into these societies was based on brave acts and deeds.
For almost half the year in the long northern winter, the Niitsitapi lived in their winter camps along a wooded river valley. They were located perhaps a day's march apart, not moving camp unless food for the people and horses, or firewood became depleted. Where there was adequate wood and game resources, some bands would camp together. During this part of the year, buffalo also wintered in wooded areas, where they were partially sheltered from storms and snow. They were easier prey as their movements were hampered. In spring the buffalo moved out onto the grasslands to forage on new spring growth. The Blackfoot did not follow immediately, for fear of late blizzards. As dried food or game became depleted, the bands would split up and begin to hunt the buffalo.
In midsummer, when the chokecherries ripened, the people regrouped for their major ceremony, the Okan (Sun Dance). This was the only time of year when the four nations would assemble. The gathering reinforced the bonds among the various groups and linked individuals with the nations. Communal buffalo hunts provided food for the people, as well as offerings of the bulls' tongues (a delicacy) for the ceremonies. These ceremonies are sacred to the people. After the Okan, the people again separated to follow the buffalo. They used the buffalo hides to make their dwellings and temporary tipis.
In the fall, the people would gradually shift to their wintering areas. The men would prepare the buffalo jumps and pounds for capturing or driving the bison for hunting. Several groups of people might join together at particularly good sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. As the buffalo were naturally driven into the area by the gradual late summer drying off of the open grasslands, the Blackfoot would carry out great communal buffalo kills.
The women processed the buffalo, preparing dried meat, and combining it for nutrition and flavor with dried fruits into pemmican, to last them through winter and other times when hunting was poor. At the end of the fall, the Blackfoot would move to their winter camps. The women worked the buffalo and other game skins for clothing, as well as to reinforce their dwellings; other elements were used to make warm fur robes, leggings, cords and other needed items. Animal sinews were used to tie arrow points and lances to throwing sticks, or for bridles for horses.
The Niitsitapi maintained this traditional way of life based on hunting bison, until the near extirpation of the bison by 1881 forced them to adapt their ways of life in response to the encroachment of the European settlers and their descendants. In the United States, they were restricted to land assigned in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Nearly three decades later, they were given a distinct reservation in the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty of 1887. In 1877, the Canadian Niitsitapi signed Treaty 7 and settled on reserves in southern Alberta.
This began a period of great struggle and economic hardship; the Niitsitapi had to try to adapt to a completely new way of life. They suffered a high rate of fatalities when exposed to Eurasian diseases, for which they had no natural immunity.
Eventually, they established a viable economy based on farming, ranching, and light industry. Their population has increased to about 16,000 in Canada and 15,000 in the U.S. today. With their new economic stability, the Niitsitapi have been free to adapt their culture and traditions to their new circumstances, renewing their connection to their ancient roots.
Early history
The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Originally, only one of the Niitsitapi tribes was called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.
Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west.
When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains.
The Plains had covered approximately with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial."
Importance and uses of bison
The Niitsitapi main source of food on the plains was the American bison (buffalo), the largest mammal in North America, standing about tall and weighing up to . Before the introduction of horses, the Niitsitapi needed other ways to get in range. The buffalo jump was one of the most common ways. The hunters would round up the buffalo into V-shaped pens, and drive them over a cliff (they hunted pronghorn antelopes in the same way). Afterwards the hunters would go to the bottom and take as much meat as they could carry back to camp. They also used camouflage for hunting. The hunters would take buffalo skins from previous hunting trips and drape them over their bodies to blend in and mask their scent. By subtle moves, the hunters could get close to the herd. When close enough, the hunters would attack with arrows or spears to kill wounded animals.
The people used virtually all parts of the body and skin. The women prepared the meat for food: by boiling, roasting or drying for jerky. This processed it to last a long time without spoiling, and they depended on bison meat to get through the winters. The winters were long, harsh, and cold due to the lack of trees in the Plains, so people stockpiled meat in summer. As a ritual, hunters often ate the bison heart minutes after the kill. The women tanned and prepared the skins to cover the tepees. These were made of log poles, with the skins draped over it. The tepee remained warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and was a great shield against the wind.
The women also made clothing from the skins, such as robes and moccasins, and made soap from the fat. Both men and women made utensils, sewing needles and tools from the bones, using tendon for fastening and binding. The stomach and bladder were cleaned and prepared for use for storing liquids. Dried bison dung was fuel for the fires. The Niitsitapi considered the animal sacred and integral to their lives.
Discovery and uses of horses
Up until around 1730, the Blackfoot traveled by foot and used dogs to carry and pull some of their goods. They had not seen horses in their previous lands, but were introduced to them on the Plains, as other tribes, such as the Shoshone, had already adopted their use. They saw the advantages of horses and wanted some. The Blackfoot called the horses ponokamita (elk dogs). The horses could carry much more weight than dogs and moved at a greater speed. They could be ridden for hunting and travel.
Horses revolutionised life on the Great Plains and soon came to be regarded as a measure of wealth. Warriors regularly raided other tribes for their best horses. Horses were generally used as universal standards of barter. Medicine men were paid for cures and healing with horses. Those who designed shields or war bonnets were also paid in horses. The men gave horses to those who were owed gifts as well as to the needy. An individual's wealth rose with the number of horses accumulated, but a man did not keep an abundance of them. The individual's prestige and status was judged by the number of horses that he could give away. For the Indians who lived on the Plains, the principal value of property was to share it with others.
After having driven the hostile Shoshone and Arapaho from the Northwestern Plains, the Niitsitapi began in 1800 a long phase of keen competition in the fur trade with their former Cree allies, which often escalated militarily. In addition both groups had adapted to using horses about 1730, so by mid-century an adequate supply of horses became a question of survival. Horse theft was at this stage not only a proof of courage, but often a desperate contribution to survival, for many ethnic groups competed for hunting in the grasslands.
The Cree and Assiniboine continued horse raiding against the Gros Ventre (in Cree: Pawistiko Iyiniwak – "Rapids People" – "People of the Rapids"), allies of the Niitsitapi. The Gros Ventres were also known as Niya Wati Inew, Naywattamee ("They Live in Holes People"), because their tribal lands were along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of North and South Saskatchewan River). They had to withstand attacks of enemies with guns. In retaliation for Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) supplying their enemies with weapons, the Gros Ventre attacked and burned in 1793 South Branch House of the HBC on the South Saskatchewan River near the present village of St. Louis, Saskatchewan. Then, the tribe moved southward to the Milk River in Montana and allied themselves with the Blackfoot. The area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war fought between these two tribal groups) was the limit of the now warring tribal alliances.
Enemies and warrior culture
Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him. Warriors would strive to perform various acts of bravery called counting coup, in order to move up in social rank. The coups in order of importance were: taking a gun from a living enemy and or touching him directly; capturing lances, and bows; scalping an enemy; killing an enemy; freeing a tied horse from in front of an enemy lodge; leading a war party; scouting for a war party; stealing headdresses, shields, pipes (sacred ceremonial pipes); and driving a herd of stolen horses back to camp.
The Niitsitapi were enemies of the Crow, Cheyenne (kiihtsipimiitapi – ″Pinto People″), and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota) (called pinaapisinaa – "East Cree") on the Great Plains; and the Shoshone, Flathead, Kalispel, Kootenai (called kotonáá'wa) and Nez Perce (called komonóítapiikoan) in the mountain country to their west and southwest. Their most mighty and most dangerous enemy, however, were the political/military/trading alliance of the Iron Confederacy or Nehiyaw-Pwat (in Plains Cree: Nehiyaw – 'Cree' and Pwat or Pwat-sak – 'Sioux, i.e. Assiniboine') – named after the dominating Plains Cree (called Asinaa) and Assiniboine (called Niitsísinaa – "Original Cree"). These included the Stoney (called Saahsáísso'kitaki or Sahsi-sokitaki – ″Sarcee trying to cut″), Saulteaux (or Plains Ojibwe), and Métis to the north, east and southeast.
With the expansion of the Nehiyaw-Pwat to the north, west and southwest, they integrated larger groups of Iroquois, Chipewyan, Danezaa (Dunneza – 'The real (prototypical) people'), Ktunaxa, Flathead, and later Gros Ventre (called atsíína – "Gut People" or "like a Cree"), in their local groups. Loosely allied with the Nehiyaw-Pwat, but politically independent, were neighboring tribes like the Ktunaxa, Secwepemc and in particular the arch enemy of the Blackfoot, the Crow, or Indian trading partners like the Nez Perce and Flathead.
The Shoshone acquired horses much sooner than the Blackfoot and soon occupied much of present-day Alberta, most of Montana, and parts of Wyoming, and raided the Blackfoot frequently. Once the Piegan gained access to horses of their own and guns, obtained from the HBC via the Cree and Assiniboine, the situation changed. By 1787 David Thompson reports that the Blackfoot had completely conquered most of Shoshone territory, and frequently captured Shoshone women and children and forcibly assimilated them into Blackfoot society, further increasing their advantages over the Shoshone. Thompson reports that Blackfoot territory in 1787 was from the North Saskatchewan River in the north to the Missouri River in the South, and from Rocky Mountains in the west out to a distance of to the east.
Between 1790 and 1850, the Nehiyaw-Pwat were at the height of their power; they could successfully defend their territories against the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota) and the Niitsitapi Confederacy. During the so-called Buffalo Wars (about 1850 – 1870), they penetrated further and further into the territory from the Niitsitapi Confederacy in search for the buffalo, so that the Piegan were forced to give way in the region of the Missouri River (in Cree: Pikano Sipi – "Muddy River", "Muddy, turbid River"), the Kainai withdrew to the Bow River and Belly River; only the Siksika could hold their tribal lands along the Red Deer River. Around 1870, the alliance between the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventre broke, and the latter began to look to their former enemies, the Southern Assiniboine (or Plains Assiniboine), for protection.
First contact with Europeans and the fur trade
Anthony Henday of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) met a large Blackfoot group in 1754 in what is now Alberta. The Blackfoot had established dealings with traders connected to the Canadian and English fur trade before meeting the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. Lewis and Clark and their men had embarked on mapping the Louisiana Territory and upper Missouri River for the United States government.
On their return trip from the Pacific Coast, Lewis and three of his men encountered a group of young Blackfoot warriors with a large herd of horses, and it was clear to Meriwether Lewis that they were not far from much larger groups of warriors. Lewis explained to them that the United States government wanted peace with all Indian nations, and that the US leaders had successfully formed alliances with other Indian nations. The group camped together that night, and at dawn there was a scuffle as it was discovered that the Blackfoot were trying to steal guns and run off with their horses while the Americans slept. In the ensuing struggle, one warrior was fatally stabbed and another shot by Lewis and presumed killed.
In subsequent years, American mountain men trapping in Blackfoot country generally encountered hostility. When John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, returned to Blackfoot country soon after, he barely escaped with his life. In 1809, Colter and his companion were trapping on the Jefferson River by canoe when they were surrounded by hundreds of Blackfoot warriors on horseback on both sides of the river bank. Colter's companion, John Potts, did not surrender and was killed. Colter was stripped of his clothes and forced to run for his life, after being given a head start (famously known in the annals of the West as "Colter's Run.") He eventually escaped by reaching a river five miles away and diving under either an island of driftwood or a beaver dam, where he remained concealed until after nightfall. He trekked another 300 miles to a fort.
In the context of shifting tribal politics due to the spread of horses and guns, the Niitsitapi initially tried to increase their trade with the HBC traders in Rupert's Land whilst blocking access to the HBC by neighboring peoples to the West. But the HBC trade eventually reached into what is now inland British Columbia.
By the late 1820s, [this prompted] the Niitsitapiksi, and in particular the Piikani, whose territory was rich in beaver, [to] temporarily put aside cultural prohibitions and environmental constraints to trap enormous numbers of these animals and, in turn, receive greater quantities of trade items.
The HBC encouraged Niitsitapiksi to trade by setting up posts on the North Saskatchewan River, on the northern boundary of their territory. In the 1830s the Rocky Mountain region and the wider Saskatchewan District were the HBC's most profitable, and Rocky Mountain House was the HBC's busiest post. It was primarily used by the Piikani. Other Niitsitapiksi nations traded more in pemmican and buffalo skins than beaver, and visited other posts such as Fort Edmonton.
Meanwhile, in 1822 the American Fur Company entered the Upper Missouri region from the south for the first time, without Niitsitapiksi permission. This led to tensions and conflict until 1830, when peaceful trade was established. This was followed by the opening of Fort Piegan as the first American trading post in Niitsitapi territory in 1831, joined by Fort MacKenzie in 1833. The Americans offered better terms of trade and were more interested in buffalo skins than the HBC, which brought them more trade from the Niitsitapi. The HBC responded by building Bow Fort (Peigan Post) on the Bow River in 1832, but it was not a success.
In 1833, German explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss painter Karl Bodmer spent months with the Niitsitapi to get a sense of their culture. Bodmer portrayed their society in paintings and drawings.
Contact with the Europeans caused a spread of infectious diseases to the Niitsitapi, mostly cholera and smallpox. In one instance in 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat, the St. Peter's, was headed to Fort Union and several passengers contracted smallpox on the way. They continued to send a smaller vessel with supplies farther up the river to posts among the Niitsitapi. The Niitsitapi contracted the disease and eventually 6,000 died, marking an end to their dominance among tribes over the Plains. The Hudson's Bay Company did not require or help their employees get vaccinated; the English doctor Edward Jenner had developed a technique 41 years before but its use was not yet widespread.
Indian Wars
Like many other Great Plains Indian nations, the Niitsitapi often had hostile relationships with white settlers. Despite the hostilities, the Blackfoot stayed largely out of the Great Plains Indian Wars, neither fighting against nor scouting for the United States army. One of their friendly bands, however, was attacked by mistake and nearly destroyed by the US Army in the Marias Massacre on 23 January 1870, undertaken as an action to suppress violence against settlers. A friendly relationship with the North-West Mounted Police and learning of the brutality of the Marias Massacre discouraged the Blackfoot from engaging in wars against Canada and the United States.
When the Lakota, together with their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, were fighting the United States Army, they sent runners into Blackfoot territory, urging them to join the fight. Crowfoot, one of the most influential Blackfoot chiefs, dismissed the Lakota messengers. He threatened to ally with the NWMP to fight them if they came north into Blackfoot country again. News of Crowfoot's loyalty reached Ottawa and from there London; Queen Victoria praised Crowfoot and the Blackfoot for their loyalty. Despite his threats, Crowfoot later met those Lakota who had fled with Sitting Bull into Canada after defeating George Armstrong Custer and his battalion at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Crowfoot considered the Lakota then to be refugees and was sympathetic to their strife, but retained his anti-war stance. Sitting Bull and Crowfoot fostered peace between the two nations by a ceremonial offering of tobacco, ending hostilities between them. Sitting Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him.
The Blackfoot also chose to stay out of the North- West Rebellion, led by the famous Métis leader Louis Riel. Louis Riel and his men added to the already unsettled conditions facing the Blackfoot by camping near them. They tried to spread discontent with the government and gain a powerful ally. The North-West Rebellion was made up mostly of Métis, Assiniboine (Nakota) and Plains Cree, who all fought against European encroachment and destruction of Bison herds. The Plains Cree were one of the Blackfoot's most hated enemies; however, the two nations made peace when Crowfoot adopted Poundmaker, an influential Cree chief and great peacemaker, as his son. Although he refused to fight, Crowfoot had sympathy for those with the rebellion, especially the Cree led by such notable chiefs as Poundmaker, Big Bear, Wandering Spirit and Fine-Day.
When news of continued Blackfoot neutrality reached Ottawa, Lord Lansdowne, the governor general, expressed his thanks to Crowfoot again on behalf of the Queen back in London. The cabinet of John A. Macdonald (the current Prime Minister of Canada at the time) gave Crowfoot a round of applause.
Hardships of the Niitsitapi
During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were hired by the U.S government to kill bison so the Blackfeet would remain in their reservation. Settlers were also encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi were forced to depend on the United States government for food supplies. In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.
In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it, or supplies failed to arrive at all. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies, and outlaws on both sides stirred up trouble.
Events were catalyzed by Owl Child, a young Piegan warrior who stole a herd of horses in 1867 from an American trader named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke retaliated by tracking Owl Child down and severely beating him in full view of Owl Child's camp, and humiliating him. According to Piegan oral history, Clarke had also raped Owl Child's wife. But, Clarke was long married to Coth-co-co-na, a Piegan woman who was Owl Child's cousin. The raped woman gave birth to a child as a result of the rape, which oral history said was stillborn or killed by band elders. Two years after the beating, in 1869 Owl Child and some associates killed Clarke at his ranch after dinner, and severely wounded his son Horace. Public outcry from news of the event led to General Philip Sheridan to dispatch a band of cavalry, led by Major Eugene Baker, to find Owl Child and his camp and punish them.
On 23 January 1870, a camp of Piegan Indians were spotted by army scouts and reported to the dispatched cavalry, but it was mistakenly identified as a hostile band. Around 200 soldiers surrounded the camp the following morning and prepared for an ambush. Before the command to fire, the chief Heavy Runner was alerted to soldiers on the snowy bluffs above the encampment. He walked toward them, carrying his safe-conduct paper. Heavy Runner and his band of Piegans shared peace between American settlers and troops at the time of the event. Heavy Runner was shot and killed by army scout Joe Cobell, whose wife was part of the camp of the hostile Mountain Chief, further along the river, from whom he wanted to divert attention. Fellow scout Joe Kipp had realized the error and tried to signal the troops. He was threatened by the cavalry for reporting that the people they attacked were friendly.
Following the death of Heavy Runner, the soldiers attacked the camp. According to their count, they killed 173 Piegan and suffered just one U.S Army soldier casualty, who fell off his horse and broke his leg, dying of complications. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, as most of the younger men were out hunting. The Army took 140 Piegan prisoner and then released them. With their camp and belongings destroyed, they suffered terribly from exposure, making their way as refugees to Fort Benton.
As reports of the massacre gradually were learned in the east, members of the United States congress and press were outraged. General William Sherman reported that most of the killed were warriors under Mountain Chief. An official investigation never occurred, and no official monument marks the spot of the massacre. Compared to events such as the massacres at Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, the Marias Massacre remains largely unknown. But, it confirmed President Ulysses S. Grant in his decision not to allow the Army to take over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as it had been suggesting to combat corruption among Indian agents. Grant chose to appoint numerous Quakers to those positions as he pursued a peace policy with Native Americans.
The Cree and Assiniboine also suffered from the dwindling herds of the buffalo. By 1850 herds were found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore, in 1870 various Nehiyaw-Pwat bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up (called Akaisakoyi – "Many Dead"). But they were defeated in the so-called Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, called Assini-etomochi – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.
The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.
The winter of 1883–1884 became known as "Starvation Winter" because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.
In efforts to assimilate the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing. In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development. The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.
In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act, passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures. In 1935, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.
Culture
Electing a leader
Family was highly valued by the Blackfoot Indians. For traveling, they also split into bands of 20-30 people, but would come together for times of celebration. They valued leadership skills and chose the chiefs who would run their settlements wisely. During times of peace, the people would elect a peace chief, meaning someone who could lead the people and improve relations with other tribes. The title of war chief could not be gained through election and needed to be earned by successfully performing various acts of bravery including touching a living enemy. Blackfoot bands often had minor chiefs in addition to an appointed head chief.
Societies
Within the Blackfoot nation, there were different societies to which people belonged, each of which had functions for the tribe. Young people were invited into societies after proving themselves by recognized passages and rituals. For instance, young men had to perform a vision quest, begun by a spiritual cleansing in a sweat lodge. They went out from the camp alone for four days of fasting and praying. Their main goal was to see a vision that would explain their future. After having the vision, a youth returned to the village ready to join society.
In a warrior society, the men had to be prepared for battle. Again, the warriors would prepare by spiritual cleansing, then paint themselves symbolically; they often painted their horses for war as well. Leaders of the warrior society carried spears or lances called a coup stick, which was decorated with feathers, skin, and other tokens. They won prestige by "counting coup", tapping the enemy with the stick and getting away.
Members of the religious society protected sacred Blackfoot items and conducted religious ceremonies. They blessed the warriors before battle. Their major ceremony was the Sun Dance, or Medicine Lodge Ceremony. By engaging in the Sun Dance, their prayers would be carried up to the Creator, who would bless them with well-being and abundance of buffalo.
Women's societies also had important responsibilities for the communal tribe. They designed refined quillwork on clothing and ceremonial shields, helped prepare for battle, prepared skins and cloth to make clothing, cared for the children and taught them tribal ways, skinned and tanned the leathers used for clothing and other purposes, prepared fresh and dried foods, and performed ceremonies to help hunters in their journeys.
Ethnobotany
Sage and sweet grass are both used by Blackfoot and other Plains tribes for ceremonial purposes and are considered sacred plants. Sage and sweet grass are burned with the user inhaling and covering themselves in the smoke in a process known widely as smudging. Sage is said to rid the body of negative emotions such as anger. Sweet grass is said to draw in positive energy. Both are used for purification purposes. The pleasant and natural odor of the burning grass is said to attract spirits. Sweet grass is prepared for ceremony by braiding the stems together then drying them before burning.
Sweet grass is also often present and burned in pipe-smoking mixtures alongside bearberry and red willow plants. The smoke from the pipe is said to carry the users prayers up to the creator with the rising smoke. Large medicine bags often decorated with ornate beaded designs were used by medicine men to carry sage, sweet grass, and other important plants. Blackfoot also used sweet grass smoke, or sachets of sweet grass in their clothing, as an effective insect repellent.
They apply a poultice of chewed roots Asclepias viridiflora to swellings, to "diarrhea rash", to rashes, to the sore gums of nursing infants and to sore eyes. They also chew the root of Asclepias viridiflora for sore throats, and use the plant to spice soups, and use the fresh roots for food. They make use of Viola adunca, applying an infusion of the roots and leaves to sore and swollen joints, giving an infusion of the leaves and roots to asthmatic children, and using the plant to dye their arrows blue. They put Carex in moccasins to protect the feet during winter horse stealing expeditions.
Marriage
In the Blackfoot culture, men were responsible for choosing their marriage partners, but women had the choice to accept them or not. The male had to show the woman's father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and approved of the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothing and were considered married. The married couple would reside in their own tipi or with the husband's family. Although the man was permitted more than one wife, typically he only chose one. In cases of more than one wife, quite often the male would choose a sister of the wife, believing that sisters would not argue as much as total strangers.
Responsibilities and clothing
In a typical Blackfoot family, the father would go out and hunt and bring back supplies that the family might need. The mother would stay close to home and watch over the children while the father was out. The children were taught basic survival skills and culture as they grew up. It was generally said that both boys and girls learned to ride horses early. Boys would usually play with toy bows and arrows until they were old enough to learn how to hunt.
They would also play a popular game called shinny, which later became known as ice hockey. They used a long curved wooden stick to knock a ball, made of baked clay covered with buckskin, over a goal line. Girls were given a doll to play with, which also doubled as a learning tool because it was fashioned with typical tribal clothing and designs and also taught the young women how to care for a child. As they grew older, more responsibilities were placed upon their shoulders. The girls were then taught to cook, prepare hides for leather, and gather wild plants and berries. The boys were held accountable for going out with their father to prepare food by means of hunting.
Typically clothing was made primarily of softened and tanned antelope and deer hides. The women would make and decorate the clothes for everyone in the tribe. Men wore moccasins, long leggings that went up to their hips, a loincloth, and a belt. Occasionally they would wear shirts but generally they would wrap buffalo robes around their shoulders. The distinguished men of bravery would wear a necklace made of grizzly bear claws.
Boys dressed much like the older males, wearing leggings, loincloths, moccasins, and occasionally an undecorated shirt. They kept warm by wearing a buffalo robe over their shoulders or over their heads if it became cold. Women and girls wore dresses made from two or three deerskins. The women wore decorative earrings and bracelets made from sea shells, obtained through trade with distant tribes, or different types of metal. They would sometimes wear beads in their hair or paint the part in their hair red, which signified that they were old enough to bear children.
Headdresses
Similar to other Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains, the Blackfoot developed a variety of different headdresses that incorporated elements of creatures important to them; these served different purposes and symbolized different associations. The typical war bonnet was made from eagle feathers, because the bird was considered powerful. It was worn by prestigious warriors and chiefs (including war-chiefs) of the Blackfoot. The straight-up headdress is a uniquely Blackfoot headdress that, like the war bonnet, is made with eagle feathers. The feathers on the straight-up headdress point directly straight upwards from the rim (hence the name). Often a red plume is attached to the front of the headdress; it also points straight upward.
The split-horn headdress was very popular among Northern Plains Indians, particularly those nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Many warrior societies, including the Horn Society of the Blackfoot, wore the split-horn headdress. The split-horn headdress was made from a single bison horn, split in two and reshaped as slimmer versions of a full-sized bison horn, and polished. The horns were attached to a beaded, rimmed felt hat. Furs from weasels (taken when carrying heavy winter coats) were attached to the top of the headdress, and dangled from the sides. The side furs were often finished with bead work where attached to the headdress. A similar headdress, called the antelope horn headdress, was made in a similar fashion using the horn or horns from a pronghorn antelope.
Blackfoot men, particularly warriors, sometimes wore a roach made from porcupine hair. The hairs of the porcupine are most often dyed red. Eagle and other bird feathers were occasionally attached to the roach.
Buffalo scalps, often with horns still attached and often with a beaded rim, were also worn. Fur "turbans" made from soft animal fur (most often otter) were also popular. Buffalo scalps and fur turbans were worn in the winter to protect the head from the cold.
The Blackfoot have continued to wear traditional headdresses at special ceremonies. They are worn mostly by elected chiefs, members of various traditional societies (including the Horn, Crazy Dog and Motokik societies), powwow dancers and spiritual leaders.
Sun and the Moon
One of the most famous traditions held by the Blackfoot is their story of sun and the moon. It starts with a family of a man, wife, and two sons, who live off berries and other food they can gather, as they have no bows and arrows, or other tools. The man had a dream: he was told by the Creator Napi, Napiu, or Napioa (depending on the band) to get a large spider web and put it on the trail where the animals roamed, and they would get caught up and could be easily killed with the stone axe he had. The man had done so and saw that it was true. One day, he came home from bringing in some fresh meat from the trail and discovered his wife to be applying perfume on herself. He thought that she must have another lover since she never did this before. He then told his wife that he was going to move a web and asked if she could bring in the meat and wood he had left outside from a previous hunt. She had reluctantly gone out and passed over a hill. The wife looked back three times and saw her husband in the same place she had left him, so she continued on to retrieve the meat. The father then asked his children if they went with their mother to find wood, but they never had. However they knew the location in which she retrieved it from. The man set out and found the timber along with a den of rattlesnakes, one of which was his wife's lover. He set the timber on fire and killed the snakes. He knew by doing this that his wife would become enraged, so the man returned home. He told the children to flee and gave them a stick, stone, and moss to use if their mother chased after them. He remained at the house and put a web over his front door. The wife tried to get in but became stuck and had her leg cut off. She then put her head through and he cut that off also. While the body followed the husband to the creek, the head followed the children. The oldest boy saw the head behind them and threw the stick. The stick turned into a great forest. The head made it through, so the younger brother instructed the elder to throw the stone. He did so, and where the stone landed a huge mountain popped up. It spanned from big water (ocean) to big water and the head was forced to go through it, not around. The head met a group of rams and said to them she would marry their chief if they butted their way through the mountain. The chief agreed and they butted until their horns were worn down, but this still was not through. She then asked the ants if they could burrow through the mountain with the same stipulations, it was agreed and they get her the rest of the way through. The children were far ahead, but eventually saw the head rolling behind them. The boys wet the moss and wrung it out behind themselves. They were then in a different land. The country they had just left was now surrounded by water. The head rolled into the water and drowned. They decided to build a raft and head back. Once they returned to their land, they discovered that it was occupied by the crows and the snakes so they decided to split up.
One brother was simple and went north to discover what he could and make people. The other was smart and went south to make white people and taught them valuable skills. The simple brother created the Blackfeet. He became known as Left Hand, and later by the Blackfeet as Old Man. The woman still chases the man: she is the moon and he is the sun, and if she ever catches him, it will always be night.
Blackfoot creation story
The creation myth is part of the oral history of the Blackfoot nation. It was said that in the beginning, Napio floated on a log with four animals. The animals were: Mameo (fish), Matcekups (frog), Maniskeo (lizard), and Sopeo (turtle). Napio sent all of them into the deep water, one after another. The first three had gone down and returned with nothing. The turtle went down and retrieved mud from the bottom and gave it to Napio.
He took the mud and rolled it in his hand and created the earth. He let it roll out of his hand and over time, it has grown to what it is today. After he created the earth, he created women first, followed by men. He had them living separately from one another. The men were shy and afraid, but Napio said to them to not fear and take one as their wife. They had done as he asked, and Napio continued to create the buffalo and bows and arrows for the people so that they could hunt them.
People
Ethnic divisions
The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the Piegan, also spelled Peigan or Pikuni. Their name derives from the Blackfoot term Piikáni. They are divided into the Piikani Nation (Aapátohsipikáni ("the companion up there") or simply Piikáni) in present-day Alberta, and the South Peigan or Piegan Blackfeet (Aamsskáápipikani) in Montana, United States. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans") of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan.
The modern Kainai Nation is named for the Blackfoot-language term Káínaa, meaning "Many Chief people". These were historically also called the "Blood," from a Plains Cree name for the Kainai: Miko-Ew, meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe.
The Siksika Nation's name derives from Siksikáwa, meaning "Those of like". The Siksika also call themselves Sao-kitapiiksi, meaning "Plains People".
The Sarcee call themselves the Tsu T'ina, meaning "a great number of people." During early years of conflict, the Blackfoot called them Saahsi or Sarsi, "the stubborn ones", in their language. The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the Athabascan or Dené language family, most of whose members are located in the Subarctic of Northern Canada. Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the Beaver (Danezaa) people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had").
The Gros Ventre people call themselves the Haaninin ("white clay people"), also spelled A'aninin. The French called them Gros Ventres ("fat bellies"), misinterpreting a physical sign for waterfall; and the English called them the Fall Indians, related to waterfalls in the mountains. The Blackfoot referred to them as the Piik-siik-sii-naa ("snakes") or Atsina ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity. Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the Arapaho Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming. They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter.
Modern communities
Economy and services
Today, many of the Blackfoot live on reserves in Canada. About 8,500 live on the Montana reservation of . In 1896, the Blackfoot sold a large portion of their land to the United States government, which hoped to find gold or copper deposits. No such mineral deposits were found. In 1910, the land was set aside as Glacier National Park. Some Blackfoot work there and occasional Native American ceremonies are held there.
Unemployment is a challenging problem on the Blackfeet Reservation and on Canadian Blackfoot reserves, because of their isolation from major urban areas. Many people work as farmers, but there are not enough other jobs nearby. To find work, many Blackfoot have relocated from the reservation to towns and cities. Some companies pay the Blackfoot governments to lease use of lands for extracting oil, natural gas, and other resources. The nations have operated such businesses such as the Blackfoot Writing Company, a pen and pencil factory, which opened in 1972, but it closed in the late 1990s. In Canada, the Northern Piegan make traditional craft clothing and moccasins, and the Kainai operate a shopping center and factory.
In 1974, the Blackfoot Community College, a tribal college, opened in Browning, Montana. The school is also the location of the tribal headquarters. As of 1979, the Montana state government requires all public school teachers on or near the reservation to have a background in American Indian studies.
In 1986, the Kainai Nation opened the Red Crow Community College in Stand Off, Alberta. In 1989, the Siksika tribe in Canada completed the construction of a high school to go along with its elementary school.
Traditional culture
The Blackfoot continue many cultural traditions of the past and hope to extend their ancestors' traditions to their children. They want to teach their children the Pikuni language as well as other traditional knowledge. In the early 20th century, a white woman named Frances Densmore helped the Blackfoot record their language. During the 1950s and 1960s, few Blackfoot spoke the Pikuni language. In order to save their language, the Blackfoot Council asked elders who still knew the language to teach it. The elders had agreed and succeeded in reviving the language, so today the children can learn Pikuni at school or at home. In 1994, the Blackfoot Council accepted Pikuni as the official language.
The people have revived the Black Lodge Society, responsible for protecting songs and dances of the Blackfoot. They continue to announce the coming of spring by opening five medicine bundles, one at every sound of thunder during the spring. One of the biggest celebrations is called the North American Indian Days. Lasting four days, it is held during the second week of July in Browning. Lastly, the Sun Dance, which was illegal from the 1890s-1934, has been practiced again for years. While it was illegal, the Blackfoot held it in secret. Since 1934, they have practised it every summer. The event lasts eight days – time filled with prayers, dancing, singing, and offerings to honor the Creator. It provides an opportunity for the Blackfoot to get together and share views and ideas with each other, while celebrating their culture's most sacred ceremonies.
The Blackfeet Nation in Montana have a blue tribal flag. The flag shows a ceremonial lance or coup stick with 29 feathers. The center of the flag contains a ring of 32 white and black eagle feathers. Within the ring is an outline map of the Blackfoot Reservation. Within the map is depicted a warrior's headdress and the words "Blackfeet Nation" and "Pikuni" (the name of the tribe in the Algonquian native tongue of the Blackfoot).
Notable Blackfoot people
Elouise Cobell, banker and activist who led the 20th-century lawsuit that forced the US Government to reform individual Indian trusts
Byron Chief-Moon, performer and choreographer
Crowfoot (ISAPO-MUXIKA – "Crow Indian's Big Foot", also known in French as Pied de Corbeau), Chief of the Big Pipes band (later renamed Moccasin band, a splinter band of the Biters band), Head Chief of the South Siksika, by 1870 one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika or the Blackfoot proper
Aatsista-Mahkan ("Running Rabbit", * about 1833 – d. January 1911), since 1871 Chief of the Biters band (Ai-sik'-stuk-iks) of the Siksika, signed Treaty No.7 in 1877, along with Crowfoot, Old Sun, Red Crow, and other leaders
A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye (Ac ko mok ki, Ak ko mock ki, A'kow-muk-ai – "Feathers", since he took the name Old Swan), since about 1820 Chief of the Old Feathers' band, his personal following was known as the Bad Guns band, consisted of about 400 persons, along with Old Sun and Three Suns (No-okskatos) one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika
Stu-mick-o-súcks ("Buffalo Bull's Back Fat"), Head Chief of the Kainai, had his portrait painted at Fort Union in 1832
Faye HeavyShield, Kainai sculptor and installation artist
Joe Hipp, Heavyweight boxer, the first Native American to compete for the WBA World Heavyweight Title.
Beverly Hungry Wolf, author
Stephen Graham Jones, author
Earl Old Person (Cold Wind or Changing Home), Blackfoot tribal chairman from 1964-2008 and honorary lifetime chief of the Blackfoot
Jerry Potts (1840–1896), (also known as Ky-yo-kosi – "Bear Child"), was a Canadian-American plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai-Scottish descent. He identified as Piegan and became a minor Kainai chief.
Steve Reevis, actor who appeared in Fargo, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Dogmen, Comanche Moon and many other films and TV.
Misty Upham (1982-2014), actress
James Welch (1940–2003), Blackfoot-Gros Ventre author
The Honourable Eugene Creighton, judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.
Gyasi Ross, author, attorney, musician and political activist.
Representation in other media
Hergé's Tintin in America (1932) featured Blackfoot people.
Jimmy P (2013) is a Franco-American film exploring the psychoanalysis of a Blackfoot, Jimmy Picard, in the post-World War II period at a veterans' hospital by a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, George Devereux. The screenplay was adapted from his book about this process, published in 1951.
See also
Blackfeet music
Blackfoot language
List of Native American peoples in the United States
Palliser Region
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Blackfoot homepage
Blackfoot Confederacy
Blackfoot Language and the Blackfoot Indian Tribe
Map of Blackfeet tribal lands
Walter McClintock Glass Lantern Slides Photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, material culture, and ceremonies from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
Blackfoot Digital Library, project of Red Crow Community College and the University of Lethbridge
Blackfoot Anthropological Notes at Dartmouth College Library
Algonquian peoples
Plains tribes
First Nations history
Native American history of Montana
First Nations in Alberta
Native American tribes in Montana
Native American tribes in Wyoming | true | [
"Cellana exarata, common name the black-foot ʻopihi and Hawaiian blackfoot is a species of edible true limpet, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Nacellidae, one of the families of true limpets. ‘Opihi are significant in Hawaiian history where they have had many uses such as food, tools, and jewelry. They are known as a “fish of death.”\n\nClassification\nHawaiian Blackfoot limpets are gastropods belonging to the subclass Patellogastropoda and the family Nacellidae. They share many characteristics with many types of primitive mollusc other than gastropods, including a structure called the radula and shell micro-structure.\n\nDistribution\nThis species is endemic to the islands of Hawaii and abundant on the basalt or elionite wave-exposed rocky windward shorelines.\n\nHabitat\nThe limpet, C.exarata, resides in the high intertidal zone on the shores of the Hawaiian islands. The coastline on each island differs such that the different substrates, basalt and eolianite, affect the shape of the limpets in each location. Additionally, the issues of the intertidal zone, such as wave stress and exposure to heat, have further impacted the shape of the limpet species. The basalt substrate increased the risk of desiccation while the elionite substrate had increased exposure to waves, so each required different adaptations.\n\nDescription\n\nThe unique species of limpet, C. exarata, has adapted to develop a shell with increased height compared to its relatives in the lower tidal zones. This gives the limpet an oblong shape as to increase the ratio of volume to evaporative surface area to endure the thermal stress. With their typical habitat being above their common predators, their increased shell height does not have any negative effects for the limpet. Both the shell and the foot of the animal are black in color.\n\nAnatomy\n\nThis species has flattened, conical shells with a large, muscular foot. Their shells are cone shaped to protect them from waves, while the foot clings to rocks. Hawaiian Blackfoots, like other limpet species, lack an operculum, unlike other snails. Covered by the shell, is their head, mantle, and foot. Their vision is poor but their head and mantle contain small tentacles that protrude just beyond the edge of their shell. These are sensory organs used to help limpets perceive their surroundings. They feed on algae using a radula, an organ made of chitin that is covered in small teeth. They breathe using gills. Their anatomy suggests that limpets may be the most primitive of the living sea snails. Hawaiian Blackfoots can be distinguished from other Hawaiian limpet species by comparing the ridges on their shells, Blackfoot Limpets are somewhat smooth with ridges that do not extend to the edges of the shell. They can reach up to 60mm in length but average between 33 and 37mm.\n\nDiffering phylogeography\nWhile Limpets have similar life histories, behavior and habitat affinity also plays a major role in the way that three different species of the endemic Hawaiian Cellana spp. which are sympatric species in a monophyletic group. The three species are Cellana exarata, C. sandwincensis, and C. talcosa. The main reasons for these differences are habitat specificity and biogeography. In terms of habitat, C. exarata and C. sandwincensis both live above the waterline, however, the third species, C. talcosa remains in a subtidal habitat. Additionally, these stark differences between species also relate to the restricted gene flow that comes from geographical partitioning and, somewhat, the restriction of channels that separate the species from each other. All in all, this revelation that species so similar to one another, especially ones that have such similar life histories is detrimental to the understanding of these species and especially for Hawaiian Limpets that are so important to the ecosystem of Hawaii, it is important to recognize the differing phylogeography between these three species.\n\nReproduction\nFertilization occurs externally and sexes are separate within this species of limpets. Without any parental care, the embryos drift in the ocean currents until they settle onto shoreline rocks. C.exarata has a continuous monthly shell growth of 4–5 mm until it reaches sexual maturity. Following that event, its growth decreases to 2–3 mm monthly. Similarly, its weight increases monthly until sexual maturity, then decreases following that. Lastly, Its lifespan is less than one and half years.\n\nGrowth\nIt takes just one year for the shell lengths of Cellana exarata and Cellana sandwincensis to grow over 40 mm. Before sexual maturity, shell length continues to increase at a rate of 4 to 5 mm every month. After sexual maturity, this slows down to 2–3 mm every month. The absolute body weight of both species increases every month as well, until they reach sexual maturity, when that absolute body weight still increases but at a slower rate. However, C. sandwincesis have a lower height and heavier shell than the shells of the species C. exarata, and it has been hypothesized that this may be due to the fact that they live in a more wave-exposed habitat. Lastly, neither species grows very large due to their lifespan being less than 1.5 years long.\n\nEcological and evolutionary factors influencing growth\nSince the Proto-Historic Period, the average limpet size has increased, especially in terms of the mean limpet size in the western shoreline harvests. There are two main reasons why, for one, shelter from trade winds and strong ocean currents in Hawaii have allowed for limpets to grow larger than they were previously able to. Another reason is that there has been less harvesting pressure placed on these limpets allowing them time to grow and evolve.\n\nHuman use\nThis species is used as a food item; it is considered not as high in quality as the yellow-foot ʻopihi, Cellana sandwicensis. A Hawaiian delicacy and ‘Opihi can be served either raw or cooked. Very important to Hawaiian culture, it is used for celebrations and those special events. Due to overpicking, legislation was passed in 2006 to limit the sale of ‘Opihi and collection is reserved solely for personal use.\n\nConservation\n\nOver-harvesting \nThis species has become scarce due to over-harvesting caused by a lack of rules and regulations. There are now strict rules in place to limit the harvesting of these limpets and sustain healthy population sizes. These regulations limit the size, amount, and species that can be harvested. They can be collected year round but must be at least one and one-fourth inches in the longest dimension to be legally harvested. Due to their habitat, many people have died attempting to collect Hawaiian Blackfoots and this is one reason that commercial fish hatcheries have been working to successfully breed and raise this species in captivity. Some fishermen practice traditional methods that are supposed to protect Blackfoots, these include avoiding limpets that are below the waterline and harvesting predators of the limpets.\n\nClimate change \nNot much research has been performed on the effects of climate change on 'Opihi but a study done in 2019 suggests that this species has a narrow thermal niche that will continue to get narrower as the Earth warms.\n\nCultural significance\n‘Opihi were consumed by early Hawaiians and are still a common source of food in the Hawaiian Islands, often eaten raw or boiled. Their shells were often traditionally used for jewelry or tools. There is also evidence that Hawaiian limpet species were used for various religious rituals in Hawaiian history. They are known as the “fish of death” because they can be incredibly dangerous to harvest due to their habitat.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nNacellidae\nEndemic fauna of Hawaii\nMolluscs of Hawaii\nMolluscs of the Pacific Ocean",
"ITV Play of the Week is a 90-minute UK television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television. From 1956 to 1966 approximately 500 episodes aired on ITV. The first production was Ten Minute Alibi, produced by Associated-Rediffusion on 14 May 1956 while the earliest to survive is There Was a Young Lady, transmitted on 23 July 1956 and was telerecorded (film recorded). The first production not to be transmitted live was Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck which was also film recorded. The first to be pre-recorded on videotape was Mary Broome, a Granada production broadcast on 3 September 1958. Subsequently, only one play was transmitted live, Associated-Rediffusion's Search Party on 26 July 1960. The recording of The Liberty Man, a Granada production broadcast on 1 October 1958, contains the original advertisements during the first commercial break. The Violent Years was networked from Anglia on its opening night, 27 October 1959, and exists at the University of East Anglia.\n\nThe series included You in Your Small Corner by Barry Reckord, first broadcast in June 1962, which was an early taboo breaking drama depicting lovers from white and black backgrounds kissing. This also survives.\n\nOther productions included:\n\n Look Back in Anger - produced by Granada, broadcast 28 November 1956, does not exist\n Morning's at Seven - produced by H.M. Tennent for ATV, broadcast 21 August 1957, does not exist\n Death of a Salesman - produced by Granada, broadcast 27 November 1957, does not exist\n The Importance of Being Earnest - produced by Associated-Rediffusion, broadcast 26 March 1958, does not exist\n Playboy of the Western World - produced by Granada, broadcast 26 November 1958, does not exist\n The Skin of Our Teeth - produced by Granada, broadcast 17 March 1959, does not exist\n South - produced by Granada, broadcast 24 November 1959, earliest known drama to feature a gay story line. Available to watch via BFI\n\n The Member of the Wedding - produced by Granada, broadcast 16 February 1960, does not exist\n The House of Bernarda Alba - produced by Associated-Rediffusion, broadcast 23 February 1960, does not exist\n The Birthday Party - produced by Associated-Rediffusion, broadcast 22 March 1960, does not exist\n I Remember Mama - produced by Associated-Rediffusion, broadcast 27 June 1961, does not exist\n The Lark - produced by Granada, broadcast 28 August 1962, does not exist\n The Rose Tattoo - produced by Granada, broadcast 13 January 1964, does not exist\n Come Back, Little Sheba - produced by Anglia, broadcast 8 March 1965, does not exist\n A Choice of Kings - produced by Rediffusion, broadcast 11 October 1966, survives \n\nAmong its directors were Tony Richardson, Peter Wood, Peter Brook, Vivian Matalon, and Desmond Davis.\n\nNotable guest stars included Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Peter O'Toole, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Peggy Ashcroft, Maggie Smith, Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Judi Dench, Deborah Kerr, Paul Scofield, Laurence Harvey, Glenda Jackson, Susannah York, Leslie Caron, Richard Harris, Edith Evans, James Mason, Claire Bloom, David McCallum, Donald Sutherland, John Gielgud, Oliver Reed, Mel Ferrer, Diana Rigg, Marius Goring and Margaret Whiting.\n\nSee also\n Armchair Theatre\n ITV Playhouse\n Theatre 625\n The Wednesday Play\n Play for Today\n Second City Firsts\n Thirty-Minute Theatre\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1956 British television series debuts\n1966 British television series endings\n1950s British anthology television series\n1960s British anthology television series\nTelevision shows produced by Associated-Rediffusion\nTelevision shows produced by Associated Television (ATV)\nTelevision shows produced by Granada Television\nTelevision shows produced by Anglia Television"
] |
[
"Blackfoot Confederacy",
"Early history",
"When is the Blackfoot confederacy started ?",
"Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika.",
"Does any record exist of the Blackfoots' early history ?",
"The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black."
] | C_de2f5c0e98744f069aac69b83a73fc48_1 | How did the Blackfoot early society worked ? | 3 | How did the Blackfoot early society worked ? | Blackfoot Confederacy | The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black. Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west. When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains. The Plains had covered approximately 780,000 square miles (2,000,000 km2) with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial." CANNOTANSWER | Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, | The Blackfoot Confederacy, Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika ("Blackfoot"), the Kainai or Blood ("Many Chiefs"), and two sections of the Peigan or Piikani ("Splotchy Robe") – the Northern Piikani (Aapátohsipikáni) and the Southern Piikani (Amskapi Piikani or Pikuni). Broader definitions include groups such as the Tsúùtínà (Sarcee) and A'aninin (Gros Ventre) who spoke quite different languages but allied with or joined the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of western North America, specifically the semi-arid shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens. The Blackfoot used these to expand their territory at the expense of neighboring tribes.
Today, three Blackfoot First Nation band governments (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations) reside in the Canadian province of Alberta, while the Blackfeet Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Southern Piikani in Montana, United States. Additionally, the Gros Ventre are members of the federally recognized Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana in the United States and the Tsuutʼina Nation is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada.
Government
The four Blackfoot nations come together to make up what is known as the Blackfoot Confederacy, meaning that they have banded together to help one another. The nations have their own separate governments ruled by a head chief, but regularly come together for religious and social celebrations.
Originally the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy consisted of three peoples ("nation", "tribes", "tribal nations") based on kinship and dialect, but all speaking the common language of Blackfoot, one of the Algonquian languages family. The three were the Piikáni (historically called "Piegan Blackfeet" in English-language sources), the Káínaa (called "Bloods"), and the Siksikáwa ("Blackfoot"). They later allied with the unrelated Tsuu T'ina ("Sarcee"), who became merged into the Confederacy and, (for a time) with the Atsina, or A'aninin (Gros Ventre).
Each of these highly decentralized peoples were divided into many bands, which ranged in size from 10 to 30 lodges, or about 80 to 240 persons. The band was the basic unit of organization for hunting and defence.
The Confederacy occupied a large territory where they hunted and foraged; in the 19th century it was divided by the current Canada–US international border. But during the late nineteenth century, both governments forced the peoples to end their nomadic traditions and settle on "Indian reserves" (Canadian terminology) or "Indian reservations" (US terminology). The South Peigan are the only group who chose to settle in Montana. The other three Blackfoot-speaking peoples and the Sarcee are located in Alberta. Together, the Blackfoot-speakers call themselves the Niitsítapi (the "Original People"). After leaving the Confederacy, the Gros Ventres also settled on a reservation in Montana.
When these peoples were forced to end their nomadic traditions, their social structures changed. Tribal nations, which had formerly been mostly ethnic associations, were institutionalized as governments (referred to as "tribes" in the United States and "bands" or "First Nations" in Canada). The Piegan were divided into the North Peigan in Alberta, and the South Peigan in Montana.
History
The Confederacy had a territory that stretched from the North Saskatchewan River (called Ponoká'sisaahta) along what is now Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, to the Yellowstone River (called Otahkoiitahtayi) of Montana in the United States, and from the Rocky Mountains (called Miistakistsi) and along the South Saskatchewan River to the present Alberta-Saskatchewan border (called Kaayihkimikoyi), east past the Cypress Hills. They called their tribal territory Niitsitpiis-stahkoii (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ)- "Original People
s Land." To the east, the Innu and Naskapi called their territory Nitassinan – "Our Land." They had adopted the use of the horse from other Plains tribes, probably by the early eighteenth century, which gave them expanded range and mobility, as well as advantages in hunting.
The basic social unit of the Niitsitapi above the family was the band, varying from about 10 to 30 lodges, about 80 to 241 people. This size group was large enough to defend against attack and to undertake communal hunts, but was also small enough for flexibility. Each band consisted of a respected leader , possibly his brothers and parents, and others who were not related. Since the band was defined by place of residence, rather than by kinship, a person was free to leave one band and join another, which tended to ameliorate leadership disputes. As well, should a band fall upon hard times, its members could split up and join other bands. In practice, bands were constantly forming and breaking up. The system maximized flexibility and was an ideal organization for a hunting people on the northwestern Great Plains.
During the summer, the people assembled for nation gatherings. In these large assemblies, warrior societies played an important role for the men. Membership into these societies was based on brave acts and deeds.
For almost half the year in the long northern winter, the Niitsitapi lived in their winter camps along a wooded river valley. They were located perhaps a day's march apart, not moving camp unless food for the people and horses, or firewood became depleted. Where there was adequate wood and game resources, some bands would camp together. During this part of the year, buffalo also wintered in wooded areas, where they were partially sheltered from storms and snow. They were easier prey as their movements were hampered. In spring the buffalo moved out onto the grasslands to forage on new spring growth. The Blackfoot did not follow immediately, for fear of late blizzards. As dried food or game became depleted, the bands would split up and begin to hunt the buffalo.
In midsummer, when the chokecherries ripened, the people regrouped for their major ceremony, the Okan (Sun Dance). This was the only time of year when the four nations would assemble. The gathering reinforced the bonds among the various groups and linked individuals with the nations. Communal buffalo hunts provided food for the people, as well as offerings of the bulls' tongues (a delicacy) for the ceremonies. These ceremonies are sacred to the people. After the Okan, the people again separated to follow the buffalo. They used the buffalo hides to make their dwellings and temporary tipis.
In the fall, the people would gradually shift to their wintering areas. The men would prepare the buffalo jumps and pounds for capturing or driving the bison for hunting. Several groups of people might join together at particularly good sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. As the buffalo were naturally driven into the area by the gradual late summer drying off of the open grasslands, the Blackfoot would carry out great communal buffalo kills.
The women processed the buffalo, preparing dried meat, and combining it for nutrition and flavor with dried fruits into pemmican, to last them through winter and other times when hunting was poor. At the end of the fall, the Blackfoot would move to their winter camps. The women worked the buffalo and other game skins for clothing, as well as to reinforce their dwellings; other elements were used to make warm fur robes, leggings, cords and other needed items. Animal sinews were used to tie arrow points and lances to throwing sticks, or for bridles for horses.
The Niitsitapi maintained this traditional way of life based on hunting bison, until the near extirpation of the bison by 1881 forced them to adapt their ways of life in response to the encroachment of the European settlers and their descendants. In the United States, they were restricted to land assigned in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Nearly three decades later, they were given a distinct reservation in the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty of 1887. In 1877, the Canadian Niitsitapi signed Treaty 7 and settled on reserves in southern Alberta.
This began a period of great struggle and economic hardship; the Niitsitapi had to try to adapt to a completely new way of life. They suffered a high rate of fatalities when exposed to Eurasian diseases, for which they had no natural immunity.
Eventually, they established a viable economy based on farming, ranching, and light industry. Their population has increased to about 16,000 in Canada and 15,000 in the U.S. today. With their new economic stability, the Niitsitapi have been free to adapt their culture and traditions to their new circumstances, renewing their connection to their ancient roots.
Early history
The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Originally, only one of the Niitsitapi tribes was called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.
Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west.
When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains.
The Plains had covered approximately with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial."
Importance and uses of bison
The Niitsitapi main source of food on the plains was the American bison (buffalo), the largest mammal in North America, standing about tall and weighing up to . Before the introduction of horses, the Niitsitapi needed other ways to get in range. The buffalo jump was one of the most common ways. The hunters would round up the buffalo into V-shaped pens, and drive them over a cliff (they hunted pronghorn antelopes in the same way). Afterwards the hunters would go to the bottom and take as much meat as they could carry back to camp. They also used camouflage for hunting. The hunters would take buffalo skins from previous hunting trips and drape them over their bodies to blend in and mask their scent. By subtle moves, the hunters could get close to the herd. When close enough, the hunters would attack with arrows or spears to kill wounded animals.
The people used virtually all parts of the body and skin. The women prepared the meat for food: by boiling, roasting or drying for jerky. This processed it to last a long time without spoiling, and they depended on bison meat to get through the winters. The winters were long, harsh, and cold due to the lack of trees in the Plains, so people stockpiled meat in summer. As a ritual, hunters often ate the bison heart minutes after the kill. The women tanned and prepared the skins to cover the tepees. These were made of log poles, with the skins draped over it. The tepee remained warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and was a great shield against the wind.
The women also made clothing from the skins, such as robes and moccasins, and made soap from the fat. Both men and women made utensils, sewing needles and tools from the bones, using tendon for fastening and binding. The stomach and bladder were cleaned and prepared for use for storing liquids. Dried bison dung was fuel for the fires. The Niitsitapi considered the animal sacred and integral to their lives.
Discovery and uses of horses
Up until around 1730, the Blackfoot traveled by foot and used dogs to carry and pull some of their goods. They had not seen horses in their previous lands, but were introduced to them on the Plains, as other tribes, such as the Shoshone, had already adopted their use. They saw the advantages of horses and wanted some. The Blackfoot called the horses ponokamita (elk dogs). The horses could carry much more weight than dogs and moved at a greater speed. They could be ridden for hunting and travel.
Horses revolutionised life on the Great Plains and soon came to be regarded as a measure of wealth. Warriors regularly raided other tribes for their best horses. Horses were generally used as universal standards of barter. Medicine men were paid for cures and healing with horses. Those who designed shields or war bonnets were also paid in horses. The men gave horses to those who were owed gifts as well as to the needy. An individual's wealth rose with the number of horses accumulated, but a man did not keep an abundance of them. The individual's prestige and status was judged by the number of horses that he could give away. For the Indians who lived on the Plains, the principal value of property was to share it with others.
After having driven the hostile Shoshone and Arapaho from the Northwestern Plains, the Niitsitapi began in 1800 a long phase of keen competition in the fur trade with their former Cree allies, which often escalated militarily. In addition both groups had adapted to using horses about 1730, so by mid-century an adequate supply of horses became a question of survival. Horse theft was at this stage not only a proof of courage, but often a desperate contribution to survival, for many ethnic groups competed for hunting in the grasslands.
The Cree and Assiniboine continued horse raiding against the Gros Ventre (in Cree: Pawistiko Iyiniwak – "Rapids People" – "People of the Rapids"), allies of the Niitsitapi. The Gros Ventres were also known as Niya Wati Inew, Naywattamee ("They Live in Holes People"), because their tribal lands were along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of North and South Saskatchewan River). They had to withstand attacks of enemies with guns. In retaliation for Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) supplying their enemies with weapons, the Gros Ventre attacked and burned in 1793 South Branch House of the HBC on the South Saskatchewan River near the present village of St. Louis, Saskatchewan. Then, the tribe moved southward to the Milk River in Montana and allied themselves with the Blackfoot. The area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war fought between these two tribal groups) was the limit of the now warring tribal alliances.
Enemies and warrior culture
Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him. Warriors would strive to perform various acts of bravery called counting coup, in order to move up in social rank. The coups in order of importance were: taking a gun from a living enemy and or touching him directly; capturing lances, and bows; scalping an enemy; killing an enemy; freeing a tied horse from in front of an enemy lodge; leading a war party; scouting for a war party; stealing headdresses, shields, pipes (sacred ceremonial pipes); and driving a herd of stolen horses back to camp.
The Niitsitapi were enemies of the Crow, Cheyenne (kiihtsipimiitapi – ″Pinto People″), and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota) (called pinaapisinaa – "East Cree") on the Great Plains; and the Shoshone, Flathead, Kalispel, Kootenai (called kotonáá'wa) and Nez Perce (called komonóítapiikoan) in the mountain country to their west and southwest. Their most mighty and most dangerous enemy, however, were the political/military/trading alliance of the Iron Confederacy or Nehiyaw-Pwat (in Plains Cree: Nehiyaw – 'Cree' and Pwat or Pwat-sak – 'Sioux, i.e. Assiniboine') – named after the dominating Plains Cree (called Asinaa) and Assiniboine (called Niitsísinaa – "Original Cree"). These included the Stoney (called Saahsáísso'kitaki or Sahsi-sokitaki – ″Sarcee trying to cut″), Saulteaux (or Plains Ojibwe), and Métis to the north, east and southeast.
With the expansion of the Nehiyaw-Pwat to the north, west and southwest, they integrated larger groups of Iroquois, Chipewyan, Danezaa (Dunneza – 'The real (prototypical) people'), Ktunaxa, Flathead, and later Gros Ventre (called atsíína – "Gut People" or "like a Cree"), in their local groups. Loosely allied with the Nehiyaw-Pwat, but politically independent, were neighboring tribes like the Ktunaxa, Secwepemc and in particular the arch enemy of the Blackfoot, the Crow, or Indian trading partners like the Nez Perce and Flathead.
The Shoshone acquired horses much sooner than the Blackfoot and soon occupied much of present-day Alberta, most of Montana, and parts of Wyoming, and raided the Blackfoot frequently. Once the Piegan gained access to horses of their own and guns, obtained from the HBC via the Cree and Assiniboine, the situation changed. By 1787 David Thompson reports that the Blackfoot had completely conquered most of Shoshone territory, and frequently captured Shoshone women and children and forcibly assimilated them into Blackfoot society, further increasing their advantages over the Shoshone. Thompson reports that Blackfoot territory in 1787 was from the North Saskatchewan River in the north to the Missouri River in the South, and from Rocky Mountains in the west out to a distance of to the east.
Between 1790 and 1850, the Nehiyaw-Pwat were at the height of their power; they could successfully defend their territories against the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota) and the Niitsitapi Confederacy. During the so-called Buffalo Wars (about 1850 – 1870), they penetrated further and further into the territory from the Niitsitapi Confederacy in search for the buffalo, so that the Piegan were forced to give way in the region of the Missouri River (in Cree: Pikano Sipi – "Muddy River", "Muddy, turbid River"), the Kainai withdrew to the Bow River and Belly River; only the Siksika could hold their tribal lands along the Red Deer River. Around 1870, the alliance between the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventre broke, and the latter began to look to their former enemies, the Southern Assiniboine (or Plains Assiniboine), for protection.
First contact with Europeans and the fur trade
Anthony Henday of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) met a large Blackfoot group in 1754 in what is now Alberta. The Blackfoot had established dealings with traders connected to the Canadian and English fur trade before meeting the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. Lewis and Clark and their men had embarked on mapping the Louisiana Territory and upper Missouri River for the United States government.
On their return trip from the Pacific Coast, Lewis and three of his men encountered a group of young Blackfoot warriors with a large herd of horses, and it was clear to Meriwether Lewis that they were not far from much larger groups of warriors. Lewis explained to them that the United States government wanted peace with all Indian nations, and that the US leaders had successfully formed alliances with other Indian nations. The group camped together that night, and at dawn there was a scuffle as it was discovered that the Blackfoot were trying to steal guns and run off with their horses while the Americans slept. In the ensuing struggle, one warrior was fatally stabbed and another shot by Lewis and presumed killed.
In subsequent years, American mountain men trapping in Blackfoot country generally encountered hostility. When John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, returned to Blackfoot country soon after, he barely escaped with his life. In 1809, Colter and his companion were trapping on the Jefferson River by canoe when they were surrounded by hundreds of Blackfoot warriors on horseback on both sides of the river bank. Colter's companion, John Potts, did not surrender and was killed. Colter was stripped of his clothes and forced to run for his life, after being given a head start (famously known in the annals of the West as "Colter's Run.") He eventually escaped by reaching a river five miles away and diving under either an island of driftwood or a beaver dam, where he remained concealed until after nightfall. He trekked another 300 miles to a fort.
In the context of shifting tribal politics due to the spread of horses and guns, the Niitsitapi initially tried to increase their trade with the HBC traders in Rupert's Land whilst blocking access to the HBC by neighboring peoples to the West. But the HBC trade eventually reached into what is now inland British Columbia.
By the late 1820s, [this prompted] the Niitsitapiksi, and in particular the Piikani, whose territory was rich in beaver, [to] temporarily put aside cultural prohibitions and environmental constraints to trap enormous numbers of these animals and, in turn, receive greater quantities of trade items.
The HBC encouraged Niitsitapiksi to trade by setting up posts on the North Saskatchewan River, on the northern boundary of their territory. In the 1830s the Rocky Mountain region and the wider Saskatchewan District were the HBC's most profitable, and Rocky Mountain House was the HBC's busiest post. It was primarily used by the Piikani. Other Niitsitapiksi nations traded more in pemmican and buffalo skins than beaver, and visited other posts such as Fort Edmonton.
Meanwhile, in 1822 the American Fur Company entered the Upper Missouri region from the south for the first time, without Niitsitapiksi permission. This led to tensions and conflict until 1830, when peaceful trade was established. This was followed by the opening of Fort Piegan as the first American trading post in Niitsitapi territory in 1831, joined by Fort MacKenzie in 1833. The Americans offered better terms of trade and were more interested in buffalo skins than the HBC, which brought them more trade from the Niitsitapi. The HBC responded by building Bow Fort (Peigan Post) on the Bow River in 1832, but it was not a success.
In 1833, German explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss painter Karl Bodmer spent months with the Niitsitapi to get a sense of their culture. Bodmer portrayed their society in paintings and drawings.
Contact with the Europeans caused a spread of infectious diseases to the Niitsitapi, mostly cholera and smallpox. In one instance in 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat, the St. Peter's, was headed to Fort Union and several passengers contracted smallpox on the way. They continued to send a smaller vessel with supplies farther up the river to posts among the Niitsitapi. The Niitsitapi contracted the disease and eventually 6,000 died, marking an end to their dominance among tribes over the Plains. The Hudson's Bay Company did not require or help their employees get vaccinated; the English doctor Edward Jenner had developed a technique 41 years before but its use was not yet widespread.
Indian Wars
Like many other Great Plains Indian nations, the Niitsitapi often had hostile relationships with white settlers. Despite the hostilities, the Blackfoot stayed largely out of the Great Plains Indian Wars, neither fighting against nor scouting for the United States army. One of their friendly bands, however, was attacked by mistake and nearly destroyed by the US Army in the Marias Massacre on 23 January 1870, undertaken as an action to suppress violence against settlers. A friendly relationship with the North-West Mounted Police and learning of the brutality of the Marias Massacre discouraged the Blackfoot from engaging in wars against Canada and the United States.
When the Lakota, together with their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, were fighting the United States Army, they sent runners into Blackfoot territory, urging them to join the fight. Crowfoot, one of the most influential Blackfoot chiefs, dismissed the Lakota messengers. He threatened to ally with the NWMP to fight them if they came north into Blackfoot country again. News of Crowfoot's loyalty reached Ottawa and from there London; Queen Victoria praised Crowfoot and the Blackfoot for their loyalty. Despite his threats, Crowfoot later met those Lakota who had fled with Sitting Bull into Canada after defeating George Armstrong Custer and his battalion at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Crowfoot considered the Lakota then to be refugees and was sympathetic to their strife, but retained his anti-war stance. Sitting Bull and Crowfoot fostered peace between the two nations by a ceremonial offering of tobacco, ending hostilities between them. Sitting Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him.
The Blackfoot also chose to stay out of the North- West Rebellion, led by the famous Métis leader Louis Riel. Louis Riel and his men added to the already unsettled conditions facing the Blackfoot by camping near them. They tried to spread discontent with the government and gain a powerful ally. The North-West Rebellion was made up mostly of Métis, Assiniboine (Nakota) and Plains Cree, who all fought against European encroachment and destruction of Bison herds. The Plains Cree were one of the Blackfoot's most hated enemies; however, the two nations made peace when Crowfoot adopted Poundmaker, an influential Cree chief and great peacemaker, as his son. Although he refused to fight, Crowfoot had sympathy for those with the rebellion, especially the Cree led by such notable chiefs as Poundmaker, Big Bear, Wandering Spirit and Fine-Day.
When news of continued Blackfoot neutrality reached Ottawa, Lord Lansdowne, the governor general, expressed his thanks to Crowfoot again on behalf of the Queen back in London. The cabinet of John A. Macdonald (the current Prime Minister of Canada at the time) gave Crowfoot a round of applause.
Hardships of the Niitsitapi
During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were hired by the U.S government to kill bison so the Blackfeet would remain in their reservation. Settlers were also encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi were forced to depend on the United States government for food supplies. In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.
In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it, or supplies failed to arrive at all. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies, and outlaws on both sides stirred up trouble.
Events were catalyzed by Owl Child, a young Piegan warrior who stole a herd of horses in 1867 from an American trader named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke retaliated by tracking Owl Child down and severely beating him in full view of Owl Child's camp, and humiliating him. According to Piegan oral history, Clarke had also raped Owl Child's wife. But, Clarke was long married to Coth-co-co-na, a Piegan woman who was Owl Child's cousin. The raped woman gave birth to a child as a result of the rape, which oral history said was stillborn or killed by band elders. Two years after the beating, in 1869 Owl Child and some associates killed Clarke at his ranch after dinner, and severely wounded his son Horace. Public outcry from news of the event led to General Philip Sheridan to dispatch a band of cavalry, led by Major Eugene Baker, to find Owl Child and his camp and punish them.
On 23 January 1870, a camp of Piegan Indians were spotted by army scouts and reported to the dispatched cavalry, but it was mistakenly identified as a hostile band. Around 200 soldiers surrounded the camp the following morning and prepared for an ambush. Before the command to fire, the chief Heavy Runner was alerted to soldiers on the snowy bluffs above the encampment. He walked toward them, carrying his safe-conduct paper. Heavy Runner and his band of Piegans shared peace between American settlers and troops at the time of the event. Heavy Runner was shot and killed by army scout Joe Cobell, whose wife was part of the camp of the hostile Mountain Chief, further along the river, from whom he wanted to divert attention. Fellow scout Joe Kipp had realized the error and tried to signal the troops. He was threatened by the cavalry for reporting that the people they attacked were friendly.
Following the death of Heavy Runner, the soldiers attacked the camp. According to their count, they killed 173 Piegan and suffered just one U.S Army soldier casualty, who fell off his horse and broke his leg, dying of complications. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, as most of the younger men were out hunting. The Army took 140 Piegan prisoner and then released them. With their camp and belongings destroyed, they suffered terribly from exposure, making their way as refugees to Fort Benton.
As reports of the massacre gradually were learned in the east, members of the United States congress and press were outraged. General William Sherman reported that most of the killed were warriors under Mountain Chief. An official investigation never occurred, and no official monument marks the spot of the massacre. Compared to events such as the massacres at Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, the Marias Massacre remains largely unknown. But, it confirmed President Ulysses S. Grant in his decision not to allow the Army to take over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as it had been suggesting to combat corruption among Indian agents. Grant chose to appoint numerous Quakers to those positions as he pursued a peace policy with Native Americans.
The Cree and Assiniboine also suffered from the dwindling herds of the buffalo. By 1850 herds were found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore, in 1870 various Nehiyaw-Pwat bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up (called Akaisakoyi – "Many Dead"). But they were defeated in the so-called Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, called Assini-etomochi – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.
The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.
The winter of 1883–1884 became known as "Starvation Winter" because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.
In efforts to assimilate the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing. In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development. The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.
In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act, passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures. In 1935, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.
Culture
Electing a leader
Family was highly valued by the Blackfoot Indians. For traveling, they also split into bands of 20-30 people, but would come together for times of celebration. They valued leadership skills and chose the chiefs who would run their settlements wisely. During times of peace, the people would elect a peace chief, meaning someone who could lead the people and improve relations with other tribes. The title of war chief could not be gained through election and needed to be earned by successfully performing various acts of bravery including touching a living enemy. Blackfoot bands often had minor chiefs in addition to an appointed head chief.
Societies
Within the Blackfoot nation, there were different societies to which people belonged, each of which had functions for the tribe. Young people were invited into societies after proving themselves by recognized passages and rituals. For instance, young men had to perform a vision quest, begun by a spiritual cleansing in a sweat lodge. They went out from the camp alone for four days of fasting and praying. Their main goal was to see a vision that would explain their future. After having the vision, a youth returned to the village ready to join society.
In a warrior society, the men had to be prepared for battle. Again, the warriors would prepare by spiritual cleansing, then paint themselves symbolically; they often painted their horses for war as well. Leaders of the warrior society carried spears or lances called a coup stick, which was decorated with feathers, skin, and other tokens. They won prestige by "counting coup", tapping the enemy with the stick and getting away.
Members of the religious society protected sacred Blackfoot items and conducted religious ceremonies. They blessed the warriors before battle. Their major ceremony was the Sun Dance, or Medicine Lodge Ceremony. By engaging in the Sun Dance, their prayers would be carried up to the Creator, who would bless them with well-being and abundance of buffalo.
Women's societies also had important responsibilities for the communal tribe. They designed refined quillwork on clothing and ceremonial shields, helped prepare for battle, prepared skins and cloth to make clothing, cared for the children and taught them tribal ways, skinned and tanned the leathers used for clothing and other purposes, prepared fresh and dried foods, and performed ceremonies to help hunters in their journeys.
Ethnobotany
Sage and sweet grass are both used by Blackfoot and other Plains tribes for ceremonial purposes and are considered sacred plants. Sage and sweet grass are burned with the user inhaling and covering themselves in the smoke in a process known widely as smudging. Sage is said to rid the body of negative emotions such as anger. Sweet grass is said to draw in positive energy. Both are used for purification purposes. The pleasant and natural odor of the burning grass is said to attract spirits. Sweet grass is prepared for ceremony by braiding the stems together then drying them before burning.
Sweet grass is also often present and burned in pipe-smoking mixtures alongside bearberry and red willow plants. The smoke from the pipe is said to carry the users prayers up to the creator with the rising smoke. Large medicine bags often decorated with ornate beaded designs were used by medicine men to carry sage, sweet grass, and other important plants. Blackfoot also used sweet grass smoke, or sachets of sweet grass in their clothing, as an effective insect repellent.
They apply a poultice of chewed roots Asclepias viridiflora to swellings, to "diarrhea rash", to rashes, to the sore gums of nursing infants and to sore eyes. They also chew the root of Asclepias viridiflora for sore throats, and use the plant to spice soups, and use the fresh roots for food. They make use of Viola adunca, applying an infusion of the roots and leaves to sore and swollen joints, giving an infusion of the leaves and roots to asthmatic children, and using the plant to dye their arrows blue. They put Carex in moccasins to protect the feet during winter horse stealing expeditions.
Marriage
In the Blackfoot culture, men were responsible for choosing their marriage partners, but women had the choice to accept them or not. The male had to show the woman's father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and approved of the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothing and were considered married. The married couple would reside in their own tipi or with the husband's family. Although the man was permitted more than one wife, typically he only chose one. In cases of more than one wife, quite often the male would choose a sister of the wife, believing that sisters would not argue as much as total strangers.
Responsibilities and clothing
In a typical Blackfoot family, the father would go out and hunt and bring back supplies that the family might need. The mother would stay close to home and watch over the children while the father was out. The children were taught basic survival skills and culture as they grew up. It was generally said that both boys and girls learned to ride horses early. Boys would usually play with toy bows and arrows until they were old enough to learn how to hunt.
They would also play a popular game called shinny, which later became known as ice hockey. They used a long curved wooden stick to knock a ball, made of baked clay covered with buckskin, over a goal line. Girls were given a doll to play with, which also doubled as a learning tool because it was fashioned with typical tribal clothing and designs and also taught the young women how to care for a child. As they grew older, more responsibilities were placed upon their shoulders. The girls were then taught to cook, prepare hides for leather, and gather wild plants and berries. The boys were held accountable for going out with their father to prepare food by means of hunting.
Typically clothing was made primarily of softened and tanned antelope and deer hides. The women would make and decorate the clothes for everyone in the tribe. Men wore moccasins, long leggings that went up to their hips, a loincloth, and a belt. Occasionally they would wear shirts but generally they would wrap buffalo robes around their shoulders. The distinguished men of bravery would wear a necklace made of grizzly bear claws.
Boys dressed much like the older males, wearing leggings, loincloths, moccasins, and occasionally an undecorated shirt. They kept warm by wearing a buffalo robe over their shoulders or over their heads if it became cold. Women and girls wore dresses made from two or three deerskins. The women wore decorative earrings and bracelets made from sea shells, obtained through trade with distant tribes, or different types of metal. They would sometimes wear beads in their hair or paint the part in their hair red, which signified that they were old enough to bear children.
Headdresses
Similar to other Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains, the Blackfoot developed a variety of different headdresses that incorporated elements of creatures important to them; these served different purposes and symbolized different associations. The typical war bonnet was made from eagle feathers, because the bird was considered powerful. It was worn by prestigious warriors and chiefs (including war-chiefs) of the Blackfoot. The straight-up headdress is a uniquely Blackfoot headdress that, like the war bonnet, is made with eagle feathers. The feathers on the straight-up headdress point directly straight upwards from the rim (hence the name). Often a red plume is attached to the front of the headdress; it also points straight upward.
The split-horn headdress was very popular among Northern Plains Indians, particularly those nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Many warrior societies, including the Horn Society of the Blackfoot, wore the split-horn headdress. The split-horn headdress was made from a single bison horn, split in two and reshaped as slimmer versions of a full-sized bison horn, and polished. The horns were attached to a beaded, rimmed felt hat. Furs from weasels (taken when carrying heavy winter coats) were attached to the top of the headdress, and dangled from the sides. The side furs were often finished with bead work where attached to the headdress. A similar headdress, called the antelope horn headdress, was made in a similar fashion using the horn or horns from a pronghorn antelope.
Blackfoot men, particularly warriors, sometimes wore a roach made from porcupine hair. The hairs of the porcupine are most often dyed red. Eagle and other bird feathers were occasionally attached to the roach.
Buffalo scalps, often with horns still attached and often with a beaded rim, were also worn. Fur "turbans" made from soft animal fur (most often otter) were also popular. Buffalo scalps and fur turbans were worn in the winter to protect the head from the cold.
The Blackfoot have continued to wear traditional headdresses at special ceremonies. They are worn mostly by elected chiefs, members of various traditional societies (including the Horn, Crazy Dog and Motokik societies), powwow dancers and spiritual leaders.
Sun and the Moon
One of the most famous traditions held by the Blackfoot is their story of sun and the moon. It starts with a family of a man, wife, and two sons, who live off berries and other food they can gather, as they have no bows and arrows, or other tools. The man had a dream: he was told by the Creator Napi, Napiu, or Napioa (depending on the band) to get a large spider web and put it on the trail where the animals roamed, and they would get caught up and could be easily killed with the stone axe he had. The man had done so and saw that it was true. One day, he came home from bringing in some fresh meat from the trail and discovered his wife to be applying perfume on herself. He thought that she must have another lover since she never did this before. He then told his wife that he was going to move a web and asked if she could bring in the meat and wood he had left outside from a previous hunt. She had reluctantly gone out and passed over a hill. The wife looked back three times and saw her husband in the same place she had left him, so she continued on to retrieve the meat. The father then asked his children if they went with their mother to find wood, but they never had. However they knew the location in which she retrieved it from. The man set out and found the timber along with a den of rattlesnakes, one of which was his wife's lover. He set the timber on fire and killed the snakes. He knew by doing this that his wife would become enraged, so the man returned home. He told the children to flee and gave them a stick, stone, and moss to use if their mother chased after them. He remained at the house and put a web over his front door. The wife tried to get in but became stuck and had her leg cut off. She then put her head through and he cut that off also. While the body followed the husband to the creek, the head followed the children. The oldest boy saw the head behind them and threw the stick. The stick turned into a great forest. The head made it through, so the younger brother instructed the elder to throw the stone. He did so, and where the stone landed a huge mountain popped up. It spanned from big water (ocean) to big water and the head was forced to go through it, not around. The head met a group of rams and said to them she would marry their chief if they butted their way through the mountain. The chief agreed and they butted until their horns were worn down, but this still was not through. She then asked the ants if they could burrow through the mountain with the same stipulations, it was agreed and they get her the rest of the way through. The children were far ahead, but eventually saw the head rolling behind them. The boys wet the moss and wrung it out behind themselves. They were then in a different land. The country they had just left was now surrounded by water. The head rolled into the water and drowned. They decided to build a raft and head back. Once they returned to their land, they discovered that it was occupied by the crows and the snakes so they decided to split up.
One brother was simple and went north to discover what he could and make people. The other was smart and went south to make white people and taught them valuable skills. The simple brother created the Blackfeet. He became known as Left Hand, and later by the Blackfeet as Old Man. The woman still chases the man: she is the moon and he is the sun, and if she ever catches him, it will always be night.
Blackfoot creation story
The creation myth is part of the oral history of the Blackfoot nation. It was said that in the beginning, Napio floated on a log with four animals. The animals were: Mameo (fish), Matcekups (frog), Maniskeo (lizard), and Sopeo (turtle). Napio sent all of them into the deep water, one after another. The first three had gone down and returned with nothing. The turtle went down and retrieved mud from the bottom and gave it to Napio.
He took the mud and rolled it in his hand and created the earth. He let it roll out of his hand and over time, it has grown to what it is today. After he created the earth, he created women first, followed by men. He had them living separately from one another. The men were shy and afraid, but Napio said to them to not fear and take one as their wife. They had done as he asked, and Napio continued to create the buffalo and bows and arrows for the people so that they could hunt them.
People
Ethnic divisions
The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the Piegan, also spelled Peigan or Pikuni. Their name derives from the Blackfoot term Piikáni. They are divided into the Piikani Nation (Aapátohsipikáni ("the companion up there") or simply Piikáni) in present-day Alberta, and the South Peigan or Piegan Blackfeet (Aamsskáápipikani) in Montana, United States. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans") of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan.
The modern Kainai Nation is named for the Blackfoot-language term Káínaa, meaning "Many Chief people". These were historically also called the "Blood," from a Plains Cree name for the Kainai: Miko-Ew, meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe.
The Siksika Nation's name derives from Siksikáwa, meaning "Those of like". The Siksika also call themselves Sao-kitapiiksi, meaning "Plains People".
The Sarcee call themselves the Tsu T'ina, meaning "a great number of people." During early years of conflict, the Blackfoot called them Saahsi or Sarsi, "the stubborn ones", in their language. The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the Athabascan or Dené language family, most of whose members are located in the Subarctic of Northern Canada. Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the Beaver (Danezaa) people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had").
The Gros Ventre people call themselves the Haaninin ("white clay people"), also spelled A'aninin. The French called them Gros Ventres ("fat bellies"), misinterpreting a physical sign for waterfall; and the English called them the Fall Indians, related to waterfalls in the mountains. The Blackfoot referred to them as the Piik-siik-sii-naa ("snakes") or Atsina ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity. Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the Arapaho Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming. They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter.
Modern communities
Economy and services
Today, many of the Blackfoot live on reserves in Canada. About 8,500 live on the Montana reservation of . In 1896, the Blackfoot sold a large portion of their land to the United States government, which hoped to find gold or copper deposits. No such mineral deposits were found. In 1910, the land was set aside as Glacier National Park. Some Blackfoot work there and occasional Native American ceremonies are held there.
Unemployment is a challenging problem on the Blackfeet Reservation and on Canadian Blackfoot reserves, because of their isolation from major urban areas. Many people work as farmers, but there are not enough other jobs nearby. To find work, many Blackfoot have relocated from the reservation to towns and cities. Some companies pay the Blackfoot governments to lease use of lands for extracting oil, natural gas, and other resources. The nations have operated such businesses such as the Blackfoot Writing Company, a pen and pencil factory, which opened in 1972, but it closed in the late 1990s. In Canada, the Northern Piegan make traditional craft clothing and moccasins, and the Kainai operate a shopping center and factory.
In 1974, the Blackfoot Community College, a tribal college, opened in Browning, Montana. The school is also the location of the tribal headquarters. As of 1979, the Montana state government requires all public school teachers on or near the reservation to have a background in American Indian studies.
In 1986, the Kainai Nation opened the Red Crow Community College in Stand Off, Alberta. In 1989, the Siksika tribe in Canada completed the construction of a high school to go along with its elementary school.
Traditional culture
The Blackfoot continue many cultural traditions of the past and hope to extend their ancestors' traditions to their children. They want to teach their children the Pikuni language as well as other traditional knowledge. In the early 20th century, a white woman named Frances Densmore helped the Blackfoot record their language. During the 1950s and 1960s, few Blackfoot spoke the Pikuni language. In order to save their language, the Blackfoot Council asked elders who still knew the language to teach it. The elders had agreed and succeeded in reviving the language, so today the children can learn Pikuni at school or at home. In 1994, the Blackfoot Council accepted Pikuni as the official language.
The people have revived the Black Lodge Society, responsible for protecting songs and dances of the Blackfoot. They continue to announce the coming of spring by opening five medicine bundles, one at every sound of thunder during the spring. One of the biggest celebrations is called the North American Indian Days. Lasting four days, it is held during the second week of July in Browning. Lastly, the Sun Dance, which was illegal from the 1890s-1934, has been practiced again for years. While it was illegal, the Blackfoot held it in secret. Since 1934, they have practised it every summer. The event lasts eight days – time filled with prayers, dancing, singing, and offerings to honor the Creator. It provides an opportunity for the Blackfoot to get together and share views and ideas with each other, while celebrating their culture's most sacred ceremonies.
The Blackfeet Nation in Montana have a blue tribal flag. The flag shows a ceremonial lance or coup stick with 29 feathers. The center of the flag contains a ring of 32 white and black eagle feathers. Within the ring is an outline map of the Blackfoot Reservation. Within the map is depicted a warrior's headdress and the words "Blackfeet Nation" and "Pikuni" (the name of the tribe in the Algonquian native tongue of the Blackfoot).
Notable Blackfoot people
Elouise Cobell, banker and activist who led the 20th-century lawsuit that forced the US Government to reform individual Indian trusts
Byron Chief-Moon, performer and choreographer
Crowfoot (ISAPO-MUXIKA – "Crow Indian's Big Foot", also known in French as Pied de Corbeau), Chief of the Big Pipes band (later renamed Moccasin band, a splinter band of the Biters band), Head Chief of the South Siksika, by 1870 one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika or the Blackfoot proper
Aatsista-Mahkan ("Running Rabbit", * about 1833 – d. January 1911), since 1871 Chief of the Biters band (Ai-sik'-stuk-iks) of the Siksika, signed Treaty No.7 in 1877, along with Crowfoot, Old Sun, Red Crow, and other leaders
A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye (Ac ko mok ki, Ak ko mock ki, A'kow-muk-ai – "Feathers", since he took the name Old Swan), since about 1820 Chief of the Old Feathers' band, his personal following was known as the Bad Guns band, consisted of about 400 persons, along with Old Sun and Three Suns (No-okskatos) one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika
Stu-mick-o-súcks ("Buffalo Bull's Back Fat"), Head Chief of the Kainai, had his portrait painted at Fort Union in 1832
Faye HeavyShield, Kainai sculptor and installation artist
Joe Hipp, Heavyweight boxer, the first Native American to compete for the WBA World Heavyweight Title.
Beverly Hungry Wolf, author
Stephen Graham Jones, author
Earl Old Person (Cold Wind or Changing Home), Blackfoot tribal chairman from 1964-2008 and honorary lifetime chief of the Blackfoot
Jerry Potts (1840–1896), (also known as Ky-yo-kosi – "Bear Child"), was a Canadian-American plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai-Scottish descent. He identified as Piegan and became a minor Kainai chief.
Steve Reevis, actor who appeared in Fargo, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Dogmen, Comanche Moon and many other films and TV.
Misty Upham (1982-2014), actress
James Welch (1940–2003), Blackfoot-Gros Ventre author
The Honourable Eugene Creighton, judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.
Gyasi Ross, author, attorney, musician and political activist.
Representation in other media
Hergé's Tintin in America (1932) featured Blackfoot people.
Jimmy P (2013) is a Franco-American film exploring the psychoanalysis of a Blackfoot, Jimmy Picard, in the post-World War II period at a veterans' hospital by a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, George Devereux. The screenplay was adapted from his book about this process, published in 1951.
See also
Blackfeet music
Blackfoot language
List of Native American peoples in the United States
Palliser Region
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Blackfoot homepage
Blackfoot Confederacy
Blackfoot Language and the Blackfoot Indian Tribe
Map of Blackfeet tribal lands
Walter McClintock Glass Lantern Slides Photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, material culture, and ceremonies from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
Blackfoot Digital Library, project of Red Crow Community College and the University of Lethbridge
Blackfoot Anthropological Notes at Dartmouth College Library
Algonquian peoples
Plains tribes
First Nations history
Native American history of Montana
First Nations in Alberta
Native American tribes in Montana
Native American tribes in Wyoming | true | [
"J. D. Blackfoot is a rock musician from Ohio, United states who has been recording since the early 1970s. Along with a couple of hit singles, he won an award for his album The Song of Crazy Horse.\n\nBackground\nThe name J. D. Blackfoot applies to both the singer and the group. Blackfoot was born Benjamin Franklin Van Dervort. Before he made his way in music, he worked in various occupations which included pest extermination, insurance sales and also as a driver. In relation possible confusion about his ethnicity, Blackfoot is not Native American. He is a convert to their plight as a result of discovering it in books while in his 20s.\n\nCareer\n\n1960s to 1990s\nEarly in his career Blackfoot was going by the name Benny Van and was fronting The Ebb Tides, an Ohio band formed in 1963. For a period of time, around 1967 to 1968, the band became known as Tree. In 1969, he reformed the band around his name and the single \"Who's Nuts Alfred\" was released. The single was backed with \"Epitaph For A Head\" and had its release in the US in 1969 on Philips 40625.\n\nIn 1970, his album The Ultimate Prophecy was released on Mercury SR 61288. It contained the songs \"One Time Woman\" and \"Angel\". It was also released in twenty countries.\n\nWith his album behind him and a couple of hits, he headed to New Zealand. In 1972, he arrived there with his wife. Whilst employed by Pye, he got the director Tim Murdoch to allow him to record an album The Song of Crazy Horse. The title track, which ran for 18 minutes, was recorded at Stebbing Studio in Auckland. Musicians who played on the album were Frank Gibson Jr. on drums, Billy Kristian on bass, Mike Walker on piano, Bob Jackson on guitar and Jimmy Sloggett on saxophone. Tony Baker produced the album as well as handling the conducting chores. Producer Baker also contributed saxophone and organ. The album became the Album of the Year, picking up 1974 RATA award.\n\n2000s\nIn the early 2000s Blackfoot returned to New Zealand and while there he recorded the Co-Dependent Dysfunctional You double album. Around the mid-2000s he was still performing throughout the Midwest.\n\nIn 2007 The Ultimate Prophecy was re-released.\n\nIn October, 2016 he was inducted into the “St. Louis Classic Rock Hall of Fame. Even though he was from Columbus, Ohio, the category he was inducted in was the \"Outside Influence\" category for those who have had a great influence on the St. Louis music market. After 50 years of performing, he was calling it quits for performing live. The JD Blackfoot Farewell Concert was announced for May 20, 2017 at the Touhill Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall. Also in 2017, the documentary Never Say Goodbye was released. Along with Rusty Young and Jesse Colin Young, J. D. Blackfoot appeared in it.\n\nDiscography\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Website\n AllMusic: J.D. Blackfoot\n Buckeye Beat: J. D. Blackfoot (band)\n Discogs: J.D. Blackfoot\n\nPhilips Records artists\nMercury Records artists",
"The Blackfoot or Blackfeet are groups of people from the Blackfoot language-speaking nations who constitute the Blackfoot Confederacy that spans Canada and the United States.\n\nBlackfoot or Blackfeet may also refer to:\n\nPlaces\n\nCanada\n Blackfoot, Alberta\n Blackfoot, British Columbia\n Blackfoot diatreme, a volcanic pipe in British Columbia, Canada\n\nUnited States\n Blackfoot, Idaho\n Blackfoot, Montana\n Blackfoot, Texas\n Blackfoot Creek, a stream in South Dakota\n Blackfoot Glacier, in Montana\n Blackfoot Mountain, in Montana\n Blackfoot Mountains, in Idaho\n Blackfoot River (disambiguation)\n\nOther uses\n Blackfoot language, an Algonquian language spoken by the Blackfoot people\n Sihasapa, or Blackfoot Sioux, an unrelated people\n Blackfoot (band), an American rock band\n Black foot disease of grapevine, a plant disease\n Blackfoot, a fictional character in the Warriors novel series\n J. Blackfoot (1946–2011), American soul singer\n J. D. Blackfoot (born 1944), an American rock musician\n Melampodium, or blackfoots, a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family\n Pied-Noir ('Black Feet'), people of French or European origin born in Algeria during French rule 1830–1962\n Tamiya Blackfoot, a radio-controlled model truck\n\nSee also\n\n Gangrene, a type of tissue death that may change skin black"
] |
[
"Blackfoot Confederacy",
"Early history",
"When is the Blackfoot confederacy started ?",
"Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika.",
"Does any record exist of the Blackfoots' early history ?",
"The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black.",
"How did the Blackfoot early society worked ?",
"Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America,"
] | C_de2f5c0e98744f069aac69b83a73fc48_1 | Where do they think they originate ? | 4 | Where do anthropologists think the Blackfoot confederacy originate ? | Blackfoot Confederacy | The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black. Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west. When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains. The Plains had covered approximately 780,000 square miles (2,000,000 km2) with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial." CANNOTANSWER | One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black. | The Blackfoot Confederacy, Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika ("Blackfoot"), the Kainai or Blood ("Many Chiefs"), and two sections of the Peigan or Piikani ("Splotchy Robe") – the Northern Piikani (Aapátohsipikáni) and the Southern Piikani (Amskapi Piikani or Pikuni). Broader definitions include groups such as the Tsúùtínà (Sarcee) and A'aninin (Gros Ventre) who spoke quite different languages but allied with or joined the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of western North America, specifically the semi-arid shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens. The Blackfoot used these to expand their territory at the expense of neighboring tribes.
Today, three Blackfoot First Nation band governments (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations) reside in the Canadian province of Alberta, while the Blackfeet Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Southern Piikani in Montana, United States. Additionally, the Gros Ventre are members of the federally recognized Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana in the United States and the Tsuutʼina Nation is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada.
Government
The four Blackfoot nations come together to make up what is known as the Blackfoot Confederacy, meaning that they have banded together to help one another. The nations have their own separate governments ruled by a head chief, but regularly come together for religious and social celebrations.
Originally the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy consisted of three peoples ("nation", "tribes", "tribal nations") based on kinship and dialect, but all speaking the common language of Blackfoot, one of the Algonquian languages family. The three were the Piikáni (historically called "Piegan Blackfeet" in English-language sources), the Káínaa (called "Bloods"), and the Siksikáwa ("Blackfoot"). They later allied with the unrelated Tsuu T'ina ("Sarcee"), who became merged into the Confederacy and, (for a time) with the Atsina, or A'aninin (Gros Ventre).
Each of these highly decentralized peoples were divided into many bands, which ranged in size from 10 to 30 lodges, or about 80 to 240 persons. The band was the basic unit of organization for hunting and defence.
The Confederacy occupied a large territory where they hunted and foraged; in the 19th century it was divided by the current Canada–US international border. But during the late nineteenth century, both governments forced the peoples to end their nomadic traditions and settle on "Indian reserves" (Canadian terminology) or "Indian reservations" (US terminology). The South Peigan are the only group who chose to settle in Montana. The other three Blackfoot-speaking peoples and the Sarcee are located in Alberta. Together, the Blackfoot-speakers call themselves the Niitsítapi (the "Original People"). After leaving the Confederacy, the Gros Ventres also settled on a reservation in Montana.
When these peoples were forced to end their nomadic traditions, their social structures changed. Tribal nations, which had formerly been mostly ethnic associations, were institutionalized as governments (referred to as "tribes" in the United States and "bands" or "First Nations" in Canada). The Piegan were divided into the North Peigan in Alberta, and the South Peigan in Montana.
History
The Confederacy had a territory that stretched from the North Saskatchewan River (called Ponoká'sisaahta) along what is now Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, to the Yellowstone River (called Otahkoiitahtayi) of Montana in the United States, and from the Rocky Mountains (called Miistakistsi) and along the South Saskatchewan River to the present Alberta-Saskatchewan border (called Kaayihkimikoyi), east past the Cypress Hills. They called their tribal territory Niitsitpiis-stahkoii (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ)- "Original People
s Land." To the east, the Innu and Naskapi called their territory Nitassinan – "Our Land." They had adopted the use of the horse from other Plains tribes, probably by the early eighteenth century, which gave them expanded range and mobility, as well as advantages in hunting.
The basic social unit of the Niitsitapi above the family was the band, varying from about 10 to 30 lodges, about 80 to 241 people. This size group was large enough to defend against attack and to undertake communal hunts, but was also small enough for flexibility. Each band consisted of a respected leader , possibly his brothers and parents, and others who were not related. Since the band was defined by place of residence, rather than by kinship, a person was free to leave one band and join another, which tended to ameliorate leadership disputes. As well, should a band fall upon hard times, its members could split up and join other bands. In practice, bands were constantly forming and breaking up. The system maximized flexibility and was an ideal organization for a hunting people on the northwestern Great Plains.
During the summer, the people assembled for nation gatherings. In these large assemblies, warrior societies played an important role for the men. Membership into these societies was based on brave acts and deeds.
For almost half the year in the long northern winter, the Niitsitapi lived in their winter camps along a wooded river valley. They were located perhaps a day's march apart, not moving camp unless food for the people and horses, or firewood became depleted. Where there was adequate wood and game resources, some bands would camp together. During this part of the year, buffalo also wintered in wooded areas, where they were partially sheltered from storms and snow. They were easier prey as their movements were hampered. In spring the buffalo moved out onto the grasslands to forage on new spring growth. The Blackfoot did not follow immediately, for fear of late blizzards. As dried food or game became depleted, the bands would split up and begin to hunt the buffalo.
In midsummer, when the chokecherries ripened, the people regrouped for their major ceremony, the Okan (Sun Dance). This was the only time of year when the four nations would assemble. The gathering reinforced the bonds among the various groups and linked individuals with the nations. Communal buffalo hunts provided food for the people, as well as offerings of the bulls' tongues (a delicacy) for the ceremonies. These ceremonies are sacred to the people. After the Okan, the people again separated to follow the buffalo. They used the buffalo hides to make their dwellings and temporary tipis.
In the fall, the people would gradually shift to their wintering areas. The men would prepare the buffalo jumps and pounds for capturing or driving the bison for hunting. Several groups of people might join together at particularly good sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. As the buffalo were naturally driven into the area by the gradual late summer drying off of the open grasslands, the Blackfoot would carry out great communal buffalo kills.
The women processed the buffalo, preparing dried meat, and combining it for nutrition and flavor with dried fruits into pemmican, to last them through winter and other times when hunting was poor. At the end of the fall, the Blackfoot would move to their winter camps. The women worked the buffalo and other game skins for clothing, as well as to reinforce their dwellings; other elements were used to make warm fur robes, leggings, cords and other needed items. Animal sinews were used to tie arrow points and lances to throwing sticks, or for bridles for horses.
The Niitsitapi maintained this traditional way of life based on hunting bison, until the near extirpation of the bison by 1881 forced them to adapt their ways of life in response to the encroachment of the European settlers and their descendants. In the United States, they were restricted to land assigned in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Nearly three decades later, they were given a distinct reservation in the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty of 1887. In 1877, the Canadian Niitsitapi signed Treaty 7 and settled on reserves in southern Alberta.
This began a period of great struggle and economic hardship; the Niitsitapi had to try to adapt to a completely new way of life. They suffered a high rate of fatalities when exposed to Eurasian diseases, for which they had no natural immunity.
Eventually, they established a viable economy based on farming, ranching, and light industry. Their population has increased to about 16,000 in Canada and 15,000 in the U.S. today. With their new economic stability, the Niitsitapi have been free to adapt their culture and traditions to their new circumstances, renewing their connection to their ancient roots.
Early history
The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Originally, only one of the Niitsitapi tribes was called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.
Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west.
When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains.
The Plains had covered approximately with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial."
Importance and uses of bison
The Niitsitapi main source of food on the plains was the American bison (buffalo), the largest mammal in North America, standing about tall and weighing up to . Before the introduction of horses, the Niitsitapi needed other ways to get in range. The buffalo jump was one of the most common ways. The hunters would round up the buffalo into V-shaped pens, and drive them over a cliff (they hunted pronghorn antelopes in the same way). Afterwards the hunters would go to the bottom and take as much meat as they could carry back to camp. They also used camouflage for hunting. The hunters would take buffalo skins from previous hunting trips and drape them over their bodies to blend in and mask their scent. By subtle moves, the hunters could get close to the herd. When close enough, the hunters would attack with arrows or spears to kill wounded animals.
The people used virtually all parts of the body and skin. The women prepared the meat for food: by boiling, roasting or drying for jerky. This processed it to last a long time without spoiling, and they depended on bison meat to get through the winters. The winters were long, harsh, and cold due to the lack of trees in the Plains, so people stockpiled meat in summer. As a ritual, hunters often ate the bison heart minutes after the kill. The women tanned and prepared the skins to cover the tepees. These were made of log poles, with the skins draped over it. The tepee remained warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and was a great shield against the wind.
The women also made clothing from the skins, such as robes and moccasins, and made soap from the fat. Both men and women made utensils, sewing needles and tools from the bones, using tendon for fastening and binding. The stomach and bladder were cleaned and prepared for use for storing liquids. Dried bison dung was fuel for the fires. The Niitsitapi considered the animal sacred and integral to their lives.
Discovery and uses of horses
Up until around 1730, the Blackfoot traveled by foot and used dogs to carry and pull some of their goods. They had not seen horses in their previous lands, but were introduced to them on the Plains, as other tribes, such as the Shoshone, had already adopted their use. They saw the advantages of horses and wanted some. The Blackfoot called the horses ponokamita (elk dogs). The horses could carry much more weight than dogs and moved at a greater speed. They could be ridden for hunting and travel.
Horses revolutionised life on the Great Plains and soon came to be regarded as a measure of wealth. Warriors regularly raided other tribes for their best horses. Horses were generally used as universal standards of barter. Medicine men were paid for cures and healing with horses. Those who designed shields or war bonnets were also paid in horses. The men gave horses to those who were owed gifts as well as to the needy. An individual's wealth rose with the number of horses accumulated, but a man did not keep an abundance of them. The individual's prestige and status was judged by the number of horses that he could give away. For the Indians who lived on the Plains, the principal value of property was to share it with others.
After having driven the hostile Shoshone and Arapaho from the Northwestern Plains, the Niitsitapi began in 1800 a long phase of keen competition in the fur trade with their former Cree allies, which often escalated militarily. In addition both groups had adapted to using horses about 1730, so by mid-century an adequate supply of horses became a question of survival. Horse theft was at this stage not only a proof of courage, but often a desperate contribution to survival, for many ethnic groups competed for hunting in the grasslands.
The Cree and Assiniboine continued horse raiding against the Gros Ventre (in Cree: Pawistiko Iyiniwak – "Rapids People" – "People of the Rapids"), allies of the Niitsitapi. The Gros Ventres were also known as Niya Wati Inew, Naywattamee ("They Live in Holes People"), because their tribal lands were along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of North and South Saskatchewan River). They had to withstand attacks of enemies with guns. In retaliation for Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) supplying their enemies with weapons, the Gros Ventre attacked and burned in 1793 South Branch House of the HBC on the South Saskatchewan River near the present village of St. Louis, Saskatchewan. Then, the tribe moved southward to the Milk River in Montana and allied themselves with the Blackfoot. The area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war fought between these two tribal groups) was the limit of the now warring tribal alliances.
Enemies and warrior culture
Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him. Warriors would strive to perform various acts of bravery called counting coup, in order to move up in social rank. The coups in order of importance were: taking a gun from a living enemy and or touching him directly; capturing lances, and bows; scalping an enemy; killing an enemy; freeing a tied horse from in front of an enemy lodge; leading a war party; scouting for a war party; stealing headdresses, shields, pipes (sacred ceremonial pipes); and driving a herd of stolen horses back to camp.
The Niitsitapi were enemies of the Crow, Cheyenne (kiihtsipimiitapi – ″Pinto People″), and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota) (called pinaapisinaa – "East Cree") on the Great Plains; and the Shoshone, Flathead, Kalispel, Kootenai (called kotonáá'wa) and Nez Perce (called komonóítapiikoan) in the mountain country to their west and southwest. Their most mighty and most dangerous enemy, however, were the political/military/trading alliance of the Iron Confederacy or Nehiyaw-Pwat (in Plains Cree: Nehiyaw – 'Cree' and Pwat or Pwat-sak – 'Sioux, i.e. Assiniboine') – named after the dominating Plains Cree (called Asinaa) and Assiniboine (called Niitsísinaa – "Original Cree"). These included the Stoney (called Saahsáísso'kitaki or Sahsi-sokitaki – ″Sarcee trying to cut″), Saulteaux (or Plains Ojibwe), and Métis to the north, east and southeast.
With the expansion of the Nehiyaw-Pwat to the north, west and southwest, they integrated larger groups of Iroquois, Chipewyan, Danezaa (Dunneza – 'The real (prototypical) people'), Ktunaxa, Flathead, and later Gros Ventre (called atsíína – "Gut People" or "like a Cree"), in their local groups. Loosely allied with the Nehiyaw-Pwat, but politically independent, were neighboring tribes like the Ktunaxa, Secwepemc and in particular the arch enemy of the Blackfoot, the Crow, or Indian trading partners like the Nez Perce and Flathead.
The Shoshone acquired horses much sooner than the Blackfoot and soon occupied much of present-day Alberta, most of Montana, and parts of Wyoming, and raided the Blackfoot frequently. Once the Piegan gained access to horses of their own and guns, obtained from the HBC via the Cree and Assiniboine, the situation changed. By 1787 David Thompson reports that the Blackfoot had completely conquered most of Shoshone territory, and frequently captured Shoshone women and children and forcibly assimilated them into Blackfoot society, further increasing their advantages over the Shoshone. Thompson reports that Blackfoot territory in 1787 was from the North Saskatchewan River in the north to the Missouri River in the South, and from Rocky Mountains in the west out to a distance of to the east.
Between 1790 and 1850, the Nehiyaw-Pwat were at the height of their power; they could successfully defend their territories against the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota) and the Niitsitapi Confederacy. During the so-called Buffalo Wars (about 1850 – 1870), they penetrated further and further into the territory from the Niitsitapi Confederacy in search for the buffalo, so that the Piegan were forced to give way in the region of the Missouri River (in Cree: Pikano Sipi – "Muddy River", "Muddy, turbid River"), the Kainai withdrew to the Bow River and Belly River; only the Siksika could hold their tribal lands along the Red Deer River. Around 1870, the alliance between the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventre broke, and the latter began to look to their former enemies, the Southern Assiniboine (or Plains Assiniboine), for protection.
First contact with Europeans and the fur trade
Anthony Henday of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) met a large Blackfoot group in 1754 in what is now Alberta. The Blackfoot had established dealings with traders connected to the Canadian and English fur trade before meeting the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. Lewis and Clark and their men had embarked on mapping the Louisiana Territory and upper Missouri River for the United States government.
On their return trip from the Pacific Coast, Lewis and three of his men encountered a group of young Blackfoot warriors with a large herd of horses, and it was clear to Meriwether Lewis that they were not far from much larger groups of warriors. Lewis explained to them that the United States government wanted peace with all Indian nations, and that the US leaders had successfully formed alliances with other Indian nations. The group camped together that night, and at dawn there was a scuffle as it was discovered that the Blackfoot were trying to steal guns and run off with their horses while the Americans slept. In the ensuing struggle, one warrior was fatally stabbed and another shot by Lewis and presumed killed.
In subsequent years, American mountain men trapping in Blackfoot country generally encountered hostility. When John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, returned to Blackfoot country soon after, he barely escaped with his life. In 1809, Colter and his companion were trapping on the Jefferson River by canoe when they were surrounded by hundreds of Blackfoot warriors on horseback on both sides of the river bank. Colter's companion, John Potts, did not surrender and was killed. Colter was stripped of his clothes and forced to run for his life, after being given a head start (famously known in the annals of the West as "Colter's Run.") He eventually escaped by reaching a river five miles away and diving under either an island of driftwood or a beaver dam, where he remained concealed until after nightfall. He trekked another 300 miles to a fort.
In the context of shifting tribal politics due to the spread of horses and guns, the Niitsitapi initially tried to increase their trade with the HBC traders in Rupert's Land whilst blocking access to the HBC by neighboring peoples to the West. But the HBC trade eventually reached into what is now inland British Columbia.
By the late 1820s, [this prompted] the Niitsitapiksi, and in particular the Piikani, whose territory was rich in beaver, [to] temporarily put aside cultural prohibitions and environmental constraints to trap enormous numbers of these animals and, in turn, receive greater quantities of trade items.
The HBC encouraged Niitsitapiksi to trade by setting up posts on the North Saskatchewan River, on the northern boundary of their territory. In the 1830s the Rocky Mountain region and the wider Saskatchewan District were the HBC's most profitable, and Rocky Mountain House was the HBC's busiest post. It was primarily used by the Piikani. Other Niitsitapiksi nations traded more in pemmican and buffalo skins than beaver, and visited other posts such as Fort Edmonton.
Meanwhile, in 1822 the American Fur Company entered the Upper Missouri region from the south for the first time, without Niitsitapiksi permission. This led to tensions and conflict until 1830, when peaceful trade was established. This was followed by the opening of Fort Piegan as the first American trading post in Niitsitapi territory in 1831, joined by Fort MacKenzie in 1833. The Americans offered better terms of trade and were more interested in buffalo skins than the HBC, which brought them more trade from the Niitsitapi. The HBC responded by building Bow Fort (Peigan Post) on the Bow River in 1832, but it was not a success.
In 1833, German explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss painter Karl Bodmer spent months with the Niitsitapi to get a sense of their culture. Bodmer portrayed their society in paintings and drawings.
Contact with the Europeans caused a spread of infectious diseases to the Niitsitapi, mostly cholera and smallpox. In one instance in 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat, the St. Peter's, was headed to Fort Union and several passengers contracted smallpox on the way. They continued to send a smaller vessel with supplies farther up the river to posts among the Niitsitapi. The Niitsitapi contracted the disease and eventually 6,000 died, marking an end to their dominance among tribes over the Plains. The Hudson's Bay Company did not require or help their employees get vaccinated; the English doctor Edward Jenner had developed a technique 41 years before but its use was not yet widespread.
Indian Wars
Like many other Great Plains Indian nations, the Niitsitapi often had hostile relationships with white settlers. Despite the hostilities, the Blackfoot stayed largely out of the Great Plains Indian Wars, neither fighting against nor scouting for the United States army. One of their friendly bands, however, was attacked by mistake and nearly destroyed by the US Army in the Marias Massacre on 23 January 1870, undertaken as an action to suppress violence against settlers. A friendly relationship with the North-West Mounted Police and learning of the brutality of the Marias Massacre discouraged the Blackfoot from engaging in wars against Canada and the United States.
When the Lakota, together with their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, were fighting the United States Army, they sent runners into Blackfoot territory, urging them to join the fight. Crowfoot, one of the most influential Blackfoot chiefs, dismissed the Lakota messengers. He threatened to ally with the NWMP to fight them if they came north into Blackfoot country again. News of Crowfoot's loyalty reached Ottawa and from there London; Queen Victoria praised Crowfoot and the Blackfoot for their loyalty. Despite his threats, Crowfoot later met those Lakota who had fled with Sitting Bull into Canada after defeating George Armstrong Custer and his battalion at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Crowfoot considered the Lakota then to be refugees and was sympathetic to their strife, but retained his anti-war stance. Sitting Bull and Crowfoot fostered peace between the two nations by a ceremonial offering of tobacco, ending hostilities between them. Sitting Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him.
The Blackfoot also chose to stay out of the North- West Rebellion, led by the famous Métis leader Louis Riel. Louis Riel and his men added to the already unsettled conditions facing the Blackfoot by camping near them. They tried to spread discontent with the government and gain a powerful ally. The North-West Rebellion was made up mostly of Métis, Assiniboine (Nakota) and Plains Cree, who all fought against European encroachment and destruction of Bison herds. The Plains Cree were one of the Blackfoot's most hated enemies; however, the two nations made peace when Crowfoot adopted Poundmaker, an influential Cree chief and great peacemaker, as his son. Although he refused to fight, Crowfoot had sympathy for those with the rebellion, especially the Cree led by such notable chiefs as Poundmaker, Big Bear, Wandering Spirit and Fine-Day.
When news of continued Blackfoot neutrality reached Ottawa, Lord Lansdowne, the governor general, expressed his thanks to Crowfoot again on behalf of the Queen back in London. The cabinet of John A. Macdonald (the current Prime Minister of Canada at the time) gave Crowfoot a round of applause.
Hardships of the Niitsitapi
During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were hired by the U.S government to kill bison so the Blackfeet would remain in their reservation. Settlers were also encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi were forced to depend on the United States government for food supplies. In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.
In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it, or supplies failed to arrive at all. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies, and outlaws on both sides stirred up trouble.
Events were catalyzed by Owl Child, a young Piegan warrior who stole a herd of horses in 1867 from an American trader named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke retaliated by tracking Owl Child down and severely beating him in full view of Owl Child's camp, and humiliating him. According to Piegan oral history, Clarke had also raped Owl Child's wife. But, Clarke was long married to Coth-co-co-na, a Piegan woman who was Owl Child's cousin. The raped woman gave birth to a child as a result of the rape, which oral history said was stillborn or killed by band elders. Two years after the beating, in 1869 Owl Child and some associates killed Clarke at his ranch after dinner, and severely wounded his son Horace. Public outcry from news of the event led to General Philip Sheridan to dispatch a band of cavalry, led by Major Eugene Baker, to find Owl Child and his camp and punish them.
On 23 January 1870, a camp of Piegan Indians were spotted by army scouts and reported to the dispatched cavalry, but it was mistakenly identified as a hostile band. Around 200 soldiers surrounded the camp the following morning and prepared for an ambush. Before the command to fire, the chief Heavy Runner was alerted to soldiers on the snowy bluffs above the encampment. He walked toward them, carrying his safe-conduct paper. Heavy Runner and his band of Piegans shared peace between American settlers and troops at the time of the event. Heavy Runner was shot and killed by army scout Joe Cobell, whose wife was part of the camp of the hostile Mountain Chief, further along the river, from whom he wanted to divert attention. Fellow scout Joe Kipp had realized the error and tried to signal the troops. He was threatened by the cavalry for reporting that the people they attacked were friendly.
Following the death of Heavy Runner, the soldiers attacked the camp. According to their count, they killed 173 Piegan and suffered just one U.S Army soldier casualty, who fell off his horse and broke his leg, dying of complications. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, as most of the younger men were out hunting. The Army took 140 Piegan prisoner and then released them. With their camp and belongings destroyed, they suffered terribly from exposure, making their way as refugees to Fort Benton.
As reports of the massacre gradually were learned in the east, members of the United States congress and press were outraged. General William Sherman reported that most of the killed were warriors under Mountain Chief. An official investigation never occurred, and no official monument marks the spot of the massacre. Compared to events such as the massacres at Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, the Marias Massacre remains largely unknown. But, it confirmed President Ulysses S. Grant in his decision not to allow the Army to take over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as it had been suggesting to combat corruption among Indian agents. Grant chose to appoint numerous Quakers to those positions as he pursued a peace policy with Native Americans.
The Cree and Assiniboine also suffered from the dwindling herds of the buffalo. By 1850 herds were found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore, in 1870 various Nehiyaw-Pwat bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up (called Akaisakoyi – "Many Dead"). But they were defeated in the so-called Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, called Assini-etomochi – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.
The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.
The winter of 1883–1884 became known as "Starvation Winter" because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.
In efforts to assimilate the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing. In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development. The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.
In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act, passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures. In 1935, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.
Culture
Electing a leader
Family was highly valued by the Blackfoot Indians. For traveling, they also split into bands of 20-30 people, but would come together for times of celebration. They valued leadership skills and chose the chiefs who would run their settlements wisely. During times of peace, the people would elect a peace chief, meaning someone who could lead the people and improve relations with other tribes. The title of war chief could not be gained through election and needed to be earned by successfully performing various acts of bravery including touching a living enemy. Blackfoot bands often had minor chiefs in addition to an appointed head chief.
Societies
Within the Blackfoot nation, there were different societies to which people belonged, each of which had functions for the tribe. Young people were invited into societies after proving themselves by recognized passages and rituals. For instance, young men had to perform a vision quest, begun by a spiritual cleansing in a sweat lodge. They went out from the camp alone for four days of fasting and praying. Their main goal was to see a vision that would explain their future. After having the vision, a youth returned to the village ready to join society.
In a warrior society, the men had to be prepared for battle. Again, the warriors would prepare by spiritual cleansing, then paint themselves symbolically; they often painted their horses for war as well. Leaders of the warrior society carried spears or lances called a coup stick, which was decorated with feathers, skin, and other tokens. They won prestige by "counting coup", tapping the enemy with the stick and getting away.
Members of the religious society protected sacred Blackfoot items and conducted religious ceremonies. They blessed the warriors before battle. Their major ceremony was the Sun Dance, or Medicine Lodge Ceremony. By engaging in the Sun Dance, their prayers would be carried up to the Creator, who would bless them with well-being and abundance of buffalo.
Women's societies also had important responsibilities for the communal tribe. They designed refined quillwork on clothing and ceremonial shields, helped prepare for battle, prepared skins and cloth to make clothing, cared for the children and taught them tribal ways, skinned and tanned the leathers used for clothing and other purposes, prepared fresh and dried foods, and performed ceremonies to help hunters in their journeys.
Ethnobotany
Sage and sweet grass are both used by Blackfoot and other Plains tribes for ceremonial purposes and are considered sacred plants. Sage and sweet grass are burned with the user inhaling and covering themselves in the smoke in a process known widely as smudging. Sage is said to rid the body of negative emotions such as anger. Sweet grass is said to draw in positive energy. Both are used for purification purposes. The pleasant and natural odor of the burning grass is said to attract spirits. Sweet grass is prepared for ceremony by braiding the stems together then drying them before burning.
Sweet grass is also often present and burned in pipe-smoking mixtures alongside bearberry and red willow plants. The smoke from the pipe is said to carry the users prayers up to the creator with the rising smoke. Large medicine bags often decorated with ornate beaded designs were used by medicine men to carry sage, sweet grass, and other important plants. Blackfoot also used sweet grass smoke, or sachets of sweet grass in their clothing, as an effective insect repellent.
They apply a poultice of chewed roots Asclepias viridiflora to swellings, to "diarrhea rash", to rashes, to the sore gums of nursing infants and to sore eyes. They also chew the root of Asclepias viridiflora for sore throats, and use the plant to spice soups, and use the fresh roots for food. They make use of Viola adunca, applying an infusion of the roots and leaves to sore and swollen joints, giving an infusion of the leaves and roots to asthmatic children, and using the plant to dye their arrows blue. They put Carex in moccasins to protect the feet during winter horse stealing expeditions.
Marriage
In the Blackfoot culture, men were responsible for choosing their marriage partners, but women had the choice to accept them or not. The male had to show the woman's father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and approved of the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothing and were considered married. The married couple would reside in their own tipi or with the husband's family. Although the man was permitted more than one wife, typically he only chose one. In cases of more than one wife, quite often the male would choose a sister of the wife, believing that sisters would not argue as much as total strangers.
Responsibilities and clothing
In a typical Blackfoot family, the father would go out and hunt and bring back supplies that the family might need. The mother would stay close to home and watch over the children while the father was out. The children were taught basic survival skills and culture as they grew up. It was generally said that both boys and girls learned to ride horses early. Boys would usually play with toy bows and arrows until they were old enough to learn how to hunt.
They would also play a popular game called shinny, which later became known as ice hockey. They used a long curved wooden stick to knock a ball, made of baked clay covered with buckskin, over a goal line. Girls were given a doll to play with, which also doubled as a learning tool because it was fashioned with typical tribal clothing and designs and also taught the young women how to care for a child. As they grew older, more responsibilities were placed upon their shoulders. The girls were then taught to cook, prepare hides for leather, and gather wild plants and berries. The boys were held accountable for going out with their father to prepare food by means of hunting.
Typically clothing was made primarily of softened and tanned antelope and deer hides. The women would make and decorate the clothes for everyone in the tribe. Men wore moccasins, long leggings that went up to their hips, a loincloth, and a belt. Occasionally they would wear shirts but generally they would wrap buffalo robes around their shoulders. The distinguished men of bravery would wear a necklace made of grizzly bear claws.
Boys dressed much like the older males, wearing leggings, loincloths, moccasins, and occasionally an undecorated shirt. They kept warm by wearing a buffalo robe over their shoulders or over their heads if it became cold. Women and girls wore dresses made from two or three deerskins. The women wore decorative earrings and bracelets made from sea shells, obtained through trade with distant tribes, or different types of metal. They would sometimes wear beads in their hair or paint the part in their hair red, which signified that they were old enough to bear children.
Headdresses
Similar to other Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains, the Blackfoot developed a variety of different headdresses that incorporated elements of creatures important to them; these served different purposes and symbolized different associations. The typical war bonnet was made from eagle feathers, because the bird was considered powerful. It was worn by prestigious warriors and chiefs (including war-chiefs) of the Blackfoot. The straight-up headdress is a uniquely Blackfoot headdress that, like the war bonnet, is made with eagle feathers. The feathers on the straight-up headdress point directly straight upwards from the rim (hence the name). Often a red plume is attached to the front of the headdress; it also points straight upward.
The split-horn headdress was very popular among Northern Plains Indians, particularly those nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Many warrior societies, including the Horn Society of the Blackfoot, wore the split-horn headdress. The split-horn headdress was made from a single bison horn, split in two and reshaped as slimmer versions of a full-sized bison horn, and polished. The horns were attached to a beaded, rimmed felt hat. Furs from weasels (taken when carrying heavy winter coats) were attached to the top of the headdress, and dangled from the sides. The side furs were often finished with bead work where attached to the headdress. A similar headdress, called the antelope horn headdress, was made in a similar fashion using the horn or horns from a pronghorn antelope.
Blackfoot men, particularly warriors, sometimes wore a roach made from porcupine hair. The hairs of the porcupine are most often dyed red. Eagle and other bird feathers were occasionally attached to the roach.
Buffalo scalps, often with horns still attached and often with a beaded rim, were also worn. Fur "turbans" made from soft animal fur (most often otter) were also popular. Buffalo scalps and fur turbans were worn in the winter to protect the head from the cold.
The Blackfoot have continued to wear traditional headdresses at special ceremonies. They are worn mostly by elected chiefs, members of various traditional societies (including the Horn, Crazy Dog and Motokik societies), powwow dancers and spiritual leaders.
Sun and the Moon
One of the most famous traditions held by the Blackfoot is their story of sun and the moon. It starts with a family of a man, wife, and two sons, who live off berries and other food they can gather, as they have no bows and arrows, or other tools. The man had a dream: he was told by the Creator Napi, Napiu, or Napioa (depending on the band) to get a large spider web and put it on the trail where the animals roamed, and they would get caught up and could be easily killed with the stone axe he had. The man had done so and saw that it was true. One day, he came home from bringing in some fresh meat from the trail and discovered his wife to be applying perfume on herself. He thought that she must have another lover since she never did this before. He then told his wife that he was going to move a web and asked if she could bring in the meat and wood he had left outside from a previous hunt. She had reluctantly gone out and passed over a hill. The wife looked back three times and saw her husband in the same place she had left him, so she continued on to retrieve the meat. The father then asked his children if they went with their mother to find wood, but they never had. However they knew the location in which she retrieved it from. The man set out and found the timber along with a den of rattlesnakes, one of which was his wife's lover. He set the timber on fire and killed the snakes. He knew by doing this that his wife would become enraged, so the man returned home. He told the children to flee and gave them a stick, stone, and moss to use if their mother chased after them. He remained at the house and put a web over his front door. The wife tried to get in but became stuck and had her leg cut off. She then put her head through and he cut that off also. While the body followed the husband to the creek, the head followed the children. The oldest boy saw the head behind them and threw the stick. The stick turned into a great forest. The head made it through, so the younger brother instructed the elder to throw the stone. He did so, and where the stone landed a huge mountain popped up. It spanned from big water (ocean) to big water and the head was forced to go through it, not around. The head met a group of rams and said to them she would marry their chief if they butted their way through the mountain. The chief agreed and they butted until their horns were worn down, but this still was not through. She then asked the ants if they could burrow through the mountain with the same stipulations, it was agreed and they get her the rest of the way through. The children were far ahead, but eventually saw the head rolling behind them. The boys wet the moss and wrung it out behind themselves. They were then in a different land. The country they had just left was now surrounded by water. The head rolled into the water and drowned. They decided to build a raft and head back. Once they returned to their land, they discovered that it was occupied by the crows and the snakes so they decided to split up.
One brother was simple and went north to discover what he could and make people. The other was smart and went south to make white people and taught them valuable skills. The simple brother created the Blackfeet. He became known as Left Hand, and later by the Blackfeet as Old Man. The woman still chases the man: she is the moon and he is the sun, and if she ever catches him, it will always be night.
Blackfoot creation story
The creation myth is part of the oral history of the Blackfoot nation. It was said that in the beginning, Napio floated on a log with four animals. The animals were: Mameo (fish), Matcekups (frog), Maniskeo (lizard), and Sopeo (turtle). Napio sent all of them into the deep water, one after another. The first three had gone down and returned with nothing. The turtle went down and retrieved mud from the bottom and gave it to Napio.
He took the mud and rolled it in his hand and created the earth. He let it roll out of his hand and over time, it has grown to what it is today. After he created the earth, he created women first, followed by men. He had them living separately from one another. The men were shy and afraid, but Napio said to them to not fear and take one as their wife. They had done as he asked, and Napio continued to create the buffalo and bows and arrows for the people so that they could hunt them.
People
Ethnic divisions
The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the Piegan, also spelled Peigan or Pikuni. Their name derives from the Blackfoot term Piikáni. They are divided into the Piikani Nation (Aapátohsipikáni ("the companion up there") or simply Piikáni) in present-day Alberta, and the South Peigan or Piegan Blackfeet (Aamsskáápipikani) in Montana, United States. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans") of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan.
The modern Kainai Nation is named for the Blackfoot-language term Káínaa, meaning "Many Chief people". These were historically also called the "Blood," from a Plains Cree name for the Kainai: Miko-Ew, meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe.
The Siksika Nation's name derives from Siksikáwa, meaning "Those of like". The Siksika also call themselves Sao-kitapiiksi, meaning "Plains People".
The Sarcee call themselves the Tsu T'ina, meaning "a great number of people." During early years of conflict, the Blackfoot called them Saahsi or Sarsi, "the stubborn ones", in their language. The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the Athabascan or Dené language family, most of whose members are located in the Subarctic of Northern Canada. Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the Beaver (Danezaa) people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had").
The Gros Ventre people call themselves the Haaninin ("white clay people"), also spelled A'aninin. The French called them Gros Ventres ("fat bellies"), misinterpreting a physical sign for waterfall; and the English called them the Fall Indians, related to waterfalls in the mountains. The Blackfoot referred to them as the Piik-siik-sii-naa ("snakes") or Atsina ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity. Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the Arapaho Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming. They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter.
Modern communities
Economy and services
Today, many of the Blackfoot live on reserves in Canada. About 8,500 live on the Montana reservation of . In 1896, the Blackfoot sold a large portion of their land to the United States government, which hoped to find gold or copper deposits. No such mineral deposits were found. In 1910, the land was set aside as Glacier National Park. Some Blackfoot work there and occasional Native American ceremonies are held there.
Unemployment is a challenging problem on the Blackfeet Reservation and on Canadian Blackfoot reserves, because of their isolation from major urban areas. Many people work as farmers, but there are not enough other jobs nearby. To find work, many Blackfoot have relocated from the reservation to towns and cities. Some companies pay the Blackfoot governments to lease use of lands for extracting oil, natural gas, and other resources. The nations have operated such businesses such as the Blackfoot Writing Company, a pen and pencil factory, which opened in 1972, but it closed in the late 1990s. In Canada, the Northern Piegan make traditional craft clothing and moccasins, and the Kainai operate a shopping center and factory.
In 1974, the Blackfoot Community College, a tribal college, opened in Browning, Montana. The school is also the location of the tribal headquarters. As of 1979, the Montana state government requires all public school teachers on or near the reservation to have a background in American Indian studies.
In 1986, the Kainai Nation opened the Red Crow Community College in Stand Off, Alberta. In 1989, the Siksika tribe in Canada completed the construction of a high school to go along with its elementary school.
Traditional culture
The Blackfoot continue many cultural traditions of the past and hope to extend their ancestors' traditions to their children. They want to teach their children the Pikuni language as well as other traditional knowledge. In the early 20th century, a white woman named Frances Densmore helped the Blackfoot record their language. During the 1950s and 1960s, few Blackfoot spoke the Pikuni language. In order to save their language, the Blackfoot Council asked elders who still knew the language to teach it. The elders had agreed and succeeded in reviving the language, so today the children can learn Pikuni at school or at home. In 1994, the Blackfoot Council accepted Pikuni as the official language.
The people have revived the Black Lodge Society, responsible for protecting songs and dances of the Blackfoot. They continue to announce the coming of spring by opening five medicine bundles, one at every sound of thunder during the spring. One of the biggest celebrations is called the North American Indian Days. Lasting four days, it is held during the second week of July in Browning. Lastly, the Sun Dance, which was illegal from the 1890s-1934, has been practiced again for years. While it was illegal, the Blackfoot held it in secret. Since 1934, they have practised it every summer. The event lasts eight days – time filled with prayers, dancing, singing, and offerings to honor the Creator. It provides an opportunity for the Blackfoot to get together and share views and ideas with each other, while celebrating their culture's most sacred ceremonies.
The Blackfeet Nation in Montana have a blue tribal flag. The flag shows a ceremonial lance or coup stick with 29 feathers. The center of the flag contains a ring of 32 white and black eagle feathers. Within the ring is an outline map of the Blackfoot Reservation. Within the map is depicted a warrior's headdress and the words "Blackfeet Nation" and "Pikuni" (the name of the tribe in the Algonquian native tongue of the Blackfoot).
Notable Blackfoot people
Elouise Cobell, banker and activist who led the 20th-century lawsuit that forced the US Government to reform individual Indian trusts
Byron Chief-Moon, performer and choreographer
Crowfoot (ISAPO-MUXIKA – "Crow Indian's Big Foot", also known in French as Pied de Corbeau), Chief of the Big Pipes band (later renamed Moccasin band, a splinter band of the Biters band), Head Chief of the South Siksika, by 1870 one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika or the Blackfoot proper
Aatsista-Mahkan ("Running Rabbit", * about 1833 – d. January 1911), since 1871 Chief of the Biters band (Ai-sik'-stuk-iks) of the Siksika, signed Treaty No.7 in 1877, along with Crowfoot, Old Sun, Red Crow, and other leaders
A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye (Ac ko mok ki, Ak ko mock ki, A'kow-muk-ai – "Feathers", since he took the name Old Swan), since about 1820 Chief of the Old Feathers' band, his personal following was known as the Bad Guns band, consisted of about 400 persons, along with Old Sun and Three Suns (No-okskatos) one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika
Stu-mick-o-súcks ("Buffalo Bull's Back Fat"), Head Chief of the Kainai, had his portrait painted at Fort Union in 1832
Faye HeavyShield, Kainai sculptor and installation artist
Joe Hipp, Heavyweight boxer, the first Native American to compete for the WBA World Heavyweight Title.
Beverly Hungry Wolf, author
Stephen Graham Jones, author
Earl Old Person (Cold Wind or Changing Home), Blackfoot tribal chairman from 1964-2008 and honorary lifetime chief of the Blackfoot
Jerry Potts (1840–1896), (also known as Ky-yo-kosi – "Bear Child"), was a Canadian-American plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai-Scottish descent. He identified as Piegan and became a minor Kainai chief.
Steve Reevis, actor who appeared in Fargo, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Dogmen, Comanche Moon and many other films and TV.
Misty Upham (1982-2014), actress
James Welch (1940–2003), Blackfoot-Gros Ventre author
The Honourable Eugene Creighton, judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.
Gyasi Ross, author, attorney, musician and political activist.
Representation in other media
Hergé's Tintin in America (1932) featured Blackfoot people.
Jimmy P (2013) is a Franco-American film exploring the psychoanalysis of a Blackfoot, Jimmy Picard, in the post-World War II period at a veterans' hospital by a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, George Devereux. The screenplay was adapted from his book about this process, published in 1951.
See also
Blackfeet music
Blackfoot language
List of Native American peoples in the United States
Palliser Region
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Blackfoot homepage
Blackfoot Confederacy
Blackfoot Language and the Blackfoot Indian Tribe
Map of Blackfeet tribal lands
Walter McClintock Glass Lantern Slides Photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, material culture, and ceremonies from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
Blackfoot Digital Library, project of Red Crow Community College and the University of Lethbridge
Blackfoot Anthropological Notes at Dartmouth College Library
Algonquian peoples
Plains tribes
First Nations history
Native American history of Montana
First Nations in Alberta
Native American tribes in Montana
Native American tribes in Wyoming | true | [
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[
"Blackfoot Confederacy",
"Early history",
"When is the Blackfoot confederacy started ?",
"Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika.",
"Does any record exist of the Blackfoots' early history ?",
"The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black.",
"How did the Blackfoot early society worked ?",
"Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America,",
"Where do they think they originate ?",
"One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black."
] | C_de2f5c0e98744f069aac69b83a73fc48_1 | What kind of god they prayed to ? | 5 | What kind of god the Blackfoot confederacy prayed to ? | Blackfoot Confederacy | The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black. Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west. When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains. The Plains had covered approximately 780,000 square miles (2,000,000 km2) with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial." CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | The Blackfoot Confederacy, Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika ("Blackfoot"), the Kainai or Blood ("Many Chiefs"), and two sections of the Peigan or Piikani ("Splotchy Robe") – the Northern Piikani (Aapátohsipikáni) and the Southern Piikani (Amskapi Piikani or Pikuni). Broader definitions include groups such as the Tsúùtínà (Sarcee) and A'aninin (Gros Ventre) who spoke quite different languages but allied with or joined the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of western North America, specifically the semi-arid shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens. The Blackfoot used these to expand their territory at the expense of neighboring tribes.
Today, three Blackfoot First Nation band governments (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations) reside in the Canadian province of Alberta, while the Blackfeet Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Southern Piikani in Montana, United States. Additionally, the Gros Ventre are members of the federally recognized Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana in the United States and the Tsuutʼina Nation is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada.
Government
The four Blackfoot nations come together to make up what is known as the Blackfoot Confederacy, meaning that they have banded together to help one another. The nations have their own separate governments ruled by a head chief, but regularly come together for religious and social celebrations.
Originally the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy consisted of three peoples ("nation", "tribes", "tribal nations") based on kinship and dialect, but all speaking the common language of Blackfoot, one of the Algonquian languages family. The three were the Piikáni (historically called "Piegan Blackfeet" in English-language sources), the Káínaa (called "Bloods"), and the Siksikáwa ("Blackfoot"). They later allied with the unrelated Tsuu T'ina ("Sarcee"), who became merged into the Confederacy and, (for a time) with the Atsina, or A'aninin (Gros Ventre).
Each of these highly decentralized peoples were divided into many bands, which ranged in size from 10 to 30 lodges, or about 80 to 240 persons. The band was the basic unit of organization for hunting and defence.
The Confederacy occupied a large territory where they hunted and foraged; in the 19th century it was divided by the current Canada–US international border. But during the late nineteenth century, both governments forced the peoples to end their nomadic traditions and settle on "Indian reserves" (Canadian terminology) or "Indian reservations" (US terminology). The South Peigan are the only group who chose to settle in Montana. The other three Blackfoot-speaking peoples and the Sarcee are located in Alberta. Together, the Blackfoot-speakers call themselves the Niitsítapi (the "Original People"). After leaving the Confederacy, the Gros Ventres also settled on a reservation in Montana.
When these peoples were forced to end their nomadic traditions, their social structures changed. Tribal nations, which had formerly been mostly ethnic associations, were institutionalized as governments (referred to as "tribes" in the United States and "bands" or "First Nations" in Canada). The Piegan were divided into the North Peigan in Alberta, and the South Peigan in Montana.
History
The Confederacy had a territory that stretched from the North Saskatchewan River (called Ponoká'sisaahta) along what is now Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, to the Yellowstone River (called Otahkoiitahtayi) of Montana in the United States, and from the Rocky Mountains (called Miistakistsi) and along the South Saskatchewan River to the present Alberta-Saskatchewan border (called Kaayihkimikoyi), east past the Cypress Hills. They called their tribal territory Niitsitpiis-stahkoii (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ)- "Original People
s Land." To the east, the Innu and Naskapi called their territory Nitassinan – "Our Land." They had adopted the use of the horse from other Plains tribes, probably by the early eighteenth century, which gave them expanded range and mobility, as well as advantages in hunting.
The basic social unit of the Niitsitapi above the family was the band, varying from about 10 to 30 lodges, about 80 to 241 people. This size group was large enough to defend against attack and to undertake communal hunts, but was also small enough for flexibility. Each band consisted of a respected leader , possibly his brothers and parents, and others who were not related. Since the band was defined by place of residence, rather than by kinship, a person was free to leave one band and join another, which tended to ameliorate leadership disputes. As well, should a band fall upon hard times, its members could split up and join other bands. In practice, bands were constantly forming and breaking up. The system maximized flexibility and was an ideal organization for a hunting people on the northwestern Great Plains.
During the summer, the people assembled for nation gatherings. In these large assemblies, warrior societies played an important role for the men. Membership into these societies was based on brave acts and deeds.
For almost half the year in the long northern winter, the Niitsitapi lived in their winter camps along a wooded river valley. They were located perhaps a day's march apart, not moving camp unless food for the people and horses, or firewood became depleted. Where there was adequate wood and game resources, some bands would camp together. During this part of the year, buffalo also wintered in wooded areas, where they were partially sheltered from storms and snow. They were easier prey as their movements were hampered. In spring the buffalo moved out onto the grasslands to forage on new spring growth. The Blackfoot did not follow immediately, for fear of late blizzards. As dried food or game became depleted, the bands would split up and begin to hunt the buffalo.
In midsummer, when the chokecherries ripened, the people regrouped for their major ceremony, the Okan (Sun Dance). This was the only time of year when the four nations would assemble. The gathering reinforced the bonds among the various groups and linked individuals with the nations. Communal buffalo hunts provided food for the people, as well as offerings of the bulls' tongues (a delicacy) for the ceremonies. These ceremonies are sacred to the people. After the Okan, the people again separated to follow the buffalo. They used the buffalo hides to make their dwellings and temporary tipis.
In the fall, the people would gradually shift to their wintering areas. The men would prepare the buffalo jumps and pounds for capturing or driving the bison for hunting. Several groups of people might join together at particularly good sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. As the buffalo were naturally driven into the area by the gradual late summer drying off of the open grasslands, the Blackfoot would carry out great communal buffalo kills.
The women processed the buffalo, preparing dried meat, and combining it for nutrition and flavor with dried fruits into pemmican, to last them through winter and other times when hunting was poor. At the end of the fall, the Blackfoot would move to their winter camps. The women worked the buffalo and other game skins for clothing, as well as to reinforce their dwellings; other elements were used to make warm fur robes, leggings, cords and other needed items. Animal sinews were used to tie arrow points and lances to throwing sticks, or for bridles for horses.
The Niitsitapi maintained this traditional way of life based on hunting bison, until the near extirpation of the bison by 1881 forced them to adapt their ways of life in response to the encroachment of the European settlers and their descendants. In the United States, they were restricted to land assigned in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Nearly three decades later, they were given a distinct reservation in the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty of 1887. In 1877, the Canadian Niitsitapi signed Treaty 7 and settled on reserves in southern Alberta.
This began a period of great struggle and economic hardship; the Niitsitapi had to try to adapt to a completely new way of life. They suffered a high rate of fatalities when exposed to Eurasian diseases, for which they had no natural immunity.
Eventually, they established a viable economy based on farming, ranching, and light industry. Their population has increased to about 16,000 in Canada and 15,000 in the U.S. today. With their new economic stability, the Niitsitapi have been free to adapt their culture and traditions to their new circumstances, renewing their connection to their ancient roots.
Early history
The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Originally, only one of the Niitsitapi tribes was called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.
Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west.
When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains.
The Plains had covered approximately with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial."
Importance and uses of bison
The Niitsitapi main source of food on the plains was the American bison (buffalo), the largest mammal in North America, standing about tall and weighing up to . Before the introduction of horses, the Niitsitapi needed other ways to get in range. The buffalo jump was one of the most common ways. The hunters would round up the buffalo into V-shaped pens, and drive them over a cliff (they hunted pronghorn antelopes in the same way). Afterwards the hunters would go to the bottom and take as much meat as they could carry back to camp. They also used camouflage for hunting. The hunters would take buffalo skins from previous hunting trips and drape them over their bodies to blend in and mask their scent. By subtle moves, the hunters could get close to the herd. When close enough, the hunters would attack with arrows or spears to kill wounded animals.
The people used virtually all parts of the body and skin. The women prepared the meat for food: by boiling, roasting or drying for jerky. This processed it to last a long time without spoiling, and they depended on bison meat to get through the winters. The winters were long, harsh, and cold due to the lack of trees in the Plains, so people stockpiled meat in summer. As a ritual, hunters often ate the bison heart minutes after the kill. The women tanned and prepared the skins to cover the tepees. These were made of log poles, with the skins draped over it. The tepee remained warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and was a great shield against the wind.
The women also made clothing from the skins, such as robes and moccasins, and made soap from the fat. Both men and women made utensils, sewing needles and tools from the bones, using tendon for fastening and binding. The stomach and bladder were cleaned and prepared for use for storing liquids. Dried bison dung was fuel for the fires. The Niitsitapi considered the animal sacred and integral to their lives.
Discovery and uses of horses
Up until around 1730, the Blackfoot traveled by foot and used dogs to carry and pull some of their goods. They had not seen horses in their previous lands, but were introduced to them on the Plains, as other tribes, such as the Shoshone, had already adopted their use. They saw the advantages of horses and wanted some. The Blackfoot called the horses ponokamita (elk dogs). The horses could carry much more weight than dogs and moved at a greater speed. They could be ridden for hunting and travel.
Horses revolutionised life on the Great Plains and soon came to be regarded as a measure of wealth. Warriors regularly raided other tribes for their best horses. Horses were generally used as universal standards of barter. Medicine men were paid for cures and healing with horses. Those who designed shields or war bonnets were also paid in horses. The men gave horses to those who were owed gifts as well as to the needy. An individual's wealth rose with the number of horses accumulated, but a man did not keep an abundance of them. The individual's prestige and status was judged by the number of horses that he could give away. For the Indians who lived on the Plains, the principal value of property was to share it with others.
After having driven the hostile Shoshone and Arapaho from the Northwestern Plains, the Niitsitapi began in 1800 a long phase of keen competition in the fur trade with their former Cree allies, which often escalated militarily. In addition both groups had adapted to using horses about 1730, so by mid-century an adequate supply of horses became a question of survival. Horse theft was at this stage not only a proof of courage, but often a desperate contribution to survival, for many ethnic groups competed for hunting in the grasslands.
The Cree and Assiniboine continued horse raiding against the Gros Ventre (in Cree: Pawistiko Iyiniwak – "Rapids People" – "People of the Rapids"), allies of the Niitsitapi. The Gros Ventres were also known as Niya Wati Inew, Naywattamee ("They Live in Holes People"), because their tribal lands were along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of North and South Saskatchewan River). They had to withstand attacks of enemies with guns. In retaliation for Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) supplying their enemies with weapons, the Gros Ventre attacked and burned in 1793 South Branch House of the HBC on the South Saskatchewan River near the present village of St. Louis, Saskatchewan. Then, the tribe moved southward to the Milk River in Montana and allied themselves with the Blackfoot. The area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war fought between these two tribal groups) was the limit of the now warring tribal alliances.
Enemies and warrior culture
Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him. Warriors would strive to perform various acts of bravery called counting coup, in order to move up in social rank. The coups in order of importance were: taking a gun from a living enemy and or touching him directly; capturing lances, and bows; scalping an enemy; killing an enemy; freeing a tied horse from in front of an enemy lodge; leading a war party; scouting for a war party; stealing headdresses, shields, pipes (sacred ceremonial pipes); and driving a herd of stolen horses back to camp.
The Niitsitapi were enemies of the Crow, Cheyenne (kiihtsipimiitapi – ″Pinto People″), and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota) (called pinaapisinaa – "East Cree") on the Great Plains; and the Shoshone, Flathead, Kalispel, Kootenai (called kotonáá'wa) and Nez Perce (called komonóítapiikoan) in the mountain country to their west and southwest. Their most mighty and most dangerous enemy, however, were the political/military/trading alliance of the Iron Confederacy or Nehiyaw-Pwat (in Plains Cree: Nehiyaw – 'Cree' and Pwat or Pwat-sak – 'Sioux, i.e. Assiniboine') – named after the dominating Plains Cree (called Asinaa) and Assiniboine (called Niitsísinaa – "Original Cree"). These included the Stoney (called Saahsáísso'kitaki or Sahsi-sokitaki – ″Sarcee trying to cut″), Saulteaux (or Plains Ojibwe), and Métis to the north, east and southeast.
With the expansion of the Nehiyaw-Pwat to the north, west and southwest, they integrated larger groups of Iroquois, Chipewyan, Danezaa (Dunneza – 'The real (prototypical) people'), Ktunaxa, Flathead, and later Gros Ventre (called atsíína – "Gut People" or "like a Cree"), in their local groups. Loosely allied with the Nehiyaw-Pwat, but politically independent, were neighboring tribes like the Ktunaxa, Secwepemc and in particular the arch enemy of the Blackfoot, the Crow, or Indian trading partners like the Nez Perce and Flathead.
The Shoshone acquired horses much sooner than the Blackfoot and soon occupied much of present-day Alberta, most of Montana, and parts of Wyoming, and raided the Blackfoot frequently. Once the Piegan gained access to horses of their own and guns, obtained from the HBC via the Cree and Assiniboine, the situation changed. By 1787 David Thompson reports that the Blackfoot had completely conquered most of Shoshone territory, and frequently captured Shoshone women and children and forcibly assimilated them into Blackfoot society, further increasing their advantages over the Shoshone. Thompson reports that Blackfoot territory in 1787 was from the North Saskatchewan River in the north to the Missouri River in the South, and from Rocky Mountains in the west out to a distance of to the east.
Between 1790 and 1850, the Nehiyaw-Pwat were at the height of their power; they could successfully defend their territories against the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota) and the Niitsitapi Confederacy. During the so-called Buffalo Wars (about 1850 – 1870), they penetrated further and further into the territory from the Niitsitapi Confederacy in search for the buffalo, so that the Piegan were forced to give way in the region of the Missouri River (in Cree: Pikano Sipi – "Muddy River", "Muddy, turbid River"), the Kainai withdrew to the Bow River and Belly River; only the Siksika could hold their tribal lands along the Red Deer River. Around 1870, the alliance between the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventre broke, and the latter began to look to their former enemies, the Southern Assiniboine (or Plains Assiniboine), for protection.
First contact with Europeans and the fur trade
Anthony Henday of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) met a large Blackfoot group in 1754 in what is now Alberta. The Blackfoot had established dealings with traders connected to the Canadian and English fur trade before meeting the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. Lewis and Clark and their men had embarked on mapping the Louisiana Territory and upper Missouri River for the United States government.
On their return trip from the Pacific Coast, Lewis and three of his men encountered a group of young Blackfoot warriors with a large herd of horses, and it was clear to Meriwether Lewis that they were not far from much larger groups of warriors. Lewis explained to them that the United States government wanted peace with all Indian nations, and that the US leaders had successfully formed alliances with other Indian nations. The group camped together that night, and at dawn there was a scuffle as it was discovered that the Blackfoot were trying to steal guns and run off with their horses while the Americans slept. In the ensuing struggle, one warrior was fatally stabbed and another shot by Lewis and presumed killed.
In subsequent years, American mountain men trapping in Blackfoot country generally encountered hostility. When John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, returned to Blackfoot country soon after, he barely escaped with his life. In 1809, Colter and his companion were trapping on the Jefferson River by canoe when they were surrounded by hundreds of Blackfoot warriors on horseback on both sides of the river bank. Colter's companion, John Potts, did not surrender and was killed. Colter was stripped of his clothes and forced to run for his life, after being given a head start (famously known in the annals of the West as "Colter's Run.") He eventually escaped by reaching a river five miles away and diving under either an island of driftwood or a beaver dam, where he remained concealed until after nightfall. He trekked another 300 miles to a fort.
In the context of shifting tribal politics due to the spread of horses and guns, the Niitsitapi initially tried to increase their trade with the HBC traders in Rupert's Land whilst blocking access to the HBC by neighboring peoples to the West. But the HBC trade eventually reached into what is now inland British Columbia.
By the late 1820s, [this prompted] the Niitsitapiksi, and in particular the Piikani, whose territory was rich in beaver, [to] temporarily put aside cultural prohibitions and environmental constraints to trap enormous numbers of these animals and, in turn, receive greater quantities of trade items.
The HBC encouraged Niitsitapiksi to trade by setting up posts on the North Saskatchewan River, on the northern boundary of their territory. In the 1830s the Rocky Mountain region and the wider Saskatchewan District were the HBC's most profitable, and Rocky Mountain House was the HBC's busiest post. It was primarily used by the Piikani. Other Niitsitapiksi nations traded more in pemmican and buffalo skins than beaver, and visited other posts such as Fort Edmonton.
Meanwhile, in 1822 the American Fur Company entered the Upper Missouri region from the south for the first time, without Niitsitapiksi permission. This led to tensions and conflict until 1830, when peaceful trade was established. This was followed by the opening of Fort Piegan as the first American trading post in Niitsitapi territory in 1831, joined by Fort MacKenzie in 1833. The Americans offered better terms of trade and were more interested in buffalo skins than the HBC, which brought them more trade from the Niitsitapi. The HBC responded by building Bow Fort (Peigan Post) on the Bow River in 1832, but it was not a success.
In 1833, German explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss painter Karl Bodmer spent months with the Niitsitapi to get a sense of their culture. Bodmer portrayed their society in paintings and drawings.
Contact with the Europeans caused a spread of infectious diseases to the Niitsitapi, mostly cholera and smallpox. In one instance in 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat, the St. Peter's, was headed to Fort Union and several passengers contracted smallpox on the way. They continued to send a smaller vessel with supplies farther up the river to posts among the Niitsitapi. The Niitsitapi contracted the disease and eventually 6,000 died, marking an end to their dominance among tribes over the Plains. The Hudson's Bay Company did not require or help their employees get vaccinated; the English doctor Edward Jenner had developed a technique 41 years before but its use was not yet widespread.
Indian Wars
Like many other Great Plains Indian nations, the Niitsitapi often had hostile relationships with white settlers. Despite the hostilities, the Blackfoot stayed largely out of the Great Plains Indian Wars, neither fighting against nor scouting for the United States army. One of their friendly bands, however, was attacked by mistake and nearly destroyed by the US Army in the Marias Massacre on 23 January 1870, undertaken as an action to suppress violence against settlers. A friendly relationship with the North-West Mounted Police and learning of the brutality of the Marias Massacre discouraged the Blackfoot from engaging in wars against Canada and the United States.
When the Lakota, together with their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, were fighting the United States Army, they sent runners into Blackfoot territory, urging them to join the fight. Crowfoot, one of the most influential Blackfoot chiefs, dismissed the Lakota messengers. He threatened to ally with the NWMP to fight them if they came north into Blackfoot country again. News of Crowfoot's loyalty reached Ottawa and from there London; Queen Victoria praised Crowfoot and the Blackfoot for their loyalty. Despite his threats, Crowfoot later met those Lakota who had fled with Sitting Bull into Canada after defeating George Armstrong Custer and his battalion at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Crowfoot considered the Lakota then to be refugees and was sympathetic to their strife, but retained his anti-war stance. Sitting Bull and Crowfoot fostered peace between the two nations by a ceremonial offering of tobacco, ending hostilities between them. Sitting Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him.
The Blackfoot also chose to stay out of the North- West Rebellion, led by the famous Métis leader Louis Riel. Louis Riel and his men added to the already unsettled conditions facing the Blackfoot by camping near them. They tried to spread discontent with the government and gain a powerful ally. The North-West Rebellion was made up mostly of Métis, Assiniboine (Nakota) and Plains Cree, who all fought against European encroachment and destruction of Bison herds. The Plains Cree were one of the Blackfoot's most hated enemies; however, the two nations made peace when Crowfoot adopted Poundmaker, an influential Cree chief and great peacemaker, as his son. Although he refused to fight, Crowfoot had sympathy for those with the rebellion, especially the Cree led by such notable chiefs as Poundmaker, Big Bear, Wandering Spirit and Fine-Day.
When news of continued Blackfoot neutrality reached Ottawa, Lord Lansdowne, the governor general, expressed his thanks to Crowfoot again on behalf of the Queen back in London. The cabinet of John A. Macdonald (the current Prime Minister of Canada at the time) gave Crowfoot a round of applause.
Hardships of the Niitsitapi
During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were hired by the U.S government to kill bison so the Blackfeet would remain in their reservation. Settlers were also encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi were forced to depend on the United States government for food supplies. In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.
In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it, or supplies failed to arrive at all. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies, and outlaws on both sides stirred up trouble.
Events were catalyzed by Owl Child, a young Piegan warrior who stole a herd of horses in 1867 from an American trader named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke retaliated by tracking Owl Child down and severely beating him in full view of Owl Child's camp, and humiliating him. According to Piegan oral history, Clarke had also raped Owl Child's wife. But, Clarke was long married to Coth-co-co-na, a Piegan woman who was Owl Child's cousin. The raped woman gave birth to a child as a result of the rape, which oral history said was stillborn or killed by band elders. Two years after the beating, in 1869 Owl Child and some associates killed Clarke at his ranch after dinner, and severely wounded his son Horace. Public outcry from news of the event led to General Philip Sheridan to dispatch a band of cavalry, led by Major Eugene Baker, to find Owl Child and his camp and punish them.
On 23 January 1870, a camp of Piegan Indians were spotted by army scouts and reported to the dispatched cavalry, but it was mistakenly identified as a hostile band. Around 200 soldiers surrounded the camp the following morning and prepared for an ambush. Before the command to fire, the chief Heavy Runner was alerted to soldiers on the snowy bluffs above the encampment. He walked toward them, carrying his safe-conduct paper. Heavy Runner and his band of Piegans shared peace between American settlers and troops at the time of the event. Heavy Runner was shot and killed by army scout Joe Cobell, whose wife was part of the camp of the hostile Mountain Chief, further along the river, from whom he wanted to divert attention. Fellow scout Joe Kipp had realized the error and tried to signal the troops. He was threatened by the cavalry for reporting that the people they attacked were friendly.
Following the death of Heavy Runner, the soldiers attacked the camp. According to their count, they killed 173 Piegan and suffered just one U.S Army soldier casualty, who fell off his horse and broke his leg, dying of complications. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, as most of the younger men were out hunting. The Army took 140 Piegan prisoner and then released them. With their camp and belongings destroyed, they suffered terribly from exposure, making their way as refugees to Fort Benton.
As reports of the massacre gradually were learned in the east, members of the United States congress and press were outraged. General William Sherman reported that most of the killed were warriors under Mountain Chief. An official investigation never occurred, and no official monument marks the spot of the massacre. Compared to events such as the massacres at Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, the Marias Massacre remains largely unknown. But, it confirmed President Ulysses S. Grant in his decision not to allow the Army to take over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as it had been suggesting to combat corruption among Indian agents. Grant chose to appoint numerous Quakers to those positions as he pursued a peace policy with Native Americans.
The Cree and Assiniboine also suffered from the dwindling herds of the buffalo. By 1850 herds were found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore, in 1870 various Nehiyaw-Pwat bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up (called Akaisakoyi – "Many Dead"). But they were defeated in the so-called Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, called Assini-etomochi – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.
The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.
The winter of 1883–1884 became known as "Starvation Winter" because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.
In efforts to assimilate the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing. In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development. The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.
In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act, passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures. In 1935, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.
Culture
Electing a leader
Family was highly valued by the Blackfoot Indians. For traveling, they also split into bands of 20-30 people, but would come together for times of celebration. They valued leadership skills and chose the chiefs who would run their settlements wisely. During times of peace, the people would elect a peace chief, meaning someone who could lead the people and improve relations with other tribes. The title of war chief could not be gained through election and needed to be earned by successfully performing various acts of bravery including touching a living enemy. Blackfoot bands often had minor chiefs in addition to an appointed head chief.
Societies
Within the Blackfoot nation, there were different societies to which people belonged, each of which had functions for the tribe. Young people were invited into societies after proving themselves by recognized passages and rituals. For instance, young men had to perform a vision quest, begun by a spiritual cleansing in a sweat lodge. They went out from the camp alone for four days of fasting and praying. Their main goal was to see a vision that would explain their future. After having the vision, a youth returned to the village ready to join society.
In a warrior society, the men had to be prepared for battle. Again, the warriors would prepare by spiritual cleansing, then paint themselves symbolically; they often painted their horses for war as well. Leaders of the warrior society carried spears or lances called a coup stick, which was decorated with feathers, skin, and other tokens. They won prestige by "counting coup", tapping the enemy with the stick and getting away.
Members of the religious society protected sacred Blackfoot items and conducted religious ceremonies. They blessed the warriors before battle. Their major ceremony was the Sun Dance, or Medicine Lodge Ceremony. By engaging in the Sun Dance, their prayers would be carried up to the Creator, who would bless them with well-being and abundance of buffalo.
Women's societies also had important responsibilities for the communal tribe. They designed refined quillwork on clothing and ceremonial shields, helped prepare for battle, prepared skins and cloth to make clothing, cared for the children and taught them tribal ways, skinned and tanned the leathers used for clothing and other purposes, prepared fresh and dried foods, and performed ceremonies to help hunters in their journeys.
Ethnobotany
Sage and sweet grass are both used by Blackfoot and other Plains tribes for ceremonial purposes and are considered sacred plants. Sage and sweet grass are burned with the user inhaling and covering themselves in the smoke in a process known widely as smudging. Sage is said to rid the body of negative emotions such as anger. Sweet grass is said to draw in positive energy. Both are used for purification purposes. The pleasant and natural odor of the burning grass is said to attract spirits. Sweet grass is prepared for ceremony by braiding the stems together then drying them before burning.
Sweet grass is also often present and burned in pipe-smoking mixtures alongside bearberry and red willow plants. The smoke from the pipe is said to carry the users prayers up to the creator with the rising smoke. Large medicine bags often decorated with ornate beaded designs were used by medicine men to carry sage, sweet grass, and other important plants. Blackfoot also used sweet grass smoke, or sachets of sweet grass in their clothing, as an effective insect repellent.
They apply a poultice of chewed roots Asclepias viridiflora to swellings, to "diarrhea rash", to rashes, to the sore gums of nursing infants and to sore eyes. They also chew the root of Asclepias viridiflora for sore throats, and use the plant to spice soups, and use the fresh roots for food. They make use of Viola adunca, applying an infusion of the roots and leaves to sore and swollen joints, giving an infusion of the leaves and roots to asthmatic children, and using the plant to dye their arrows blue. They put Carex in moccasins to protect the feet during winter horse stealing expeditions.
Marriage
In the Blackfoot culture, men were responsible for choosing their marriage partners, but women had the choice to accept them or not. The male had to show the woman's father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and approved of the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothing and were considered married. The married couple would reside in their own tipi or with the husband's family. Although the man was permitted more than one wife, typically he only chose one. In cases of more than one wife, quite often the male would choose a sister of the wife, believing that sisters would not argue as much as total strangers.
Responsibilities and clothing
In a typical Blackfoot family, the father would go out and hunt and bring back supplies that the family might need. The mother would stay close to home and watch over the children while the father was out. The children were taught basic survival skills and culture as they grew up. It was generally said that both boys and girls learned to ride horses early. Boys would usually play with toy bows and arrows until they were old enough to learn how to hunt.
They would also play a popular game called shinny, which later became known as ice hockey. They used a long curved wooden stick to knock a ball, made of baked clay covered with buckskin, over a goal line. Girls were given a doll to play with, which also doubled as a learning tool because it was fashioned with typical tribal clothing and designs and also taught the young women how to care for a child. As they grew older, more responsibilities were placed upon their shoulders. The girls were then taught to cook, prepare hides for leather, and gather wild plants and berries. The boys were held accountable for going out with their father to prepare food by means of hunting.
Typically clothing was made primarily of softened and tanned antelope and deer hides. The women would make and decorate the clothes for everyone in the tribe. Men wore moccasins, long leggings that went up to their hips, a loincloth, and a belt. Occasionally they would wear shirts but generally they would wrap buffalo robes around their shoulders. The distinguished men of bravery would wear a necklace made of grizzly bear claws.
Boys dressed much like the older males, wearing leggings, loincloths, moccasins, and occasionally an undecorated shirt. They kept warm by wearing a buffalo robe over their shoulders or over their heads if it became cold. Women and girls wore dresses made from two or three deerskins. The women wore decorative earrings and bracelets made from sea shells, obtained through trade with distant tribes, or different types of metal. They would sometimes wear beads in their hair or paint the part in their hair red, which signified that they were old enough to bear children.
Headdresses
Similar to other Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains, the Blackfoot developed a variety of different headdresses that incorporated elements of creatures important to them; these served different purposes and symbolized different associations. The typical war bonnet was made from eagle feathers, because the bird was considered powerful. It was worn by prestigious warriors and chiefs (including war-chiefs) of the Blackfoot. The straight-up headdress is a uniquely Blackfoot headdress that, like the war bonnet, is made with eagle feathers. The feathers on the straight-up headdress point directly straight upwards from the rim (hence the name). Often a red plume is attached to the front of the headdress; it also points straight upward.
The split-horn headdress was very popular among Northern Plains Indians, particularly those nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Many warrior societies, including the Horn Society of the Blackfoot, wore the split-horn headdress. The split-horn headdress was made from a single bison horn, split in two and reshaped as slimmer versions of a full-sized bison horn, and polished. The horns were attached to a beaded, rimmed felt hat. Furs from weasels (taken when carrying heavy winter coats) were attached to the top of the headdress, and dangled from the sides. The side furs were often finished with bead work where attached to the headdress. A similar headdress, called the antelope horn headdress, was made in a similar fashion using the horn or horns from a pronghorn antelope.
Blackfoot men, particularly warriors, sometimes wore a roach made from porcupine hair. The hairs of the porcupine are most often dyed red. Eagle and other bird feathers were occasionally attached to the roach.
Buffalo scalps, often with horns still attached and often with a beaded rim, were also worn. Fur "turbans" made from soft animal fur (most often otter) were also popular. Buffalo scalps and fur turbans were worn in the winter to protect the head from the cold.
The Blackfoot have continued to wear traditional headdresses at special ceremonies. They are worn mostly by elected chiefs, members of various traditional societies (including the Horn, Crazy Dog and Motokik societies), powwow dancers and spiritual leaders.
Sun and the Moon
One of the most famous traditions held by the Blackfoot is their story of sun and the moon. It starts with a family of a man, wife, and two sons, who live off berries and other food they can gather, as they have no bows and arrows, or other tools. The man had a dream: he was told by the Creator Napi, Napiu, or Napioa (depending on the band) to get a large spider web and put it on the trail where the animals roamed, and they would get caught up and could be easily killed with the stone axe he had. The man had done so and saw that it was true. One day, he came home from bringing in some fresh meat from the trail and discovered his wife to be applying perfume on herself. He thought that she must have another lover since she never did this before. He then told his wife that he was going to move a web and asked if she could bring in the meat and wood he had left outside from a previous hunt. She had reluctantly gone out and passed over a hill. The wife looked back three times and saw her husband in the same place she had left him, so she continued on to retrieve the meat. The father then asked his children if they went with their mother to find wood, but they never had. However they knew the location in which she retrieved it from. The man set out and found the timber along with a den of rattlesnakes, one of which was his wife's lover. He set the timber on fire and killed the snakes. He knew by doing this that his wife would become enraged, so the man returned home. He told the children to flee and gave them a stick, stone, and moss to use if their mother chased after them. He remained at the house and put a web over his front door. The wife tried to get in but became stuck and had her leg cut off. She then put her head through and he cut that off also. While the body followed the husband to the creek, the head followed the children. The oldest boy saw the head behind them and threw the stick. The stick turned into a great forest. The head made it through, so the younger brother instructed the elder to throw the stone. He did so, and where the stone landed a huge mountain popped up. It spanned from big water (ocean) to big water and the head was forced to go through it, not around. The head met a group of rams and said to them she would marry their chief if they butted their way through the mountain. The chief agreed and they butted until their horns were worn down, but this still was not through. She then asked the ants if they could burrow through the mountain with the same stipulations, it was agreed and they get her the rest of the way through. The children were far ahead, but eventually saw the head rolling behind them. The boys wet the moss and wrung it out behind themselves. They were then in a different land. The country they had just left was now surrounded by water. The head rolled into the water and drowned. They decided to build a raft and head back. Once they returned to their land, they discovered that it was occupied by the crows and the snakes so they decided to split up.
One brother was simple and went north to discover what he could and make people. The other was smart and went south to make white people and taught them valuable skills. The simple brother created the Blackfeet. He became known as Left Hand, and later by the Blackfeet as Old Man. The woman still chases the man: she is the moon and he is the sun, and if she ever catches him, it will always be night.
Blackfoot creation story
The creation myth is part of the oral history of the Blackfoot nation. It was said that in the beginning, Napio floated on a log with four animals. The animals were: Mameo (fish), Matcekups (frog), Maniskeo (lizard), and Sopeo (turtle). Napio sent all of them into the deep water, one after another. The first three had gone down and returned with nothing. The turtle went down and retrieved mud from the bottom and gave it to Napio.
He took the mud and rolled it in his hand and created the earth. He let it roll out of his hand and over time, it has grown to what it is today. After he created the earth, he created women first, followed by men. He had them living separately from one another. The men were shy and afraid, but Napio said to them to not fear and take one as their wife. They had done as he asked, and Napio continued to create the buffalo and bows and arrows for the people so that they could hunt them.
People
Ethnic divisions
The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the Piegan, also spelled Peigan or Pikuni. Their name derives from the Blackfoot term Piikáni. They are divided into the Piikani Nation (Aapátohsipikáni ("the companion up there") or simply Piikáni) in present-day Alberta, and the South Peigan or Piegan Blackfeet (Aamsskáápipikani) in Montana, United States. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans") of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan.
The modern Kainai Nation is named for the Blackfoot-language term Káínaa, meaning "Many Chief people". These were historically also called the "Blood," from a Plains Cree name for the Kainai: Miko-Ew, meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe.
The Siksika Nation's name derives from Siksikáwa, meaning "Those of like". The Siksika also call themselves Sao-kitapiiksi, meaning "Plains People".
The Sarcee call themselves the Tsu T'ina, meaning "a great number of people." During early years of conflict, the Blackfoot called them Saahsi or Sarsi, "the stubborn ones", in their language. The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the Athabascan or Dené language family, most of whose members are located in the Subarctic of Northern Canada. Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the Beaver (Danezaa) people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had").
The Gros Ventre people call themselves the Haaninin ("white clay people"), also spelled A'aninin. The French called them Gros Ventres ("fat bellies"), misinterpreting a physical sign for waterfall; and the English called them the Fall Indians, related to waterfalls in the mountains. The Blackfoot referred to them as the Piik-siik-sii-naa ("snakes") or Atsina ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity. Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the Arapaho Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming. They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter.
Modern communities
Economy and services
Today, many of the Blackfoot live on reserves in Canada. About 8,500 live on the Montana reservation of . In 1896, the Blackfoot sold a large portion of their land to the United States government, which hoped to find gold or copper deposits. No such mineral deposits were found. In 1910, the land was set aside as Glacier National Park. Some Blackfoot work there and occasional Native American ceremonies are held there.
Unemployment is a challenging problem on the Blackfeet Reservation and on Canadian Blackfoot reserves, because of their isolation from major urban areas. Many people work as farmers, but there are not enough other jobs nearby. To find work, many Blackfoot have relocated from the reservation to towns and cities. Some companies pay the Blackfoot governments to lease use of lands for extracting oil, natural gas, and other resources. The nations have operated such businesses such as the Blackfoot Writing Company, a pen and pencil factory, which opened in 1972, but it closed in the late 1990s. In Canada, the Northern Piegan make traditional craft clothing and moccasins, and the Kainai operate a shopping center and factory.
In 1974, the Blackfoot Community College, a tribal college, opened in Browning, Montana. The school is also the location of the tribal headquarters. As of 1979, the Montana state government requires all public school teachers on or near the reservation to have a background in American Indian studies.
In 1986, the Kainai Nation opened the Red Crow Community College in Stand Off, Alberta. In 1989, the Siksika tribe in Canada completed the construction of a high school to go along with its elementary school.
Traditional culture
The Blackfoot continue many cultural traditions of the past and hope to extend their ancestors' traditions to their children. They want to teach their children the Pikuni language as well as other traditional knowledge. In the early 20th century, a white woman named Frances Densmore helped the Blackfoot record their language. During the 1950s and 1960s, few Blackfoot spoke the Pikuni language. In order to save their language, the Blackfoot Council asked elders who still knew the language to teach it. The elders had agreed and succeeded in reviving the language, so today the children can learn Pikuni at school or at home. In 1994, the Blackfoot Council accepted Pikuni as the official language.
The people have revived the Black Lodge Society, responsible for protecting songs and dances of the Blackfoot. They continue to announce the coming of spring by opening five medicine bundles, one at every sound of thunder during the spring. One of the biggest celebrations is called the North American Indian Days. Lasting four days, it is held during the second week of July in Browning. Lastly, the Sun Dance, which was illegal from the 1890s-1934, has been practiced again for years. While it was illegal, the Blackfoot held it in secret. Since 1934, they have practised it every summer. The event lasts eight days – time filled with prayers, dancing, singing, and offerings to honor the Creator. It provides an opportunity for the Blackfoot to get together and share views and ideas with each other, while celebrating their culture's most sacred ceremonies.
The Blackfeet Nation in Montana have a blue tribal flag. The flag shows a ceremonial lance or coup stick with 29 feathers. The center of the flag contains a ring of 32 white and black eagle feathers. Within the ring is an outline map of the Blackfoot Reservation. Within the map is depicted a warrior's headdress and the words "Blackfeet Nation" and "Pikuni" (the name of the tribe in the Algonquian native tongue of the Blackfoot).
Notable Blackfoot people
Elouise Cobell, banker and activist who led the 20th-century lawsuit that forced the US Government to reform individual Indian trusts
Byron Chief-Moon, performer and choreographer
Crowfoot (ISAPO-MUXIKA – "Crow Indian's Big Foot", also known in French as Pied de Corbeau), Chief of the Big Pipes band (later renamed Moccasin band, a splinter band of the Biters band), Head Chief of the South Siksika, by 1870 one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika or the Blackfoot proper
Aatsista-Mahkan ("Running Rabbit", * about 1833 – d. January 1911), since 1871 Chief of the Biters band (Ai-sik'-stuk-iks) of the Siksika, signed Treaty No.7 in 1877, along with Crowfoot, Old Sun, Red Crow, and other leaders
A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye (Ac ko mok ki, Ak ko mock ki, A'kow-muk-ai – "Feathers", since he took the name Old Swan), since about 1820 Chief of the Old Feathers' band, his personal following was known as the Bad Guns band, consisted of about 400 persons, along with Old Sun and Three Suns (No-okskatos) one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika
Stu-mick-o-súcks ("Buffalo Bull's Back Fat"), Head Chief of the Kainai, had his portrait painted at Fort Union in 1832
Faye HeavyShield, Kainai sculptor and installation artist
Joe Hipp, Heavyweight boxer, the first Native American to compete for the WBA World Heavyweight Title.
Beverly Hungry Wolf, author
Stephen Graham Jones, author
Earl Old Person (Cold Wind or Changing Home), Blackfoot tribal chairman from 1964-2008 and honorary lifetime chief of the Blackfoot
Jerry Potts (1840–1896), (also known as Ky-yo-kosi – "Bear Child"), was a Canadian-American plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai-Scottish descent. He identified as Piegan and became a minor Kainai chief.
Steve Reevis, actor who appeared in Fargo, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Dogmen, Comanche Moon and many other films and TV.
Misty Upham (1982-2014), actress
James Welch (1940–2003), Blackfoot-Gros Ventre author
The Honourable Eugene Creighton, judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.
Gyasi Ross, author, attorney, musician and political activist.
Representation in other media
Hergé's Tintin in America (1932) featured Blackfoot people.
Jimmy P (2013) is a Franco-American film exploring the psychoanalysis of a Blackfoot, Jimmy Picard, in the post-World War II period at a veterans' hospital by a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, George Devereux. The screenplay was adapted from his book about this process, published in 1951.
See also
Blackfeet music
Blackfoot language
List of Native American peoples in the United States
Palliser Region
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Blackfoot homepage
Blackfoot Confederacy
Blackfoot Language and the Blackfoot Indian Tribe
Map of Blackfeet tribal lands
Walter McClintock Glass Lantern Slides Photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, material culture, and ceremonies from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
Blackfoot Digital Library, project of Red Crow Community College and the University of Lethbridge
Blackfoot Anthropological Notes at Dartmouth College Library
Algonquian peoples
Plains tribes
First Nations history
Native American history of Montana
First Nations in Alberta
Native American tribes in Montana
Native American tribes in Wyoming | false | [
"There are a number of times in which the canonical gospels describe Jesus Christ praying to God. \n\n\nRecorded prayers\nThe gospels record words that Jesus spoke in prayer:\n\nThanking God for his revelation (Matthew 11:25, Luke 10:21)\nBefore the raising of Lazarus (John 11:41-42)\n\"Father, glorify your name\" (John 12:28)\nHis prayer in John 17\nThree prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane\nThree prayers on the cross:\n\"Father forgive them; for they know not what they do\" (Luke 23:34)\n\"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?\" (Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34)\n\"Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit\" (Luke 23:46)\n\nOther references to Jesus praying\nOther references to Jesus praying include:\nAt his baptism (Luke 3:21)\nRegular time of withdrawal from the crowds (Luke 5:16)\nAfter healing people in the evening (Mark 1:35)\nBefore walking on water (Matt 14:23, Mark 6:46, John 6:15)\nBefore choosing the Twelve (Luke 6:12)\nBefore Peter's confession (Luke 9:18)\nAt the Transfiguration (Luke 9:29)\nBefore teaching his disciples the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1)\nJesus says that he has prayed for Peter's faith (Luke 22:32)\n\nIn addition to this, Jesus said grace before the feeding miracles, at the Last Supper, and at the supper at Emmaus.\n\nR. A. Torrey notes that Jesus prayed early in the morning as well as all night, that he prayed both before and after the great events of his life, and that he prayed \"when life was unusually busy\".\n\nSee also\nChristian prayer\nPrayer in the New Testament and Old Testament\n\nReferences\n\nLife of Jesus in the New Testament\nChristian prayer",
"Tapio () is a Finnish forest spirit or god in Finnish mythology. Hunters prayed to him before a hunt and prayed to the nut god after the hunt. His wife is the goddess of the forest, Mielikki. He is the father of Annikki, Tellervo, Nyyrikki (the god of hunting), and Tuulikki. Fitting the Green Man archetype, Tapio has a beard of lichen and eyebrows of moss. \n\nMikael Agricola mentions Tapio as a Tavastian god in the prologue to his Finnish translation of the Book of Psalms, .\n\nHe lends his name, in the form of Tapiola, to: \n\n one of the major urban centres within the city of Espoo outside Helsinki; and \n an unincorporated community in the US state of Michigan. \n\nHe has appeared various times in songs by Finnish metal bands. For example, in the symphonic metal band Nightwish's song, \"Elvenpath\", he is referred to as \"Tapio, Bear-king, Ruler of the forest\". The name has also been used extensively by the folk metal band Korpiklaani, especially in their album Spirit of the Forest.\n\nJean Sibelius' tone poem Tapiola (1926) is a depiction of the forest Tapio inhabits.\n\nReferences\n\nFinnish gods\nHunting gods\nCharacters in the Kalevala\nTree gods"
] |
[
"Blackfoot Confederacy",
"Early history",
"When is the Blackfoot confederacy started ?",
"Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika.",
"Does any record exist of the Blackfoots' early history ?",
"The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black.",
"How did the Blackfoot early society worked ?",
"Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America,",
"Where do they think they originate ?",
"One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.",
"What kind of god they prayed to ?",
"I don't know."
] | C_de2f5c0e98744f069aac69b83a73fc48_1 | Were they hunter ? | 6 | Were the Blackfoot confederacy hunter ? | Blackfoot Confederacy | The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black. Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west. When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains. The Plains had covered approximately 780,000 square miles (2,000,000 km2) with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial." CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | The Blackfoot Confederacy, Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika ("Blackfoot"), the Kainai or Blood ("Many Chiefs"), and two sections of the Peigan or Piikani ("Splotchy Robe") – the Northern Piikani (Aapátohsipikáni) and the Southern Piikani (Amskapi Piikani or Pikuni). Broader definitions include groups such as the Tsúùtínà (Sarcee) and A'aninin (Gros Ventre) who spoke quite different languages but allied with or joined the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of western North America, specifically the semi-arid shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens. The Blackfoot used these to expand their territory at the expense of neighboring tribes.
Today, three Blackfoot First Nation band governments (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations) reside in the Canadian province of Alberta, while the Blackfeet Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Southern Piikani in Montana, United States. Additionally, the Gros Ventre are members of the federally recognized Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana in the United States and the Tsuutʼina Nation is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada.
Government
The four Blackfoot nations come together to make up what is known as the Blackfoot Confederacy, meaning that they have banded together to help one another. The nations have their own separate governments ruled by a head chief, but regularly come together for religious and social celebrations.
Originally the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy consisted of three peoples ("nation", "tribes", "tribal nations") based on kinship and dialect, but all speaking the common language of Blackfoot, one of the Algonquian languages family. The three were the Piikáni (historically called "Piegan Blackfeet" in English-language sources), the Káínaa (called "Bloods"), and the Siksikáwa ("Blackfoot"). They later allied with the unrelated Tsuu T'ina ("Sarcee"), who became merged into the Confederacy and, (for a time) with the Atsina, or A'aninin (Gros Ventre).
Each of these highly decentralized peoples were divided into many bands, which ranged in size from 10 to 30 lodges, or about 80 to 240 persons. The band was the basic unit of organization for hunting and defence.
The Confederacy occupied a large territory where they hunted and foraged; in the 19th century it was divided by the current Canada–US international border. But during the late nineteenth century, both governments forced the peoples to end their nomadic traditions and settle on "Indian reserves" (Canadian terminology) or "Indian reservations" (US terminology). The South Peigan are the only group who chose to settle in Montana. The other three Blackfoot-speaking peoples and the Sarcee are located in Alberta. Together, the Blackfoot-speakers call themselves the Niitsítapi (the "Original People"). After leaving the Confederacy, the Gros Ventres also settled on a reservation in Montana.
When these peoples were forced to end their nomadic traditions, their social structures changed. Tribal nations, which had formerly been mostly ethnic associations, were institutionalized as governments (referred to as "tribes" in the United States and "bands" or "First Nations" in Canada). The Piegan were divided into the North Peigan in Alberta, and the South Peigan in Montana.
History
The Confederacy had a territory that stretched from the North Saskatchewan River (called Ponoká'sisaahta) along what is now Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, to the Yellowstone River (called Otahkoiitahtayi) of Montana in the United States, and from the Rocky Mountains (called Miistakistsi) and along the South Saskatchewan River to the present Alberta-Saskatchewan border (called Kaayihkimikoyi), east past the Cypress Hills. They called their tribal territory Niitsitpiis-stahkoii (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ)- "Original People
s Land." To the east, the Innu and Naskapi called their territory Nitassinan – "Our Land." They had adopted the use of the horse from other Plains tribes, probably by the early eighteenth century, which gave them expanded range and mobility, as well as advantages in hunting.
The basic social unit of the Niitsitapi above the family was the band, varying from about 10 to 30 lodges, about 80 to 241 people. This size group was large enough to defend against attack and to undertake communal hunts, but was also small enough for flexibility. Each band consisted of a respected leader , possibly his brothers and parents, and others who were not related. Since the band was defined by place of residence, rather than by kinship, a person was free to leave one band and join another, which tended to ameliorate leadership disputes. As well, should a band fall upon hard times, its members could split up and join other bands. In practice, bands were constantly forming and breaking up. The system maximized flexibility and was an ideal organization for a hunting people on the northwestern Great Plains.
During the summer, the people assembled for nation gatherings. In these large assemblies, warrior societies played an important role for the men. Membership into these societies was based on brave acts and deeds.
For almost half the year in the long northern winter, the Niitsitapi lived in their winter camps along a wooded river valley. They were located perhaps a day's march apart, not moving camp unless food for the people and horses, or firewood became depleted. Where there was adequate wood and game resources, some bands would camp together. During this part of the year, buffalo also wintered in wooded areas, where they were partially sheltered from storms and snow. They were easier prey as their movements were hampered. In spring the buffalo moved out onto the grasslands to forage on new spring growth. The Blackfoot did not follow immediately, for fear of late blizzards. As dried food or game became depleted, the bands would split up and begin to hunt the buffalo.
In midsummer, when the chokecherries ripened, the people regrouped for their major ceremony, the Okan (Sun Dance). This was the only time of year when the four nations would assemble. The gathering reinforced the bonds among the various groups and linked individuals with the nations. Communal buffalo hunts provided food for the people, as well as offerings of the bulls' tongues (a delicacy) for the ceremonies. These ceremonies are sacred to the people. After the Okan, the people again separated to follow the buffalo. They used the buffalo hides to make their dwellings and temporary tipis.
In the fall, the people would gradually shift to their wintering areas. The men would prepare the buffalo jumps and pounds for capturing or driving the bison for hunting. Several groups of people might join together at particularly good sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. As the buffalo were naturally driven into the area by the gradual late summer drying off of the open grasslands, the Blackfoot would carry out great communal buffalo kills.
The women processed the buffalo, preparing dried meat, and combining it for nutrition and flavor with dried fruits into pemmican, to last them through winter and other times when hunting was poor. At the end of the fall, the Blackfoot would move to their winter camps. The women worked the buffalo and other game skins for clothing, as well as to reinforce their dwellings; other elements were used to make warm fur robes, leggings, cords and other needed items. Animal sinews were used to tie arrow points and lances to throwing sticks, or for bridles for horses.
The Niitsitapi maintained this traditional way of life based on hunting bison, until the near extirpation of the bison by 1881 forced them to adapt their ways of life in response to the encroachment of the European settlers and their descendants. In the United States, they were restricted to land assigned in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Nearly three decades later, they were given a distinct reservation in the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty of 1887. In 1877, the Canadian Niitsitapi signed Treaty 7 and settled on reserves in southern Alberta.
This began a period of great struggle and economic hardship; the Niitsitapi had to try to adapt to a completely new way of life. They suffered a high rate of fatalities when exposed to Eurasian diseases, for which they had no natural immunity.
Eventually, they established a viable economy based on farming, ranching, and light industry. Their population has increased to about 16,000 in Canada and 15,000 in the U.S. today. With their new economic stability, the Niitsitapi have been free to adapt their culture and traditions to their new circumstances, renewing their connection to their ancient roots.
Early history
The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Originally, only one of the Niitsitapi tribes was called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.
Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west.
When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains.
The Plains had covered approximately with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial."
Importance and uses of bison
The Niitsitapi main source of food on the plains was the American bison (buffalo), the largest mammal in North America, standing about tall and weighing up to . Before the introduction of horses, the Niitsitapi needed other ways to get in range. The buffalo jump was one of the most common ways. The hunters would round up the buffalo into V-shaped pens, and drive them over a cliff (they hunted pronghorn antelopes in the same way). Afterwards the hunters would go to the bottom and take as much meat as they could carry back to camp. They also used camouflage for hunting. The hunters would take buffalo skins from previous hunting trips and drape them over their bodies to blend in and mask their scent. By subtle moves, the hunters could get close to the herd. When close enough, the hunters would attack with arrows or spears to kill wounded animals.
The people used virtually all parts of the body and skin. The women prepared the meat for food: by boiling, roasting or drying for jerky. This processed it to last a long time without spoiling, and they depended on bison meat to get through the winters. The winters were long, harsh, and cold due to the lack of trees in the Plains, so people stockpiled meat in summer. As a ritual, hunters often ate the bison heart minutes after the kill. The women tanned and prepared the skins to cover the tepees. These were made of log poles, with the skins draped over it. The tepee remained warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and was a great shield against the wind.
The women also made clothing from the skins, such as robes and moccasins, and made soap from the fat. Both men and women made utensils, sewing needles and tools from the bones, using tendon for fastening and binding. The stomach and bladder were cleaned and prepared for use for storing liquids. Dried bison dung was fuel for the fires. The Niitsitapi considered the animal sacred and integral to their lives.
Discovery and uses of horses
Up until around 1730, the Blackfoot traveled by foot and used dogs to carry and pull some of their goods. They had not seen horses in their previous lands, but were introduced to them on the Plains, as other tribes, such as the Shoshone, had already adopted their use. They saw the advantages of horses and wanted some. The Blackfoot called the horses ponokamita (elk dogs). The horses could carry much more weight than dogs and moved at a greater speed. They could be ridden for hunting and travel.
Horses revolutionised life on the Great Plains and soon came to be regarded as a measure of wealth. Warriors regularly raided other tribes for their best horses. Horses were generally used as universal standards of barter. Medicine men were paid for cures and healing with horses. Those who designed shields or war bonnets were also paid in horses. The men gave horses to those who were owed gifts as well as to the needy. An individual's wealth rose with the number of horses accumulated, but a man did not keep an abundance of them. The individual's prestige and status was judged by the number of horses that he could give away. For the Indians who lived on the Plains, the principal value of property was to share it with others.
After having driven the hostile Shoshone and Arapaho from the Northwestern Plains, the Niitsitapi began in 1800 a long phase of keen competition in the fur trade with their former Cree allies, which often escalated militarily. In addition both groups had adapted to using horses about 1730, so by mid-century an adequate supply of horses became a question of survival. Horse theft was at this stage not only a proof of courage, but often a desperate contribution to survival, for many ethnic groups competed for hunting in the grasslands.
The Cree and Assiniboine continued horse raiding against the Gros Ventre (in Cree: Pawistiko Iyiniwak – "Rapids People" – "People of the Rapids"), allies of the Niitsitapi. The Gros Ventres were also known as Niya Wati Inew, Naywattamee ("They Live in Holes People"), because their tribal lands were along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of North and South Saskatchewan River). They had to withstand attacks of enemies with guns. In retaliation for Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) supplying their enemies with weapons, the Gros Ventre attacked and burned in 1793 South Branch House of the HBC on the South Saskatchewan River near the present village of St. Louis, Saskatchewan. Then, the tribe moved southward to the Milk River in Montana and allied themselves with the Blackfoot. The area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war fought between these two tribal groups) was the limit of the now warring tribal alliances.
Enemies and warrior culture
Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him. Warriors would strive to perform various acts of bravery called counting coup, in order to move up in social rank. The coups in order of importance were: taking a gun from a living enemy and or touching him directly; capturing lances, and bows; scalping an enemy; killing an enemy; freeing a tied horse from in front of an enemy lodge; leading a war party; scouting for a war party; stealing headdresses, shields, pipes (sacred ceremonial pipes); and driving a herd of stolen horses back to camp.
The Niitsitapi were enemies of the Crow, Cheyenne (kiihtsipimiitapi – ″Pinto People″), and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota) (called pinaapisinaa – "East Cree") on the Great Plains; and the Shoshone, Flathead, Kalispel, Kootenai (called kotonáá'wa) and Nez Perce (called komonóítapiikoan) in the mountain country to their west and southwest. Their most mighty and most dangerous enemy, however, were the political/military/trading alliance of the Iron Confederacy or Nehiyaw-Pwat (in Plains Cree: Nehiyaw – 'Cree' and Pwat or Pwat-sak – 'Sioux, i.e. Assiniboine') – named after the dominating Plains Cree (called Asinaa) and Assiniboine (called Niitsísinaa – "Original Cree"). These included the Stoney (called Saahsáísso'kitaki or Sahsi-sokitaki – ″Sarcee trying to cut″), Saulteaux (or Plains Ojibwe), and Métis to the north, east and southeast.
With the expansion of the Nehiyaw-Pwat to the north, west and southwest, they integrated larger groups of Iroquois, Chipewyan, Danezaa (Dunneza – 'The real (prototypical) people'), Ktunaxa, Flathead, and later Gros Ventre (called atsíína – "Gut People" or "like a Cree"), in their local groups. Loosely allied with the Nehiyaw-Pwat, but politically independent, were neighboring tribes like the Ktunaxa, Secwepemc and in particular the arch enemy of the Blackfoot, the Crow, or Indian trading partners like the Nez Perce and Flathead.
The Shoshone acquired horses much sooner than the Blackfoot and soon occupied much of present-day Alberta, most of Montana, and parts of Wyoming, and raided the Blackfoot frequently. Once the Piegan gained access to horses of their own and guns, obtained from the HBC via the Cree and Assiniboine, the situation changed. By 1787 David Thompson reports that the Blackfoot had completely conquered most of Shoshone territory, and frequently captured Shoshone women and children and forcibly assimilated them into Blackfoot society, further increasing their advantages over the Shoshone. Thompson reports that Blackfoot territory in 1787 was from the North Saskatchewan River in the north to the Missouri River in the South, and from Rocky Mountains in the west out to a distance of to the east.
Between 1790 and 1850, the Nehiyaw-Pwat were at the height of their power; they could successfully defend their territories against the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota) and the Niitsitapi Confederacy. During the so-called Buffalo Wars (about 1850 – 1870), they penetrated further and further into the territory from the Niitsitapi Confederacy in search for the buffalo, so that the Piegan were forced to give way in the region of the Missouri River (in Cree: Pikano Sipi – "Muddy River", "Muddy, turbid River"), the Kainai withdrew to the Bow River and Belly River; only the Siksika could hold their tribal lands along the Red Deer River. Around 1870, the alliance between the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventre broke, and the latter began to look to their former enemies, the Southern Assiniboine (or Plains Assiniboine), for protection.
First contact with Europeans and the fur trade
Anthony Henday of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) met a large Blackfoot group in 1754 in what is now Alberta. The Blackfoot had established dealings with traders connected to the Canadian and English fur trade before meeting the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. Lewis and Clark and their men had embarked on mapping the Louisiana Territory and upper Missouri River for the United States government.
On their return trip from the Pacific Coast, Lewis and three of his men encountered a group of young Blackfoot warriors with a large herd of horses, and it was clear to Meriwether Lewis that they were not far from much larger groups of warriors. Lewis explained to them that the United States government wanted peace with all Indian nations, and that the US leaders had successfully formed alliances with other Indian nations. The group camped together that night, and at dawn there was a scuffle as it was discovered that the Blackfoot were trying to steal guns and run off with their horses while the Americans slept. In the ensuing struggle, one warrior was fatally stabbed and another shot by Lewis and presumed killed.
In subsequent years, American mountain men trapping in Blackfoot country generally encountered hostility. When John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, returned to Blackfoot country soon after, he barely escaped with his life. In 1809, Colter and his companion were trapping on the Jefferson River by canoe when they were surrounded by hundreds of Blackfoot warriors on horseback on both sides of the river bank. Colter's companion, John Potts, did not surrender and was killed. Colter was stripped of his clothes and forced to run for his life, after being given a head start (famously known in the annals of the West as "Colter's Run.") He eventually escaped by reaching a river five miles away and diving under either an island of driftwood or a beaver dam, where he remained concealed until after nightfall. He trekked another 300 miles to a fort.
In the context of shifting tribal politics due to the spread of horses and guns, the Niitsitapi initially tried to increase their trade with the HBC traders in Rupert's Land whilst blocking access to the HBC by neighboring peoples to the West. But the HBC trade eventually reached into what is now inland British Columbia.
By the late 1820s, [this prompted] the Niitsitapiksi, and in particular the Piikani, whose territory was rich in beaver, [to] temporarily put aside cultural prohibitions and environmental constraints to trap enormous numbers of these animals and, in turn, receive greater quantities of trade items.
The HBC encouraged Niitsitapiksi to trade by setting up posts on the North Saskatchewan River, on the northern boundary of their territory. In the 1830s the Rocky Mountain region and the wider Saskatchewan District were the HBC's most profitable, and Rocky Mountain House was the HBC's busiest post. It was primarily used by the Piikani. Other Niitsitapiksi nations traded more in pemmican and buffalo skins than beaver, and visited other posts such as Fort Edmonton.
Meanwhile, in 1822 the American Fur Company entered the Upper Missouri region from the south for the first time, without Niitsitapiksi permission. This led to tensions and conflict until 1830, when peaceful trade was established. This was followed by the opening of Fort Piegan as the first American trading post in Niitsitapi territory in 1831, joined by Fort MacKenzie in 1833. The Americans offered better terms of trade and were more interested in buffalo skins than the HBC, which brought them more trade from the Niitsitapi. The HBC responded by building Bow Fort (Peigan Post) on the Bow River in 1832, but it was not a success.
In 1833, German explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss painter Karl Bodmer spent months with the Niitsitapi to get a sense of their culture. Bodmer portrayed their society in paintings and drawings.
Contact with the Europeans caused a spread of infectious diseases to the Niitsitapi, mostly cholera and smallpox. In one instance in 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat, the St. Peter's, was headed to Fort Union and several passengers contracted smallpox on the way. They continued to send a smaller vessel with supplies farther up the river to posts among the Niitsitapi. The Niitsitapi contracted the disease and eventually 6,000 died, marking an end to their dominance among tribes over the Plains. The Hudson's Bay Company did not require or help their employees get vaccinated; the English doctor Edward Jenner had developed a technique 41 years before but its use was not yet widespread.
Indian Wars
Like many other Great Plains Indian nations, the Niitsitapi often had hostile relationships with white settlers. Despite the hostilities, the Blackfoot stayed largely out of the Great Plains Indian Wars, neither fighting against nor scouting for the United States army. One of their friendly bands, however, was attacked by mistake and nearly destroyed by the US Army in the Marias Massacre on 23 January 1870, undertaken as an action to suppress violence against settlers. A friendly relationship with the North-West Mounted Police and learning of the brutality of the Marias Massacre discouraged the Blackfoot from engaging in wars against Canada and the United States.
When the Lakota, together with their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, were fighting the United States Army, they sent runners into Blackfoot territory, urging them to join the fight. Crowfoot, one of the most influential Blackfoot chiefs, dismissed the Lakota messengers. He threatened to ally with the NWMP to fight them if they came north into Blackfoot country again. News of Crowfoot's loyalty reached Ottawa and from there London; Queen Victoria praised Crowfoot and the Blackfoot for their loyalty. Despite his threats, Crowfoot later met those Lakota who had fled with Sitting Bull into Canada after defeating George Armstrong Custer and his battalion at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Crowfoot considered the Lakota then to be refugees and was sympathetic to their strife, but retained his anti-war stance. Sitting Bull and Crowfoot fostered peace between the two nations by a ceremonial offering of tobacco, ending hostilities between them. Sitting Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him.
The Blackfoot also chose to stay out of the North- West Rebellion, led by the famous Métis leader Louis Riel. Louis Riel and his men added to the already unsettled conditions facing the Blackfoot by camping near them. They tried to spread discontent with the government and gain a powerful ally. The North-West Rebellion was made up mostly of Métis, Assiniboine (Nakota) and Plains Cree, who all fought against European encroachment and destruction of Bison herds. The Plains Cree were one of the Blackfoot's most hated enemies; however, the two nations made peace when Crowfoot adopted Poundmaker, an influential Cree chief and great peacemaker, as his son. Although he refused to fight, Crowfoot had sympathy for those with the rebellion, especially the Cree led by such notable chiefs as Poundmaker, Big Bear, Wandering Spirit and Fine-Day.
When news of continued Blackfoot neutrality reached Ottawa, Lord Lansdowne, the governor general, expressed his thanks to Crowfoot again on behalf of the Queen back in London. The cabinet of John A. Macdonald (the current Prime Minister of Canada at the time) gave Crowfoot a round of applause.
Hardships of the Niitsitapi
During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were hired by the U.S government to kill bison so the Blackfeet would remain in their reservation. Settlers were also encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi were forced to depend on the United States government for food supplies. In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.
In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it, or supplies failed to arrive at all. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies, and outlaws on both sides stirred up trouble.
Events were catalyzed by Owl Child, a young Piegan warrior who stole a herd of horses in 1867 from an American trader named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke retaliated by tracking Owl Child down and severely beating him in full view of Owl Child's camp, and humiliating him. According to Piegan oral history, Clarke had also raped Owl Child's wife. But, Clarke was long married to Coth-co-co-na, a Piegan woman who was Owl Child's cousin. The raped woman gave birth to a child as a result of the rape, which oral history said was stillborn or killed by band elders. Two years after the beating, in 1869 Owl Child and some associates killed Clarke at his ranch after dinner, and severely wounded his son Horace. Public outcry from news of the event led to General Philip Sheridan to dispatch a band of cavalry, led by Major Eugene Baker, to find Owl Child and his camp and punish them.
On 23 January 1870, a camp of Piegan Indians were spotted by army scouts and reported to the dispatched cavalry, but it was mistakenly identified as a hostile band. Around 200 soldiers surrounded the camp the following morning and prepared for an ambush. Before the command to fire, the chief Heavy Runner was alerted to soldiers on the snowy bluffs above the encampment. He walked toward them, carrying his safe-conduct paper. Heavy Runner and his band of Piegans shared peace between American settlers and troops at the time of the event. Heavy Runner was shot and killed by army scout Joe Cobell, whose wife was part of the camp of the hostile Mountain Chief, further along the river, from whom he wanted to divert attention. Fellow scout Joe Kipp had realized the error and tried to signal the troops. He was threatened by the cavalry for reporting that the people they attacked were friendly.
Following the death of Heavy Runner, the soldiers attacked the camp. According to their count, they killed 173 Piegan and suffered just one U.S Army soldier casualty, who fell off his horse and broke his leg, dying of complications. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, as most of the younger men were out hunting. The Army took 140 Piegan prisoner and then released them. With their camp and belongings destroyed, they suffered terribly from exposure, making their way as refugees to Fort Benton.
As reports of the massacre gradually were learned in the east, members of the United States congress and press were outraged. General William Sherman reported that most of the killed were warriors under Mountain Chief. An official investigation never occurred, and no official monument marks the spot of the massacre. Compared to events such as the massacres at Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, the Marias Massacre remains largely unknown. But, it confirmed President Ulysses S. Grant in his decision not to allow the Army to take over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as it had been suggesting to combat corruption among Indian agents. Grant chose to appoint numerous Quakers to those positions as he pursued a peace policy with Native Americans.
The Cree and Assiniboine also suffered from the dwindling herds of the buffalo. By 1850 herds were found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore, in 1870 various Nehiyaw-Pwat bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up (called Akaisakoyi – "Many Dead"). But they were defeated in the so-called Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, called Assini-etomochi – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.
The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.
The winter of 1883–1884 became known as "Starvation Winter" because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.
In efforts to assimilate the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing. In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development. The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.
In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act, passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures. In 1935, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.
Culture
Electing a leader
Family was highly valued by the Blackfoot Indians. For traveling, they also split into bands of 20-30 people, but would come together for times of celebration. They valued leadership skills and chose the chiefs who would run their settlements wisely. During times of peace, the people would elect a peace chief, meaning someone who could lead the people and improve relations with other tribes. The title of war chief could not be gained through election and needed to be earned by successfully performing various acts of bravery including touching a living enemy. Blackfoot bands often had minor chiefs in addition to an appointed head chief.
Societies
Within the Blackfoot nation, there were different societies to which people belonged, each of which had functions for the tribe. Young people were invited into societies after proving themselves by recognized passages and rituals. For instance, young men had to perform a vision quest, begun by a spiritual cleansing in a sweat lodge. They went out from the camp alone for four days of fasting and praying. Their main goal was to see a vision that would explain their future. After having the vision, a youth returned to the village ready to join society.
In a warrior society, the men had to be prepared for battle. Again, the warriors would prepare by spiritual cleansing, then paint themselves symbolically; they often painted their horses for war as well. Leaders of the warrior society carried spears or lances called a coup stick, which was decorated with feathers, skin, and other tokens. They won prestige by "counting coup", tapping the enemy with the stick and getting away.
Members of the religious society protected sacred Blackfoot items and conducted religious ceremonies. They blessed the warriors before battle. Their major ceremony was the Sun Dance, or Medicine Lodge Ceremony. By engaging in the Sun Dance, their prayers would be carried up to the Creator, who would bless them with well-being and abundance of buffalo.
Women's societies also had important responsibilities for the communal tribe. They designed refined quillwork on clothing and ceremonial shields, helped prepare for battle, prepared skins and cloth to make clothing, cared for the children and taught them tribal ways, skinned and tanned the leathers used for clothing and other purposes, prepared fresh and dried foods, and performed ceremonies to help hunters in their journeys.
Ethnobotany
Sage and sweet grass are both used by Blackfoot and other Plains tribes for ceremonial purposes and are considered sacred plants. Sage and sweet grass are burned with the user inhaling and covering themselves in the smoke in a process known widely as smudging. Sage is said to rid the body of negative emotions such as anger. Sweet grass is said to draw in positive energy. Both are used for purification purposes. The pleasant and natural odor of the burning grass is said to attract spirits. Sweet grass is prepared for ceremony by braiding the stems together then drying them before burning.
Sweet grass is also often present and burned in pipe-smoking mixtures alongside bearberry and red willow plants. The smoke from the pipe is said to carry the users prayers up to the creator with the rising smoke. Large medicine bags often decorated with ornate beaded designs were used by medicine men to carry sage, sweet grass, and other important plants. Blackfoot also used sweet grass smoke, or sachets of sweet grass in their clothing, as an effective insect repellent.
They apply a poultice of chewed roots Asclepias viridiflora to swellings, to "diarrhea rash", to rashes, to the sore gums of nursing infants and to sore eyes. They also chew the root of Asclepias viridiflora for sore throats, and use the plant to spice soups, and use the fresh roots for food. They make use of Viola adunca, applying an infusion of the roots and leaves to sore and swollen joints, giving an infusion of the leaves and roots to asthmatic children, and using the plant to dye their arrows blue. They put Carex in moccasins to protect the feet during winter horse stealing expeditions.
Marriage
In the Blackfoot culture, men were responsible for choosing their marriage partners, but women had the choice to accept them or not. The male had to show the woman's father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and approved of the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothing and were considered married. The married couple would reside in their own tipi or with the husband's family. Although the man was permitted more than one wife, typically he only chose one. In cases of more than one wife, quite often the male would choose a sister of the wife, believing that sisters would not argue as much as total strangers.
Responsibilities and clothing
In a typical Blackfoot family, the father would go out and hunt and bring back supplies that the family might need. The mother would stay close to home and watch over the children while the father was out. The children were taught basic survival skills and culture as they grew up. It was generally said that both boys and girls learned to ride horses early. Boys would usually play with toy bows and arrows until they were old enough to learn how to hunt.
They would also play a popular game called shinny, which later became known as ice hockey. They used a long curved wooden stick to knock a ball, made of baked clay covered with buckskin, over a goal line. Girls were given a doll to play with, which also doubled as a learning tool because it was fashioned with typical tribal clothing and designs and also taught the young women how to care for a child. As they grew older, more responsibilities were placed upon their shoulders. The girls were then taught to cook, prepare hides for leather, and gather wild plants and berries. The boys were held accountable for going out with their father to prepare food by means of hunting.
Typically clothing was made primarily of softened and tanned antelope and deer hides. The women would make and decorate the clothes for everyone in the tribe. Men wore moccasins, long leggings that went up to their hips, a loincloth, and a belt. Occasionally they would wear shirts but generally they would wrap buffalo robes around their shoulders. The distinguished men of bravery would wear a necklace made of grizzly bear claws.
Boys dressed much like the older males, wearing leggings, loincloths, moccasins, and occasionally an undecorated shirt. They kept warm by wearing a buffalo robe over their shoulders or over their heads if it became cold. Women and girls wore dresses made from two or three deerskins. The women wore decorative earrings and bracelets made from sea shells, obtained through trade with distant tribes, or different types of metal. They would sometimes wear beads in their hair or paint the part in their hair red, which signified that they were old enough to bear children.
Headdresses
Similar to other Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains, the Blackfoot developed a variety of different headdresses that incorporated elements of creatures important to them; these served different purposes and symbolized different associations. The typical war bonnet was made from eagle feathers, because the bird was considered powerful. It was worn by prestigious warriors and chiefs (including war-chiefs) of the Blackfoot. The straight-up headdress is a uniquely Blackfoot headdress that, like the war bonnet, is made with eagle feathers. The feathers on the straight-up headdress point directly straight upwards from the rim (hence the name). Often a red plume is attached to the front of the headdress; it also points straight upward.
The split-horn headdress was very popular among Northern Plains Indians, particularly those nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Many warrior societies, including the Horn Society of the Blackfoot, wore the split-horn headdress. The split-horn headdress was made from a single bison horn, split in two and reshaped as slimmer versions of a full-sized bison horn, and polished. The horns were attached to a beaded, rimmed felt hat. Furs from weasels (taken when carrying heavy winter coats) were attached to the top of the headdress, and dangled from the sides. The side furs were often finished with bead work where attached to the headdress. A similar headdress, called the antelope horn headdress, was made in a similar fashion using the horn or horns from a pronghorn antelope.
Blackfoot men, particularly warriors, sometimes wore a roach made from porcupine hair. The hairs of the porcupine are most often dyed red. Eagle and other bird feathers were occasionally attached to the roach.
Buffalo scalps, often with horns still attached and often with a beaded rim, were also worn. Fur "turbans" made from soft animal fur (most often otter) were also popular. Buffalo scalps and fur turbans were worn in the winter to protect the head from the cold.
The Blackfoot have continued to wear traditional headdresses at special ceremonies. They are worn mostly by elected chiefs, members of various traditional societies (including the Horn, Crazy Dog and Motokik societies), powwow dancers and spiritual leaders.
Sun and the Moon
One of the most famous traditions held by the Blackfoot is their story of sun and the moon. It starts with a family of a man, wife, and two sons, who live off berries and other food they can gather, as they have no bows and arrows, or other tools. The man had a dream: he was told by the Creator Napi, Napiu, or Napioa (depending on the band) to get a large spider web and put it on the trail where the animals roamed, and they would get caught up and could be easily killed with the stone axe he had. The man had done so and saw that it was true. One day, he came home from bringing in some fresh meat from the trail and discovered his wife to be applying perfume on herself. He thought that she must have another lover since she never did this before. He then told his wife that he was going to move a web and asked if she could bring in the meat and wood he had left outside from a previous hunt. She had reluctantly gone out and passed over a hill. The wife looked back three times and saw her husband in the same place she had left him, so she continued on to retrieve the meat. The father then asked his children if they went with their mother to find wood, but they never had. However they knew the location in which she retrieved it from. The man set out and found the timber along with a den of rattlesnakes, one of which was his wife's lover. He set the timber on fire and killed the snakes. He knew by doing this that his wife would become enraged, so the man returned home. He told the children to flee and gave them a stick, stone, and moss to use if their mother chased after them. He remained at the house and put a web over his front door. The wife tried to get in but became stuck and had her leg cut off. She then put her head through and he cut that off also. While the body followed the husband to the creek, the head followed the children. The oldest boy saw the head behind them and threw the stick. The stick turned into a great forest. The head made it through, so the younger brother instructed the elder to throw the stone. He did so, and where the stone landed a huge mountain popped up. It spanned from big water (ocean) to big water and the head was forced to go through it, not around. The head met a group of rams and said to them she would marry their chief if they butted their way through the mountain. The chief agreed and they butted until their horns were worn down, but this still was not through. She then asked the ants if they could burrow through the mountain with the same stipulations, it was agreed and they get her the rest of the way through. The children were far ahead, but eventually saw the head rolling behind them. The boys wet the moss and wrung it out behind themselves. They were then in a different land. The country they had just left was now surrounded by water. The head rolled into the water and drowned. They decided to build a raft and head back. Once they returned to their land, they discovered that it was occupied by the crows and the snakes so they decided to split up.
One brother was simple and went north to discover what he could and make people. The other was smart and went south to make white people and taught them valuable skills. The simple brother created the Blackfeet. He became known as Left Hand, and later by the Blackfeet as Old Man. The woman still chases the man: she is the moon and he is the sun, and if she ever catches him, it will always be night.
Blackfoot creation story
The creation myth is part of the oral history of the Blackfoot nation. It was said that in the beginning, Napio floated on a log with four animals. The animals were: Mameo (fish), Matcekups (frog), Maniskeo (lizard), and Sopeo (turtle). Napio sent all of them into the deep water, one after another. The first three had gone down and returned with nothing. The turtle went down and retrieved mud from the bottom and gave it to Napio.
He took the mud and rolled it in his hand and created the earth. He let it roll out of his hand and over time, it has grown to what it is today. After he created the earth, he created women first, followed by men. He had them living separately from one another. The men were shy and afraid, but Napio said to them to not fear and take one as their wife. They had done as he asked, and Napio continued to create the buffalo and bows and arrows for the people so that they could hunt them.
People
Ethnic divisions
The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the Piegan, also spelled Peigan or Pikuni. Their name derives from the Blackfoot term Piikáni. They are divided into the Piikani Nation (Aapátohsipikáni ("the companion up there") or simply Piikáni) in present-day Alberta, and the South Peigan or Piegan Blackfeet (Aamsskáápipikani) in Montana, United States. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans") of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan.
The modern Kainai Nation is named for the Blackfoot-language term Káínaa, meaning "Many Chief people". These were historically also called the "Blood," from a Plains Cree name for the Kainai: Miko-Ew, meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe.
The Siksika Nation's name derives from Siksikáwa, meaning "Those of like". The Siksika also call themselves Sao-kitapiiksi, meaning "Plains People".
The Sarcee call themselves the Tsu T'ina, meaning "a great number of people." During early years of conflict, the Blackfoot called them Saahsi or Sarsi, "the stubborn ones", in their language. The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the Athabascan or Dené language family, most of whose members are located in the Subarctic of Northern Canada. Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the Beaver (Danezaa) people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had").
The Gros Ventre people call themselves the Haaninin ("white clay people"), also spelled A'aninin. The French called them Gros Ventres ("fat bellies"), misinterpreting a physical sign for waterfall; and the English called them the Fall Indians, related to waterfalls in the mountains. The Blackfoot referred to them as the Piik-siik-sii-naa ("snakes") or Atsina ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity. Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the Arapaho Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming. They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter.
Modern communities
Economy and services
Today, many of the Blackfoot live on reserves in Canada. About 8,500 live on the Montana reservation of . In 1896, the Blackfoot sold a large portion of their land to the United States government, which hoped to find gold or copper deposits. No such mineral deposits were found. In 1910, the land was set aside as Glacier National Park. Some Blackfoot work there and occasional Native American ceremonies are held there.
Unemployment is a challenging problem on the Blackfeet Reservation and on Canadian Blackfoot reserves, because of their isolation from major urban areas. Many people work as farmers, but there are not enough other jobs nearby. To find work, many Blackfoot have relocated from the reservation to towns and cities. Some companies pay the Blackfoot governments to lease use of lands for extracting oil, natural gas, and other resources. The nations have operated such businesses such as the Blackfoot Writing Company, a pen and pencil factory, which opened in 1972, but it closed in the late 1990s. In Canada, the Northern Piegan make traditional craft clothing and moccasins, and the Kainai operate a shopping center and factory.
In 1974, the Blackfoot Community College, a tribal college, opened in Browning, Montana. The school is also the location of the tribal headquarters. As of 1979, the Montana state government requires all public school teachers on or near the reservation to have a background in American Indian studies.
In 1986, the Kainai Nation opened the Red Crow Community College in Stand Off, Alberta. In 1989, the Siksika tribe in Canada completed the construction of a high school to go along with its elementary school.
Traditional culture
The Blackfoot continue many cultural traditions of the past and hope to extend their ancestors' traditions to their children. They want to teach their children the Pikuni language as well as other traditional knowledge. In the early 20th century, a white woman named Frances Densmore helped the Blackfoot record their language. During the 1950s and 1960s, few Blackfoot spoke the Pikuni language. In order to save their language, the Blackfoot Council asked elders who still knew the language to teach it. The elders had agreed and succeeded in reviving the language, so today the children can learn Pikuni at school or at home. In 1994, the Blackfoot Council accepted Pikuni as the official language.
The people have revived the Black Lodge Society, responsible for protecting songs and dances of the Blackfoot. They continue to announce the coming of spring by opening five medicine bundles, one at every sound of thunder during the spring. One of the biggest celebrations is called the North American Indian Days. Lasting four days, it is held during the second week of July in Browning. Lastly, the Sun Dance, which was illegal from the 1890s-1934, has been practiced again for years. While it was illegal, the Blackfoot held it in secret. Since 1934, they have practised it every summer. The event lasts eight days – time filled with prayers, dancing, singing, and offerings to honor the Creator. It provides an opportunity for the Blackfoot to get together and share views and ideas with each other, while celebrating their culture's most sacred ceremonies.
The Blackfeet Nation in Montana have a blue tribal flag. The flag shows a ceremonial lance or coup stick with 29 feathers. The center of the flag contains a ring of 32 white and black eagle feathers. Within the ring is an outline map of the Blackfoot Reservation. Within the map is depicted a warrior's headdress and the words "Blackfeet Nation" and "Pikuni" (the name of the tribe in the Algonquian native tongue of the Blackfoot).
Notable Blackfoot people
Elouise Cobell, banker and activist who led the 20th-century lawsuit that forced the US Government to reform individual Indian trusts
Byron Chief-Moon, performer and choreographer
Crowfoot (ISAPO-MUXIKA – "Crow Indian's Big Foot", also known in French as Pied de Corbeau), Chief of the Big Pipes band (later renamed Moccasin band, a splinter band of the Biters band), Head Chief of the South Siksika, by 1870 one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika or the Blackfoot proper
Aatsista-Mahkan ("Running Rabbit", * about 1833 – d. January 1911), since 1871 Chief of the Biters band (Ai-sik'-stuk-iks) of the Siksika, signed Treaty No.7 in 1877, along with Crowfoot, Old Sun, Red Crow, and other leaders
A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye (Ac ko mok ki, Ak ko mock ki, A'kow-muk-ai – "Feathers", since he took the name Old Swan), since about 1820 Chief of the Old Feathers' band, his personal following was known as the Bad Guns band, consisted of about 400 persons, along with Old Sun and Three Suns (No-okskatos) one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika
Stu-mick-o-súcks ("Buffalo Bull's Back Fat"), Head Chief of the Kainai, had his portrait painted at Fort Union in 1832
Faye HeavyShield, Kainai sculptor and installation artist
Joe Hipp, Heavyweight boxer, the first Native American to compete for the WBA World Heavyweight Title.
Beverly Hungry Wolf, author
Stephen Graham Jones, author
Earl Old Person (Cold Wind or Changing Home), Blackfoot tribal chairman from 1964-2008 and honorary lifetime chief of the Blackfoot
Jerry Potts (1840–1896), (also known as Ky-yo-kosi – "Bear Child"), was a Canadian-American plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai-Scottish descent. He identified as Piegan and became a minor Kainai chief.
Steve Reevis, actor who appeared in Fargo, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Dogmen, Comanche Moon and many other films and TV.
Misty Upham (1982-2014), actress
James Welch (1940–2003), Blackfoot-Gros Ventre author
The Honourable Eugene Creighton, judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.
Gyasi Ross, author, attorney, musician and political activist.
Representation in other media
Hergé's Tintin in America (1932) featured Blackfoot people.
Jimmy P (2013) is a Franco-American film exploring the psychoanalysis of a Blackfoot, Jimmy Picard, in the post-World War II period at a veterans' hospital by a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, George Devereux. The screenplay was adapted from his book about this process, published in 1951.
See also
Blackfeet music
Blackfoot language
List of Native American peoples in the United States
Palliser Region
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Blackfoot homepage
Blackfoot Confederacy
Blackfoot Language and the Blackfoot Indian Tribe
Map of Blackfeet tribal lands
Walter McClintock Glass Lantern Slides Photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, material culture, and ceremonies from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
Blackfoot Digital Library, project of Red Crow Community College and the University of Lethbridge
Blackfoot Anthropological Notes at Dartmouth College Library
Algonquian peoples
Plains tribes
First Nations history
Native American history of Montana
First Nations in Alberta
Native American tribes in Montana
Native American tribes in Wyoming | false | [
"The Dark Hunter Universe is the world in which multiple interlocking series come together to create one massive epic tale. Each series is marked by the type of creatures the novels are about.\n\nThe Dark-Hunter, Lords Of Avalon, Were-Hunter, Dream-Hunter, Hellchaser, and Chronicles Of Nick series all happen within the same universe and their stories connect.\n\nA single book can include elements from multiple parts of each sect of this vast world.\n\nThey are written by #1 New York Times Best Selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon. Some are written under her penname: Kinley MacGregor.\n\nThe Dark-Hunters are immortal warriors who sell their souls to the Greek goddess Artemis for an Act of Vengeance against the one who murdered them. Once they've had their revenge, they are dedicated to defending mankind against Daimons (a psychic race cursed by Apollo) and other preternatural enemies.\n\nThe Were-Hunters are shape-shifters consisting of the Katagaria and the Arcadians. The Katagaria have animal hearts and are animals who can turn into humans. Arcadians are humans who are capable to turning into animals. Both have the ability to time-travel.\n\nThe Dream-Hunters are Greek gods consisting of the Oneroi and the Skoti. The Oneroi were cursed by Zeus to have no emotions after they played a prank on him. The Skoti are the Oneroi who have succumbed to the emotions they siphon off dreamers and who have become addicted to them. The Oneroi police their activity for fear of Zeus punishing them again and purging their ranks, as he did before.\n\nHellchasers are charged with policing the demons who roam the earth and protecting humanity, and others from them.\n\nReading Order\nDark-Hunters (Formerly Fantasy Lover) (Julian and Grace)\n\"Dragonswan\" (Were-Hunter; Sebastian and Channon)(short story originally published in Out of This World; reprinted in In Other Worlds)\nNight Pleasures (Dark-Hunter; Kyrian and Amanda)\nNight Embrace (Dark-Hunter; Talon and Sunshine)\n\"Phantom Lover\" (Dream-Hunter; V'Aidan and Erin) (short story originally published in Midnight Pleasures; reprinted in Dark Bites)\nDance with the Devil (Dark-Hunter; Zarek and Astrid)\n\"A Dark-Hunter Christmas\" (Dark-Hunter; published online; printed in Dark Bites)\nKiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter; Wulf and Cassandra)\nSword of Darkness, (Lords Of Avalon, 2006)() (as Kinley MacGregor)\nKnight of Darkness, (Lords Of Avalon, 2006) () (as Kinley MacGregor)\nNight Play (Were-Hunter; Vane and Bride)\nSeize the Night (Dark-Hunter; Valerius and Tabitha)\nSins of the Night (Dark-Hunter; Alexion and Dangereuse)\n\"Winter Born\" (Were-Hunter; Dante and Pandora; originally printed in Stroke of Midnight; reprinted in \"Dark Bites\")\n\"Second Chances\" (Dark-Hunter)(published online, excerpt found in its entirety in \"Styxx\")\nUnleash the Night (Were-Hunter; Wren and Maggie)\nDark Side of the Moon (Dark-Hunter/Were-Hunter; Ravyn and Susan)\n\"A Hard Day's Night Searcher\" (Dark-Hunter; Rafael and Celena; originally published in My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding; reprinted in Dark Bites)\n\"Until Death We Do Part\" (Dark-Hunter; Velkan and Retta)(originally published in Love at First Bite; reprinted in Dark Bites)\n\"Fear the Darkness\" (Dark-Hunter)(originally published online; printed in Dark Bites)\nThe Dream-Hunter (Dream-Hunter; Arikos and Megeara)\nDevil May Cry (Dark-Hunter; Sin and Katra)\nUpon The Midnight Clear (Dream-Hunter; Leta and Aidan)\nDream Chaser (Dream-Hunter; Xypher and Simone)\nAcheron (Dark-Hunter; Acheron and Soteria)\n\"Where Angels Fear To Tread\" (Hellchaser)(originally published in Blood Lite)\n\"Shadow of the Moon\" (Were-Hunter; Fury and Angelia)(originally published in Dead After Dark; reprinted in Dark Bites)\nOne Silent Night (Dark-Hunter; Stryker and Zephyra)\nDream Warrior (Dream-Hunter; Jericho and Delphine)\nBad Moon Rising (Were-Hunter/Hellchaser; Fang and Aimee)\nNo Mercy (Dark-Hunter/Were-Hunter; Dev and Sam)\nRetribution (Dark-Hunter; Jess and Abby)\nThe Guardian (Were-Hunter/Dream-Hunter; Seth and Lydia)\nTime Untime (Dark-Hunter; Ren and Kateri) \n\"House of the Rising Son\" (Dark-Hunter; Aricles and Bathymaas) (prequel to Styxx; printed in Dark Bites)\nStyxx (Dark-Hunter; Styxx and Bethany)\nSon of No One (Hellchaser; Cadegan and Jo)\nDragonbane (Were-Hunter; Maxis and Seraphina)\nDragonmark (Were-Hunter; Illarion and Edilyn)\nDragonsworn (Were-Hunter; Falcyn and Medea)\nStygian (Dark-Hunter; Urian and Phoebe/Sarraxyn)\n\nChronicles of Nick\nThe Dark-Hunter universe also includes a Young-Adult spin-off/prequel series, The Chronicles of Nick, featuring a character named Nicholas (Nick) Ambrosius Gautier who appears throughout the Dark-Hunter Series.\n\nInfinity\nInvincible\nInfamous\nInferno\nIllusion\nInstinct \nInvision\nIntensity\n\nShadows of Fire\nShadows of Fire is a four book continuation of The Chronicles of Nick series.\n\nHeart of Venom\nWill of Iron\nFist of Fire\nEye of Stone\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nSherrilyn Kenyon Reading List\nSherrilyn Kenyon's Official Website\n\nFantasy novel series",
"Hunter King is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away, played by Scott Lee. The actor did not think he would win the role, as he believed that he had performed badly in the audition. However, after receiving a callback, Lee was cast as Hunter and he began filming the following week. His casting was revealed when he attended the 57th Logie Awards alongside other Home and Away cast members. The role marks Lee's television acting debut. Reece Milne, who went on to play Tank Snelgrove in the show, also auditioned for the part. Lee made his first appearance as Hunter during the episode broadcast on 27 July 2015.\n\nHunter is portrayed as brooding, moody, and misunderstood. Hunter had a tough upbringing and was left without a male role model in his life upon his grandfather's death. His bad actions stem from his desire to have a family and be loved. Lee enjoyed exploring the similarities between himself and his character. Hunter's attitude began to change as he settled into Summer Bay, as he realised that his attitude was pushing people away. Hunter was introduced as the secret son of Zac MacGuire (Charlie Clausen). His presence caused Zac's relationship with Leah Patterson-Baker (Ada Nicodemou) to become strained, as he wanted his father all to himself.\n\nHunter's later storylines saw him kidnapped and drugged by Trystan Powell (Ben Mingay), and named as a suspect in his mother Charlotte King's (Erika Heynatz) murder. Lee said Hunter loved his mother, despite the many bad things she did. Hunter formed a romantic relationship with Olivia Fraser Richards (Raechelle Banno), as she helped him deal with his grief and bond with his family. The relationship was tested by Hunter's failure to plan for his future and an unplanned pregnancy. When they broke up in 2016, Lee hoped they would eventually reconcile, as he thought the pair were soulmates. In late 2016, Lee announced his intentions to leave Home and Away to pursue other roles. His character departed on 10 September 2018.\n\nCasting\nScott Lee's casting was revealed when he appeared alongside the Home and Away cast at the Logie Awards in May 2015. He had been filming with the show for around three months prior to his appearance. Two months later, Lee's casting as Hunter was officially announced. Lee told his agent that he did not think he would win the role, as he believed that he had performed badly in his audition. He later received a callback and started filming the following week. Actor Reece Milne also auditioned for the role of Hunter, before he was cast as Tank Snelgrove a month later. The role marks Lee's television acting debut. Lee commented that joining the cast was \"very exciting\", and he told Kaylee Martin of The West Australian: \"It's Home and Away, you grow up watching it and I just thought 'if I'd ever get on that show, it would be so out of this world'. It was really bizarre and strange walking past Ray Meagher and all the people who have been on there that you grow up watching, I'm over the moon.\" Lee made his first appearance as Hunter during the episode broadcast on 27 July 2015.\n\nDevelopment\n\nCharacterisation\nAhead of his first appearance, Lee described Hunter as being \"angsty, brooding and moody\". Lee told Stephen Downie of TV Week that Hunter's actions stem from his desire to have a family and be loved by them. His grandfather's death left him without a \"solid\" male role model in his life, and Lee thought Hunter was \"searching for support.\" Lee also thought Hunter was misunderstood, saying \"he may seem very disrespectful, but at the end of the day he is a hurt soul...\" The actor also said Hunter had \"a bit of a temper\" and that his issue stem from his tough upbringing. Lee found Hunter's \"bad guy\" persona fun to play, as he was nothing like that in real life. He explained, \"Hunter is very misunderstood and treads on people's toes in a big way, when you get the chance to do something different that's away from yourself it's really cool.\"\n\nLee also enjoyed exploring the similarities between himself and his character, especially with Hunter's background being quite different to his own. As he settled into the Bay, Hunter's attitude started to change. Lee explained that Hunter realised that he cannot continue to act in the same manner, as he was pushing those around him away. Since Hunter just wanted to be loved and have a good life, he knew that he had to change what he was doing to make that happen. Lee told Kerry Harvey of Stuff.co.nz that Hunter's emotions often took over and he forgot to stop and look at what he had. He also advised his character to stop being \"so aggressive\" and relax.\n\nIntroduction\n\nLee told Peter Way of the Macarthur Chronicle Wollondilly that Hunter's arrival would cause trouble between some of the established couples within the show. After following his mother, Charlotte King (Erika Heynatz), to Summer Bay, Hunter burns down Leah Patterson-Baker's (Ada Nicodemou) house and assaults Josh Barrett (Jackson Gallagher) after breaking into Summer Bay House. Hunter then asks to meet his father Zac MacGuire (Charlie Clausen), who resides in the town. Hunter later shows up to a community fundraising banquet for Zac and his fiancée Leah, and he reveals that he is Zac's son. Lee explained that Hunter had begun to feel invisible and was no longer able to stand by and watch Zac with his \"other family\". He also said Hunter was often impulsive and did not think about the consequences of his actions. Zac is shocked by Hunter's revelation and demands answers from Charlotte, who confirms that Hunter is telling the truth. As Zac struggles to understand why Charlotte kept Hunter a secret from him, he ends up rejecting his son. Lee called Zac's bad reaction \"a massive slap in the face\" for Hunter, and added, \"he's waited his whole life to meet his father – he just wants to be a normal kid with a loving family.\"\n\nHunter's presence causes strain in Zac and Leah's relationship, as he makes it clear to Leah that he wants his father all to himself. Nicodemou explained that Leah does not trust Hunter and although she feels that she should be more accepting, she is uncomfortable around him. Leah also believes that Hunter is trying to get between her and Zac. After voicing her concerns to Zac, he refuses to believe his son is deliberately causing trouble for them. However, Hunter soon \"makes a spectacle\" by pretending to drown in the sea, leading Zac to miss a meeting with Leah. Nicodemou commented, \"After Leah hears that Hunter didn't want to go to hospital, she thinks it was just a plot to get his mum and dad back together. Of course Zac is very upset when she suggests this – she's accused Hunter of things before, and Zac feels she should trust him by now.\" Leah comes to realise that Zac may be forced to choose between her and Hunter in the future, so she decides to end their engagement, believing that it the best thing for her family. Hunter eventually starts to see Zac and Leah as his second family instead of something that he has to break up.\n\nKidnap and Charlotte's murder\nIn November 2015, Hunter was involved in his mother's blackmail storyline. Charlotte was being threatened by Trystan Powell (Ben Mingay), who wanted her to find evidence that Darryl Braxton (Steve Peacocke) was still alive. When Charlotte fails to find out any information, Trystan has Hunter kidnapped. Lee told Stephen Downie of TV Week that Hunter goes out to clear his head when he is grabbed by two men. He knows something weird is going on with his mother, and thinks that this has something to do with it. Hunter is dragged into a waiting car and drugged. His stepbrother VJ Patterson (Matt Little) witnesses everything and tries to chase the car, but it pulls away. VJ then alerts Zac and Leah to Hunter's kidnapping and they contact the police. Meanwhile, Hunter wakes up alone in the bush and suffering with the effects of the chloroform used to knock him out. Lee explained, \"He is disorientated, confused, and he doesn't know where he is. Waking up in the middle of the bush is a terrifying thing to happen to someone.\" Hunter manages to stumble through the bush until he is within sight of the road, and when he thinks he hears a car approaching he tries to walk towards the sound. But still suffering from being drugged, Hunter collapses. Downie noted that things did not look good for Hunter, as he needed medical attention and was at risk of exposure after spending a night in the bush. Constable Kat Chapman (Pia Miller) eventually finds Hunter.\n\nAfter Charlotte dies from being shot by a mystery assailant, a whodunnit storyline began and Hunter was named as one of ten suspects. When Kat comes to Summer Bay House with news of Charlotte's death, Hunter is not there as he has briefly left town. When he returns home, he learns of his mother's death and \"shuts down and goes numb\". Lee continued, \"In time these feelings that he's suppressed will comes out, but I think his first stage of grieving is to not deal with it – it's too much to handle.\" The actor pointed out that Hunter did love Charlotte, explaining that she was his only parent for a large part of his life and while they had some \"challenging times\" before her death, she was still his mother. Producers introduced Detective Dylan Carter (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor) for the plot, and he immediately begins questioning anyone who had a reason to want Charlotte dead. Hunter is at the top of his list, and Carter thinks that Hunter is capable of killing his mother. Lee thought that there were plenty of things linking Hunter to Charlotte's murder, as they had \"a close but turbulent relationship\". Zac and Leah also suspect that Hunter could be responsible, having witnessed him losing his temper with Charlotte at their wedding. When asked by Sarah Ellis of Inside Soap if his character was a killer, Lee replied that Hunter easily loses control and was capable of doing some \"extreme stuff without thinking of the consequences\". He added that many viewers thought that Hunter was guilty and joked that his feelings were hurt by the speculation.\n\nAfter Hunter learns Andy Barrett (Tai Hara) has confessed to murdering Charlotte, he plans to get revenge. Lee quipped, \"Nothing is going to stop him.\" Hunter goes to the police station and demands to speak with Andy, but his request is refused. Downie (TV Week) observed that Hunter was a \"ticking time bomb\", while Lee said that his character suppressed his emotions in the wake of his mother's death. He also feels guilty that many of the bad things she did – such as killing his cousin Denny Miller (Jessica Grace Smith) – were done to protect him. Struggling to control his emotions, Hunter waits outside the station. When he sees Andy being led from his cell, Hunter grabs a pair of scissors and stabs him.\n\nRelationship with Olivia Fraser Richards\n\nLee hoped Hunter would get a love interest at some point during his tenure, commenting \"everyone wants a girlfriend!\" Producers later established a friendship between Hunter and Olivia Fraser Richards (Raechelle Banno) following her return to the Bay two months later. While they are spending time together at the beach pool, Olivia asks Hunter not to look at her when she gets out of the water. However, Hunter \"can't resist a peek\" and is shocked when he notices Olivia's thighs are covered in scars. Hunter realises that Olivia is hiding something, and he later tells VJ about the scars, as he feels that he cannot talk to Olivia about it. VJ, who is competing with Hunter for Olivia's affections, takes the opportunity to tell Olivia that Hunter saw her scars and says he will be there for her. Olivia helps Hunter to deal with his mother's death and bond with his new family. Their relationship is tested by Hunter's failure to plan for the future, and the arrival of Lindsay Ford (Georgia Flood), who wants Hunter for herself.\n\nHunter surprises her with a romantic \"high tea\" picnic in the bush. Lee called the gesture \"a bit cute\". He also said that Hunter spends the day \"feeling odd\", but he does not get it checked out as he is stubborn. During the picnic, Hunter suddenly doubles over in pain and collapses. Unable to get a phone signal, Olivia leaves Hunter to run to the road and flags down the first car she sees, which happens to be Zac's. As Hunter's condition deteriorates, Zac manages to contact Doctor Nate Cooper (Kyle Pryor), who diagnoses Hunter with a tension pneumothorax. Lee told an Inside Soap writer that he was nervous about the scenes. He wanted them to look as accurate as possible, and was offered advice by a nurse on the set. Nate talks Zac through the procedure to ease Hunter's condition, but as Zac makes the incision with a knife, he is momentarily reminded of the attack he suffered in prison. Zac manages to get Hunter breathing again and he is later given the all-clear at the hospital.\n\nThe \"traumatic\" experience brings Hunter and Olivia closer together. Banno said Olivia wants a fresh start, and the fact that their relationship is back on track means a lot to her. When Hunter tries to initiate sex, Olivia appears to be thinking about something else. Olivia organises another picnic for them both, but she is unable to tell Hunter what is bothering her and leaves the date early. Olivia then takes a pregnancy test and learns she is pregnant. When Hunter hears the news, his instinct is to flee, but he realises that he needs to face the situation with Olivia. Banno explained, \"They're two 16-year-olds dealing with an adult issue. He was there for her and ready to make the decisions they needed to make together.\" Hunter and Olivia make the decision to have an abortion. Olivia struggles after the procedure and begins self-harming again.\n\nHunter punches Jordan Walsh (Benny Turland) in the face when he gets drunk at a party. The following day, Jordan tells Olivia that she deserves better, and she considers his advice, as Hunter's actions have really affected their relationship. Olivia attempts to reconcile with Hunter, but when she tells him what Jordan said, Hunter breaks up with her in a \"jealous rage\". Olivia then accepts that their relationship is over. The couple later reconciled, before breaking up again. Olivia was then paired with newcomer Mason Morgan (Orpheus Pledger). Banno said that Hunter and Olivia hope that they will reunite, but they both have this fear that they might not. The actress stated, \"They broke up, not because they don't love each other anymore, but because they seemed a bit toxic around each other.\" When Hunter receives a job at the Bait Shop, he immediately tells Olivia and asks her to help him celebrate. When he notices a text message on her phone from Mason, they argue and Olivia says that she might be better off with Mason. During an interview with Kerry Harvey of Stuff.co.nz Lee thought Hunter's relationship with Olivia had calmed his character down. He said the couple were \"soulmates\", who would always love each other, but their relationship had become \"a little bit co-dependent\".\n\nHunter and Olivia later reunite and their relationship is immediately tested when VJ attempts to kiss Olivia. The plot begins with Olivia and Hunter taking VJ out to Salt in a bid to cheer him up, after he loses custody of his step-daughter. VJ drinks too much alcohol and he becomes verbally abusive towards Hunter. Olivia is trying to calm VJ down when he kisses her. Hunter and VJ fight, forcing Olivia to separate them. She then \"goes ballistic\" at Hunter, causing tension between them. Hunter decides to propose to Olivia, and he purchases an engagement ring while he is drunk. Lee thought that his character was serious about his love for Olivia though. While they are dining at Salt, Hunter places the ring in Olivia's champagne glass, but it gets knocked to the floor and she believes the ring belongs to someone else. Lee said Hunter is \"a bit embarrassed\", especially when Olivia calls the ring \"ugly\". The incident prompts Hunter to plan the proposal out properly. However, Lee did not want Hunter to go through with it, as he believed the couple were no longer compatible, stating, \"Once upon a time, I would have said that Hunter and Olivia were perfectly suited. But their lives have taken different directions – and I don't think they complement each other in a healthy way.\" Hunter organises a second proposal. He makes \"a heartfelt speech\" about their relationship in front of their friends, but Olivia rejects him and leaves the beach.\n\nDeparture\nIn the 24 December 2016 – 6 January 2017 edition of TV Week, Lee confirmed that he would be leaving the show at the end of 2017 to pursue his acting career in the United States. Lee stated, \"I'm excited. The times I've had has gone so quickly and I've learnt a lot as an actor.\" Hunter departed on 10 September 2018. His exit storyline sees him leave the Bay to join Zac in Vietnam. Lee said, \"He wants a fresh start. Nothing's going right in his life, so making this move could really help.\" Lee's departure came shortly after Banno also departed the serial. Lee explained that he and Banno thought they would leave together, as their characters were involved for so long, but he liked that they received their own exits, as it allowed them to \"stand on their own two feet.\" Lee also liked that his final scene had his character receiving advice from Alf. He added, \"I'll never forget it. Home and Away has been such a special period of my life.\"\n\nStorylines\nAfter spending days following Zac MacGuire and Leah Patterson-Baker around Summer Bay, Hunter breaks into Summer Bay House and rummages through their drawers. Josh Barrett catches him and Hunter knocks him down the stairs. VJ Patterson gives chase and manages to pull Hunter's backpack off of him. Hunter then visits his mother, Charlotte, at her motel room and tells her he is done waiting and wants to meet Zac, his father, now. She realises that he set fire to Zac and Leah's house and sends him away. Upon his return, Hunter finds Zac and reveals that he is his son. VJ confronts Hunter about pushing Josh down the stairs and they fight. Zac and Hunter bond over a shared interest in basketball. Hunter has trouble accepting Leah and VJ as part of his life. He manipulates Zac into spending more time with him, causing a strain on Zac and Leah's relationship. After arguing with them about his behaviour, Hunter breaks into Leah's diner and steals the safe. He accidentally exposes some electrical wiring and knocks over a bucket of water, causing Marilyn Chambers (Emily Symons) to suffer a serious electric shock. Hunter feels guilty, but Charlotte refuses to let him go to the police and instead sends him to stay with his grandmother for a few days.\n\nHunter promises Zac that he will try to be a better son. He soon learns Charlotte has been having sex with Matt Page (Alec Snow), a high school student, and that she has stolen money from his trust fund. He moves out of their apartment and stays with Zac and Leah. Hunter is abducted by Trystan Powell, who wants revenge on Charlotte. He is drugged and left in the bush. Hunter is eventually rescued by Kat Chapman. Hunter begins a relationship with Olivia Fraser Richards. When he learns that Charlotte plans to reveal he was behind the fire at Leah's house and that she killed his cousin, Denny Miller, Hunter leaves the Bay after flagging down passing motorist, Lindsay Ford. On his return, Hunter finds out his mother has died. He finally admits that he caused the fire at Leah's house during Billie Ashford's (Tessa de Josselin) arson trial. He is later accused of his mother's murder. Lindsay tries to break up his relationship when she tells Olivia that she and Hunter kissed. Lindsay takes Alf Stewart's (Ray Meagher) ute and knocks Hunter over when he tries to stop her. He later suffers a collapsed lung during a picnic with Olivia, and Zac performs an emergency procedure to get him breathing properly again.\n\nOlivia falls pregnant and she and Hunter decide to have an abortion, as they are not ready to be parents. Hunter and Olivia's relationship is strained and she starts self-harming again. Hunter stabs Andy Barrett after learning he was responsible for Charlotte's death. Hunter is arrested and given community service work. He later learns Andy's brother Josh shot his mother. Hunter befriends Jordan Walsh during his community service and invites him to a party at The Farmhouse. Hunter gets drunk and fights with Jordan, leading to the break up of relationship with Olivia. Olivia's new friend Tabitha Ford (Eliza Scanlen) warns Hunter to stay away from her, before she begins manipulating Olivia. Tabitha frames Hunter when she accesses school records and changes his exam score, resulting in his suspension. Olivia eventually ends her friendship with Tabitha, who seeks revenge. She dresses in a similar style to Olivia, enters Hunter's caravan at night and kisses him in the hope of breaking up his friendship with Olivia. Hunter rescues Olivia when Tabitha poses as Olivia's abuser on social media. Olivia and Hunter reconcile. Hunter becomes stressed about his final exams and his lack of plans for university. He is also tempted to cheat when he is offered the English exam paper.\n\nOlivia asks that they take a break from their relationship. Hunter clashes with John Palmer (Shane Withington), when John fails him during his Bronze Medallion exam. Hunter smashes John's walkie talkie after he bumps into him. When a fire breaks out at the caravan park, Hunter is blamed, but John soon realises that he caused the fire and apologises. Hunter later finds John collapsed outside the surf club and he and Olivia call an ambulance. Hunter becomes jealous when Olivia begins dating Mason Morgan. When a bush fire breaks out and heads towards the Summer Grooves music festival, Hunter risks his life to find Olivia and Mason. After escaping the fire, Hunter is injured when he returns to find Olivia, who later turns up safe. The police bring Hunter in for questioning about the recent cases of arson around the town. Hunter fights with Mason, and later suggests to Olivia that they should stay away from each other. After Olivia breaks up with Mason, Hunter helps her out with her university nerves by asking Evelyn to give her a tour of the campus. Hunter and Olivia get back together. After they struggle to find time to see each other, Hunter suggests he and Olivia move in together and she agrees. They eventually find a place, but they are forced to clean it up. After they are burgled, Irene invites them to move in with her. Hunter and Olivia take out VJ to cheer him up, but when he gets drunk and tries to kiss Olivia, Hunter fights with him.\n\nZac falls from the roof of Summer Bay House and Hunter initially blames Leah, as Zac was trying to get her attention. When Zac makes a remark about when his break up with Charlotte occurred, Hunter starts to question his paternity. After learning Zac is planning to leave the Bay, he conducts a DNA test. When Zac says he wants Hunter to come with him, Hunter tries to stop VJ from posting the test, but he is too late. The results arrive and Hunter throws them away, before retrieving them and learning that Zac is not his father. After he tells Zac, he encourages him to leave the Bay. Hunter struggles with the revelation about his paternity and Olivia encourages him to stay in contact with Zac. Alf asks Hunter to help out with an event at the beach, and he clashes with Mason. After he tries to start a fight, Hunter breaks down and tells Mason about Zac. They apologise to each other. Hunter decides to look for his biological father and contacts his grandmother, Peggy King (Caroline Gillmer), who comes to the Bay. He tells her about Zac, but Peggy reacts badly and accuses Hunter of ruining Charlotte's life. Olivia makes things worse when she talks with Peggy, who tells the police about the Diner robbery, leading to Hunter's arrest. He and Olivia have a big argument. Hunter apologises to Irene, Marilyn and Leah, before learning that he will not be charged. Hunter and Peggy reconcile and she suggests that a former neighbour, Wally Burns (Julian Garner), could be his father. Hunter writes to Wally, but the letter is returned to him. However, Wally comes to the Bay and meets with Hunter. He tells him that he cannot be his father, as he is infertile. Hunter asks Wally to take a DNA test, before Wally leaves. He returns a few days later and reveals that a DNA test confirmed that he is Hunter's father. Hunter tries to bond with Wally, but finds that they do not have much in common.\n\nReception\nFollowing Hunter's early appearances, an Inside Soap writer commented, \"From what we've seen of Hunter so far, it seems he could be big trouble!\" Another writer for the publication called him a \"creepy teenager\". While Sarah Ellis branded him \"volatile\". Michael Cregan included the reveal of Hunter's identity in his feature on the top five moments for Tuesday 22 September 2015. Cregan wrote, \"At last! The identity of the mysterious stranger lurking around Summer Bay is revealed tonight, and it's worth waiting for. Yes, the hooded stranger is none other than Charlotte's son, Hunter.\" Lee revealed that when fans met him in real life they appeared to be scared of him due to Hunter's actions.\n\nKerry Harvey of Stuff.com.nz said Hunter \"upset locals and fans with his wicked ways.\" Both Kaylee Martin of The West Australian and Stephen Downie of TV Week branded Hunter a \"bad boy\". Martin also wrote \"brooding teenager Hunter will be creating drama and shaking things up\". Following Charlotte's death, a reporter for the South Wales Echo noted, \"Hunter's world is turned upside down when he finds out about Andy's confession.\" In November 2015, 58% of TV Week readers voted that they liked Hunter and Olivia as a couple.\n\nOf Hunter and Christina's chemistry, a South Wales Echo reported observed, \"she's married, he's a hunk – and fate keeps throwing them together. Surely it's only a matter of time before one thing leads to another for Christina and Hunter.\" A writer for Liverpool Echo wrote, \"Hunter has been having a tough time, so you would imagine that finally hearing Christina admit she made up her allegations would put a smile on his face. However, he had to trick her into it, so takes no pleasure.\" Summing up Hunter's time in the Bay, Tamara Cullen of TV Week stated \"From a troubled teen to a loveable larrikin, Hunter's time in the Bay has been action-packed.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nHunter King at the Official Home and Away website\n\nHome and Away characters\nTelevision characters introduced in 2015\nFictional shopkeepers\nMale villains\nMale characters in television"
] |
[
"Blackfoot Confederacy",
"Early history",
"When is the Blackfoot confederacy started ?",
"Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika.",
"Does any record exist of the Blackfoots' early history ?",
"The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black.",
"How did the Blackfoot early society worked ?",
"Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America,",
"Where do they think they originate ?",
"One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.",
"What kind of god they prayed to ?",
"I don't know.",
"Were they hunter ?",
"I don't know."
] | C_de2f5c0e98744f069aac69b83a73fc48_1 | What is the most interesting fact about the blackfoots ? | 7 | What is the most interesting fact about the blackfoots ? | Blackfoot Confederacy | The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Only one of the Niitsitapi tribes are called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black. Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west. When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains. The Plains had covered approximately 780,000 square miles (2,000,000 km2) with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial." CANNOTANSWER | When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. | The Blackfoot Confederacy, Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or "Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Blackfeet people: the Siksika ("Blackfoot"), the Kainai or Blood ("Many Chiefs"), and two sections of the Peigan or Piikani ("Splotchy Robe") – the Northern Piikani (Aapátohsipikáni) and the Southern Piikani (Amskapi Piikani or Pikuni). Broader definitions include groups such as the Tsúùtínà (Sarcee) and A'aninin (Gros Ventre) who spoke quite different languages but allied with or joined the Blackfoot Confederacy.
Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of western North America, specifically the semi-arid shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens. The Blackfoot used these to expand their territory at the expense of neighboring tribes.
Today, three Blackfoot First Nation band governments (the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations) reside in the Canadian province of Alberta, while the Blackfeet Nation is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Southern Piikani in Montana, United States. Additionally, the Gros Ventre are members of the federally recognized Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana in the United States and the Tsuutʼina Nation is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada.
Government
The four Blackfoot nations come together to make up what is known as the Blackfoot Confederacy, meaning that they have banded together to help one another. The nations have their own separate governments ruled by a head chief, but regularly come together for religious and social celebrations.
Originally the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy consisted of three peoples ("nation", "tribes", "tribal nations") based on kinship and dialect, but all speaking the common language of Blackfoot, one of the Algonquian languages family. The three were the Piikáni (historically called "Piegan Blackfeet" in English-language sources), the Káínaa (called "Bloods"), and the Siksikáwa ("Blackfoot"). They later allied with the unrelated Tsuu T'ina ("Sarcee"), who became merged into the Confederacy and, (for a time) with the Atsina, or A'aninin (Gros Ventre).
Each of these highly decentralized peoples were divided into many bands, which ranged in size from 10 to 30 lodges, or about 80 to 240 persons. The band was the basic unit of organization for hunting and defence.
The Confederacy occupied a large territory where they hunted and foraged; in the 19th century it was divided by the current Canada–US international border. But during the late nineteenth century, both governments forced the peoples to end their nomadic traditions and settle on "Indian reserves" (Canadian terminology) or "Indian reservations" (US terminology). The South Peigan are the only group who chose to settle in Montana. The other three Blackfoot-speaking peoples and the Sarcee are located in Alberta. Together, the Blackfoot-speakers call themselves the Niitsítapi (the "Original People"). After leaving the Confederacy, the Gros Ventres also settled on a reservation in Montana.
When these peoples were forced to end their nomadic traditions, their social structures changed. Tribal nations, which had formerly been mostly ethnic associations, were institutionalized as governments (referred to as "tribes" in the United States and "bands" or "First Nations" in Canada). The Piegan were divided into the North Peigan in Alberta, and the South Peigan in Montana.
History
The Confederacy had a territory that stretched from the North Saskatchewan River (called Ponoká'sisaahta) along what is now Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, to the Yellowstone River (called Otahkoiitahtayi) of Montana in the United States, and from the Rocky Mountains (called Miistakistsi) and along the South Saskatchewan River to the present Alberta-Saskatchewan border (called Kaayihkimikoyi), east past the Cypress Hills. They called their tribal territory Niitsitpiis-stahkoii (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ)- "Original People
s Land." To the east, the Innu and Naskapi called their territory Nitassinan – "Our Land." They had adopted the use of the horse from other Plains tribes, probably by the early eighteenth century, which gave them expanded range and mobility, as well as advantages in hunting.
The basic social unit of the Niitsitapi above the family was the band, varying from about 10 to 30 lodges, about 80 to 241 people. This size group was large enough to defend against attack and to undertake communal hunts, but was also small enough for flexibility. Each band consisted of a respected leader , possibly his brothers and parents, and others who were not related. Since the band was defined by place of residence, rather than by kinship, a person was free to leave one band and join another, which tended to ameliorate leadership disputes. As well, should a band fall upon hard times, its members could split up and join other bands. In practice, bands were constantly forming and breaking up. The system maximized flexibility and was an ideal organization for a hunting people on the northwestern Great Plains.
During the summer, the people assembled for nation gatherings. In these large assemblies, warrior societies played an important role for the men. Membership into these societies was based on brave acts and deeds.
For almost half the year in the long northern winter, the Niitsitapi lived in their winter camps along a wooded river valley. They were located perhaps a day's march apart, not moving camp unless food for the people and horses, or firewood became depleted. Where there was adequate wood and game resources, some bands would camp together. During this part of the year, buffalo also wintered in wooded areas, where they were partially sheltered from storms and snow. They were easier prey as their movements were hampered. In spring the buffalo moved out onto the grasslands to forage on new spring growth. The Blackfoot did not follow immediately, for fear of late blizzards. As dried food or game became depleted, the bands would split up and begin to hunt the buffalo.
In midsummer, when the chokecherries ripened, the people regrouped for their major ceremony, the Okan (Sun Dance). This was the only time of year when the four nations would assemble. The gathering reinforced the bonds among the various groups and linked individuals with the nations. Communal buffalo hunts provided food for the people, as well as offerings of the bulls' tongues (a delicacy) for the ceremonies. These ceremonies are sacred to the people. After the Okan, the people again separated to follow the buffalo. They used the buffalo hides to make their dwellings and temporary tipis.
In the fall, the people would gradually shift to their wintering areas. The men would prepare the buffalo jumps and pounds for capturing or driving the bison for hunting. Several groups of people might join together at particularly good sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. As the buffalo were naturally driven into the area by the gradual late summer drying off of the open grasslands, the Blackfoot would carry out great communal buffalo kills.
The women processed the buffalo, preparing dried meat, and combining it for nutrition and flavor with dried fruits into pemmican, to last them through winter and other times when hunting was poor. At the end of the fall, the Blackfoot would move to their winter camps. The women worked the buffalo and other game skins for clothing, as well as to reinforce their dwellings; other elements were used to make warm fur robes, leggings, cords and other needed items. Animal sinews were used to tie arrow points and lances to throwing sticks, or for bridles for horses.
The Niitsitapi maintained this traditional way of life based on hunting bison, until the near extirpation of the bison by 1881 forced them to adapt their ways of life in response to the encroachment of the European settlers and their descendants. In the United States, they were restricted to land assigned in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Nearly three decades later, they were given a distinct reservation in the Sweetgrass Hills Treaty of 1887. In 1877, the Canadian Niitsitapi signed Treaty 7 and settled on reserves in southern Alberta.
This began a period of great struggle and economic hardship; the Niitsitapi had to try to adapt to a completely new way of life. They suffered a high rate of fatalities when exposed to Eurasian diseases, for which they had no natural immunity.
Eventually, they established a viable economy based on farming, ranching, and light industry. Their population has increased to about 16,000 in Canada and 15,000 in the U.S. today. With their new economic stability, the Niitsitapi have been free to adapt their culture and traditions to their new circumstances, renewing their connection to their ancient roots.
Early history
The Niitsitapi, also known as the Blackfoot or Blackfeet Indians, reside in the Great Plains of Montana and the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Originally, only one of the Niitsitapi tribes was called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples' moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black. One legendary story claimed that the Siksika walked through ashes of prairie fires, which in turn colored the bottoms of their moccasins black.
Due to language and cultural patterns, anthropologists believe the Niitsitapi did not originate in the Great Plains of the Midwest North America, but migrated from the upper Northeastern part of the country. They coalesced as a group while living in the forests of what is now the Northeastern United States. They were mostly located around the modern-day border between Canada and the state of Maine. By 1200, the Niitsitapi were moving in search of more land. They moved west and settled for a while north of the Great Lakes in present-day Canada, but had to compete for resources with existing tribes. They left the Great Lakes area and kept moving west.
When they moved, they usually packed their belongings on an A-shaped sled called a travois. The travois was designed for transport over dry land. The Blackfoot had relied on dogs to pull the travois; they did not acquire horses until the 18th century. From the Great Lakes area, they continued to move west and eventually settled in the Great Plains.
The Plains had covered approximately with the Saskatchewan River to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, the Mississippi River to the east, and the Rocky Mountains to the west. Adopting the use of the horse, the Niitsitapi established themselves as one of the most powerful Indian tribes on the Plains in the late 18th century, earning themselves the name "The Lords of the Plains." Niitsitapi stories trace their residence and possession of their plains territory to "time immemorial."
Importance and uses of bison
The Niitsitapi main source of food on the plains was the American bison (buffalo), the largest mammal in North America, standing about tall and weighing up to . Before the introduction of horses, the Niitsitapi needed other ways to get in range. The buffalo jump was one of the most common ways. The hunters would round up the buffalo into V-shaped pens, and drive them over a cliff (they hunted pronghorn antelopes in the same way). Afterwards the hunters would go to the bottom and take as much meat as they could carry back to camp. They also used camouflage for hunting. The hunters would take buffalo skins from previous hunting trips and drape them over their bodies to blend in and mask their scent. By subtle moves, the hunters could get close to the herd. When close enough, the hunters would attack with arrows or spears to kill wounded animals.
The people used virtually all parts of the body and skin. The women prepared the meat for food: by boiling, roasting or drying for jerky. This processed it to last a long time without spoiling, and they depended on bison meat to get through the winters. The winters were long, harsh, and cold due to the lack of trees in the Plains, so people stockpiled meat in summer. As a ritual, hunters often ate the bison heart minutes after the kill. The women tanned and prepared the skins to cover the tepees. These were made of log poles, with the skins draped over it. The tepee remained warm in the winter and cool in the summer, and was a great shield against the wind.
The women also made clothing from the skins, such as robes and moccasins, and made soap from the fat. Both men and women made utensils, sewing needles and tools from the bones, using tendon for fastening and binding. The stomach and bladder were cleaned and prepared for use for storing liquids. Dried bison dung was fuel for the fires. The Niitsitapi considered the animal sacred and integral to their lives.
Discovery and uses of horses
Up until around 1730, the Blackfoot traveled by foot and used dogs to carry and pull some of their goods. They had not seen horses in their previous lands, but were introduced to them on the Plains, as other tribes, such as the Shoshone, had already adopted their use. They saw the advantages of horses and wanted some. The Blackfoot called the horses ponokamita (elk dogs). The horses could carry much more weight than dogs and moved at a greater speed. They could be ridden for hunting and travel.
Horses revolutionised life on the Great Plains and soon came to be regarded as a measure of wealth. Warriors regularly raided other tribes for their best horses. Horses were generally used as universal standards of barter. Medicine men were paid for cures and healing with horses. Those who designed shields or war bonnets were also paid in horses. The men gave horses to those who were owed gifts as well as to the needy. An individual's wealth rose with the number of horses accumulated, but a man did not keep an abundance of them. The individual's prestige and status was judged by the number of horses that he could give away. For the Indians who lived on the Plains, the principal value of property was to share it with others.
After having driven the hostile Shoshone and Arapaho from the Northwestern Plains, the Niitsitapi began in 1800 a long phase of keen competition in the fur trade with their former Cree allies, which often escalated militarily. In addition both groups had adapted to using horses about 1730, so by mid-century an adequate supply of horses became a question of survival. Horse theft was at this stage not only a proof of courage, but often a desperate contribution to survival, for many ethnic groups competed for hunting in the grasslands.
The Cree and Assiniboine continued horse raiding against the Gros Ventre (in Cree: Pawistiko Iyiniwak – "Rapids People" – "People of the Rapids"), allies of the Niitsitapi. The Gros Ventres were also known as Niya Wati Inew, Naywattamee ("They Live in Holes People"), because their tribal lands were along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of North and South Saskatchewan River). They had to withstand attacks of enemies with guns. In retaliation for Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) supplying their enemies with weapons, the Gros Ventre attacked and burned in 1793 South Branch House of the HBC on the South Saskatchewan River near the present village of St. Louis, Saskatchewan. Then, the tribe moved southward to the Milk River in Montana and allied themselves with the Blackfoot. The area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war fought between these two tribal groups) was the limit of the now warring tribal alliances.
Enemies and warrior culture
Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him. Warriors would strive to perform various acts of bravery called counting coup, in order to move up in social rank. The coups in order of importance were: taking a gun from a living enemy and or touching him directly; capturing lances, and bows; scalping an enemy; killing an enemy; freeing a tied horse from in front of an enemy lodge; leading a war party; scouting for a war party; stealing headdresses, shields, pipes (sacred ceremonial pipes); and driving a herd of stolen horses back to camp.
The Niitsitapi were enemies of the Crow, Cheyenne (kiihtsipimiitapi – ″Pinto People″), and Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota) (called pinaapisinaa – "East Cree") on the Great Plains; and the Shoshone, Flathead, Kalispel, Kootenai (called kotonáá'wa) and Nez Perce (called komonóítapiikoan) in the mountain country to their west and southwest. Their most mighty and most dangerous enemy, however, were the political/military/trading alliance of the Iron Confederacy or Nehiyaw-Pwat (in Plains Cree: Nehiyaw – 'Cree' and Pwat or Pwat-sak – 'Sioux, i.e. Assiniboine') – named after the dominating Plains Cree (called Asinaa) and Assiniboine (called Niitsísinaa – "Original Cree"). These included the Stoney (called Saahsáísso'kitaki or Sahsi-sokitaki – ″Sarcee trying to cut″), Saulteaux (or Plains Ojibwe), and Métis to the north, east and southeast.
With the expansion of the Nehiyaw-Pwat to the north, west and southwest, they integrated larger groups of Iroquois, Chipewyan, Danezaa (Dunneza – 'The real (prototypical) people'), Ktunaxa, Flathead, and later Gros Ventre (called atsíína – "Gut People" or "like a Cree"), in their local groups. Loosely allied with the Nehiyaw-Pwat, but politically independent, were neighboring tribes like the Ktunaxa, Secwepemc and in particular the arch enemy of the Blackfoot, the Crow, or Indian trading partners like the Nez Perce and Flathead.
The Shoshone acquired horses much sooner than the Blackfoot and soon occupied much of present-day Alberta, most of Montana, and parts of Wyoming, and raided the Blackfoot frequently. Once the Piegan gained access to horses of their own and guns, obtained from the HBC via the Cree and Assiniboine, the situation changed. By 1787 David Thompson reports that the Blackfoot had completely conquered most of Shoshone territory, and frequently captured Shoshone women and children and forcibly assimilated them into Blackfoot society, further increasing their advantages over the Shoshone. Thompson reports that Blackfoot territory in 1787 was from the North Saskatchewan River in the north to the Missouri River in the South, and from Rocky Mountains in the west out to a distance of to the east.
Between 1790 and 1850, the Nehiyaw-Pwat were at the height of their power; they could successfully defend their territories against the Sioux (Lakota, Nakota and Dakota) and the Niitsitapi Confederacy. During the so-called Buffalo Wars (about 1850 – 1870), they penetrated further and further into the territory from the Niitsitapi Confederacy in search for the buffalo, so that the Piegan were forced to give way in the region of the Missouri River (in Cree: Pikano Sipi – "Muddy River", "Muddy, turbid River"), the Kainai withdrew to the Bow River and Belly River; only the Siksika could hold their tribal lands along the Red Deer River. Around 1870, the alliance between the Blackfoot and the Gros Ventre broke, and the latter began to look to their former enemies, the Southern Assiniboine (or Plains Assiniboine), for protection.
First contact with Europeans and the fur trade
Anthony Henday of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) met a large Blackfoot group in 1754 in what is now Alberta. The Blackfoot had established dealings with traders connected to the Canadian and English fur trade before meeting the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1806. Lewis and Clark and their men had embarked on mapping the Louisiana Territory and upper Missouri River for the United States government.
On their return trip from the Pacific Coast, Lewis and three of his men encountered a group of young Blackfoot warriors with a large herd of horses, and it was clear to Meriwether Lewis that they were not far from much larger groups of warriors. Lewis explained to them that the United States government wanted peace with all Indian nations, and that the US leaders had successfully formed alliances with other Indian nations. The group camped together that night, and at dawn there was a scuffle as it was discovered that the Blackfoot were trying to steal guns and run off with their horses while the Americans slept. In the ensuing struggle, one warrior was fatally stabbed and another shot by Lewis and presumed killed.
In subsequent years, American mountain men trapping in Blackfoot country generally encountered hostility. When John Colter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, returned to Blackfoot country soon after, he barely escaped with his life. In 1809, Colter and his companion were trapping on the Jefferson River by canoe when they were surrounded by hundreds of Blackfoot warriors on horseback on both sides of the river bank. Colter's companion, John Potts, did not surrender and was killed. Colter was stripped of his clothes and forced to run for his life, after being given a head start (famously known in the annals of the West as "Colter's Run.") He eventually escaped by reaching a river five miles away and diving under either an island of driftwood or a beaver dam, where he remained concealed until after nightfall. He trekked another 300 miles to a fort.
In the context of shifting tribal politics due to the spread of horses and guns, the Niitsitapi initially tried to increase their trade with the HBC traders in Rupert's Land whilst blocking access to the HBC by neighboring peoples to the West. But the HBC trade eventually reached into what is now inland British Columbia.
By the late 1820s, [this prompted] the Niitsitapiksi, and in particular the Piikani, whose territory was rich in beaver, [to] temporarily put aside cultural prohibitions and environmental constraints to trap enormous numbers of these animals and, in turn, receive greater quantities of trade items.
The HBC encouraged Niitsitapiksi to trade by setting up posts on the North Saskatchewan River, on the northern boundary of their territory. In the 1830s the Rocky Mountain region and the wider Saskatchewan District were the HBC's most profitable, and Rocky Mountain House was the HBC's busiest post. It was primarily used by the Piikani. Other Niitsitapiksi nations traded more in pemmican and buffalo skins than beaver, and visited other posts such as Fort Edmonton.
Meanwhile, in 1822 the American Fur Company entered the Upper Missouri region from the south for the first time, without Niitsitapiksi permission. This led to tensions and conflict until 1830, when peaceful trade was established. This was followed by the opening of Fort Piegan as the first American trading post in Niitsitapi territory in 1831, joined by Fort MacKenzie in 1833. The Americans offered better terms of trade and were more interested in buffalo skins than the HBC, which brought them more trade from the Niitsitapi. The HBC responded by building Bow Fort (Peigan Post) on the Bow River in 1832, but it was not a success.
In 1833, German explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss painter Karl Bodmer spent months with the Niitsitapi to get a sense of their culture. Bodmer portrayed their society in paintings and drawings.
Contact with the Europeans caused a spread of infectious diseases to the Niitsitapi, mostly cholera and smallpox. In one instance in 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat, the St. Peter's, was headed to Fort Union and several passengers contracted smallpox on the way. They continued to send a smaller vessel with supplies farther up the river to posts among the Niitsitapi. The Niitsitapi contracted the disease and eventually 6,000 died, marking an end to their dominance among tribes over the Plains. The Hudson's Bay Company did not require or help their employees get vaccinated; the English doctor Edward Jenner had developed a technique 41 years before but its use was not yet widespread.
Indian Wars
Like many other Great Plains Indian nations, the Niitsitapi often had hostile relationships with white settlers. Despite the hostilities, the Blackfoot stayed largely out of the Great Plains Indian Wars, neither fighting against nor scouting for the United States army. One of their friendly bands, however, was attacked by mistake and nearly destroyed by the US Army in the Marias Massacre on 23 January 1870, undertaken as an action to suppress violence against settlers. A friendly relationship with the North-West Mounted Police and learning of the brutality of the Marias Massacre discouraged the Blackfoot from engaging in wars against Canada and the United States.
When the Lakota, together with their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies, were fighting the United States Army, they sent runners into Blackfoot territory, urging them to join the fight. Crowfoot, one of the most influential Blackfoot chiefs, dismissed the Lakota messengers. He threatened to ally with the NWMP to fight them if they came north into Blackfoot country again. News of Crowfoot's loyalty reached Ottawa and from there London; Queen Victoria praised Crowfoot and the Blackfoot for their loyalty. Despite his threats, Crowfoot later met those Lakota who had fled with Sitting Bull into Canada after defeating George Armstrong Custer and his battalion at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Crowfoot considered the Lakota then to be refugees and was sympathetic to their strife, but retained his anti-war stance. Sitting Bull and Crowfoot fostered peace between the two nations by a ceremonial offering of tobacco, ending hostilities between them. Sitting Bull was so impressed by Crowfoot that he named one of his sons after him.
The Blackfoot also chose to stay out of the North- West Rebellion, led by the famous Métis leader Louis Riel. Louis Riel and his men added to the already unsettled conditions facing the Blackfoot by camping near them. They tried to spread discontent with the government and gain a powerful ally. The North-West Rebellion was made up mostly of Métis, Assiniboine (Nakota) and Plains Cree, who all fought against European encroachment and destruction of Bison herds. The Plains Cree were one of the Blackfoot's most hated enemies; however, the two nations made peace when Crowfoot adopted Poundmaker, an influential Cree chief and great peacemaker, as his son. Although he refused to fight, Crowfoot had sympathy for those with the rebellion, especially the Cree led by such notable chiefs as Poundmaker, Big Bear, Wandering Spirit and Fine-Day.
When news of continued Blackfoot neutrality reached Ottawa, Lord Lansdowne, the governor general, expressed his thanks to Crowfoot again on behalf of the Queen back in London. The cabinet of John A. Macdonald (the current Prime Minister of Canada at the time) gave Crowfoot a round of applause.
Hardships of the Niitsitapi
During the mid-1800s, the Niitsitapi faced a dwindling food supply, as European-American hunters were hired by the U.S government to kill bison so the Blackfeet would remain in their reservation. Settlers were also encroaching on their territory. Without the buffalo, the Niitsitapi were forced to depend on the United States government for food supplies. In 1855, the Niitsitapi chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull Treaty promised the Niitsitapi $20,000 annually in goods and services in exchange for their moving onto a reservation.
In 1860, very few buffalo were left, and the Niitsitapi became completely dependent on government supplies. Often the food was spoiled by the time they received it, or supplies failed to arrive at all. Hungry and desperate, Blackfoot raided white settlements for food and supplies, and outlaws on both sides stirred up trouble.
Events were catalyzed by Owl Child, a young Piegan warrior who stole a herd of horses in 1867 from an American trader named Malcolm Clarke. Clarke retaliated by tracking Owl Child down and severely beating him in full view of Owl Child's camp, and humiliating him. According to Piegan oral history, Clarke had also raped Owl Child's wife. But, Clarke was long married to Coth-co-co-na, a Piegan woman who was Owl Child's cousin. The raped woman gave birth to a child as a result of the rape, which oral history said was stillborn or killed by band elders. Two years after the beating, in 1869 Owl Child and some associates killed Clarke at his ranch after dinner, and severely wounded his son Horace. Public outcry from news of the event led to General Philip Sheridan to dispatch a band of cavalry, led by Major Eugene Baker, to find Owl Child and his camp and punish them.
On 23 January 1870, a camp of Piegan Indians were spotted by army scouts and reported to the dispatched cavalry, but it was mistakenly identified as a hostile band. Around 200 soldiers surrounded the camp the following morning and prepared for an ambush. Before the command to fire, the chief Heavy Runner was alerted to soldiers on the snowy bluffs above the encampment. He walked toward them, carrying his safe-conduct paper. Heavy Runner and his band of Piegans shared peace between American settlers and troops at the time of the event. Heavy Runner was shot and killed by army scout Joe Cobell, whose wife was part of the camp of the hostile Mountain Chief, further along the river, from whom he wanted to divert attention. Fellow scout Joe Kipp had realized the error and tried to signal the troops. He was threatened by the cavalry for reporting that the people they attacked were friendly.
Following the death of Heavy Runner, the soldiers attacked the camp. According to their count, they killed 173 Piegan and suffered just one U.S Army soldier casualty, who fell off his horse and broke his leg, dying of complications. Most of the victims were women, children and the elderly, as most of the younger men were out hunting. The Army took 140 Piegan prisoner and then released them. With their camp and belongings destroyed, they suffered terribly from exposure, making their way as refugees to Fort Benton.
As reports of the massacre gradually were learned in the east, members of the United States congress and press were outraged. General William Sherman reported that most of the killed were warriors under Mountain Chief. An official investigation never occurred, and no official monument marks the spot of the massacre. Compared to events such as the massacres at Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, the Marias Massacre remains largely unknown. But, it confirmed President Ulysses S. Grant in his decision not to allow the Army to take over the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as it had been suggesting to combat corruption among Indian agents. Grant chose to appoint numerous Quakers to those positions as he pursued a peace policy with Native Americans.
The Cree and Assiniboine also suffered from the dwindling herds of the buffalo. By 1850 herds were found almost exclusively on the territory of the Blackfoot. Therefore, in 1870 various Nehiyaw-Pwat bands began a final effort to get hold of their prey, by beginning a war. They hoped to defeat the Blackfoot weakened by smallpox and attacked a camp near Fort Whoop-Up (called Akaisakoyi – "Many Dead"). But they were defeated in the so-called Battle of the Belly River (near Lethbridge, called Assini-etomochi – "where we slaughtered the Cree") and lost over 300 warriors. The next winter the hunger compelled them to negotiate with the Niitsitapi, with whom they made a final lasting peace.
The United States passed laws that adversely affected the Niitsitapi. In 1874, the US Congress voted to change the Niitsitapi reservation borders without discussing it with the Niitsitapi. They received no other land or compensation for the land lost, and in response, the Kainai, Siksika, and Piegan moved to Canada; only the Pikuni remained in Montana.
The winter of 1883–1884 became known as "Starvation Winter" because no government supplies came in, and the buffalo were gone. That winter, 600 Niitsitapi died of hunger.
In efforts to assimilate the Native Americans to European-American ways, in 1898, the government dismantled tribal governments and outlawed the practice of traditional Indian religions. They required Blackfoot children to go to boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their native language, practise customs, or wear traditional clothing. In 1907, the United States government adopted a policy of allotment of reservation land to individual heads of families to encourage family farming and break up the communal tribal lands. Each household received a farm, and the government declared the remainder "surplus" to the tribe's needs. It put it up for sale for development. The allotments were too small to support farming on the arid plains. A 1919 drought destroyed crops and increased the cost of beef. Many Indians were forced to sell their allotted land and pay taxes which the government said they owed.
In 1934 the Indian Reorganization Act, passed by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, ended allotments and allowed the tribes to choose their own government. They were also allowed to practise their cultures. In 1935, the Blackfeet Nation of Montana began a Tribal Business Council. After that, they wrote and passed their own Constitution, with an elected representative government.
Culture
Electing a leader
Family was highly valued by the Blackfoot Indians. For traveling, they also split into bands of 20-30 people, but would come together for times of celebration. They valued leadership skills and chose the chiefs who would run their settlements wisely. During times of peace, the people would elect a peace chief, meaning someone who could lead the people and improve relations with other tribes. The title of war chief could not be gained through election and needed to be earned by successfully performing various acts of bravery including touching a living enemy. Blackfoot bands often had minor chiefs in addition to an appointed head chief.
Societies
Within the Blackfoot nation, there were different societies to which people belonged, each of which had functions for the tribe. Young people were invited into societies after proving themselves by recognized passages and rituals. For instance, young men had to perform a vision quest, begun by a spiritual cleansing in a sweat lodge. They went out from the camp alone for four days of fasting and praying. Their main goal was to see a vision that would explain their future. After having the vision, a youth returned to the village ready to join society.
In a warrior society, the men had to be prepared for battle. Again, the warriors would prepare by spiritual cleansing, then paint themselves symbolically; they often painted their horses for war as well. Leaders of the warrior society carried spears or lances called a coup stick, which was decorated with feathers, skin, and other tokens. They won prestige by "counting coup", tapping the enemy with the stick and getting away.
Members of the religious society protected sacred Blackfoot items and conducted religious ceremonies. They blessed the warriors before battle. Their major ceremony was the Sun Dance, or Medicine Lodge Ceremony. By engaging in the Sun Dance, their prayers would be carried up to the Creator, who would bless them with well-being and abundance of buffalo.
Women's societies also had important responsibilities for the communal tribe. They designed refined quillwork on clothing and ceremonial shields, helped prepare for battle, prepared skins and cloth to make clothing, cared for the children and taught them tribal ways, skinned and tanned the leathers used for clothing and other purposes, prepared fresh and dried foods, and performed ceremonies to help hunters in their journeys.
Ethnobotany
Sage and sweet grass are both used by Blackfoot and other Plains tribes for ceremonial purposes and are considered sacred plants. Sage and sweet grass are burned with the user inhaling and covering themselves in the smoke in a process known widely as smudging. Sage is said to rid the body of negative emotions such as anger. Sweet grass is said to draw in positive energy. Both are used for purification purposes. The pleasant and natural odor of the burning grass is said to attract spirits. Sweet grass is prepared for ceremony by braiding the stems together then drying them before burning.
Sweet grass is also often present and burned in pipe-smoking mixtures alongside bearberry and red willow plants. The smoke from the pipe is said to carry the users prayers up to the creator with the rising smoke. Large medicine bags often decorated with ornate beaded designs were used by medicine men to carry sage, sweet grass, and other important plants. Blackfoot also used sweet grass smoke, or sachets of sweet grass in their clothing, as an effective insect repellent.
They apply a poultice of chewed roots Asclepias viridiflora to swellings, to "diarrhea rash", to rashes, to the sore gums of nursing infants and to sore eyes. They also chew the root of Asclepias viridiflora for sore throats, and use the plant to spice soups, and use the fresh roots for food. They make use of Viola adunca, applying an infusion of the roots and leaves to sore and swollen joints, giving an infusion of the leaves and roots to asthmatic children, and using the plant to dye their arrows blue. They put Carex in moccasins to protect the feet during winter horse stealing expeditions.
Marriage
In the Blackfoot culture, men were responsible for choosing their marriage partners, but women had the choice to accept them or not. The male had to show the woman's father his skills as a hunter or warrior. If the father was impressed and approved of the marriage, the man and woman would exchange gifts of horses and clothing and were considered married. The married couple would reside in their own tipi or with the husband's family. Although the man was permitted more than one wife, typically he only chose one. In cases of more than one wife, quite often the male would choose a sister of the wife, believing that sisters would not argue as much as total strangers.
Responsibilities and clothing
In a typical Blackfoot family, the father would go out and hunt and bring back supplies that the family might need. The mother would stay close to home and watch over the children while the father was out. The children were taught basic survival skills and culture as they grew up. It was generally said that both boys and girls learned to ride horses early. Boys would usually play with toy bows and arrows until they were old enough to learn how to hunt.
They would also play a popular game called shinny, which later became known as ice hockey. They used a long curved wooden stick to knock a ball, made of baked clay covered with buckskin, over a goal line. Girls were given a doll to play with, which also doubled as a learning tool because it was fashioned with typical tribal clothing and designs and also taught the young women how to care for a child. As they grew older, more responsibilities were placed upon their shoulders. The girls were then taught to cook, prepare hides for leather, and gather wild plants and berries. The boys were held accountable for going out with their father to prepare food by means of hunting.
Typically clothing was made primarily of softened and tanned antelope and deer hides. The women would make and decorate the clothes for everyone in the tribe. Men wore moccasins, long leggings that went up to their hips, a loincloth, and a belt. Occasionally they would wear shirts but generally they would wrap buffalo robes around their shoulders. The distinguished men of bravery would wear a necklace made of grizzly bear claws.
Boys dressed much like the older males, wearing leggings, loincloths, moccasins, and occasionally an undecorated shirt. They kept warm by wearing a buffalo robe over their shoulders or over their heads if it became cold. Women and girls wore dresses made from two or three deerskins. The women wore decorative earrings and bracelets made from sea shells, obtained through trade with distant tribes, or different types of metal. They would sometimes wear beads in their hair or paint the part in their hair red, which signified that they were old enough to bear children.
Headdresses
Similar to other Indigenous Peoples of the Great Plains, the Blackfoot developed a variety of different headdresses that incorporated elements of creatures important to them; these served different purposes and symbolized different associations. The typical war bonnet was made from eagle feathers, because the bird was considered powerful. It was worn by prestigious warriors and chiefs (including war-chiefs) of the Blackfoot. The straight-up headdress is a uniquely Blackfoot headdress that, like the war bonnet, is made with eagle feathers. The feathers on the straight-up headdress point directly straight upwards from the rim (hence the name). Often a red plume is attached to the front of the headdress; it also points straight upward.
The split-horn headdress was very popular among Northern Plains Indians, particularly those nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Many warrior societies, including the Horn Society of the Blackfoot, wore the split-horn headdress. The split-horn headdress was made from a single bison horn, split in two and reshaped as slimmer versions of a full-sized bison horn, and polished. The horns were attached to a beaded, rimmed felt hat. Furs from weasels (taken when carrying heavy winter coats) were attached to the top of the headdress, and dangled from the sides. The side furs were often finished with bead work where attached to the headdress. A similar headdress, called the antelope horn headdress, was made in a similar fashion using the horn or horns from a pronghorn antelope.
Blackfoot men, particularly warriors, sometimes wore a roach made from porcupine hair. The hairs of the porcupine are most often dyed red. Eagle and other bird feathers were occasionally attached to the roach.
Buffalo scalps, often with horns still attached and often with a beaded rim, were also worn. Fur "turbans" made from soft animal fur (most often otter) were also popular. Buffalo scalps and fur turbans were worn in the winter to protect the head from the cold.
The Blackfoot have continued to wear traditional headdresses at special ceremonies. They are worn mostly by elected chiefs, members of various traditional societies (including the Horn, Crazy Dog and Motokik societies), powwow dancers and spiritual leaders.
Sun and the Moon
One of the most famous traditions held by the Blackfoot is their story of sun and the moon. It starts with a family of a man, wife, and two sons, who live off berries and other food they can gather, as they have no bows and arrows, or other tools. The man had a dream: he was told by the Creator Napi, Napiu, or Napioa (depending on the band) to get a large spider web and put it on the trail where the animals roamed, and they would get caught up and could be easily killed with the stone axe he had. The man had done so and saw that it was true. One day, he came home from bringing in some fresh meat from the trail and discovered his wife to be applying perfume on herself. He thought that she must have another lover since she never did this before. He then told his wife that he was going to move a web and asked if she could bring in the meat and wood he had left outside from a previous hunt. She had reluctantly gone out and passed over a hill. The wife looked back three times and saw her husband in the same place she had left him, so she continued on to retrieve the meat. The father then asked his children if they went with their mother to find wood, but they never had. However they knew the location in which she retrieved it from. The man set out and found the timber along with a den of rattlesnakes, one of which was his wife's lover. He set the timber on fire and killed the snakes. He knew by doing this that his wife would become enraged, so the man returned home. He told the children to flee and gave them a stick, stone, and moss to use if their mother chased after them. He remained at the house and put a web over his front door. The wife tried to get in but became stuck and had her leg cut off. She then put her head through and he cut that off also. While the body followed the husband to the creek, the head followed the children. The oldest boy saw the head behind them and threw the stick. The stick turned into a great forest. The head made it through, so the younger brother instructed the elder to throw the stone. He did so, and where the stone landed a huge mountain popped up. It spanned from big water (ocean) to big water and the head was forced to go through it, not around. The head met a group of rams and said to them she would marry their chief if they butted their way through the mountain. The chief agreed and they butted until their horns were worn down, but this still was not through. She then asked the ants if they could burrow through the mountain with the same stipulations, it was agreed and they get her the rest of the way through. The children were far ahead, but eventually saw the head rolling behind them. The boys wet the moss and wrung it out behind themselves. They were then in a different land. The country they had just left was now surrounded by water. The head rolled into the water and drowned. They decided to build a raft and head back. Once they returned to their land, they discovered that it was occupied by the crows and the snakes so they decided to split up.
One brother was simple and went north to discover what he could and make people. The other was smart and went south to make white people and taught them valuable skills. The simple brother created the Blackfeet. He became known as Left Hand, and later by the Blackfeet as Old Man. The woman still chases the man: she is the moon and he is the sun, and if she ever catches him, it will always be night.
Blackfoot creation story
The creation myth is part of the oral history of the Blackfoot nation. It was said that in the beginning, Napio floated on a log with four animals. The animals were: Mameo (fish), Matcekups (frog), Maniskeo (lizard), and Sopeo (turtle). Napio sent all of them into the deep water, one after another. The first three had gone down and returned with nothing. The turtle went down and retrieved mud from the bottom and gave it to Napio.
He took the mud and rolled it in his hand and created the earth. He let it roll out of his hand and over time, it has grown to what it is today. After he created the earth, he created women first, followed by men. He had them living separately from one another. The men were shy and afraid, but Napio said to them to not fear and take one as their wife. They had done as he asked, and Napio continued to create the buffalo and bows and arrows for the people so that they could hunt them.
People
Ethnic divisions
The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the Piegan, also spelled Peigan or Pikuni. Their name derives from the Blackfoot term Piikáni. They are divided into the Piikani Nation (Aapátohsipikáni ("the companion up there") or simply Piikáni) in present-day Alberta, and the South Peigan or Piegan Blackfeet (Aamsskáápipikani) in Montana, United States. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans") of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan.
The modern Kainai Nation is named for the Blackfoot-language term Káínaa, meaning "Many Chief people". These were historically also called the "Blood," from a Plains Cree name for the Kainai: Miko-Ew, meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe.
The Siksika Nation's name derives from Siksikáwa, meaning "Those of like". The Siksika also call themselves Sao-kitapiiksi, meaning "Plains People".
The Sarcee call themselves the Tsu T'ina, meaning "a great number of people." During early years of conflict, the Blackfoot called them Saahsi or Sarsi, "the stubborn ones", in their language. The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the Athabascan or Dené language family, most of whose members are located in the Subarctic of Northern Canada. Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the Beaver (Danezaa) people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had").
The Gros Ventre people call themselves the Haaninin ("white clay people"), also spelled A'aninin. The French called them Gros Ventres ("fat bellies"), misinterpreting a physical sign for waterfall; and the English called them the Fall Indians, related to waterfalls in the mountains. The Blackfoot referred to them as the Piik-siik-sii-naa ("snakes") or Atsina ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity. Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the Arapaho Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming. They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter.
Modern communities
Economy and services
Today, many of the Blackfoot live on reserves in Canada. About 8,500 live on the Montana reservation of . In 1896, the Blackfoot sold a large portion of their land to the United States government, which hoped to find gold or copper deposits. No such mineral deposits were found. In 1910, the land was set aside as Glacier National Park. Some Blackfoot work there and occasional Native American ceremonies are held there.
Unemployment is a challenging problem on the Blackfeet Reservation and on Canadian Blackfoot reserves, because of their isolation from major urban areas. Many people work as farmers, but there are not enough other jobs nearby. To find work, many Blackfoot have relocated from the reservation to towns and cities. Some companies pay the Blackfoot governments to lease use of lands for extracting oil, natural gas, and other resources. The nations have operated such businesses such as the Blackfoot Writing Company, a pen and pencil factory, which opened in 1972, but it closed in the late 1990s. In Canada, the Northern Piegan make traditional craft clothing and moccasins, and the Kainai operate a shopping center and factory.
In 1974, the Blackfoot Community College, a tribal college, opened in Browning, Montana. The school is also the location of the tribal headquarters. As of 1979, the Montana state government requires all public school teachers on or near the reservation to have a background in American Indian studies.
In 1986, the Kainai Nation opened the Red Crow Community College in Stand Off, Alberta. In 1989, the Siksika tribe in Canada completed the construction of a high school to go along with its elementary school.
Traditional culture
The Blackfoot continue many cultural traditions of the past and hope to extend their ancestors' traditions to their children. They want to teach their children the Pikuni language as well as other traditional knowledge. In the early 20th century, a white woman named Frances Densmore helped the Blackfoot record their language. During the 1950s and 1960s, few Blackfoot spoke the Pikuni language. In order to save their language, the Blackfoot Council asked elders who still knew the language to teach it. The elders had agreed and succeeded in reviving the language, so today the children can learn Pikuni at school or at home. In 1994, the Blackfoot Council accepted Pikuni as the official language.
The people have revived the Black Lodge Society, responsible for protecting songs and dances of the Blackfoot. They continue to announce the coming of spring by opening five medicine bundles, one at every sound of thunder during the spring. One of the biggest celebrations is called the North American Indian Days. Lasting four days, it is held during the second week of July in Browning. Lastly, the Sun Dance, which was illegal from the 1890s-1934, has been practiced again for years. While it was illegal, the Blackfoot held it in secret. Since 1934, they have practised it every summer. The event lasts eight days – time filled with prayers, dancing, singing, and offerings to honor the Creator. It provides an opportunity for the Blackfoot to get together and share views and ideas with each other, while celebrating their culture's most sacred ceremonies.
The Blackfeet Nation in Montana have a blue tribal flag. The flag shows a ceremonial lance or coup stick with 29 feathers. The center of the flag contains a ring of 32 white and black eagle feathers. Within the ring is an outline map of the Blackfoot Reservation. Within the map is depicted a warrior's headdress and the words "Blackfeet Nation" and "Pikuni" (the name of the tribe in the Algonquian native tongue of the Blackfoot).
Notable Blackfoot people
Elouise Cobell, banker and activist who led the 20th-century lawsuit that forced the US Government to reform individual Indian trusts
Byron Chief-Moon, performer and choreographer
Crowfoot (ISAPO-MUXIKA – "Crow Indian's Big Foot", also known in French as Pied de Corbeau), Chief of the Big Pipes band (later renamed Moccasin band, a splinter band of the Biters band), Head Chief of the South Siksika, by 1870 one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika or the Blackfoot proper
Aatsista-Mahkan ("Running Rabbit", * about 1833 – d. January 1911), since 1871 Chief of the Biters band (Ai-sik'-stuk-iks) of the Siksika, signed Treaty No.7 in 1877, along with Crowfoot, Old Sun, Red Crow, and other leaders
A-ca-oo-mah-ca-ye (Ac ko mok ki, Ak ko mock ki, A'kow-muk-ai – "Feathers", since he took the name Old Swan), since about 1820 Chief of the Old Feathers' band, his personal following was known as the Bad Guns band, consisted of about 400 persons, along with Old Sun and Three Suns (No-okskatos) one of three Head Chiefs of the Siksika
Stu-mick-o-súcks ("Buffalo Bull's Back Fat"), Head Chief of the Kainai, had his portrait painted at Fort Union in 1832
Faye HeavyShield, Kainai sculptor and installation artist
Joe Hipp, Heavyweight boxer, the first Native American to compete for the WBA World Heavyweight Title.
Beverly Hungry Wolf, author
Stephen Graham Jones, author
Earl Old Person (Cold Wind or Changing Home), Blackfoot tribal chairman from 1964-2008 and honorary lifetime chief of the Blackfoot
Jerry Potts (1840–1896), (also known as Ky-yo-kosi – "Bear Child"), was a Canadian-American plainsman, buffalo hunter, horse trader, interpreter, and scout of Kainai-Scottish descent. He identified as Piegan and became a minor Kainai chief.
Steve Reevis, actor who appeared in Fargo, Dances with Wolves, Last of the Dogmen, Comanche Moon and many other films and TV.
Misty Upham (1982-2014), actress
James Welch (1940–2003), Blackfoot-Gros Ventre author
The Honourable Eugene Creighton, judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.
Gyasi Ross, author, attorney, musician and political activist.
Representation in other media
Hergé's Tintin in America (1932) featured Blackfoot people.
Jimmy P (2013) is a Franco-American film exploring the psychoanalysis of a Blackfoot, Jimmy Picard, in the post-World War II period at a veterans' hospital by a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, George Devereux. The screenplay was adapted from his book about this process, published in 1951.
See also
Blackfeet music
Blackfoot language
List of Native American peoples in the United States
Palliser Region
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
External links
Blackfoot homepage
Blackfoot Confederacy
Blackfoot Language and the Blackfoot Indian Tribe
Map of Blackfeet tribal lands
Walter McClintock Glass Lantern Slides Photographs of the Blackfoot, their homelands, material culture, and ceremonies from the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University
Blackfoot Digital Library, project of Red Crow Community College and the University of Lethbridge
Blackfoot Anthropological Notes at Dartmouth College Library
Algonquian peoples
Plains tribes
First Nations history
Native American history of Montana
First Nations in Alberta
Native American tribes in Montana
Native American tribes in Wyoming | true | [
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"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason"
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | Is Reason an album? | 1 | Is Reason an album? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | She released her second studio album, Reason, | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | true | [
"\"Heart Over Mind\" is the second single from Kim Wilde's 1992 album Love Is, and was released exclusively in the UK.\n\nIt was the final track to be recorded for the album - in fact the album had been completed and this song was sent over by Rick Nowels (who had written other tracks on the album) and Wilde decided to record it. The original album version was edited for the 7\" single release, and extended for the CD-single. The B-side was an exclusive non-album track called \"I've Found a Reason\", and the CD-single also featured an extended version of \"Touched by Your Magic\" from the Love Is album.\n\n\"Heart Over Mind\" became Wilde's 19th Top 40 entry since her career began in 1981.\n\nTrack listing\n\n7\": MCA / KIM 16 (UK) \n\n \"Heart Over Mind\" - 3:45\n \"I've Found A Reason\" - 4:05\n\nCD: MCA / KIMTD 16 (UK) \n\n \"Heart Over Mind\" - 3:45\n \"I've Found A Reason\" - 4:05\n \"Heart Over Mind\" (Extended Version) - 6:35\n \"Touched By Your Magic\" (Extended Version) - 6:43\n\nCD: MCA / KIMXD 16 (UK) \n\n \"Heart Over Mind\" (7\" version) - 3:45\n \"Love Is Holy\" (7\" version) - 4:01\n \"You Keep Me Hangin' On\" (7\" version) - 4:12\n \"Heart Over Mind\" (Extended Version) - 6:35\n\nChart performance\n\nReferences\n\n1992 singles\nKim Wilde songs\n1992 songs\nMusic videos directed by Howard Greenhalgh",
"Reason is the analytic faculty of the human mind that maintains objectivity unto inspecting and organizing perceptions.\n\nReason may also refer to:\n Rationality, the quality or state of being reasonable, based on facts or reason\n Reason (argument), a factor which justifies or explains\n The cause of some thing\n\nComputing\n Reason (programming language), an alternative OCaml syntax and toolchain created at Facebook\n Reason (software), a digital music workstation program\n\nLiterature\n Reason (magazine), a monthly libertarian magazine published by the Reason Foundation\n \"Reason\" (short story), a 1941 science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov\n Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America, a 2010 book by Robert Reich\n Reason, a fictional weapon system from Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash\n\nMusic \n Reason (South African rapper) (born 1987), is a South African rapper\n Reason (rapper) (born 1990), American hip hop artist\n Reason (Nami Tamaki song), a 2004 song by Nami Tamaki\n Reason (Shaman album), a 2005 album by Brazilian power metal band Shamaan\n Reason (Officium Triste album), a 2004 album by doom metal band Officium Triste\n Reason (Yuzu song) a 2012 song by Yuzu\n Reason (Melanie C album), a 2003 album by singer Melanie C\n Reason (Violent Apathy album), 1995\n Reason (Selah Sue album), 2015\n Reason (No Angels song), a 2003 song by German pop band No Angels\n \"Reason\", a 2004 song by German dance trio Cascada\n \"Reason\", a bonus track on the Cranberries's album Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?\n Reason (EP), a 2003 EP by The Fray\n\nOther\n The Reason Foundation, a public policy think tank based in Los Angeles, California, U.S.\n Order of the Reason, a medieval military order native to Spain\nReason (surname)\n\nSee also \n No Reason (disambiguation)\n Reasons (disambiguation)\n The Reason (disambiguation)"
] |
[
"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason",
"Is Reason an album?",
"She released her second studio album, Reason,"
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | When did she release this album? | 2 | When did Melanie C release the Reason album? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | on 10 March 2003 | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | true | [
"On Your Every Word is the second studio album released by Amy Holland in 1983. This was her last studio album, before she spent the rest of the 1980s recording songs for film soundtracks such as Scarface, Teen Wolf, Night of the Comet, St. Elmo's Fire, K-9, and much more. In one of the songs on the album, she sings a duet with David Pack on the song \"I Still Run to You\". There is a cover version of The Four Tops' song \"Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)\" sung by Holland. Steve Lukather collaborates on the album and does a guitar solo during an instrumental break on the last song of the album, Rollin' By. In addition to the album's release, 1983 was the year when Holland and Michael McDonald got married. Holland did not release another studio album until 2008, when she released The Journey to Miracle River.\n\nTrack listing\n\n1983 albums\nAmy Holland albums\nCapitol Records albums",
"Katie Waissel is the debut studio album by British singer-songwriter Katie Waissel, released on 14 March 2011.\n\nBackground\nThe song \"The Ugly Truth\" premiered four days before the release of Katie Waissel. The day before the release of the album, she performed the song \"The Ugly Truth\" on The Alan Titchmarsh Show. The entire album is composed of songs recorded during her time on Green Eyed World, when she was signed to Chamberlain Records, this release concluding her two-record contract. Several of the songs can be heard as background music or as Katie performing them on Green Eyed World. Waissel spoke on the album:\n\n“I’m so excited that this album is ready for a release. I co-wrote these songs so they mean a lot to me. To have the opportunity to share them with everyone is a dream come true for me.”\n\nOther songs recorded with Chamberlain Records that have not featured on any release by Waissel but are available online are: a cover of \"Love Me Tender\", \"Love, Life and Money\", \"Crystal Lagoon\", \"Ray of Light\", \"Whole Lotta Love\", \"Rock Steady!\", and \"Maybe\". Katie Waissel did not chart on the UK Albums Chart, or see a full physical release. Since the album's release, Waissel has formed a four-member rock band named \"Red Velvet\", who are expected to release their own debut album.\n\nTrack listing\n\nNotes\n a \"Moving Mountains\" was also previously included on The Private Life of David Reed's self-titled debut album, with Waissel under the alias of \"Lola Fontaine\".\n\n b Acoustic version of \"He's In Love\"\n\nReferences\n\n2011 debut albums\nKatie Waissel albums"
] |
[
"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason",
"Is Reason an album?",
"She released her second studio album, Reason,",
"When did she release this album?",
"on 10 March 2003"
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | Did this album receive any recognition? | 3 | Did the Reason album receive any recognition? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | true | [
"This article lists the diplomatic missions of Transnistria. Transnistria is a state with limited recognition, that broke away from Moldova after the War of Transnistria in 1992. Transnistria did not receive recognition from any UN member states. It has been recognized as an independent state by Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia only. At present, Transnistria has three representative offices abroad.\n\nEurope\n \n Sukhumi (Representative office)\n\n Moscow (Official Diplomatic Bureau)\n \n Tskhinvali (Representative office)\n\nSee also \nForeign relations of Transnistria\nList of diplomatic missions in Transnistria\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic\n\nDiplomatic missions of\nTransnistria\nDiplomatic missions of Transnistria",
"This article lists the diplomatic missions in Transnistria. Transnistria is a state with limited recognition, that broke away from Moldova after the War of Transnistria in 1992. Transnistria did not receive recognition from any UN member states. It has been recognized as independent state by Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia only. At present, the capital Tiraspol hosts no embassies, but two representative offices and one consulate.\n\nEmbassies \nTiraspol\n none\n\nRepresentative offices \nTiraspol\n\nConsulates \nTiraspol\n\n (Consular office)\n\nSee also \nForeign relations of Transnistria\nList of diplomatic missions of Transnistria\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic\n\nDiplomatic missions in\nTransnistria\nDiplomatic missions in Transnistria\nDiplomatic missions"
] |
[
"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason",
"Is Reason an album?",
"She released her second studio album, Reason,",
"When did she release this album?",
"on 10 March 2003",
"Did this album receive any recognition?",
"it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK."
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | Did she collaborate with anyone on this album? | 4 | Did Melanie C collaborate with anyone on the Reason album? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | false | [
"Life Is Full of Possibilities is the third studio album by American electronic music producer Dntel. It was released on October 30, 2001 by Plug Research.\n\n\"(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan\", a collaboration with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, was released as a single on August 6, 2002. Dntel would collaborate with Gibbard again for an entire album, Give Up, released in 2003 under the name The Postal Service. The song \"Life Is Full of Possibilities\" includes a repeating sample of Bloop, a sound of undetermined origin.\n\nA two-disc remastered deluxe edition of Life Is Full of Possibilities was released on October 24, 2011 by Sub Pop, which featured four additional songs not included on the initial release, along with remixed versions of other songs from the album.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nCredits are adapted from the album's liner notes.\n\nMusicians\n Dntel – music\n Meredith Figurine – vocals on \"Suddenly Is Sooner Than You Think\"\n Ben Gibbard – vocals on \"(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan\"\n Chris Gunst – vocals on \"Umbrella\"\n Rachel Haden – vocals on \"Why I'm So Unhappy\"\n Paul Larson – guitar on \"Last Songs\"\n Brian McMahan – guitar on \"Why I'm So Unhappy\"\n Mia Doi Todd – vocals on \"Anywhere Anyone\"\n\nAdditional personnel\n Low Culture – design\n Brian Tamborello – photography\n D. Zelonky – mastering\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2001 albums\nDntel albums\nPlug Research albums",
"Brother's Blood is the fifth studio album by American indie rock musician Kevin Devine, his first album since 2006 and first release on the Favorite Gentlemen record label.\n\nBackground\nThroughout the course of 2008, Devine premiered a number of demos via his MySpace page and began adding new songs to his live set. The album was recorded in Summer 2008 at Headgear Studios in Brooklyn, New York\n\nIn an interview in June 2009, Devine listed the topics of the album as \"The end of days, a dead dog and his sailor master, hallucinogenic fever dreams, sexual infatuation, vividly imagined infidelity, Irish women, Irish Spring, baby boomers, cold feet, getting responsible, life on life's terms.\"\n\nPromotion and release\nDuring his November/December 2008 tour with Manchester Orchestra, the I Could Be With Anyone EP was released, featuring two b-sides, a demo and the title track which would be later released on Brother's Blood.\n\nThe album was leaked in February 2009, two months before its official release. The leak was so premature that the album's artwork had not yet been finalized. On March 2, 2009, Kevin addressed the leak via his MySpace blog.\n\nDevine's first headlining tour was announced in March 2009, the Brother's Blood tour, which ran from April 24 to June 7, 2009. He was supported by Brian Bonz & The Dot Hongs, Miniature Tigers and Sarah Jaffe.\n\nOn March 25, 2009, the EPK for Brother's Blood was released via Devine's MySpace.\n\nOn June 5, 2009 the video for \"I Could Be with Anyone\" premiered on Spinner.com, featuring \"a series of couples both real and staged in various stages of their relationships.\" It was directed by Sherng-Lee Huang.\n\nAcademy Fight Song (US) and Arctic Rodeo Recordings (Europe) released a limited edition 2xLP for the album in November on colored vinyl, with a laser etched fourth side. The CD version of the album released by Arctic Rodeo features a bonus track, \"She Stayed as Steam\", as track 11. This track, along with another unreleased track, \"Big Bad Man\", features on the She Stayed As Steam EP.\n\nTrack listing\n\nB-Sides\nThe I Could Be with Anyone E.P. features 2 b-sides, \"The Weather Is Wonderful\" and \"What's Keeping Us Young\", along with a demo for \"She Stayed As Steam\".\n\nThe She Stayed As Steam EP features 2 b-sides, \"She Stayed As Steam\" and \"Big Bad Man\", along with 2 remixes,\"Breathe, Breathe Deep (\"Hand Of God\" RMX By Plosive)\" and \"Another Bag of Bones (Devastation Of Death RMX By Trevor Dowdy)\". \"She Stayed As Steam\" also features as a bonus track on the German version of the album.\n\nFull band demos of \"Yr Husband\" and \"Big Bad Man\" feature as bonus downloads with UK version of the album.\n\nReferences\n\nKevin Devine albums\n2009 albums"
] |
[
"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason",
"Is Reason an album?",
"She released her second studio album, Reason,",
"When did she release this album?",
"on 10 March 2003",
"Did this album receive any recognition?",
"it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK.",
"Did she collaborate with anyone on this album?",
"I don't know."
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | Did she tour to promote this album? | 5 | Did Melanie C tour to promote the Reason album? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | true | [
"The Halos & Horns Tour in 2002 was Dolly Parton's first major concert tour in 10 years and was to promote the release of her album Halos & Horns (2002). The tour started in the United States, moved to Ireland and England, before returning to the U.S. to finish.\n\nBackground\nIn the early 1990s Parton had stopped the grueling tour schedule that she had worked for most of her career; she was tired of it and did not see fit to keep a band on payroll. She continued to do casino shows in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Las Vegas, and she also performed (usually annually) themed concerts at her Dollywood theme park.\n\nWith the resurgence of sorts of her career with the release of the album The Grass Is Blue (1999), Parton toyed with the idea of mounting a tour to promote the album. Scheduling conflicts with the many talented, and booked, musicians who played on the album prohibited the tour and the subsequent one which would have promoted the album Little Sparrow (2001). Parton did do some promotional concerts for the albums. She also appeared at the MerleFest at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, on April 28, 2001, and performed a set list that comprised songs from the two albums as well as her greatest hits.\n\nDuring Dollywood's opening weekend in April 2002, it was announced that Parton would release a new album, Halos & Horns, and would launch her first tour in a decade. The tour was promoted and produced by House of Blues. The venues were mainly club settings and seated somewhere between 1,000 and 2,500. Subsequently, every date on the tour sold out. Most reviews praised Parton and her recent bluegrass/folk releases.\n\nParton stated in interviews to promote the album and tour that the shows she would be performing would be very simple. There was no glitz or lights or video monitors that she had employed with her earlier tours in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Most of the songs that made up the set list were in the country/bluegrass/folk vein, although Parton did include her biggest pop hits in an a cappella medley. \"9 to 5\" was treated to a very stripped down, bluegrass treatment.\n\nSet list\nThe following set list is representative of the December 12 and 13 shows at the Celebrity Theatre at Dollywood. It is not representative of all concerts for the duration of the tour.\n\n\"Orange Blossom Special\"\n\"Train Train\"\n\"The Grass Is Blue\"\n\"Mountain Angel\"\n\"Shine\"\n\"Little Sparrow\"\n\"Rocky Top\"\n\"My Tennessee Mountain Home\"\n\"Coat of Many Colors\"\n\"Smoky Mountain Memories\"\n\"Applejack\"\n\"Marry Me\"\n\"Halos and Horns\"\n\"I'm Gone\"\n\"Dagger Through the Heart\"\n\"If\"\n\"After the Gold Rush\"\n\"9 to 5\"\n\"Jolene\"\nAcapella Medley: \"Islands in the Stream\" / \"Here You Come Again\" / \"Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That\" / \"Two Doors Down\"\n\"We Irish\"\nStairway to Heaven\"\n\"I Will Always Love You\"\n\nNotes\n\"Color Me America\", \"Calm on the Water\", \"Try\", \"Down from Dover\", \"I Don't Wanna Throw Rice\", \"He's a Go Getter\", and \"I'll Oilwells Love You\" were performed on select dates.\n\nTour dates\n\nExternal links\nParton's Official Website\n\nReferences\n\n Dollymania page on tour press release\n Village Voice review\n\nDolly Parton concert tours\n2002 concert tours",
"This is a list of concert tours by Gloria Estefan, an American pop music singer.\n\nTour information\nSince 1985, Estefan has embarked on six worldwide concert tours performing in several locations worldwide including the five continents. Estefan's first tour was with the Miami Sound Machine and was the tour for support of the album Primitive Love named \"Primitive Love Tour\" in 1985. Her last tour in 2008, the \"90 Millas World Tour,\" was made to promote the album 90 Millas.\n\nAmong all the tours made and listed here the first two are with the Miami Sound Machine, in which Estefan was the lead vocalist, since their separation in 1989, Estefan credited alone and embarked in four tours, two of them, the \"Into The Light\" and \"Evolution\" are cataloged as world tours, and are the most successful on Estefan's career\n\nGloria Estefan first tour with the Miami Sound Machine \"Primitive Love Tour\" was a tour only to the United States with a low budget and just performances of their album, since that tour all the other tours by Estefan had been praised and critically acclaimed, especially her 1996/1997 \"Evolution World Tour\" which was created with a very different concept and making it more a show than just a concert, it eventually became one of the fans favorites and was one of the most successful tour ever for Estefan.\n\nWith the release of the 2007 Spanish-language album 90 Millas, Gloria Estefan did a tour of the European continent to promote the album. Gloria started the tour in August 2008 in Valencia, Spain, and then went to London and also her first concert to a British audience since a decade. She also visited Belfast, Rotterdam and Tenerife. Estefan also performed at the Aruba Music Festival on October 11\n\nIn April 2009, Gloria Estefan she started her first tour of Latin America. She performed in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and others Latin-American countries. This was the second leg to her last tour promoting 90 Millas. Due to the success of the last performances of Estefan to Europe, she will return to a series of music festivals included as part of this tour in the summer season in 2009, including three more cities: Milan, Locarno and Liverpool. She also added another three dates to the US, as part of a special concert with Carole King for a performance at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, the show being part of this tour is called \"She Got's A Friend\".\n\nTours\n\nNotable concerts\nVh1 Divas Live\nThe Millennium Concert (December 31, 1999, American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida)\nThe Atlantis Concert (April 19, 2000, Atlantis Paradise Island Hotel Resort, Nassau, Bahamas)\nOne Night Only (November 4, 2001, Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)\nOne Night Only (November 11, 2001, Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA)\nLive & Unwrapped (October 2003, The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA)\nShe's Got A Friend (With Carole King)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Gloria Estefan official site\nSony Music official site\n Gloria Estefan Mexico Fan's Official Site\n\nE"
] |
[
"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason",
"Is Reason an album?",
"She released her second studio album, Reason,",
"When did she release this album?",
"on 10 March 2003",
"Did this album receive any recognition?",
"it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK.",
"Did she collaborate with anyone on this album?",
"I don't know.",
"Did she tour to promote this album?",
"On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe."
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | Did she do any televised promotions for this album? | 6 | Did Melanie C do any televised promotions for the Reason album? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | true | [
"Spectacular is the second Korean studio album of South Korean boy band, ZE:A. It was released on July 4, 2012 by Star Empire Entertainment.\n\nBackground\n\nBeginning on June 15, 2012 in Busan, ZE:A launched their 'Fighting Project' promotions to promote Spectacular. In these promotions, they held streetcar performances in various cities and met with locals to advertise their second Korean studio album.\n\nConcept picture teasers of group members were released on June 22, 2012. Later, the music video teaser for Aftereffect, the title track of Spectacular, was released on June 29, 2012.\n\nZE:A held a press conference and showcase to preview Spectacular for 1,000 fans. The album's release on July 4, 2012 was preceded by their televised music show promotions, starting with Mnet's M Countdown on July 5, 2012.\n\nDue to injuries sustained on an outdoor variety show on May 28, 2012, ZE:A's leader Moon Junyoung was unable to participate in promotions for Spectaculars lead title track, Aftereffect.\n\nTrack list\n\nSee also\nZE:A discography\n\nExternal links\nMusic Daum Page\n\nReferences\n\nZE:A albums\n2012 albums",
"Lovability is the first Korean studio album released by Korean pop boy band, ZE:A. It was released on March 17, 2011.\n\nBackground\n\nZE:A held a showcase to promote the release of the album. Televised music promotions followed shortly after that and lasted for roughly a month.\n\nZE:A's leader, Moon Junyoung, was absent from some of the promotional activities due to an orbital fracture that he sustained.\n\nPromotions for their song Be My Girl were halted as the song was banned for presumably being \"unfit for minors and will no longer be sold to those under the age of 19\" as stated by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The lyric line that induced the ban was the line \"Be my girl tonight.\" within the song was ruled to suggest sexual content.\n\nTrack list\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nMusic Daum Page\n\nZE:A albums\n2011 albums"
] |
[
"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason",
"Is Reason an album?",
"She released her second studio album, Reason,",
"When did she release this album?",
"on 10 March 2003",
"Did this album receive any recognition?",
"it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK.",
"Did she collaborate with anyone on this album?",
"I don't know.",
"Did she tour to promote this album?",
"On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe.",
"Did she do any televised promotions for this album?",
" \"Let's Love\", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial."
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | Was the single well received? | 7 | Was the "Lets' Love" single well received? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | false | [
"\"Spiders\" is the third single from the Dutch pop punk band Destine. It is the sixth track from their 2010 debut album Lightspeed. The song was well received and received significant airplay. The single was released on January 15 and the music video on April 17, 2010.\n\nDigital single\n\nChart positions\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2010 singles\n2010 songs",
"\"As the Years Go By\" is the first single by rock fusion band Mashmakhan from their self-titled debut album. The single was recorded in Columbia B Studios and was released as the first single to Mashmakhan's self-titled debut album. The other single \"Days When We Are Free\" was used as the A-side to the 45rpm. \"As the Years Go By\" was also fit into several compilation albums of '70s songs.\n\nThe single, which sold over one million copies worldwide and received a gold disc, was very well received by the public and the critics, despite its eerie minor key tune. Allmusic critic Lindsay Planer also praised the single's sales and its lyrics.\n\nThe song peaked at number 75 in Australia.\n\nThe single was released as in Japan.\n\nHistory\nIn 1970, \"As the Years Go By\" was originally recorded by Mashmakhan in Columbia B Studios. \"As the Years Go By\" was released as the debut single of Mashmakhan's upcoming self-titled album. \"As the Years Go By\" was released in an edited form, with the latter single \"Days When We Are Free\" as the A-side. Following \"As the Years Go By\" the previously mentioned single and \"Gladwin\" were released. The self-titled debut Mashmakhan was released as an LP album in 1970. \nLater the single appeared on several rock compilation albums. \"As the Years Go By\" was first included in Rock Artifacts, Vol. 1 in 1990. On November 9, 1995, \"As the Years Go By\" plus the whole Mashmakhan album and its follow up album The Family were included in the compilation Mashmakhan/The Family. On April 24, 2001, \"As the Years Go By\" was also released on the Rock Treasures compilation by the Sony Music Entertainment. And lastly, \"As the Years Go By\" was used in the Japanese compilation The 70's, Vol. 3 by Universal Music Group of Japan on December 15, 2007.\n\nThe song was covered by the Florida-based salsa/funk band Coke on the 1972 self-titled debut, for which the lyrics and title were translated into Spanish: \"Que Seria de Mi\".\n\nTrack listing\nBoth of the songs were produced by Billy Jackson.\n\nReception\nAt its release, the single sold 100,000 copies in Canada, 500,000 copies in the United States, and over 1,000,000 copies in Japan. The single cracked the national charts in both Canada (#1 - singles (RPM 100) chart 2 weeks, CatCon chart 7 weeks) and the United States (#31). \"As the Years Go By\" sold over one million copies globally and received a gold disc. The single was generally well received by critics. Allmusic critic Lindsay Planer stated that \"As the Years Go By\" not only became their biggest hit but it also became \"a million-seller in (of all places) Japan\" and that the lyrics \"are undeniably puerile,\" and texturally the \"connotations of the word 'love' remain eternal.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1970 singles\nMashmakhan songs\nColumbia Records singles\nEpic Records singles\nOricon Weekly number-one singles"
] |
[
"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason",
"Is Reason an album?",
"She released her second studio album, Reason,",
"When did she release this album?",
"on 10 March 2003",
"Did this album receive any recognition?",
"it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK.",
"Did she collaborate with anyone on this album?",
"I don't know.",
"Did she tour to promote this album?",
"On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe.",
"Did she do any televised promotions for this album?",
" \"Let's Love\", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial.",
"Was the single well received?",
"I don't know."
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | Did the album receive any awards? | 8 | Did the Reason album receive any awards? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | true | [
"The following is a list of awards and nominations received by Sasha, a Welsh DJ and record producer.\n\nDJ Awards\nThe DJ Awards organises the annual electronic music DJ awards event it is the only international ceremony for DJs and also the oldest, the awards are held once a year at Pacha club in Ibiza Spain it is one of the most important accolades an artist can win or be honoured by.\n\nSasha has won the Best Progressive House DJ Award 3 times, Best Tech House/Progressive DJ Award1 time and received 11 nominations overall.\n\nDJ Magazine Awards\nArtists are nominated to the DJ Magazine Top 100 DJ's list each year the public votes to decide who they rank as the World's No 1 DJ at the end of the poll.\n\nSasha achieved the World's No 1 ranking DJ in 2000 and he stayed in the top 5 for 8 consecutive years, the top 10 for 11 consecutive years.\n\nElectronic Music Awards\nSasha has won one award at the Electronic Music Awards.\n\nGrammy Awards\nIn 2005, the Grammy committee debated whether Sasha's mix compilation album, Involver, was eligible for nomination as Best Electronic/Dance Album. The Recording Academy decided that the album was eligible, but Involver did not receive a nomination. Sasha did receive a Grammy nomination for his remix of Felix da Housecat's \"Watching Cars Go By\", which was featured on Involver.\n\nInternational Dance Music Awards\nAt the annual Winter Music Conference, Sasha has won the \"Best Techno/Trance 12\" award (1999) for the Xpander EP, and \"Best CD Compilation\" awards for Global Underground: Ibiza (1999, 2000) and Involver (2004). He was also nominated in the categories \"Best European DJ\" (2004) and \"Best Remixer\".\n\nSasha has achieved 4 wins from 10 nominations overall.\n\nMuzik Awards\nAt the 1999 Ericsson Muzik Awards, he received an award for \"Outstanding Contributions to Dance Music\".\n\nReferences\n\nBritish music-related lists\nSasha",
"Cowgirl is a studio album by American country artist Lynn Anderson. It was released on September 20, 2006 via Showboat Records. The record was co-produced by Casey Anderson and Mark Moseley. Consisting of 12 tracks, Cowgirl was a collection of songs recorded with a western theme. The songs had been composed by Anderson's mother and was her first studio effort to feature songs entirely written by her.\n\nBackground and content\nCowgirl was Anderson's first album of western music. According to an interview with American Cowboy, Anderson wanted to record the project so listeners would appreciate the genre more. \"These days I’m trying to present Western music in what you might call a sophisticated way—reminding people who might not be familiar with the Western genre of classic Western heroes and the Western way of life,\" she recalled. Cowgirl was recorded at Sound Control Studios, located in Nashville, Tennessee. The project was produced by Casey Anderson (her father) and Mark Moseley.\n\nCowgirl was recorded as a tribute to Anderson's mother. In the album's liner notes, she credits her mother for her success as well as an inspiration. \"It is a tribute to my mom, Liz Anderson, and her music. I've always thought of my Mom and Dad as Roy and Dale or Ron and Nancy,\" she wrote. Her mother had previously had a recording career and composed material for several country artists. Her own writing success led to her daughter's first recording contracts in the 1960s. Twelve tracks were on the collection, all of which had been composed by her mother, Liz Anderson.\n\nRelease and reception\nCowgirl was released on September 20, 2006 on Showboat Records, her mother's recording company. It was Anderson's 35th studio recording in her career. The album was issued as a compact disc originally. However, it was later issued in digital formats. The album did not reach any chart positions on Billboard upon its release. The album did spawn one single, \"Full Moon in Baghdad.\" The track was first released in 2006. Although the album did not receive any known reviews, it did receive major awards from the Academy of Western Artists. In 2007, Cowgirl won awards for Best Western Song, Best Western Album, Best Western Swing Album and Best Female Vocalist.\n\nTrack listing\nAll songs composed by Liz Anderson, except where noted.\n\nPersonnel\nAll credits are adapted from the liner notes of Cowgirl.\n\nMusical and technical personnel\n Casey Anderson – producer\n Lynn Anderson – lead vocals, background vocals\n Margie Cates – background vocals\n Mark Moseley – producer\n Lisa Sutton – graphic design\n\nRelease history\n\nReferences\n\n2006 albums\nLynn Anderson albums\nWestern music (North America) albums"
] |
[
"Melanie C",
"2002-2003: Reason",
"Is Reason an album?",
"She released her second studio album, Reason,",
"When did she release this album?",
"on 10 March 2003",
"Did this album receive any recognition?",
"it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK.",
"Did she collaborate with anyone on this album?",
"I don't know.",
"Did she tour to promote this album?",
"On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe.",
"Did she do any televised promotions for this album?",
" \"Let's Love\", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial.",
"Was the single well received?",
"I don't know.",
"Did the album receive any awards?",
"it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK."
] | C_4c66bac0ab804fddb5a64a5bc10d0f5f_1 | Who inspired the album? | 9 | Who inspired the Reason album? | Melanie C | Chisholm began recording her second album in late 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk. Chisholm's second album was originally planned to be released on 16 September 2002, then postponed to 24 February 2003. It was finally postponed to 10 March 2003. Rumors at the time speculated that Chisholm and Virgin had several conflicts, because they wanted her to lose weight. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, the music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales. "Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Originally, "Yeh Yeh Yeh" was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, but shortly before this could happen, Chisholm injured her knee during the television show The Games and couldn't fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Melanie added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Melanie Jayne Chisholm (born 12 January 1974), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, TV personality and actress. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was nicknamed Sporty Spice.
She rose to fame in 1996, releasing, in two years with the Spice Girls, two consecutive number-one albums, eight number-one singles from nine worldwide hits, the biggest-selling debut single of all time and the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group, respectively with "Wannabe" atop in 37 countries with over seven million records, and Spice, which peaked at number one in more than 17 countries across the world, with over 31 million copies, as well as the second album Spiceworld with more than 20 million copies sold. Melanie C is known for her unique vocal prowess that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom. Chisholm began her solo career in late 1998 by singing with Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and her solo debut album Northern Star was released in 1999, reaching number one in Sweden and number 4 on the UK Albums Chart. It was certified internationally with seven platinum and three gold certifications, including the triple-Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, selling over 4 million copies worldwide, and becoming the best selling solo album of any Spice Girls member.
After her second album, gold certified in UK, Reason, with more than 500,000 copies, Chisholm, in 2004, parted from Virgin and founded her own record company, Red Girl Records. Beautiful Intentions, her third album, in 2005, spent 9 weeks at number one in Portugal and spawned international hit singles, selling over 1.5 million copies worldwide with several international certifications. The fourth studio album, This Time, was released in 2007, became her first top 10 album in Switzerland where was certified gold. Of the five singles released from the album, the first three went to number one in Portugal. In December, Chisholm reunited with the Spice Girls to release a greatest hits album supported by a world tour. She released her fifth solo album, The Sea, in 2011, her first EP The Night in 2012, the sixth studio album Stages, in 2012, and seventh album, Version of Me (2016). Her eponymous eighth studio album was released in 2020.
Having co-written 11 UK number-ones, more than any other female artist in chart history, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With twelve UK number-one singles, including the charity single as part of The Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with most singles at number one in the United Kingdom, and with a total of fourteen songs that have received the number one in Britain (including the double A-sides), Chisholm is the female artist with most songs at number one in the UK ranking history. Her work has earned her several awards and nominations, including a Guinness Book mention, three World Music Awards, five Brit Awards from 10 nominations, three American Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards from six nomination, eight Billboard special awards, three MTV Europe Music Awards from seven nominations, one MTV Video Music Awards from two nomination, ten ASCAP awards, one Juno Award from two nominations, and four nominations at the Echo Awards.
Since 1996, Chisholm has sold more than 123 million records, including 100 million copies with the group, and 23 million solo albums, singles and collaborations, and has earned over 326 worldwide certifications (with numerous diamonds), including 41 silver, gold and platinum certifications as a solo artist.
Early life
Melanie Jayne Chisholm was born on 12 January 1974 in Whiston, Lancashire, the only daughter of Joan O'Neill, who worked as a secretary and personal assistant and has been singing in music bands since she was 14, and Alan Chisholm, a fitter at the Otis Elevator Company. Her parents married in 1971 and separated in 1978, when Chisholm was four years old. Her mother remarried and had more children, one of whom is racing driver Paul O'Neill, who was born when Chisholm was six years old. She grew up in Widnes, Cheshire, attending Brookvale Junior School in nearby Runcorn and Fairfield High School in Widnes. Following school, she studied for a diploma course in dance, singing, drama, and musical theatre at the Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts in London. During college, she replied to an advert in The Stage placed by Chris and Bob Herbert, who were looking to form a new girl group, later to become the Spice Girls. She left college just short of completing her three-year course, and gained teaching qualifications in tap and modern theatre dance with the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
Career
1994–2000: Spice Girls
In 1994, Chisholm, along with Mel B, Geri Halliwell, and Victoria Beckham (née Adams) responded to an advertisement in The Stage magazine. Around 400 women who answered the ad went to Dance Works studios. Halliwell, Chisholm, Beckham and Brown were originally chosen as the members of the group, and then formed a quintet with Emma Bunton. The group felt insecure about the lack of a contract and were frustrated by the direction of Heart Management and broke with them. In 1995, they toured record labels in London and Los Angeles and finally signed a deal with Virgin. Their debut album, Spice, was a huge worldwide commercial success, peaked at number 1 in more than 17 countries across the world, and was certified multi-platinum in 27 countries. Conceptually, the album centered on the idea of Girl Power, and during that time was compared to Beatlemania. In total the album sold 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest-selling album in music history by a girl group and one of the most successful albums of all time. The first single, "Wannabe" reached number 1 in 37 countries, and their subsequent singles – "Say You'll Be There", "2 Become 1", "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Mama" – all peaked at number 1 in the UK.
In 1997, they released their second album, Spiceworld, with the two first singles "Spice Up Your Life" and "Too Much", that entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, making it the group's all consecutive number 1 hit single, a record of musical groups all time. The album was a global best seller, selling 20 million copies worldwide. The group also starred in their own film, Spiceworld: The Movie, which grossed $100 million at the box office worldwide and became the second most watched movie of the year. The next single, "Stop", peaked at two, breaking the sequence of number 1s, their only single to not reach the top of the charts. "Viva Forever", another number 1, was the last single before Geri Halliwell's departure from the group in May 1998. With four members, the group released "Goodbye", before Christmas in 1998 and when it topped the UK Singles Chart it became their third consecutive Christmas number-one – equalling the record previously set by the Beatles. On 30 November, Canadian artist Bryan Adams, released "When You're Gone" with featured vocals of Chisholm, her debut solo project. The song peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, spent 15 weeks in the top 40 and received the platinum certified.
1999–2001: Northern Star
In 1999, Chisholm signed with Virgin and, during the summer, recorded the album Northern Star. She recorded "Ga Ga" from the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. The song was released as promotional single on 25 June, only in the UK. She also wrote and recorded the backing vocals for "(Hey You) Free Up Your Mind", sung by Emma Bunton from the film soundtrack Pokémon: The First Movie. On 27 September, Chisholm released her debut single, "Goin' Down" and peaked at number 4 in the UK and 25 in Australia. The music video was shot in Los Angeles and directed by Giuseppi Capotondi. Her debut album, Northern Star, was released on 18 October 1999, peaked at number 4 and sold 4 million copies worldwide, received triple platinum in the UK, and another seven certifications, including platinum in Germany and Sweden. "Northern Star" was released as a second single and also peaked at number 4. To promote the album, Chisholm embarked on a tour called From Liverpool to Leicester Square, traveling to Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark, between 27 September and 1 November. In 2000, Chisholm had two songs in film soundtracks, "Suddenly Monday" in Maybe Baby and "Go!" in Whatever It Takes.
After the two singles did not reach the top of the charts, Virgin thought to end the promotion of the album, but decided to release one more single, "Never Be the Same Again", which broke the pop rock sound of the other songs and focused on R&B. The song, featuring TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, was released on 20 March 2000 and became her first number 1 single. It was received gold certification in the UK and also peaked at number 1 in Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland and Sweden. The song was the 18th best-selling song of 2000 and sold more than a million copies across Europe. After the success of "Never Be the Same Again", the label decided to release two more singles. On 7 August 2000, Virgin released a remix version of "I Turn to You" as the fourth single; the song reached her second number 1 in the UK, Netherlands and Sweden. "I Turn to You" also peaked at number 1 in Austria, Denmark and Dance Club Songs of United States. "If That Were Me" was released as fifth and final single and peaked at number 18. The proceeds from its sale went to the Kandu Arts charity. The North American version of Northern Star was released on 21 August 2000 and included the single versions of "Never Be The Same Again" and "I Turn To You". In late 2000, after the first solo work of members, the Spice Girls released their third and final album, Forever, sporting a new edgier R&B sound. "Holler" and "Let Love Lead the Way" were released as singles on 23 October 2000 and the songs reached number 1 in the UK. The album sold 5 million copies. The group announced that they were beginning an indefinite hiatus. In the same year, the Chinese singer FanFan recorded a Chinese version of "Suddenly Monday" from her debut album FanFan's World.
Chisholm embarked in her first world tour, the Northern Star Tour, between late 2000 and 26 August 2001, to promote her debut album. The tour traveled in 76 dates, 30 countries and 4 continents, just not going to Oceania and South America. The Shepherd's Bush Empire concert was webcast on Chisholm's original website with a special appearance of Bryan Adams. On 4 April 2001, The audio of the Anaheim concert also was webcast on House of Blues' website. A remixed album, entitled Remix Collection, was released only in Japan. In 2001, Chisholm collaborated in the live album of Russell Watson, The Voice – Live, as featured vocals in the songs "Barcelona" and "Aren't You Kind of Glad We Did?".
2002–2003: Reason
Chisholm began recording her second album in November 2001. She traveled to the United States to record some songs. During this time, she also recorded "Independence Day" from the film soundtrack Bend It Like Beckham and wrote "Help Me Help You" for Holly Valance, included in her album Footprints. Chisholm, along with American singer Anastacia made an appearance at the 2002 MTV Europe Music Awards to present the award for "Best Song", which was given to P!nk.
Chisholm's second album was postponed to 10 March 2003. Chisholm also took time out due to struggles with clinical depression. On 24 February 2003 the first single from her new album was released, "Here It Comes Again", which reached number 7 in the UK and peaked in the top 20 in Spain and Ireland. She released her second studio album, Reason, on 10 March 2003 and it peaked at number 5, received gold certification in the UK. The label sent Chisholm to promote the album, including several pocket shows. On 24 April 2003, she embarked in the Reason Tour, traveling only in Europe. The second single, "On the Horizon", was released on 2 June 2003. After the previous single, music critics were predicting that this single would redeem Chisholm's chart success, but the song peaked at number 14 and did not help sales.
"Let's Love", was released as a single exclusively in Japan and used for a Toyota Motor Corporation commercial. Alongside promoting the album, Chisholm competed on the reality sports game show The Games. On 11 September 2003, during a taping of The Games, Chisholm competed in a judo match with Turkish-Dutch actress Azra Akin, which resulted in Chisholm injuring her knee. Because of this, the song "Yeh Yeh Yeh", which was planned to be released as the third and final single on 22 September 2003, had to be pushed back because she could not fully promote an upbeat song with an injury. "Melt" was then chosen to be launched along with "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a double A-side, because she could do a small number of performances. The double single was released on 10 November 2003. The song peaked at number 27. In other countries of Europe, "Melt" wasn't released, only "Yeh Yeh Yeh" as a solo release. After the release of "Melt/Yeh Yeh Yeh", Chisholm added some extra dates to the Reason Tour, and the Avo Session Basel concert was broadcast on 3sat.
2004–2006: Red Girl Records and Beautiful Intentions
On 1 January 2004, Virgin Records dismissed Chisholm after the conflict in previous years about the direction in her solo career. In April 2004, she founded her own label, Red Girl Records, to record and release her own projects. All of Chisolm's activities are decided upon and funded by herself. The label name was inspired by the colours of the football Liverpool F.C., of which Chisholm is a supporter. Nancy Phillips, who had been Chisholm's manager and business partner since the label's inception, retired in 2017.
In June 2004, she embarked in a five-date concert tour, The Barfly Mini-Tour, performed in The Barfly music halls, a series of venues dedicated to independent music. In October 2004, Chisholm finished recording her third album. In an interview, Chisholm said she wanted to create deeper songs using piano, violin and personal themes. On 4 April 2005, Chisholm released "Next Best Superstar" as the lead single of her third album. It was released in three formats: two singles with B-sides – the acoustic version or the B-side "Everything Must Change" – and a remixes EP. The song peaked at number 10 in the UK. On 11 April, she released Beautiful Intentions, her third album and first by Red Girl. It was produced by Greg Haver, Guy Chambers, Paul Boddy and eleven of the twelve songs were written by Chisholm. The album peaked at number 24 in the UK, top 15 other Europeans countries, and was certified gold in Germany and Switzerland.
In support of the album, she embarked at Beautiful Intentions Tour, starting on 16 April in O2 Academy Birmingham, in London, and travelling for twenty-five dates across Europe and Asia. On 1 August, "Better Alone" was released only in the UK as the second single, but did not enter the charts due to the single being available online. "First Day of My Life" was released as single on 30 September in Australia and Europe – except in the UK. The song was not included in the original version of the album, only in the 2006 re-released version, becoming the second international single from Beautiful Intentions. Originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" for his 2004 eponymous album Andrea. The song peaked at number 1 in Spain, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal, number 2 in Austria, and in the top 30 in Norway, France and Denmark. On 24 February 2006, "Better Alone" was released in Australia and Europe as the third official single, after a limited release in the UK the previous year. The song entered the charts in some countries, peaked at thirty-six in Italy and thirty-three in Switzerland. On 3 April, the album was re-released, including "First Day of My Life" and the music video. In 2006, Chisholm released her first live DVD, Live Hits, recorded on 31 August 2006 at the Bridge in South East, London. The DVD peaked at number 10.
2007–2008: This Time and Spice Girls reunion
In early 2007, Chisholm finished recording her next album and, in March, she released two singles simultaneously. "The Moment You Believe" was released in Europe, except in the UK, and peaked at number 1 in Spain and Portugal, and in the top 20 in Switzerland, Sweden and Germany. Produced and co-written by Peter Vettese, it has been soundbed for the spring advertising campaign for German television show Nur die Liebe Zählt. "I Want Candy" was released only in the UK and Italy, peaking at number 24 and number 9, respectively, and featured on the soundtrack to the film of the same name. The song was a cover version of the Strangeloves song. On 30 March, she released her fourth album, This Time, with thirteen tracks – six written by Chisholm – and other two cover versions: "What If I Stay" and "Don't Let Me Go", by Jill Jackson, from her debut album. The album peaked at number 57 in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, which was certified gold. "Carolyna" was released as the third single on 8 June. During an interview at Loose Women, Chisholm revealed that she wrote this song after watching a documentary about young adults and teenagers homeless, living in the streets in Seattle. The song peaked at 49 in the UK, and in the top 50 in other countries.
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a surprise press conference at The O2 Arena announcing that they were reuniting to embark on a worldwide concert tour, The Return of the Spice Girls, starting in Vancouver on 2 December. They received £10 million (approximately $20 million) each for the tour. Filmmaker Bob Smeaton directed an official documentary on the reunion. It was entitled Giving You Everything. At the same time, Chisholm released the fourth single of her album, "This Time", features the B-side "We Love to Entertain You", which was used for 2007's Pro7 Starforce campaign in Germany. The song peaked at number 94 in the UK and 69 in Germany. On 5 November, the Spice Girls released their return single, "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)", also announced as the official Children in Need charity single and performed at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. The song peaked at number 11, becoming the first song to not reach the top 10. The music video was directed by Anthony Mandler and the girls used exclusive clothes designed by Roberto Cavalli. They released a compilation album, the Greatest Hits in November, including the singles, the 1997 Pepsi's theme "Move Over" and two new songs, "Voodoo" and "Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)". The compilation sold 6 million copies.
They embarked on the tour on 2 December, traveling for 47 dates until 26 February 2008. The tour is estimated to have grossed over US$70 million and produced $107.2 million in ticket sales and merchandising. The tour won the 2008 Billboard Touring Award. As well as their sell-out tour, the Spice Girls were contracted to appear in Tesco advertisements, for which they were paid £1 million each. After the end of the reunion with the Spice Girls, Chisholm embarked on her fifth tour, the This Time Canadian Tour, in May 2008, performing in nine Canadian cities. On 25 July, "Understand" was released as fifth and final single from This Time only in Canada.
2009–2014: Acting, The Sea and Stages
In 2009, it was planned she would star in a sequel to the 1996 horror film The Craft, but the production was canceled. On 29 June, Chisholm released her second DVD concert, Live at the Hard Rock Cafe, including two previously unreleased songs, "Blue Skies All the Way" and "Paris Burning". The DVD peaked at number 22 in the UK.
In October 2009, she had her acting debut on stage as Mrs Johnstone in the musical Blood Brothers, a new version of the 1983 original production. In an interview, Chisholm revealed that while she had been invited to star in movies and plays . She starred on Blood Brothers until the end of 2010. Chisholm was nominated for the 2010 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical but she did not win. In the same year she started working on her next album. On 24 June 2011, "Rock Me" was released as single only in Germany and peaked at number 33 in the country. The song was served as the official theme from 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. "Think About It" was chosen as worldwide single and marked the Chisholm return to dance-pop. The song peaked at number 95 in the UK, 15 in the UK Indie Chart and top 40 in other European countries. The Sea, her fifth studio album, was released on 2 September, and was produced by Andy Chatterley, Cutfather and Peter-John Vettese. The album peaked at number 45 in the UK and also 13 in Switzerland and sixteen in Germany.
Chisholm was mentor assistant in the third season of The X Factor Australia and helped the Mel B team, formed by under 25 years-old girls, during the selection process. The girls did not reach the final. "Weak" was released only in the UK as the third single, charting in the UK Indie Chart. "Let There Be Love" was released as fourth and final single of The Sea in Germany and Switzerland. She also recorded "Viva Life" for the documentary Bash Street. In November, she embarked on her sixth concert tour, The Sea – Live, traveling in Europe during 17 dates. The record of the tour was released as DVD on 27 February 2012. In her interview for "Ask Melanie C Episode 8" on her YouTube channel, Chisholm said that she "feels very sad as The Sea was a really great album and it wasn't as successful as it deserved to be" In April, Chisholm was invited by British DJ Jodie Harsh to collaborate on an electronic project. On 13 May they released the EP The Night, including three songs. "Set You Free" was released as a promo single from the EP. In July, she was judge of the ITV talent show Superstar, which searched to find an actor to starring the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Ben Forster was chosen.
Chisholm co-starred in the musical, playing the role of Mary Magdalene. For her performance Chisholm won Best Supporting Actress in a musical at the Whatsonstage.com Awards. She played the character until 2013. Inspired by the stage, Chisholm began recording an album with musical theatre songs. "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was released on 22 July and peaked at number 20 on UK Indie Chart. The song is a version of Yvonne Elliman from 1970 musical Jesus Christ Superstar. On 7 September, Chisholm released her sixth studio album, Stages, produced by Peter-John Vettese and featuring a collection of show tunes that have been important to Chisholm at various stages of her life. The album peaked at number 50 in the UK and 83 in Ireland. "I Know Him So Well", a version of the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson song from the 1984 musical Chess, was released as a single on 11 November, featuring vocals by British singer Emma Bunton. The song peaked at number 153 in the UK and 14 in the UK Indie Chart.
She also was part of The Justice Collective, a super-group of musicians, including Robbie Williams and Paul McCartney, who recorded the charity song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother". The song was released as single on 17 December and peaked at number 1. In 2013, she played Christy in the British comedy film Play Hard. On 18 August, released "Loving You", a collaboration with British singer Matt Cardle. The song peaked at number 14, becoming the first Chisholm's song in the top 15 since 2005. She released her first live album, Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire, on 12 December. On 12 January 2014, Chisholm celebrated her 40th birthday with a special show for the fans, entitled Sporty's Forty, singing her hits and featured Emma Bunton. On 31 March, the Slovakian singer Peter Aristone released "Cool as You", featured vocals of Chisholm, as lead single from 19 Days in Tetbury. Her cover version of "Ain't Got No, I Got Life", by Nina Simone, was included in the compilation Beautiful Cover Versions. She also had a cameo appearance in the music video "Word Up", by Little Mix.
2015–2018: Television and Version of Me
In 2015, Chisholm joined the judging panel for Asia's Got Talent, along with David Foster, Anggun Cipta, and Vanness Wu. They started the selection in Singapore. During production and selections, Chisholm lived in Malaysia, where the program was recorded. The Asia's Got Talent live shows, with the semifinalists, was aired in March 2015, and ran two months until the finals. On 14 May Chisholm and the judges released a cover version of "Let's Groove", originally by Earth, Wind & Fire, and performed the song in the final. In October, she was mentor assistant in the game competition Bring the Noise. At the same time, she started working on her seventh studio album. The second season of Asia's Got Talent was confirmed for summer 2016, but the project has been discontinued. In 2016, she was featured as a vocalist on "Numb" with Sons Of Sonix, which was stated to be a song from her upcoming album. In September 2016, she made a cameo appearance in KT Tunstall's music video for "Hard Girls". Her seventh album, Version of Me, was released on 21 October 2016.
Chisholm appeared on the Graham Norton Show in May 2017 to perform a duet with Keith Urban for his song, The Fighter. She sang in place of Carrie Underwood, who was the original singer on the duet. On 27 May 2017, Chisholm performed in Mexico City as part of the Classics Fest concert series, which also featured performances by Vanilla Ice and Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base, held at the Auditorio Blackberry. This marked Chisholm's first time performing as a solo artist in Latin America and her first visit in many years since her days with the Spice Girls. Chisholm stated upon her musical return to Mexico, "I haven't been back to Mexico in many years and when I was there it was very brief, so I am excited to return and sing." In June, Chisholm also performed for the first time in Brazil, playing live shows in both Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In late 2017, Chisholm was co-headliner at Night of the Proms, a 25-concert tour in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. In 2018, she turned her hand to disc jockeying by performing a "90s mix" at various events, and embarked on the Melanie C - Asia Tour 2018.
2019–present: Spice Girls reunion and Melanie C
On 5 November 2018, Chisholm along with the Spice Girls announced a reunion tour. She and ex-bandmates Melanie B, Bunton and Geri Halliwell reunited for the Spice World – 2019 Tour, a 13 date tour of eight cities in the UK and Ireland that was their first for a decade. The tour opened at Croke Park, Dublin on 24 May 2019 and concluded at Wembley Stadium in London on 15 June 2019.
On 6 November 2019, Chisholm released the single "High Heels" which was written with Rae Morris and Benjamin "Fryars" Garrett and features drag act Sink the Pink. During promotion for the single, Chisholm stated during an interview with The Guardian that she had been working on a new album with artists including Shura and Little Boots.
On 19 March 2020, Chisholm released "Who I Am", the lead single from her eighth album, Melanie C. Chisholm first performed "Who I Am" live on 21 April 2020 on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where she live streamed her performance from her home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked how she was coping with the lockdown restrictions, she responded, "I'm keeping busy. I'm trying to get my album finished, remotely. I've been trying to stay connected with the fans: I've been doing lots of live Q&A's and streaming." On 13 May 2020, Chisholm sang "Who I Am", among other singles from her career, as part of a "bathroom" gig in aid of WaterAid. On 27 May 2020, Chisholm released "Blame It on Me". "In and Out of Love" was released as the album's third single on 29 July 2020. On 3 August 2020, Chisholm told BBC Music: "Obviously, I'm making a pop-dance record and I'm a mature artist, so I have to accept that some radio stations are not going to be playing me anymore. That's something to overcome. But I want people to enjoy this album, I want people to dance to it, I want people to be empowered by it. And when coronavirus has done one, I want to get out there and perform it live." On 16 September 2020, Chisholm premiered the video for "Fearless" the fourth single off the album, which is a collaboration with UK rapper Nadia Rose. "Meeting Nadia was kismet. I'd seen her on Kathy Burke's documentary series on women and fallen in love with her attitude. As female artists, we have to be fearless. I love this girl." Melanie C was released on 2 October 2020 to critical success. The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8, her first top 10 album since Reason in 2003.
On 13 November 2020, Chisholm was featured on "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. Chisholm also made a guest appearance in British singer-songwriter Celeste's music video, "Love is Back", which premiered in January 2021. Chisholm was presented with the "Celebrity Ally" award at the 2021 British LGBT Awards, held in London in August.
On 3 September 2021, Chisholm released a deluxe version of her Melanie C album across all digital and streaming services. Chisholm premiered a video for her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the new release. That same month, Chisholm was announced as a contestant for season 30 of the American series Dancing with the Stars. Chisholm was eliminated on 18 October 2021, becoming the fifth star in the series to be voted off and therefore finishing in eleventh place. On 26 October 2021, Chisholm performed "2 Become 1" as a duet with Chris Martin of Coldplay for the 8th Annual "We Can Survive" concert by Audacy, which was held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
On 1 September 2021, the Spice Girls had announced the re-release of Spice to mark their anniversary, titling it Spice25. The deluxe, double album was released on 29 October 2021 and contained remixes, demos and unreleased tracks. The CDs come in an A5 hardback booklet, with a collection of iconic images and a set of six Spice Girls postcards, while the original album is also available on limited edition vinyl and cassette. In an interview with Apple Music for the Spice25 release, Chisholm divulged, "We had [a] risqué song called 'C U Next Tuesday', which was vetoed for the 25th anniversary edition, but I do have plans for it. It sounds like a Lily Allen song; it's absolutely brilliant." The deluxe release saw the album reenter the UK Albums Chart at number five.
In November 2021, due to rising concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Chisholm announced the cancellation of her European tour dates in support of her . The following month, she appeared once again as a judge The Voice Kids. Teen Torrin Cuthill, who was mentored by Chisholm, won the three-episode series.
On 27 January 2022, Chisholm announced that her memoir would be published in the latter half of 2022, and will be published by Welbeck Publishing Group. The following month, Chisholm appeared as a guest judge on the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK Versus the World. The series was filmed in March 2021.
Personal life
Chisholm has been open about her experiences with clinical depression and an eating disorder. She spoke of her eating disorder to Contact Music, stating, "I'd hammered the gym for three hours a day. It was a way of running away, not thinking. I felt like a robot. When the papers started calling me 'Sumo Spice', I was only a size 10. But I was so upset by all the criticism, it got worse and I went up to a size 14."
In 1997, Chisholm had a month-long relationship with singer Robbie Williams. In 1998, she dated record producer Jake Davies. Later that year, she had a relationship with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Kiedis wrote "Emit Remmus", which is "summer time" spelled backwards, inspired by his relationship with Chisholm. The song was included on the album Californication. In 2000, Chisholm and Jason "J" Brown had an on-again, off-again relationship.
In February 2009, Chisholm gave birth to her first child, a daughter. In an interview with the BBC, Chisholm admitted that the arrival of her child proved to be a turning point in her life: "Being a mum was so liberating because for the first time in my adult life, it wasn't all about me. It made me not only realise I had a huge responsibility to her but I have a huge responsibility to myself. In being her teacher, I had to treat myself better."
Chisholm is a supporter of Liverpool FC and an amateur triathlete, having completed the London Triathlon twice.
Philanthropy
In 2000, all proceeds from sales of her "If That Were Me" single went towards the Kandu Arts charity. In 2012, Chisholm joined the Sport Relief telethon by appearing in a Never Mind the Buzzcocks special. Chisholm also participated in a three-mile "Sport Relief Mile" run. In 2013, Chisholm joined Jack Dee, Dara Ó Briain, Greg James, Chelsee Healey and Philips Idowu in Through Hell and High Water, a Comic Relief challenge which involved British celebrities canoeing the most difficult rapids of the Zambezi River. They raised over £1 million for the charity. In 2014, Chisholm travelled to Ghana to support a charity campaign by Procter & Gamble that provides African children with clean drinking water. The project involved the use of purification sachets that changes the water from stagnant to drinkable. Chisholm also supported a homeless charity by donating funds raised from her annual calendar.
Artistry
Influences
Chisholm has cited Madonna as her biggest musical influence. She stated: "I think she's inspired me a lot musically, and maybe [in] just the way I present myself. I've always admired how hard she works and what a strong lady she is, so she's always inspired me in that way." Chisholm named Madonna, Blur, Oasis, Suede and the Cardigans as inspirations for her first album.
Voice
Melanie C is a mezzo-soprano, with a vocal range reaching C 6. Her main characteristics are a distinctive timbre, a unique vocal ability that helped shoot the Spice Girls to international stardom, and a versatile voice for different styles and music genres. Her voice is flex and snap, strong and inspirational, with a mixture of lightness and weight, with a slightly nasal, raspy and powerful tone, clear and emotional.
Musical style
Chisholm's music is generally pop and rock. Being the first member of the group to go solo, with Adams on When You're Gone in 1998, she has been versatile when it comes to style, incorporating pop-rock, rock, post-grunge, ambient, acoustic, R&B, hip hop, dance, trance, dance-pop, dance-rock, electro, into her sound. She also released an album of show tunes.
Cultural impact and legacy
As a Spice Girls member Chisholm was called "Sporty Spice" because she usually wore a tracksuit paired with athletic shoes, wore her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and sported a tough girl attitude as well as tattoos on both of her arms. She also possessed true athletic abilities, including being able to perform back handsprings.
In this period, the phrase "girl power" put a name to a social phenomenon, but the slogan was met with mixed reactions. The phrase was a label for the particular facet of post classical neo-feminist empowerment embraced by the band: that a sensual, feminine appearance and equality between the sexes need not be mutually exclusive. The term "Cool Britannia" became prominent in the media and represented the new political and social climate that was emerging with the advances made by New Labour and the new UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Although by no means responsible for the onset of "Cool Britannia", the arrival of the Spice Girls added to the new image and re-branding of Britain, and underlined the growing world popularity of British, rather than American, pop music.
The Spice Girls broke onto the music scene at a time when alternative rock, hip-hop and R&B dominated global music charts. The modern pop phenomenon that the Spice Girls created by targeting early members of Generation Y was credited with changing the global music landscape, bringing about the global wave of late-1990s and early-2000s teen pop acts such as Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and NSYNC. The Spice Girls have also been credited with paving the way for the girl groups and female pop singers that have come after them. In the UK, they are credited for their massive commercial breakthrough in the previously male-dominated pop music scene, leading to the widespread formation of new girl groups in the late 1990s and early 2000s including All Saints, B*Witched, Atomic Kitten, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, hoping to emulate the Spice Girls' success. The Pussycat Dolls, 2NE1, Girls' Generation, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Jess Glynne, Alexandra Burke, Kim Petras, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, Demi Lovato Carly Rae Jepsen, Regine Velasquez, MØ, Billie Eilish and Adele credits the Spice Girls as a major influence, in which Melanie C was the prominent voice.
Some songs from Northern Star have appeared in films, such as "Ga Ga" which is heard in Charmed and Big Daddy. The song "Go" makes an appearance in Whatever It Takes. "Suddenly Monday" appears in Maybe Baby and on its soundtrack. After the song gained popularity, "I Turn to You" was featured in the film Bend It Like Beckham. It was covered by Darkseed on "Ultimate Darkness", by Machinae Supremacy on "Webography", and by Wig Wam on 667.. The Neighbour of the Beast. The song was also featured in the musical Viva Forever!, a musical show based on the songs of the Spice Girls. Some songs have also been covered by international artists such as Christine Fan, who covered and translated "Suddenly Monday" in Chinese for her debut album FanFan's World, and Dutch pop singer Do who covered the Japanese bonus-track "Follow Me", for her album of the same name. The single "First Day of My Life" was originally recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian as "Un Nuovo Giorno" (A new day) for his 2004 album Andrea, and he also released it as a single the same year. Chisolm's version of the single was a success in German-speaking countries because it was used as the title song of the German soap opera telenovela Wege zum Glück. At the time of The Seas release, the lead single "Rock Me" served as the official theme song for German TV channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Chisholm has received co-writing credits for most of the songs recorded with Spice Girls and her solo efforts. The main concept of the Spice Girl albums centred on the idea of Girl Power, embodying a feminist image, as both Madonna and Bananarama had employed before, and every track deals with different aspects of this notion. Other central themes in the writing of the group were the union, solidarity, friendship, independence, love, loss of virginity, sex, contraception, the relationship with parents during adolescence, vulnerability and fame. Many of these themes were carried out even during her solo career, but with a more mature writing, intense style and in some songs a more raw and direct language. Added to these were social issues such as homelessness, and introspective themes. Having co-written 11 UK number 1s, she remains the only female performer to top the charts as a solo artist, as part of a duo, quartet and quintet. With 12 UK Number 1 singles, including the charity single as part of the Justice Collective, she is the second female artist – and the first British female artist – with the most singles at number 1 in the UK.
Discography
Studio albums
Northern Star (1999)
Reason (2003)
Beautiful Intentions (2005)
This Time (2007)
The Sea (2011)
Stages (2012)
Version of Me (2016)
Melanie C (2020)
Filmography
Stage
Concert tours
Headlining
From Liverpool to Leicester Square (1999)
Northern Star Tour (2000–01)
Reason Tour (2003)
The Barfly Mini-Tour (2004)
Beautiful Intentions Tour (2005)
This Time Canadian Tour (2008)
The Sea – Live (2011–12)
Version of Me UK & Ireland Tour (2017)
Version of Me Europe Tour (2017)
Version of Me Festival Tour (2017–2018)
Global Pride Tour (2019)
Colors and Light Live Stream (2020)
Melanie C Tour (2022)
Fixed special guest
The Christmas Tour (2014)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
1974 births
20th-century English singers
20th-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
21st-century English women singers
Alumni of Bird College
Bonnier Amigo Music Group artists
Dance-pop musicians
English female dancers
English female models
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
English philanthropists
English rock singers
English television personalities
English women guitarists
English guitarists
English women pop singers
English women singer-songwriters
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
Participants in British reality television series
People from Whiston, Merseyside
Singers from Merseyside
Spice Girls members
Virgin Records artists
Women rock singers | false | [
"Newermind: A Tribute to Nirvana is a 2011 celebratory tribute album, created by SPIN Magazine, for the 20th anniversary of Nirvana's album Nevermind. The bands that covered each song on the album were inspired by Nirvana to pursue a musical career, with special mentions to Meat Puppets and The Vaselines who had inspired Kurt Cobain. The album was originally released for free download on July 19, 2011. It is no longer available for download on the original website.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences\n\n2011 compilation albums\nNirvana (band) tribute albums",
"Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings may refer to:\n\n Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings (Bo Hansson album)\n Music Inspired by The Lord of the Rings (Mostly Autumn album)"
] |
[
"Keane (band)",
"2008-09: Perfect Symmetry"
] | C_565f3a357e82409b844e44a9d84ca926_0 | What is Perfect Symmetry? | 1 | What is Perfect Symmetry in relation to Keane? | Keane (band) | In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary", became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website also implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This". The album was released on 13, October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted Best Album of the Year by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track. In November of the same year, they started their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single, "Better Than This", or also to hand-make their own glasses. The show is available to watch on Keane's official site in high definition. CANNOTANSWER | their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. | Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met whilst at Tonbridge School together. The band currently comprises Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, electric/acoustic guitar), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, bass guitar, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals), and Jesse Quin (bass guitar, acoustic/electric guitar, backing vocals). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.
Keane achieved mainstream, international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK charts, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the second best-selling British album of 2004. It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK album charts and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008.
In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, The Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20. In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK. Their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.
After the release of their compilation album The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a hiatus, lasting nearly 5 years.
The band returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of the songs were written by Tim Rice-Oxley during his divorce, and after discussions with Tom who had visited Tim the previous year, decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
1995–99: Early years and formation
Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when very young. Chaplin's father David was the headmaster of Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex (owned by Chaplin's family) for 25 years, the school all three attended until the age of 13. They later attended Tonbridge School in Kent, where Rice-Oxley met Dominic Scott; both discovered their liking for music. Richard Hughes, Keane's future drummer, also attended Tonbridge. Chaplin had learned to play the flute, but none considered music as a proper career at the time.
In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums. The band, named Lotus Eaters, started as a cover band, playing songs by the members' favourite bands, including U2, Oasis, and The Beatles, and rehearsing at home.
After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay. However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped." Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from The Lotus Eaters to Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young. At her death from cancer, she had left money for Chaplin's family. Chaplin commented: "I used some of the money to see me through the harder times with the music." The name was shortened to Keane soon afterward.
Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year. Chaplin's early experiences there later were reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days." With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. In this same year, Chaplin went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history] However, he later quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.
1999–2003: Early releases and Scott's departure
In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single "Call Me What You Like". Released on CD format through Keane's label Zoomorphic, it was sold after live performances at the pubs where Keane used to play in early 2000. Only 500 copies were printed. The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the demos "More Matey" and "Emily". Chaplin has said "they most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of and I don't see it causing any damage. If it was the album we have coming out leaked early, then I'd probably feel differently." The EP was reviewed by Bec Rodwell from eFestivals who listed "Closer Now" as the best song of the record.
Four months after the "Call Me What You Like" re-recording session in February 2001, "Wolf at the Door" was released. Only 50 copies are known to have been made, using unlabelled CD-Rs. Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over £1000 on eBay.
Because of the limited success Keane had at this time, Scott decided to leave the group a month after this single was released to continue his studies at the LSE. Before this, in November 2000, Keane had been invited by record producer James Sanger to his recording studio at Les Essarts, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November 2001, including "Bedshaped" and "This Is the Last Time". It was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. Sanger received a shared credit for four songs that appeared on Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears, including the song "Sunshine", the only one composed there.
The remaining members of the band returned to England in November 2001. Soon after, they signed to BMG to publish their music, but at this time they did not yet have a recording contract. 2002 was a hard year for Keane. All recording or live performances were stopped, and Scott's feeling of going nowhere was starting to tell on Rice-Oxley and Chaplin.
In December 2002, Keane returned to performing live. Luckily for the band, one gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously. Williams offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This release was "Everybody's Changing", which Steve Lamacq named single of the week on Lamacq Live on 19 April 2003; the CD single was released on 12 May 2003.
As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels. The band decided to sign with Island Records in Summer 2003. After first being attracted to the band by the considerable industry buzz then surrounding them and from hearing "Everybody's Changing" on the radio, the Island A&R, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, told HitQuarters that he wanted to sign them after hearing the five songs "Everybody’s Changing", "This Is the Last Time", "She Has No Time", "Bend and Break" and "Somewhere Only We Know", saying "every one of them was brilliant...they had a fantastic live show [but] even if I hadn't been able to see them live, I would have tried to sign them anyway." According to Unger-Hamilton, Keane chose to sign with Island because they got on well with the A&R and were convinced that he did not want to change them in any way.
The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003 as the final release on that label.
2004–05: Hopes and Fears
With the release of their first major single, Keane began to achieve recognition in the United Kingdom and the United States, where "This Is the Last Time" was released and remained as the only single sold there until "Crystal Ball" in late 2006.
In January 2004, Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll; additionally, this year is popularly referred to as one of the best years for new British music.
A month later, Keane's first release on Island was "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in February 2004. On 4 May, a re-release of "Everybody's Changing" followed and featured new cover and b-sides; it reached number four in the UK Singles Chart.
Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, a day before the band started their first world tour. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the second best-selling British album of the year. It has been certified 9x platinum in the UK.
Drowned in Sound gave it 5 out of 10, accusing Keane of excessively imitating Coldplay (specifically comparing "Your Eyes Open" and "On a Day Like Today" with, respectively, "Daylight" and "Politik" on the band's album A Rush of Blood to the Head), criticising the album as being "stylistically all over the place" and its lyrics as being "immature" and "cringe-worthy". However, it gave credit to the album's "fine moments", praising lead single "Somewhere Only We Know" as "breathtaking".
The album has sold approximately 5.5 million copies worldwide. In the UK, it stayed in the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart for 72 weeks, appearing again on its 115th week.
The band won two awards at the 2005 BRIT Awards in February; Best British album for Hopes and Fears, and the British breakthrough act award as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. Three months after, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year.
As members of the Make Poverty History, Keane performed "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Bedshaped" at the Live 8 concert, which took place in London on 2 July 2005. Keane are also patrons of War Child, and in September 2005, they recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to the charity album Help: a Day in the Life. Previously, the band had recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". It also was released as a 7" single as a gift to members of the Keane emailing list.
Twenty years after the 1984 version, Band Aid (now called Band Aid 20) recorded a new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Rice-Oxley and Chaplin both contributed vocals.
During the year, the band achieved minor recognition in the U.S. from their extensive touring, which culminated with a series of gigs as the opening act for U2. The group were nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy.
2006–07: Under the Iron Sea
In April 2005, in the middle of the Hopes and Fears tour, the band began recording Under the Iron Sea with producer Andy Green, who worked with them on Hopes and Fears. The band later recruited Mark "Spike" Stent for mixing duties. Recording took place in Helioscentric Studios, where Hopes and Fears was recorded. Additional recording was done at The Magic Shop Studios in New York.
The album's release was preceded by the release of the "Atlantic", a download-only music video and the lead single "Is It Any Wonder?", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2007. The album had a worldwide release in June 2006 and was at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart for the first two weeks of its release. , it had sold more than 2.2 million copies. The third single from the album was "Crystal Ball", released on 21 August 2006, and reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The fourth single from the album was "Nothing in My Way", released on 30 October 2006, which received particular success on Mexican commercial radio, charting on Top 3 on 13 January 2007 and staying a month on that chart. The band released the single "The Night Sky" in aid of the charity War Child.
Before the release of the album (in May 2006), Keane had started their second world tour. However, because of the extensive touring, on 22 August 2006, Chaplin announced he had admitted himself to a clinic for drinking and drug problems. This initially resulted in the cancellation of three gigs and postponement of their September tour. The entire North American tour was cancelled outright to allow continued treatment. As a result, the upcoming UK and European tours, scheduled for October and November 2006, were considered to be liable for possible postponement depending on Chaplin's treatment. Chaplin then left the Priory Clinic in London on 6 October, but he continued to receive treatment. The tour reached for the first time South American countries (Argentina, Chile and Brazil) and saw the band's third visit to Mexico in late April with four dates, playing at the downtown zócalo in Mexico City, as well their first visit to Monterrey and Guadalajara. On 7 July 2007, Keane played at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, part of a series of gigs similar to Live 8, to highlight the threat of global warming. They performed "Somewhere Only We Know", "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Bedshaped". The Under the Iron Sea tour was brought to an end with performances in Oporto, Portugal, and at the Natural Music Festival in El Ejido, Spain on 3 August and 4 respectively.
In 2008, Under the Iron Sea was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV. In early October, Concert Live announced they were releasing a limited edition nine-CD set of every Keane live performance in the UK during October 2006 under the name Live 06.
2008–09: Perfect Symmetry
In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary" became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This".
The album was released on 13 October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted "Best Album of the Year" by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track.
In November 2008, they started the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single "Better Than This" or also to hand-make their own glasses.
2010: Night Train
On 10 May 2010, Keane released the EP titled Night Train which, on 16 May became their fourth number 1 album in the UK. Night Train was recorded during the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. The band first named this record as a mini-album, then that changed to an EP. In an interview, Tim Rice-Oxley said that Night Train is "pretty much an album".
The songs "Stop for a Minute" and "Looking Back" feature Somali Canadian rapper K'naan. The EP includes a cover of the song "You've Got to Help Yourself" by Yellow Magic Orchestra, featuring vocals by Japanese funk MC Tigarah. The song "Your Love" features Keane's keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley onlead vocals. The song "My Shadow" was featured in the Season 6 Grey's Anatomy episode "Shiny Happy People".
Night Train has been met with mixed reviews from critics. Ryan Brockington of the New York Post PopWrap called the work "game changing" while writing that the first single "Stop for a Minute" is "just as brilliant" as the album.
Supporting the Night Train EP, the band began on the Night Train Tour. which started with a show in Brixton, London at The Fridge on 12 May 2010. The tour includes a homecoming show at the Bedgebury Pinetum, outside the band's hometown of Battle. Also festival appearances in Europe followed with a tour of North America, concluding with an appearance at the Mile High Festival in Denver.
2011–13: Strangeland
After the end of Mt. Desolation Tour (alternative project by Tim and Jesse), Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin joined the other two members of the band to work on the pre-production of Strangeland.
It was announced on 3 February 2011 on the band's official website that Quin had become an official member of the band. He has worked with Keane since 2007.
Keane played a concert in Beijing, China on 13 April 2011 at the invitation of the fashion company Burberry. The band performed an acoustic session at the Wall of China. The band finished recording their fourth studio album on 12 January 2012 and finished mixing the record on 10 February. The album was recorded at Tim Rice-Oxley's Sea Fog Studios, in Polegate, East Sussex.
The Strangeland Tour started at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex on Friday, 9 March 2012.
The band released "Silenced by the Night", the album's lead single, worldwide except for the United Kingdom on 13 March 2012. Keane performed "Silenced By the Night" for the first time on 12 March on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The song was sent to U.S. adult alternative radio stations on 26 March 2012. In the UK, the single was released on 15 April 2012.
The single "Disconnected" was released on 20 April 2012 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the official worldwide release on 8 October 2012. The single "Sovereign Light Café" was released on 23 July 2012. The video was filmed in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, England.
Helen Lear from The Music wrote that Strangeland "will still sound to some like middle-of-the-road indie-pop" and "pretty much what you would expect from Keane", but "the tempo is noticeably more upbeat and the style more diverse than previous albums" and "offers some more fun in a grown-up style that may attract new fans to take a listen." Chris Roberts of the BBC criticised Strangeland as "an unabashed scurry back to the comfort zone", and that "Keane lack blood, guts and muscle", with the album ultimately classed as "a somewhat saddening step backwards." John Murphy of musicOMH rated the album two stars out of five, where "melodies are stodgy and predictable", with "a whole bucket of cliches piled in", calling Strangeland "proof positive that playing it safe is not always the best option." Ian Gittins of Virgin Media felt the album was "major musical step back from the wilful experimentalism of Perfect Symmetry, a record that saw Keane hiring dance producer Stuart Price and leaping far out of their comfort zone", commenting that the album "finds them fairly back in the middle of the road".
2013–19: The Best of Keane and hiatus
Keane released the compilation album The Best of Keane in November 2013. Two new songs recorded during Strangeland were released from the compilation album; "Higher Than the Sun" was released on 28 September 2013 and "Won't Be Broken" was released on 20 January 2014.
On 20 October 2013, several publications, including The Sun and Digital Spy, claimed that Keane intended to split following the release of The Best of Keane, and reported that the band members were "taking a break...to pursue their own projects." On 21 October 2013, Tom Chaplin clarified on Real Radio Yorkshire that the band was not splitting up, but the band members would like to "take a bit of time out from being Keane" after being busy for the past few years.
In an interview conducted in late 2017 with a correspondent from The Sun, Tom Chaplin stated that he felt that he was too old to reform and relaunch the band. He recorded a solo album titled "The Wave", released on 14 October 2016. He released follow-up Christmas-themed second album Twelve Tales of Christmas on 17 November 2017. Rice-Oxley and Quin continued side project Mt. Desolation, releasing the album When the Night Calls on 25 May 2018.
During the band's hiatus, the band has reunited three times: on 8 August 2015, Chaplin and Rice-Oxley performed a Keane setlist at Battle Festival. On 11 September 2016, the band released a music video for "Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the film A Monster Calls.
2019–21: Return and Cause and Effect
Toward the end of 2018, Keane posted a series of cryptic images onto their various social media accounts, hinting that the quartet were in the studio working on material.
On 17 January 2019, an article from The Sun revealed that the band are planning "to make a comeback after six years away" and that a "source close to the rockers has revealed the band is ready to work together again after 'putting their differences to one side'".
On 6 February, Keane posted an image of them on their various social media accounts. This was followed by several announcements on their Instagram and Facebook sites of various festivals in which the band would perform, including Cornbury Music Festival (6 July 2019), 4ever Valencia Fest in Spain (21 July 2019), MEO Marés Vivas in Portugal (19 July 2019), Noches del Botánico in Madrid (20 July 2019), and Hello Festival in The Netherlands (9 June).
On 15 March 2019, Keane performed their song "Somewhere Only We Know" on Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on BBC One with London Contemporary Voices. On 26 March 2019, Keane posted "We’ve been desperate to tell you that we’re busy making another album, which we’ll be releasing later this year" to their Facebook page.
On 17 May 2019, Keane released an EP titled Retroactive EP1 featuring "our favourite archived live performances, older demos and random treasures". On 6 June 2019, the band released the first new single from Cause and Effect, titled "The Way I Feel".
On 16 June 2019, Keane performed a set at the Isle of Wight Festival, being the closing act of the event. On 14 July 2019, Keane did a set at the British Summer Time concert in Hyde Park.
The band released a vertical edition of the music video for "The Way I Feel" on 22 July 2019, followed by an AI-generated lyric video for the same song which dropped in July 2019. On 30 July 2019, Keane announced they would co-headline three performances in Mexico with the band Travis, having sets in Monterrey (13 November 2019), Guadalajara (15 November 2019), and at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City (16-17 November 2019). Also on this day, the band announced they would perform at "Espaço Das Americas" in São Paulo on 1 December 2019. The band performed on the main stage at the Lokerse Feesten on 3 August 2019. The band streamed an acoustic session and interview on YouTube on 5 August 2019 at the Paste Studio in New York City. On 6 August 2019, the band performed live "The Way I Feel" on The Today Show. Later that day, they hinted at the release of their second single from Cause and Effect, titled "Love Too Much". On 8 August 2019, "Love Too Much" was released for streaming and debuted on The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, writing "Not a game-changing comeback by any means, Cause and Effect is instead a satisfying return to form that manages to gracefully age Keane by invigorating a familiar formula with wisdom and honesty learned over a dramatic, life-changing decade."
2021-present: Dirt EP
On 9 April 2021, Keane announced on their social media platforms they would be participating in Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 on 17 July, with the special early release of their new EP "Dirt" on 12" vinyl, featuring four previously unreleased tracks from Cause and Effect sessions.
On 17 July, the video for the new title track "Dirt" from the EP was released onto YouTube and Apple Music, coinciding with the limited early release of the 12" vinyl of the EP for Record Store Day. This came with the announcement that the full release of the EP will be on 13 August 2021.
Collaborations
In November 2004, Keane collaborated with electronic DJ Faultline on a cover of the Elton John song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Two years later, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter", released later in 2007 as a single, from her album The Sweet Escape. Stefani had been wishing to work with the band since 2005, and Rice-Oxley responded by saying "we might give it a go". Tom Chaplin collaborated with Rocco Deluca and the Burden on the song "Mercy". The band collaborated with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan and Japanese Baile Funk singer Tigarah on the EP Night Train. In late 2009, Rice-Oxley collaborated with the Australian singer Kylie Minogue as co-writer of the song "Everything Is Beautiful", for Minogue's eleventh studio album "Aphrodite", released in June 2010.
The band collaborated with dance artist Chicane on a remix of the song "Bend & Break", renamed "Wake Up". It was featured on the artist's 2008 best-of compilation. In 2012, Tom Chaplin collaborated with the Dutch singer Laura Jansen on the song "Same Heart" for a Dutch charity radio programme. The track was featured on Jansen's second studio album Elba. In 2017, a version of Tom Chaplin's solo track "Solid Gold", featuring alternative pop singer JONES, was released as a single.
Musical style and themes
Tim Rice-Oxley and Dominic Scott were the main writers of the band's songs during their early years. When Scott left in 2001, Rice-Oxley became the main composer. However, Rice-Oxley credits the rest of the band on all compositions, so that royalties for song credits are shared.
Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.
While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed. For this matter, they have been dubbed as "the band with no guitars", thanks to their heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their pianos and similar keyboards, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to The Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's distortion piano has been key to most of Keane's multifaceted style and most definitely their most recognizable asset.
Keane have covered songs by music artists such as U2, Rufus Wainwright, Depeche Mode, Genesis, The Beatles, The Cult and Queen. Rice-Oxley said "I guess it's classic song writing that is the main influence rather than one band in particular – we love people like Nick Drake who can convey so much emotion and write songs and albums that will be loved and cherished for many years – the things that will be in people's record collections for their whole lives."
Members
Current members
Tom Chaplin – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (1997–present)
Tim Rice-Oxley – keyboards, guitar, bass (1995–present), backing vocals (1997–present), lead vocals (1995–1997)
Richard Hughes – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1995–present)
Jesse Quin – bass, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2011–present; touring musician 2007–2011)
Former members
Dominic Scott – electric guitar, backing vocals (1995–2001)
Timeline
Awards and nominations
Discography
Hopes and Fears (2004)
Under the Iron Sea (2006)
Perfect Symmetry (2008)
Strangeland (2012)
Cause and Effect (2019)
Concert tours
Hopes and Fears Tour (2004–05)
Under the Iron Sea Tour (2006–07)
Perfect Symmetry World Tour (2008–09)
Night Train Tour (2010)
Strangeland Tour (2012–13)
Cause and Effect Tour (2019–20)
Songs in other media
See also
Live Earth
Make Poverty History
References
Books
Mass media
Keane gig and record reviews on Record Overplayed webzine, 2003– 2005
SONIKA*. Sonika 53: El triunfo del Indie: Keane o entre la suerte y el talento (August 2006). Retrieved on 15 August 2006
Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007
External links
English alternative rock groups
English pop rock music groups
Post-Britpop groups
Brit Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Ivor Novello Award winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quartets
Island Records artists
Fierce Panda Records artists
Musical groups from East Sussex | false | [
"Perfect Symmetry is the third studio album by English rock band Keane, released on 13 October 2008 in the United Kingdom. According to international Island Records manager, Jon Turner, \"the general international feel is of excitement and 'Spiralling' is a favourite track of the US company.\"\n\nCover\nThe cover for the album was revealed on 5 September. Tim Rice-Oxley explained that the imagery of the band are photographs of bigger than life-size sculptures of the band members, made by Korean artist Osang Gwon. It was implied that these sculptures will form the basis of the album's image and promotion up to the date of release.\n\nTrack listing\n\nNotes\n(^) denotes additional production\n(*) denotes co-producer\n\nBonus DVD\n Making of Perfect Symmetry documentary\n Track by track commentary\n \"Spiralling\" (Live Rehearsal)\n \"Spiralling\" (Demo)\n \"The Lovers Are Losing\" (Demo)\n \"Better Than This\" (Demo)\n \"You Haven't Told Me Anything\" (Demo)\n \"Perfect Symmetry\" (Demo)\n \"You Don't See Me\" (Demo)\n \"Again and Again\" (Demo)\n \"Playing Along\" (Demo)\n \"Pretend That You're Alone\" (Demo)\n \"Black Burning Heart\" (Demo)\n \"Love Is the End\" (Demo)\n\nIn culture\nThe album's eleventh song \"Love Is The End\" was featured on the 18th episode from the sixth season of the series One Tree Hill.\n\nPerfect Symmetry World Tour\nThe Perfect Symmetry World Tour started 29 September 2008 and finished 29 October 2009, with 121 shows. During the Perfect Symmetry album release week, the band did some free shows in the UK.\n\nPersonnel\n\nKeane\nTom Chaplin – vocals, guitar\nTim Rice-Oxley – piano, keyboards, guitar, percussion, synthesizers, composition, backing vocals\nRichard Hughes – drums, percussion, backing vocals\n\nAdditional personnel\nJesse Quin – bass, guitar (on \"Black Burning Heart\"), percussion, backing vocals\nStephen Hussey – violin (on \"Love Is the End\")\nChris Fish – cello (on \"Love Is the End\")\nJo Silverston; Ian Harris – musical saw (on \"Love Is the End\")\nJim Hunt – saxophone (on \"Pretend That You're Alone\")\nAnaël Train – French vocal (on \"Black Burning Heart\")\nJake Davies – engineering\nMark \"Spike\" Stent – mixing and additional production\nStuart Price – co-production (for \"Again and Again\" and \"Black Burning Heart\")\nJon Brion – additional production (for \"You Haven't Told Me Anything\")\nScott Johnson – on Studio Tech\nStephen Marcussen – mastering\nBeth Louise Warren – band assistance and recording co-ordinator\nOsang Gwon – sculptures for booklet\nRob Chenery at Tourist – design and art direction\nShamil Tanna – photography\nAdam Tudhope – managing\n\nCharts and certifications\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications and sales\n\nSee also\nList of songs by Keane\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nThe UrbanWire's review of Perfect Symmetry\nPerfect Symmetry at Keaneshaped\nKeane Live In Hong-Kong\n\n2008 albums\nIsland Records albums\nKeane (band) albums",
"\"Perfect Symmetry\" is a song by English rock band Keane. It was released on 29 December 2008 as the third single and is the title track from their third album of the same name. The song has been remixed by American electronic rock band Innerpartysystem and is available on their remix Myspace page.\n\nThe radio edit version of the 7\" single rearranges the song somewhat, the second verse being taken from the original first verse, and the original second verse being removed completely. It also cuts out the introduction at the beginning and the lines \"...hide in churches / Pieces of pieces of rush hour buses / I dream in e-mails...\", although these lines are not removed in the end.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCD single\n\"Perfect Symmetry\" – 5:12\n\"Staring at the Ceiling\" – 3:52\n\n7\" single\n\"Perfect Symmetry\" – 3:58\n\"Staring at the Ceiling\" – 3:52\n\nMusic video\nThe music video for the song was released on 19 November. It features the band inside a future-like glass room with a television screen that shows a video of Chaplin singing the song. The band members are also seen in another room doing various things. Different items appear throughout the video, usually aligned symmetrically to reflect the song's lyrics. During the start of each chorus, a different location in the world is shown (e.g. a waterfall in the first and mountains in the second).\n\nChart performance\nThe single reached #150 in the UK Singles Chart, the lowest position for an officially released Keane single in the UK.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial Keane site\nKeaneshaped on \"Perfect Symmetry\"\n\n2008 singles\nKeane (band) songs\n2008 songs\nSongs written by Tim Rice-Oxley\nSongs written by Tom Chaplin\nSongs written by Richard Hughes (musician)\nIsland Records singles\n\nnl:Perfect Symmetry\nru:Perfect Symmetry"
] |
[
"Keane (band)",
"2008-09: Perfect Symmetry",
"What is Perfect Symmetry?",
"their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour."
] | C_565f3a357e82409b844e44a9d84ca926_0 | What major cities did they visit during the tour? | 2 | What major cities did Keane visit during the Perfect Symmetry World tour? | Keane (band) | In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary", became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website also implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This". The album was released on 13, October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted Best Album of the Year by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track. In November of the same year, they started their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single, "Better Than This", or also to hand-make their own glasses. The show is available to watch on Keane's official site in high definition. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met whilst at Tonbridge School together. The band currently comprises Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, electric/acoustic guitar), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, bass guitar, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals), and Jesse Quin (bass guitar, acoustic/electric guitar, backing vocals). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.
Keane achieved mainstream, international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK charts, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the second best-selling British album of 2004. It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK album charts and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008.
In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, The Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20. In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK. Their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.
After the release of their compilation album The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a hiatus, lasting nearly 5 years.
The band returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of the songs were written by Tim Rice-Oxley during his divorce, and after discussions with Tom who had visited Tim the previous year, decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
1995–99: Early years and formation
Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when very young. Chaplin's father David was the headmaster of Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex (owned by Chaplin's family) for 25 years, the school all three attended until the age of 13. They later attended Tonbridge School in Kent, where Rice-Oxley met Dominic Scott; both discovered their liking for music. Richard Hughes, Keane's future drummer, also attended Tonbridge. Chaplin had learned to play the flute, but none considered music as a proper career at the time.
In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums. The band, named Lotus Eaters, started as a cover band, playing songs by the members' favourite bands, including U2, Oasis, and The Beatles, and rehearsing at home.
After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay. However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped." Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from The Lotus Eaters to Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young. At her death from cancer, she had left money for Chaplin's family. Chaplin commented: "I used some of the money to see me through the harder times with the music." The name was shortened to Keane soon afterward.
Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year. Chaplin's early experiences there later were reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days." With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. In this same year, Chaplin went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history] However, he later quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.
1999–2003: Early releases and Scott's departure
In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single "Call Me What You Like". Released on CD format through Keane's label Zoomorphic, it was sold after live performances at the pubs where Keane used to play in early 2000. Only 500 copies were printed. The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the demos "More Matey" and "Emily". Chaplin has said "they most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of and I don't see it causing any damage. If it was the album we have coming out leaked early, then I'd probably feel differently." The EP was reviewed by Bec Rodwell from eFestivals who listed "Closer Now" as the best song of the record.
Four months after the "Call Me What You Like" re-recording session in February 2001, "Wolf at the Door" was released. Only 50 copies are known to have been made, using unlabelled CD-Rs. Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over £1000 on eBay.
Because of the limited success Keane had at this time, Scott decided to leave the group a month after this single was released to continue his studies at the LSE. Before this, in November 2000, Keane had been invited by record producer James Sanger to his recording studio at Les Essarts, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November 2001, including "Bedshaped" and "This Is the Last Time". It was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. Sanger received a shared credit for four songs that appeared on Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears, including the song "Sunshine", the only one composed there.
The remaining members of the band returned to England in November 2001. Soon after, they signed to BMG to publish their music, but at this time they did not yet have a recording contract. 2002 was a hard year for Keane. All recording or live performances were stopped, and Scott's feeling of going nowhere was starting to tell on Rice-Oxley and Chaplin.
In December 2002, Keane returned to performing live. Luckily for the band, one gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously. Williams offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This release was "Everybody's Changing", which Steve Lamacq named single of the week on Lamacq Live on 19 April 2003; the CD single was released on 12 May 2003.
As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels. The band decided to sign with Island Records in Summer 2003. After first being attracted to the band by the considerable industry buzz then surrounding them and from hearing "Everybody's Changing" on the radio, the Island A&R, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, told HitQuarters that he wanted to sign them after hearing the five songs "Everybody’s Changing", "This Is the Last Time", "She Has No Time", "Bend and Break" and "Somewhere Only We Know", saying "every one of them was brilliant...they had a fantastic live show [but] even if I hadn't been able to see them live, I would have tried to sign them anyway." According to Unger-Hamilton, Keane chose to sign with Island because they got on well with the A&R and were convinced that he did not want to change them in any way.
The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003 as the final release on that label.
2004–05: Hopes and Fears
With the release of their first major single, Keane began to achieve recognition in the United Kingdom and the United States, where "This Is the Last Time" was released and remained as the only single sold there until "Crystal Ball" in late 2006.
In January 2004, Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll; additionally, this year is popularly referred to as one of the best years for new British music.
A month later, Keane's first release on Island was "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in February 2004. On 4 May, a re-release of "Everybody's Changing" followed and featured new cover and b-sides; it reached number four in the UK Singles Chart.
Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, a day before the band started their first world tour. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the second best-selling British album of the year. It has been certified 9x platinum in the UK.
Drowned in Sound gave it 5 out of 10, accusing Keane of excessively imitating Coldplay (specifically comparing "Your Eyes Open" and "On a Day Like Today" with, respectively, "Daylight" and "Politik" on the band's album A Rush of Blood to the Head), criticising the album as being "stylistically all over the place" and its lyrics as being "immature" and "cringe-worthy". However, it gave credit to the album's "fine moments", praising lead single "Somewhere Only We Know" as "breathtaking".
The album has sold approximately 5.5 million copies worldwide. In the UK, it stayed in the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart for 72 weeks, appearing again on its 115th week.
The band won two awards at the 2005 BRIT Awards in February; Best British album for Hopes and Fears, and the British breakthrough act award as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. Three months after, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year.
As members of the Make Poverty History, Keane performed "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Bedshaped" at the Live 8 concert, which took place in London on 2 July 2005. Keane are also patrons of War Child, and in September 2005, they recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to the charity album Help: a Day in the Life. Previously, the band had recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". It also was released as a 7" single as a gift to members of the Keane emailing list.
Twenty years after the 1984 version, Band Aid (now called Band Aid 20) recorded a new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Rice-Oxley and Chaplin both contributed vocals.
During the year, the band achieved minor recognition in the U.S. from their extensive touring, which culminated with a series of gigs as the opening act for U2. The group were nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy.
2006–07: Under the Iron Sea
In April 2005, in the middle of the Hopes and Fears tour, the band began recording Under the Iron Sea with producer Andy Green, who worked with them on Hopes and Fears. The band later recruited Mark "Spike" Stent for mixing duties. Recording took place in Helioscentric Studios, where Hopes and Fears was recorded. Additional recording was done at The Magic Shop Studios in New York.
The album's release was preceded by the release of the "Atlantic", a download-only music video and the lead single "Is It Any Wonder?", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2007. The album had a worldwide release in June 2006 and was at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart for the first two weeks of its release. , it had sold more than 2.2 million copies. The third single from the album was "Crystal Ball", released on 21 August 2006, and reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The fourth single from the album was "Nothing in My Way", released on 30 October 2006, which received particular success on Mexican commercial radio, charting on Top 3 on 13 January 2007 and staying a month on that chart. The band released the single "The Night Sky" in aid of the charity War Child.
Before the release of the album (in May 2006), Keane had started their second world tour. However, because of the extensive touring, on 22 August 2006, Chaplin announced he had admitted himself to a clinic for drinking and drug problems. This initially resulted in the cancellation of three gigs and postponement of their September tour. The entire North American tour was cancelled outright to allow continued treatment. As a result, the upcoming UK and European tours, scheduled for October and November 2006, were considered to be liable for possible postponement depending on Chaplin's treatment. Chaplin then left the Priory Clinic in London on 6 October, but he continued to receive treatment. The tour reached for the first time South American countries (Argentina, Chile and Brazil) and saw the band's third visit to Mexico in late April with four dates, playing at the downtown zócalo in Mexico City, as well their first visit to Monterrey and Guadalajara. On 7 July 2007, Keane played at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, part of a series of gigs similar to Live 8, to highlight the threat of global warming. They performed "Somewhere Only We Know", "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Bedshaped". The Under the Iron Sea tour was brought to an end with performances in Oporto, Portugal, and at the Natural Music Festival in El Ejido, Spain on 3 August and 4 respectively.
In 2008, Under the Iron Sea was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV. In early October, Concert Live announced they were releasing a limited edition nine-CD set of every Keane live performance in the UK during October 2006 under the name Live 06.
2008–09: Perfect Symmetry
In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary" became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This".
The album was released on 13 October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted "Best Album of the Year" by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track.
In November 2008, they started the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single "Better Than This" or also to hand-make their own glasses.
2010: Night Train
On 10 May 2010, Keane released the EP titled Night Train which, on 16 May became their fourth number 1 album in the UK. Night Train was recorded during the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. The band first named this record as a mini-album, then that changed to an EP. In an interview, Tim Rice-Oxley said that Night Train is "pretty much an album".
The songs "Stop for a Minute" and "Looking Back" feature Somali Canadian rapper K'naan. The EP includes a cover of the song "You've Got to Help Yourself" by Yellow Magic Orchestra, featuring vocals by Japanese funk MC Tigarah. The song "Your Love" features Keane's keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley onlead vocals. The song "My Shadow" was featured in the Season 6 Grey's Anatomy episode "Shiny Happy People".
Night Train has been met with mixed reviews from critics. Ryan Brockington of the New York Post PopWrap called the work "game changing" while writing that the first single "Stop for a Minute" is "just as brilliant" as the album.
Supporting the Night Train EP, the band began on the Night Train Tour. which started with a show in Brixton, London at The Fridge on 12 May 2010. The tour includes a homecoming show at the Bedgebury Pinetum, outside the band's hometown of Battle. Also festival appearances in Europe followed with a tour of North America, concluding with an appearance at the Mile High Festival in Denver.
2011–13: Strangeland
After the end of Mt. Desolation Tour (alternative project by Tim and Jesse), Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin joined the other two members of the band to work on the pre-production of Strangeland.
It was announced on 3 February 2011 on the band's official website that Quin had become an official member of the band. He has worked with Keane since 2007.
Keane played a concert in Beijing, China on 13 April 2011 at the invitation of the fashion company Burberry. The band performed an acoustic session at the Wall of China. The band finished recording their fourth studio album on 12 January 2012 and finished mixing the record on 10 February. The album was recorded at Tim Rice-Oxley's Sea Fog Studios, in Polegate, East Sussex.
The Strangeland Tour started at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex on Friday, 9 March 2012.
The band released "Silenced by the Night", the album's lead single, worldwide except for the United Kingdom on 13 March 2012. Keane performed "Silenced By the Night" for the first time on 12 March on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The song was sent to U.S. adult alternative radio stations on 26 March 2012. In the UK, the single was released on 15 April 2012.
The single "Disconnected" was released on 20 April 2012 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the official worldwide release on 8 October 2012. The single "Sovereign Light Café" was released on 23 July 2012. The video was filmed in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, England.
Helen Lear from The Music wrote that Strangeland "will still sound to some like middle-of-the-road indie-pop" and "pretty much what you would expect from Keane", but "the tempo is noticeably more upbeat and the style more diverse than previous albums" and "offers some more fun in a grown-up style that may attract new fans to take a listen." Chris Roberts of the BBC criticised Strangeland as "an unabashed scurry back to the comfort zone", and that "Keane lack blood, guts and muscle", with the album ultimately classed as "a somewhat saddening step backwards." John Murphy of musicOMH rated the album two stars out of five, where "melodies are stodgy and predictable", with "a whole bucket of cliches piled in", calling Strangeland "proof positive that playing it safe is not always the best option." Ian Gittins of Virgin Media felt the album was "major musical step back from the wilful experimentalism of Perfect Symmetry, a record that saw Keane hiring dance producer Stuart Price and leaping far out of their comfort zone", commenting that the album "finds them fairly back in the middle of the road".
2013–19: The Best of Keane and hiatus
Keane released the compilation album The Best of Keane in November 2013. Two new songs recorded during Strangeland were released from the compilation album; "Higher Than the Sun" was released on 28 September 2013 and "Won't Be Broken" was released on 20 January 2014.
On 20 October 2013, several publications, including The Sun and Digital Spy, claimed that Keane intended to split following the release of The Best of Keane, and reported that the band members were "taking a break...to pursue their own projects." On 21 October 2013, Tom Chaplin clarified on Real Radio Yorkshire that the band was not splitting up, but the band members would like to "take a bit of time out from being Keane" after being busy for the past few years.
In an interview conducted in late 2017 with a correspondent from The Sun, Tom Chaplin stated that he felt that he was too old to reform and relaunch the band. He recorded a solo album titled "The Wave", released on 14 October 2016. He released follow-up Christmas-themed second album Twelve Tales of Christmas on 17 November 2017. Rice-Oxley and Quin continued side project Mt. Desolation, releasing the album When the Night Calls on 25 May 2018.
During the band's hiatus, the band has reunited three times: on 8 August 2015, Chaplin and Rice-Oxley performed a Keane setlist at Battle Festival. On 11 September 2016, the band released a music video for "Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the film A Monster Calls.
2019–21: Return and Cause and Effect
Toward the end of 2018, Keane posted a series of cryptic images onto their various social media accounts, hinting that the quartet were in the studio working on material.
On 17 January 2019, an article from The Sun revealed that the band are planning "to make a comeback after six years away" and that a "source close to the rockers has revealed the band is ready to work together again after 'putting their differences to one side'".
On 6 February, Keane posted an image of them on their various social media accounts. This was followed by several announcements on their Instagram and Facebook sites of various festivals in which the band would perform, including Cornbury Music Festival (6 July 2019), 4ever Valencia Fest in Spain (21 July 2019), MEO Marés Vivas in Portugal (19 July 2019), Noches del Botánico in Madrid (20 July 2019), and Hello Festival in The Netherlands (9 June).
On 15 March 2019, Keane performed their song "Somewhere Only We Know" on Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on BBC One with London Contemporary Voices. On 26 March 2019, Keane posted "We’ve been desperate to tell you that we’re busy making another album, which we’ll be releasing later this year" to their Facebook page.
On 17 May 2019, Keane released an EP titled Retroactive EP1 featuring "our favourite archived live performances, older demos and random treasures". On 6 June 2019, the band released the first new single from Cause and Effect, titled "The Way I Feel".
On 16 June 2019, Keane performed a set at the Isle of Wight Festival, being the closing act of the event. On 14 July 2019, Keane did a set at the British Summer Time concert in Hyde Park.
The band released a vertical edition of the music video for "The Way I Feel" on 22 July 2019, followed by an AI-generated lyric video for the same song which dropped in July 2019. On 30 July 2019, Keane announced they would co-headline three performances in Mexico with the band Travis, having sets in Monterrey (13 November 2019), Guadalajara (15 November 2019), and at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City (16-17 November 2019). Also on this day, the band announced they would perform at "Espaço Das Americas" in São Paulo on 1 December 2019. The band performed on the main stage at the Lokerse Feesten on 3 August 2019. The band streamed an acoustic session and interview on YouTube on 5 August 2019 at the Paste Studio in New York City. On 6 August 2019, the band performed live "The Way I Feel" on The Today Show. Later that day, they hinted at the release of their second single from Cause and Effect, titled "Love Too Much". On 8 August 2019, "Love Too Much" was released for streaming and debuted on The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, writing "Not a game-changing comeback by any means, Cause and Effect is instead a satisfying return to form that manages to gracefully age Keane by invigorating a familiar formula with wisdom and honesty learned over a dramatic, life-changing decade."
2021-present: Dirt EP
On 9 April 2021, Keane announced on their social media platforms they would be participating in Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 on 17 July, with the special early release of their new EP "Dirt" on 12" vinyl, featuring four previously unreleased tracks from Cause and Effect sessions.
On 17 July, the video for the new title track "Dirt" from the EP was released onto YouTube and Apple Music, coinciding with the limited early release of the 12" vinyl of the EP for Record Store Day. This came with the announcement that the full release of the EP will be on 13 August 2021.
Collaborations
In November 2004, Keane collaborated with electronic DJ Faultline on a cover of the Elton John song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Two years later, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter", released later in 2007 as a single, from her album The Sweet Escape. Stefani had been wishing to work with the band since 2005, and Rice-Oxley responded by saying "we might give it a go". Tom Chaplin collaborated with Rocco Deluca and the Burden on the song "Mercy". The band collaborated with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan and Japanese Baile Funk singer Tigarah on the EP Night Train. In late 2009, Rice-Oxley collaborated with the Australian singer Kylie Minogue as co-writer of the song "Everything Is Beautiful", for Minogue's eleventh studio album "Aphrodite", released in June 2010.
The band collaborated with dance artist Chicane on a remix of the song "Bend & Break", renamed "Wake Up". It was featured on the artist's 2008 best-of compilation. In 2012, Tom Chaplin collaborated with the Dutch singer Laura Jansen on the song "Same Heart" for a Dutch charity radio programme. The track was featured on Jansen's second studio album Elba. In 2017, a version of Tom Chaplin's solo track "Solid Gold", featuring alternative pop singer JONES, was released as a single.
Musical style and themes
Tim Rice-Oxley and Dominic Scott were the main writers of the band's songs during their early years. When Scott left in 2001, Rice-Oxley became the main composer. However, Rice-Oxley credits the rest of the band on all compositions, so that royalties for song credits are shared.
Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.
While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed. For this matter, they have been dubbed as "the band with no guitars", thanks to their heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their pianos and similar keyboards, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to The Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's distortion piano has been key to most of Keane's multifaceted style and most definitely their most recognizable asset.
Keane have covered songs by music artists such as U2, Rufus Wainwright, Depeche Mode, Genesis, The Beatles, The Cult and Queen. Rice-Oxley said "I guess it's classic song writing that is the main influence rather than one band in particular – we love people like Nick Drake who can convey so much emotion and write songs and albums that will be loved and cherished for many years – the things that will be in people's record collections for their whole lives."
Members
Current members
Tom Chaplin – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (1997–present)
Tim Rice-Oxley – keyboards, guitar, bass (1995–present), backing vocals (1997–present), lead vocals (1995–1997)
Richard Hughes – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1995–present)
Jesse Quin – bass, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2011–present; touring musician 2007–2011)
Former members
Dominic Scott – electric guitar, backing vocals (1995–2001)
Timeline
Awards and nominations
Discography
Hopes and Fears (2004)
Under the Iron Sea (2006)
Perfect Symmetry (2008)
Strangeland (2012)
Cause and Effect (2019)
Concert tours
Hopes and Fears Tour (2004–05)
Under the Iron Sea Tour (2006–07)
Perfect Symmetry World Tour (2008–09)
Night Train Tour (2010)
Strangeland Tour (2012–13)
Cause and Effect Tour (2019–20)
Songs in other media
See also
Live Earth
Make Poverty History
References
Books
Mass media
Keane gig and record reviews on Record Overplayed webzine, 2003– 2005
SONIKA*. Sonika 53: El triunfo del Indie: Keane o entre la suerte y el talento (August 2006). Retrieved on 15 August 2006
Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007
External links
English alternative rock groups
English pop rock music groups
Post-Britpop groups
Brit Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Ivor Novello Award winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quartets
Island Records artists
Fierce Panda Records artists
Musical groups from East Sussex | false | [
"iKON 2018 Continue Tour is the first world tour by South Korean boy band iKON, in support of second studio album Return. The tour is set to visit South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Australia, with more countries to be announced. The tour began on August 18, 2018 in Seoul at KSPO Dome\n\nBackground\nOn July 2, it was announced by YG Entertainment that iKON will held an Asia tour and will visit eight cities. It marks the group second Asia tour after their 2016 iKoncert 2016: Showtime Tour, during the time they did two years intensive touring mostly in Japan as they gathered around 800,000 fans. A series of teasers were released in July, revealed members thoughts on the upcoming world tour and reveling the concept of the tour is A Road with No End, which indicates iKON's future path.\n\nOn August, iKON announced that the tour will visit Australia for the first time, with two shows in Sydney and Melbourne.\n\nConcerts dates\n\nReferences\n\n2018 concert tours\n2019 concert tours\nConcert tours of Asia\nIKon concert tours",
"Japanese boy band Kanjani Eight have gone on a total of nine concert tours, all domestic, and several shows. In 2006, they went on their first tour F.T.O.N: Funky Tokyo Osaka Nagoya, at the three major cities the concert tour was named after. Upon the success of the initial tour, it was expanded into a national tour in the fall of that same year, performing at a total of 11 cities and 26 performances. Winter of that same year, Kanjani Eight performed a national promo tour for the release of their single \"Kan Fu Fighting\". performing at a total of six cities and performing twenty six times.\n\nIn 2007, Kanjani Eight begun their biggest national tour to date, the \"Eh?! Honma?! Bikkuri!! Tour\". The concert tour began in the spring of 2007 and ended in the fall of that same year, totaling at 113 performances in all 47 prefectures of Japan. The concert tour also marked the first time in which a signed Johnny's talent performed in every prefecture of Japan in a single tour. After the success of that tour in 2008, Kanjani Eight performed two national tours between May and August performing at a total fourteen cities and over fifty performances.\n\nKanjani Eight released Puzzle in 2009 and the national tour Puzzle in the summer of that year. Following up that tour in the winter of 2009, they returned to the Kyocera Dome and performed their first Countdown Live concert series. In the winter of 2010, Kanjani Eight performed their 8 Uppers concert tour, which also contained their second Countdown Live. In 2011, Kanjani Eight performed their winter tour which consisted five cities for a total of ten performances. This tour also contained their third countdown live. In 2012, Kanjani Eight performed their 8EST concert tour, which was a total of 40 performances. This tour is noted for the fact that they performed at their first stadium and for that it did not include a countdown live.\n\nConcert Tours\n\nOther performances\n\nReferences\n\nConcerts\nKanjani Eight"
] |
[
"Keane (band)",
"2008-09: Perfect Symmetry",
"What is Perfect Symmetry?",
"their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour.",
"What major cities did they visit during the tour?",
"I don't know."
] | C_565f3a357e82409b844e44a9d84ca926_0 | Was Perfect Symmetry well attended? | 3 | Was Keane's Perfect Symmetry world tour well attended? | Keane (band) | In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary", became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website also implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This". The album was released on 13, October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted Best Album of the Year by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track. In November of the same year, they started their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single, "Better Than This", or also to hand-make their own glasses. The show is available to watch on Keane's official site in high definition. CANNOTANSWER | Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single, "Better Than This", or also to hand-make their own glasses. | Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met whilst at Tonbridge School together. The band currently comprises Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, electric/acoustic guitar), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, bass guitar, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals), and Jesse Quin (bass guitar, acoustic/electric guitar, backing vocals). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.
Keane achieved mainstream, international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK charts, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the second best-selling British album of 2004. It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK album charts and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008.
In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, The Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20. In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK. Their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.
After the release of their compilation album The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a hiatus, lasting nearly 5 years.
The band returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of the songs were written by Tim Rice-Oxley during his divorce, and after discussions with Tom who had visited Tim the previous year, decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
1995–99: Early years and formation
Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when very young. Chaplin's father David was the headmaster of Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex (owned by Chaplin's family) for 25 years, the school all three attended until the age of 13. They later attended Tonbridge School in Kent, where Rice-Oxley met Dominic Scott; both discovered their liking for music. Richard Hughes, Keane's future drummer, also attended Tonbridge. Chaplin had learned to play the flute, but none considered music as a proper career at the time.
In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums. The band, named Lotus Eaters, started as a cover band, playing songs by the members' favourite bands, including U2, Oasis, and The Beatles, and rehearsing at home.
After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay. However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped." Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from The Lotus Eaters to Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young. At her death from cancer, she had left money for Chaplin's family. Chaplin commented: "I used some of the money to see me through the harder times with the music." The name was shortened to Keane soon afterward.
Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year. Chaplin's early experiences there later were reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days." With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. In this same year, Chaplin went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history] However, he later quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.
1999–2003: Early releases and Scott's departure
In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single "Call Me What You Like". Released on CD format through Keane's label Zoomorphic, it was sold after live performances at the pubs where Keane used to play in early 2000. Only 500 copies were printed. The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the demos "More Matey" and "Emily". Chaplin has said "they most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of and I don't see it causing any damage. If it was the album we have coming out leaked early, then I'd probably feel differently." The EP was reviewed by Bec Rodwell from eFestivals who listed "Closer Now" as the best song of the record.
Four months after the "Call Me What You Like" re-recording session in February 2001, "Wolf at the Door" was released. Only 50 copies are known to have been made, using unlabelled CD-Rs. Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over £1000 on eBay.
Because of the limited success Keane had at this time, Scott decided to leave the group a month after this single was released to continue his studies at the LSE. Before this, in November 2000, Keane had been invited by record producer James Sanger to his recording studio at Les Essarts, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November 2001, including "Bedshaped" and "This Is the Last Time". It was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. Sanger received a shared credit for four songs that appeared on Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears, including the song "Sunshine", the only one composed there.
The remaining members of the band returned to England in November 2001. Soon after, they signed to BMG to publish their music, but at this time they did not yet have a recording contract. 2002 was a hard year for Keane. All recording or live performances were stopped, and Scott's feeling of going nowhere was starting to tell on Rice-Oxley and Chaplin.
In December 2002, Keane returned to performing live. Luckily for the band, one gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously. Williams offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This release was "Everybody's Changing", which Steve Lamacq named single of the week on Lamacq Live on 19 April 2003; the CD single was released on 12 May 2003.
As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels. The band decided to sign with Island Records in Summer 2003. After first being attracted to the band by the considerable industry buzz then surrounding them and from hearing "Everybody's Changing" on the radio, the Island A&R, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, told HitQuarters that he wanted to sign them after hearing the five songs "Everybody’s Changing", "This Is the Last Time", "She Has No Time", "Bend and Break" and "Somewhere Only We Know", saying "every one of them was brilliant...they had a fantastic live show [but] even if I hadn't been able to see them live, I would have tried to sign them anyway." According to Unger-Hamilton, Keane chose to sign with Island because they got on well with the A&R and were convinced that he did not want to change them in any way.
The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003 as the final release on that label.
2004–05: Hopes and Fears
With the release of their first major single, Keane began to achieve recognition in the United Kingdom and the United States, where "This Is the Last Time" was released and remained as the only single sold there until "Crystal Ball" in late 2006.
In January 2004, Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll; additionally, this year is popularly referred to as one of the best years for new British music.
A month later, Keane's first release on Island was "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in February 2004. On 4 May, a re-release of "Everybody's Changing" followed and featured new cover and b-sides; it reached number four in the UK Singles Chart.
Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, a day before the band started their first world tour. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the second best-selling British album of the year. It has been certified 9x platinum in the UK.
Drowned in Sound gave it 5 out of 10, accusing Keane of excessively imitating Coldplay (specifically comparing "Your Eyes Open" and "On a Day Like Today" with, respectively, "Daylight" and "Politik" on the band's album A Rush of Blood to the Head), criticising the album as being "stylistically all over the place" and its lyrics as being "immature" and "cringe-worthy". However, it gave credit to the album's "fine moments", praising lead single "Somewhere Only We Know" as "breathtaking".
The album has sold approximately 5.5 million copies worldwide. In the UK, it stayed in the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart for 72 weeks, appearing again on its 115th week.
The band won two awards at the 2005 BRIT Awards in February; Best British album for Hopes and Fears, and the British breakthrough act award as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. Three months after, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year.
As members of the Make Poverty History, Keane performed "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Bedshaped" at the Live 8 concert, which took place in London on 2 July 2005. Keane are also patrons of War Child, and in September 2005, they recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to the charity album Help: a Day in the Life. Previously, the band had recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". It also was released as a 7" single as a gift to members of the Keane emailing list.
Twenty years after the 1984 version, Band Aid (now called Band Aid 20) recorded a new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Rice-Oxley and Chaplin both contributed vocals.
During the year, the band achieved minor recognition in the U.S. from their extensive touring, which culminated with a series of gigs as the opening act for U2. The group were nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy.
2006–07: Under the Iron Sea
In April 2005, in the middle of the Hopes and Fears tour, the band began recording Under the Iron Sea with producer Andy Green, who worked with them on Hopes and Fears. The band later recruited Mark "Spike" Stent for mixing duties. Recording took place in Helioscentric Studios, where Hopes and Fears was recorded. Additional recording was done at The Magic Shop Studios in New York.
The album's release was preceded by the release of the "Atlantic", a download-only music video and the lead single "Is It Any Wonder?", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2007. The album had a worldwide release in June 2006 and was at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart for the first two weeks of its release. , it had sold more than 2.2 million copies. The third single from the album was "Crystal Ball", released on 21 August 2006, and reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The fourth single from the album was "Nothing in My Way", released on 30 October 2006, which received particular success on Mexican commercial radio, charting on Top 3 on 13 January 2007 and staying a month on that chart. The band released the single "The Night Sky" in aid of the charity War Child.
Before the release of the album (in May 2006), Keane had started their second world tour. However, because of the extensive touring, on 22 August 2006, Chaplin announced he had admitted himself to a clinic for drinking and drug problems. This initially resulted in the cancellation of three gigs and postponement of their September tour. The entire North American tour was cancelled outright to allow continued treatment. As a result, the upcoming UK and European tours, scheduled for October and November 2006, were considered to be liable for possible postponement depending on Chaplin's treatment. Chaplin then left the Priory Clinic in London on 6 October, but he continued to receive treatment. The tour reached for the first time South American countries (Argentina, Chile and Brazil) and saw the band's third visit to Mexico in late April with four dates, playing at the downtown zócalo in Mexico City, as well their first visit to Monterrey and Guadalajara. On 7 July 2007, Keane played at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, part of a series of gigs similar to Live 8, to highlight the threat of global warming. They performed "Somewhere Only We Know", "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Bedshaped". The Under the Iron Sea tour was brought to an end with performances in Oporto, Portugal, and at the Natural Music Festival in El Ejido, Spain on 3 August and 4 respectively.
In 2008, Under the Iron Sea was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV. In early October, Concert Live announced they were releasing a limited edition nine-CD set of every Keane live performance in the UK during October 2006 under the name Live 06.
2008–09: Perfect Symmetry
In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary" became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This".
The album was released on 13 October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted "Best Album of the Year" by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track.
In November 2008, they started the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single "Better Than This" or also to hand-make their own glasses.
2010: Night Train
On 10 May 2010, Keane released the EP titled Night Train which, on 16 May became their fourth number 1 album in the UK. Night Train was recorded during the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. The band first named this record as a mini-album, then that changed to an EP. In an interview, Tim Rice-Oxley said that Night Train is "pretty much an album".
The songs "Stop for a Minute" and "Looking Back" feature Somali Canadian rapper K'naan. The EP includes a cover of the song "You've Got to Help Yourself" by Yellow Magic Orchestra, featuring vocals by Japanese funk MC Tigarah. The song "Your Love" features Keane's keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley onlead vocals. The song "My Shadow" was featured in the Season 6 Grey's Anatomy episode "Shiny Happy People".
Night Train has been met with mixed reviews from critics. Ryan Brockington of the New York Post PopWrap called the work "game changing" while writing that the first single "Stop for a Minute" is "just as brilliant" as the album.
Supporting the Night Train EP, the band began on the Night Train Tour. which started with a show in Brixton, London at The Fridge on 12 May 2010. The tour includes a homecoming show at the Bedgebury Pinetum, outside the band's hometown of Battle. Also festival appearances in Europe followed with a tour of North America, concluding with an appearance at the Mile High Festival in Denver.
2011–13: Strangeland
After the end of Mt. Desolation Tour (alternative project by Tim and Jesse), Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin joined the other two members of the band to work on the pre-production of Strangeland.
It was announced on 3 February 2011 on the band's official website that Quin had become an official member of the band. He has worked with Keane since 2007.
Keane played a concert in Beijing, China on 13 April 2011 at the invitation of the fashion company Burberry. The band performed an acoustic session at the Wall of China. The band finished recording their fourth studio album on 12 January 2012 and finished mixing the record on 10 February. The album was recorded at Tim Rice-Oxley's Sea Fog Studios, in Polegate, East Sussex.
The Strangeland Tour started at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex on Friday, 9 March 2012.
The band released "Silenced by the Night", the album's lead single, worldwide except for the United Kingdom on 13 March 2012. Keane performed "Silenced By the Night" for the first time on 12 March on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The song was sent to U.S. adult alternative radio stations on 26 March 2012. In the UK, the single was released on 15 April 2012.
The single "Disconnected" was released on 20 April 2012 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the official worldwide release on 8 October 2012. The single "Sovereign Light Café" was released on 23 July 2012. The video was filmed in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, England.
Helen Lear from The Music wrote that Strangeland "will still sound to some like middle-of-the-road indie-pop" and "pretty much what you would expect from Keane", but "the tempo is noticeably more upbeat and the style more diverse than previous albums" and "offers some more fun in a grown-up style that may attract new fans to take a listen." Chris Roberts of the BBC criticised Strangeland as "an unabashed scurry back to the comfort zone", and that "Keane lack blood, guts and muscle", with the album ultimately classed as "a somewhat saddening step backwards." John Murphy of musicOMH rated the album two stars out of five, where "melodies are stodgy and predictable", with "a whole bucket of cliches piled in", calling Strangeland "proof positive that playing it safe is not always the best option." Ian Gittins of Virgin Media felt the album was "major musical step back from the wilful experimentalism of Perfect Symmetry, a record that saw Keane hiring dance producer Stuart Price and leaping far out of their comfort zone", commenting that the album "finds them fairly back in the middle of the road".
2013–19: The Best of Keane and hiatus
Keane released the compilation album The Best of Keane in November 2013. Two new songs recorded during Strangeland were released from the compilation album; "Higher Than the Sun" was released on 28 September 2013 and "Won't Be Broken" was released on 20 January 2014.
On 20 October 2013, several publications, including The Sun and Digital Spy, claimed that Keane intended to split following the release of The Best of Keane, and reported that the band members were "taking a break...to pursue their own projects." On 21 October 2013, Tom Chaplin clarified on Real Radio Yorkshire that the band was not splitting up, but the band members would like to "take a bit of time out from being Keane" after being busy for the past few years.
In an interview conducted in late 2017 with a correspondent from The Sun, Tom Chaplin stated that he felt that he was too old to reform and relaunch the band. He recorded a solo album titled "The Wave", released on 14 October 2016. He released follow-up Christmas-themed second album Twelve Tales of Christmas on 17 November 2017. Rice-Oxley and Quin continued side project Mt. Desolation, releasing the album When the Night Calls on 25 May 2018.
During the band's hiatus, the band has reunited three times: on 8 August 2015, Chaplin and Rice-Oxley performed a Keane setlist at Battle Festival. On 11 September 2016, the band released a music video for "Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the film A Monster Calls.
2019–21: Return and Cause and Effect
Toward the end of 2018, Keane posted a series of cryptic images onto their various social media accounts, hinting that the quartet were in the studio working on material.
On 17 January 2019, an article from The Sun revealed that the band are planning "to make a comeback after six years away" and that a "source close to the rockers has revealed the band is ready to work together again after 'putting their differences to one side'".
On 6 February, Keane posted an image of them on their various social media accounts. This was followed by several announcements on their Instagram and Facebook sites of various festivals in which the band would perform, including Cornbury Music Festival (6 July 2019), 4ever Valencia Fest in Spain (21 July 2019), MEO Marés Vivas in Portugal (19 July 2019), Noches del Botánico in Madrid (20 July 2019), and Hello Festival in The Netherlands (9 June).
On 15 March 2019, Keane performed their song "Somewhere Only We Know" on Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on BBC One with London Contemporary Voices. On 26 March 2019, Keane posted "We’ve been desperate to tell you that we’re busy making another album, which we’ll be releasing later this year" to their Facebook page.
On 17 May 2019, Keane released an EP titled Retroactive EP1 featuring "our favourite archived live performances, older demos and random treasures". On 6 June 2019, the band released the first new single from Cause and Effect, titled "The Way I Feel".
On 16 June 2019, Keane performed a set at the Isle of Wight Festival, being the closing act of the event. On 14 July 2019, Keane did a set at the British Summer Time concert in Hyde Park.
The band released a vertical edition of the music video for "The Way I Feel" on 22 July 2019, followed by an AI-generated lyric video for the same song which dropped in July 2019. On 30 July 2019, Keane announced they would co-headline three performances in Mexico with the band Travis, having sets in Monterrey (13 November 2019), Guadalajara (15 November 2019), and at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City (16-17 November 2019). Also on this day, the band announced they would perform at "Espaço Das Americas" in São Paulo on 1 December 2019. The band performed on the main stage at the Lokerse Feesten on 3 August 2019. The band streamed an acoustic session and interview on YouTube on 5 August 2019 at the Paste Studio in New York City. On 6 August 2019, the band performed live "The Way I Feel" on The Today Show. Later that day, they hinted at the release of their second single from Cause and Effect, titled "Love Too Much". On 8 August 2019, "Love Too Much" was released for streaming and debuted on The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, writing "Not a game-changing comeback by any means, Cause and Effect is instead a satisfying return to form that manages to gracefully age Keane by invigorating a familiar formula with wisdom and honesty learned over a dramatic, life-changing decade."
2021-present: Dirt EP
On 9 April 2021, Keane announced on their social media platforms they would be participating in Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 on 17 July, with the special early release of their new EP "Dirt" on 12" vinyl, featuring four previously unreleased tracks from Cause and Effect sessions.
On 17 July, the video for the new title track "Dirt" from the EP was released onto YouTube and Apple Music, coinciding with the limited early release of the 12" vinyl of the EP for Record Store Day. This came with the announcement that the full release of the EP will be on 13 August 2021.
Collaborations
In November 2004, Keane collaborated with electronic DJ Faultline on a cover of the Elton John song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Two years later, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter", released later in 2007 as a single, from her album The Sweet Escape. Stefani had been wishing to work with the band since 2005, and Rice-Oxley responded by saying "we might give it a go". Tom Chaplin collaborated with Rocco Deluca and the Burden on the song "Mercy". The band collaborated with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan and Japanese Baile Funk singer Tigarah on the EP Night Train. In late 2009, Rice-Oxley collaborated with the Australian singer Kylie Minogue as co-writer of the song "Everything Is Beautiful", for Minogue's eleventh studio album "Aphrodite", released in June 2010.
The band collaborated with dance artist Chicane on a remix of the song "Bend & Break", renamed "Wake Up". It was featured on the artist's 2008 best-of compilation. In 2012, Tom Chaplin collaborated with the Dutch singer Laura Jansen on the song "Same Heart" for a Dutch charity radio programme. The track was featured on Jansen's second studio album Elba. In 2017, a version of Tom Chaplin's solo track "Solid Gold", featuring alternative pop singer JONES, was released as a single.
Musical style and themes
Tim Rice-Oxley and Dominic Scott were the main writers of the band's songs during their early years. When Scott left in 2001, Rice-Oxley became the main composer. However, Rice-Oxley credits the rest of the band on all compositions, so that royalties for song credits are shared.
Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.
While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed. For this matter, they have been dubbed as "the band with no guitars", thanks to their heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their pianos and similar keyboards, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to The Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's distortion piano has been key to most of Keane's multifaceted style and most definitely their most recognizable asset.
Keane have covered songs by music artists such as U2, Rufus Wainwright, Depeche Mode, Genesis, The Beatles, The Cult and Queen. Rice-Oxley said "I guess it's classic song writing that is the main influence rather than one band in particular – we love people like Nick Drake who can convey so much emotion and write songs and albums that will be loved and cherished for many years – the things that will be in people's record collections for their whole lives."
Members
Current members
Tom Chaplin – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (1997–present)
Tim Rice-Oxley – keyboards, guitar, bass (1995–present), backing vocals (1997–present), lead vocals (1995–1997)
Richard Hughes – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1995–present)
Jesse Quin – bass, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2011–present; touring musician 2007–2011)
Former members
Dominic Scott – electric guitar, backing vocals (1995–2001)
Timeline
Awards and nominations
Discography
Hopes and Fears (2004)
Under the Iron Sea (2006)
Perfect Symmetry (2008)
Strangeland (2012)
Cause and Effect (2019)
Concert tours
Hopes and Fears Tour (2004–05)
Under the Iron Sea Tour (2006–07)
Perfect Symmetry World Tour (2008–09)
Night Train Tour (2010)
Strangeland Tour (2012–13)
Cause and Effect Tour (2019–20)
Songs in other media
See also
Live Earth
Make Poverty History
References
Books
Mass media
Keane gig and record reviews on Record Overplayed webzine, 2003– 2005
SONIKA*. Sonika 53: El triunfo del Indie: Keane o entre la suerte y el talento (August 2006). Retrieved on 15 August 2006
Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007
External links
English alternative rock groups
English pop rock music groups
Post-Britpop groups
Brit Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Ivor Novello Award winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quartets
Island Records artists
Fierce Panda Records artists
Musical groups from East Sussex | false | [
"\"Perfect Symmetry\" is a song by English rock band Keane. It was released on 29 December 2008 as the third single and is the title track from their third album of the same name. The song has been remixed by American electronic rock band Innerpartysystem and is available on their remix Myspace page.\n\nThe radio edit version of the 7\" single rearranges the song somewhat, the second verse being taken from the original first verse, and the original second verse being removed completely. It also cuts out the introduction at the beginning and the lines \"...hide in churches / Pieces of pieces of rush hour buses / I dream in e-mails...\", although these lines are not removed in the end.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCD single\n\"Perfect Symmetry\" – 5:12\n\"Staring at the Ceiling\" – 3:52\n\n7\" single\n\"Perfect Symmetry\" – 3:58\n\"Staring at the Ceiling\" – 3:52\n\nMusic video\nThe music video for the song was released on 19 November. It features the band inside a future-like glass room with a television screen that shows a video of Chaplin singing the song. The band members are also seen in another room doing various things. Different items appear throughout the video, usually aligned symmetrically to reflect the song's lyrics. During the start of each chorus, a different location in the world is shown (e.g. a waterfall in the first and mountains in the second).\n\nChart performance\nThe single reached #150 in the UK Singles Chart, the lowest position for an officially released Keane single in the UK.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial Keane site\nKeaneshaped on \"Perfect Symmetry\"\n\n2008 singles\nKeane (band) songs\n2008 songs\nSongs written by Tim Rice-Oxley\nSongs written by Tom Chaplin\nSongs written by Richard Hughes (musician)\nIsland Records singles\n\nnl:Perfect Symmetry\nru:Perfect Symmetry",
"Perfect Symmetry may refer to:\n\nPerfect Symmetry (Fates Warning album), 1989\nPerfect Symmetry (Keane album), 2008\n\"Perfect Symmetry\" (song)\nPerfect Symmetry (tour), by Keane\n\nSee also\nSymmetry, a harmonious proportionality, or \"patterned self-similarity\""
] |
[
"Keane (band)",
"2008-09: Perfect Symmetry",
"What is Perfect Symmetry?",
"their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour.",
"What major cities did they visit during the tour?",
"I don't know.",
"Was Perfect Symmetry well attended?",
"Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7\" single, \"Better Than This\", or also to hand-make their own glasses."
] | C_565f3a357e82409b844e44a9d84ca926_0 | Was there anything else unique about the tour? | 4 | Was there anything else unique about Keane's Perfect Symmetry world tour aside from Keane fans being prompted to buy 3D glasses or also to hand-make their own glasses? | Keane (band) | In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary", became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website also implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This". The album was released on 13, October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted Best Album of the Year by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track. In November of the same year, they started their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single, "Better Than This", or also to hand-make their own glasses. The show is available to watch on Keane's official site in high definition. CANNOTANSWER | The show is available to watch on Keane's official site in high definition. | Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met whilst at Tonbridge School together. The band currently comprises Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, electric/acoustic guitar), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, bass guitar, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals), and Jesse Quin (bass guitar, acoustic/electric guitar, backing vocals). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.
Keane achieved mainstream, international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK charts, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the second best-selling British album of 2004. It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK album charts and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008.
In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, The Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20. In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK. Their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.
After the release of their compilation album The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a hiatus, lasting nearly 5 years.
The band returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of the songs were written by Tim Rice-Oxley during his divorce, and after discussions with Tom who had visited Tim the previous year, decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
1995–99: Early years and formation
Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when very young. Chaplin's father David was the headmaster of Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex (owned by Chaplin's family) for 25 years, the school all three attended until the age of 13. They later attended Tonbridge School in Kent, where Rice-Oxley met Dominic Scott; both discovered their liking for music. Richard Hughes, Keane's future drummer, also attended Tonbridge. Chaplin had learned to play the flute, but none considered music as a proper career at the time.
In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums. The band, named Lotus Eaters, started as a cover band, playing songs by the members' favourite bands, including U2, Oasis, and The Beatles, and rehearsing at home.
After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay. However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped." Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from The Lotus Eaters to Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young. At her death from cancer, she had left money for Chaplin's family. Chaplin commented: "I used some of the money to see me through the harder times with the music." The name was shortened to Keane soon afterward.
Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year. Chaplin's early experiences there later were reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days." With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. In this same year, Chaplin went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history] However, he later quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.
1999–2003: Early releases and Scott's departure
In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single "Call Me What You Like". Released on CD format through Keane's label Zoomorphic, it was sold after live performances at the pubs where Keane used to play in early 2000. Only 500 copies were printed. The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the demos "More Matey" and "Emily". Chaplin has said "they most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of and I don't see it causing any damage. If it was the album we have coming out leaked early, then I'd probably feel differently." The EP was reviewed by Bec Rodwell from eFestivals who listed "Closer Now" as the best song of the record.
Four months after the "Call Me What You Like" re-recording session in February 2001, "Wolf at the Door" was released. Only 50 copies are known to have been made, using unlabelled CD-Rs. Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over £1000 on eBay.
Because of the limited success Keane had at this time, Scott decided to leave the group a month after this single was released to continue his studies at the LSE. Before this, in November 2000, Keane had been invited by record producer James Sanger to his recording studio at Les Essarts, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November 2001, including "Bedshaped" and "This Is the Last Time". It was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. Sanger received a shared credit for four songs that appeared on Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears, including the song "Sunshine", the only one composed there.
The remaining members of the band returned to England in November 2001. Soon after, they signed to BMG to publish their music, but at this time they did not yet have a recording contract. 2002 was a hard year for Keane. All recording or live performances were stopped, and Scott's feeling of going nowhere was starting to tell on Rice-Oxley and Chaplin.
In December 2002, Keane returned to performing live. Luckily for the band, one gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously. Williams offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This release was "Everybody's Changing", which Steve Lamacq named single of the week on Lamacq Live on 19 April 2003; the CD single was released on 12 May 2003.
As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels. The band decided to sign with Island Records in Summer 2003. After first being attracted to the band by the considerable industry buzz then surrounding them and from hearing "Everybody's Changing" on the radio, the Island A&R, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, told HitQuarters that he wanted to sign them after hearing the five songs "Everybody’s Changing", "This Is the Last Time", "She Has No Time", "Bend and Break" and "Somewhere Only We Know", saying "every one of them was brilliant...they had a fantastic live show [but] even if I hadn't been able to see them live, I would have tried to sign them anyway." According to Unger-Hamilton, Keane chose to sign with Island because they got on well with the A&R and were convinced that he did not want to change them in any way.
The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003 as the final release on that label.
2004–05: Hopes and Fears
With the release of their first major single, Keane began to achieve recognition in the United Kingdom and the United States, where "This Is the Last Time" was released and remained as the only single sold there until "Crystal Ball" in late 2006.
In January 2004, Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll; additionally, this year is popularly referred to as one of the best years for new British music.
A month later, Keane's first release on Island was "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in February 2004. On 4 May, a re-release of "Everybody's Changing" followed and featured new cover and b-sides; it reached number four in the UK Singles Chart.
Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, a day before the band started their first world tour. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the second best-selling British album of the year. It has been certified 9x platinum in the UK.
Drowned in Sound gave it 5 out of 10, accusing Keane of excessively imitating Coldplay (specifically comparing "Your Eyes Open" and "On a Day Like Today" with, respectively, "Daylight" and "Politik" on the band's album A Rush of Blood to the Head), criticising the album as being "stylistically all over the place" and its lyrics as being "immature" and "cringe-worthy". However, it gave credit to the album's "fine moments", praising lead single "Somewhere Only We Know" as "breathtaking".
The album has sold approximately 5.5 million copies worldwide. In the UK, it stayed in the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart for 72 weeks, appearing again on its 115th week.
The band won two awards at the 2005 BRIT Awards in February; Best British album for Hopes and Fears, and the British breakthrough act award as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. Three months after, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year.
As members of the Make Poverty History, Keane performed "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Bedshaped" at the Live 8 concert, which took place in London on 2 July 2005. Keane are also patrons of War Child, and in September 2005, they recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to the charity album Help: a Day in the Life. Previously, the band had recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". It also was released as a 7" single as a gift to members of the Keane emailing list.
Twenty years after the 1984 version, Band Aid (now called Band Aid 20) recorded a new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Rice-Oxley and Chaplin both contributed vocals.
During the year, the band achieved minor recognition in the U.S. from their extensive touring, which culminated with a series of gigs as the opening act for U2. The group were nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy.
2006–07: Under the Iron Sea
In April 2005, in the middle of the Hopes and Fears tour, the band began recording Under the Iron Sea with producer Andy Green, who worked with them on Hopes and Fears. The band later recruited Mark "Spike" Stent for mixing duties. Recording took place in Helioscentric Studios, where Hopes and Fears was recorded. Additional recording was done at The Magic Shop Studios in New York.
The album's release was preceded by the release of the "Atlantic", a download-only music video and the lead single "Is It Any Wonder?", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2007. The album had a worldwide release in June 2006 and was at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart for the first two weeks of its release. , it had sold more than 2.2 million copies. The third single from the album was "Crystal Ball", released on 21 August 2006, and reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The fourth single from the album was "Nothing in My Way", released on 30 October 2006, which received particular success on Mexican commercial radio, charting on Top 3 on 13 January 2007 and staying a month on that chart. The band released the single "The Night Sky" in aid of the charity War Child.
Before the release of the album (in May 2006), Keane had started their second world tour. However, because of the extensive touring, on 22 August 2006, Chaplin announced he had admitted himself to a clinic for drinking and drug problems. This initially resulted in the cancellation of three gigs and postponement of their September tour. The entire North American tour was cancelled outright to allow continued treatment. As a result, the upcoming UK and European tours, scheduled for October and November 2006, were considered to be liable for possible postponement depending on Chaplin's treatment. Chaplin then left the Priory Clinic in London on 6 October, but he continued to receive treatment. The tour reached for the first time South American countries (Argentina, Chile and Brazil) and saw the band's third visit to Mexico in late April with four dates, playing at the downtown zócalo in Mexico City, as well their first visit to Monterrey and Guadalajara. On 7 July 2007, Keane played at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, part of a series of gigs similar to Live 8, to highlight the threat of global warming. They performed "Somewhere Only We Know", "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Bedshaped". The Under the Iron Sea tour was brought to an end with performances in Oporto, Portugal, and at the Natural Music Festival in El Ejido, Spain on 3 August and 4 respectively.
In 2008, Under the Iron Sea was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV. In early October, Concert Live announced they were releasing a limited edition nine-CD set of every Keane live performance in the UK during October 2006 under the name Live 06.
2008–09: Perfect Symmetry
In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary" became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This".
The album was released on 13 October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted "Best Album of the Year" by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track.
In November 2008, they started the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single "Better Than This" or also to hand-make their own glasses.
2010: Night Train
On 10 May 2010, Keane released the EP titled Night Train which, on 16 May became their fourth number 1 album in the UK. Night Train was recorded during the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. The band first named this record as a mini-album, then that changed to an EP. In an interview, Tim Rice-Oxley said that Night Train is "pretty much an album".
The songs "Stop for a Minute" and "Looking Back" feature Somali Canadian rapper K'naan. The EP includes a cover of the song "You've Got to Help Yourself" by Yellow Magic Orchestra, featuring vocals by Japanese funk MC Tigarah. The song "Your Love" features Keane's keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley onlead vocals. The song "My Shadow" was featured in the Season 6 Grey's Anatomy episode "Shiny Happy People".
Night Train has been met with mixed reviews from critics. Ryan Brockington of the New York Post PopWrap called the work "game changing" while writing that the first single "Stop for a Minute" is "just as brilliant" as the album.
Supporting the Night Train EP, the band began on the Night Train Tour. which started with a show in Brixton, London at The Fridge on 12 May 2010. The tour includes a homecoming show at the Bedgebury Pinetum, outside the band's hometown of Battle. Also festival appearances in Europe followed with a tour of North America, concluding with an appearance at the Mile High Festival in Denver.
2011–13: Strangeland
After the end of Mt. Desolation Tour (alternative project by Tim and Jesse), Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin joined the other two members of the band to work on the pre-production of Strangeland.
It was announced on 3 February 2011 on the band's official website that Quin had become an official member of the band. He has worked with Keane since 2007.
Keane played a concert in Beijing, China on 13 April 2011 at the invitation of the fashion company Burberry. The band performed an acoustic session at the Wall of China. The band finished recording their fourth studio album on 12 January 2012 and finished mixing the record on 10 February. The album was recorded at Tim Rice-Oxley's Sea Fog Studios, in Polegate, East Sussex.
The Strangeland Tour started at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex on Friday, 9 March 2012.
The band released "Silenced by the Night", the album's lead single, worldwide except for the United Kingdom on 13 March 2012. Keane performed "Silenced By the Night" for the first time on 12 March on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The song was sent to U.S. adult alternative radio stations on 26 March 2012. In the UK, the single was released on 15 April 2012.
The single "Disconnected" was released on 20 April 2012 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the official worldwide release on 8 October 2012. The single "Sovereign Light Café" was released on 23 July 2012. The video was filmed in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, England.
Helen Lear from The Music wrote that Strangeland "will still sound to some like middle-of-the-road indie-pop" and "pretty much what you would expect from Keane", but "the tempo is noticeably more upbeat and the style more diverse than previous albums" and "offers some more fun in a grown-up style that may attract new fans to take a listen." Chris Roberts of the BBC criticised Strangeland as "an unabashed scurry back to the comfort zone", and that "Keane lack blood, guts and muscle", with the album ultimately classed as "a somewhat saddening step backwards." John Murphy of musicOMH rated the album two stars out of five, where "melodies are stodgy and predictable", with "a whole bucket of cliches piled in", calling Strangeland "proof positive that playing it safe is not always the best option." Ian Gittins of Virgin Media felt the album was "major musical step back from the wilful experimentalism of Perfect Symmetry, a record that saw Keane hiring dance producer Stuart Price and leaping far out of their comfort zone", commenting that the album "finds them fairly back in the middle of the road".
2013–19: The Best of Keane and hiatus
Keane released the compilation album The Best of Keane in November 2013. Two new songs recorded during Strangeland were released from the compilation album; "Higher Than the Sun" was released on 28 September 2013 and "Won't Be Broken" was released on 20 January 2014.
On 20 October 2013, several publications, including The Sun and Digital Spy, claimed that Keane intended to split following the release of The Best of Keane, and reported that the band members were "taking a break...to pursue their own projects." On 21 October 2013, Tom Chaplin clarified on Real Radio Yorkshire that the band was not splitting up, but the band members would like to "take a bit of time out from being Keane" after being busy for the past few years.
In an interview conducted in late 2017 with a correspondent from The Sun, Tom Chaplin stated that he felt that he was too old to reform and relaunch the band. He recorded a solo album titled "The Wave", released on 14 October 2016. He released follow-up Christmas-themed second album Twelve Tales of Christmas on 17 November 2017. Rice-Oxley and Quin continued side project Mt. Desolation, releasing the album When the Night Calls on 25 May 2018.
During the band's hiatus, the band has reunited three times: on 8 August 2015, Chaplin and Rice-Oxley performed a Keane setlist at Battle Festival. On 11 September 2016, the band released a music video for "Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the film A Monster Calls.
2019–21: Return and Cause and Effect
Toward the end of 2018, Keane posted a series of cryptic images onto their various social media accounts, hinting that the quartet were in the studio working on material.
On 17 January 2019, an article from The Sun revealed that the band are planning "to make a comeback after six years away" and that a "source close to the rockers has revealed the band is ready to work together again after 'putting their differences to one side'".
On 6 February, Keane posted an image of them on their various social media accounts. This was followed by several announcements on their Instagram and Facebook sites of various festivals in which the band would perform, including Cornbury Music Festival (6 July 2019), 4ever Valencia Fest in Spain (21 July 2019), MEO Marés Vivas in Portugal (19 July 2019), Noches del Botánico in Madrid (20 July 2019), and Hello Festival in The Netherlands (9 June).
On 15 March 2019, Keane performed their song "Somewhere Only We Know" on Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on BBC One with London Contemporary Voices. On 26 March 2019, Keane posted "We’ve been desperate to tell you that we’re busy making another album, which we’ll be releasing later this year" to their Facebook page.
On 17 May 2019, Keane released an EP titled Retroactive EP1 featuring "our favourite archived live performances, older demos and random treasures". On 6 June 2019, the band released the first new single from Cause and Effect, titled "The Way I Feel".
On 16 June 2019, Keane performed a set at the Isle of Wight Festival, being the closing act of the event. On 14 July 2019, Keane did a set at the British Summer Time concert in Hyde Park.
The band released a vertical edition of the music video for "The Way I Feel" on 22 July 2019, followed by an AI-generated lyric video for the same song which dropped in July 2019. On 30 July 2019, Keane announced they would co-headline three performances in Mexico with the band Travis, having sets in Monterrey (13 November 2019), Guadalajara (15 November 2019), and at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City (16-17 November 2019). Also on this day, the band announced they would perform at "Espaço Das Americas" in São Paulo on 1 December 2019. The band performed on the main stage at the Lokerse Feesten on 3 August 2019. The band streamed an acoustic session and interview on YouTube on 5 August 2019 at the Paste Studio in New York City. On 6 August 2019, the band performed live "The Way I Feel" on The Today Show. Later that day, they hinted at the release of their second single from Cause and Effect, titled "Love Too Much". On 8 August 2019, "Love Too Much" was released for streaming and debuted on The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, writing "Not a game-changing comeback by any means, Cause and Effect is instead a satisfying return to form that manages to gracefully age Keane by invigorating a familiar formula with wisdom and honesty learned over a dramatic, life-changing decade."
2021-present: Dirt EP
On 9 April 2021, Keane announced on their social media platforms they would be participating in Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 on 17 July, with the special early release of their new EP "Dirt" on 12" vinyl, featuring four previously unreleased tracks from Cause and Effect sessions.
On 17 July, the video for the new title track "Dirt" from the EP was released onto YouTube and Apple Music, coinciding with the limited early release of the 12" vinyl of the EP for Record Store Day. This came with the announcement that the full release of the EP will be on 13 August 2021.
Collaborations
In November 2004, Keane collaborated with electronic DJ Faultline on a cover of the Elton John song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Two years later, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter", released later in 2007 as a single, from her album The Sweet Escape. Stefani had been wishing to work with the band since 2005, and Rice-Oxley responded by saying "we might give it a go". Tom Chaplin collaborated with Rocco Deluca and the Burden on the song "Mercy". The band collaborated with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan and Japanese Baile Funk singer Tigarah on the EP Night Train. In late 2009, Rice-Oxley collaborated with the Australian singer Kylie Minogue as co-writer of the song "Everything Is Beautiful", for Minogue's eleventh studio album "Aphrodite", released in June 2010.
The band collaborated with dance artist Chicane on a remix of the song "Bend & Break", renamed "Wake Up". It was featured on the artist's 2008 best-of compilation. In 2012, Tom Chaplin collaborated with the Dutch singer Laura Jansen on the song "Same Heart" for a Dutch charity radio programme. The track was featured on Jansen's second studio album Elba. In 2017, a version of Tom Chaplin's solo track "Solid Gold", featuring alternative pop singer JONES, was released as a single.
Musical style and themes
Tim Rice-Oxley and Dominic Scott were the main writers of the band's songs during their early years. When Scott left in 2001, Rice-Oxley became the main composer. However, Rice-Oxley credits the rest of the band on all compositions, so that royalties for song credits are shared.
Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.
While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed. For this matter, they have been dubbed as "the band with no guitars", thanks to their heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their pianos and similar keyboards, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to The Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's distortion piano has been key to most of Keane's multifaceted style and most definitely their most recognizable asset.
Keane have covered songs by music artists such as U2, Rufus Wainwright, Depeche Mode, Genesis, The Beatles, The Cult and Queen. Rice-Oxley said "I guess it's classic song writing that is the main influence rather than one band in particular – we love people like Nick Drake who can convey so much emotion and write songs and albums that will be loved and cherished for many years – the things that will be in people's record collections for their whole lives."
Members
Current members
Tom Chaplin – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (1997–present)
Tim Rice-Oxley – keyboards, guitar, bass (1995–present), backing vocals (1997–present), lead vocals (1995–1997)
Richard Hughes – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1995–present)
Jesse Quin – bass, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2011–present; touring musician 2007–2011)
Former members
Dominic Scott – electric guitar, backing vocals (1995–2001)
Timeline
Awards and nominations
Discography
Hopes and Fears (2004)
Under the Iron Sea (2006)
Perfect Symmetry (2008)
Strangeland (2012)
Cause and Effect (2019)
Concert tours
Hopes and Fears Tour (2004–05)
Under the Iron Sea Tour (2006–07)
Perfect Symmetry World Tour (2008–09)
Night Train Tour (2010)
Strangeland Tour (2012–13)
Cause and Effect Tour (2019–20)
Songs in other media
See also
Live Earth
Make Poverty History
References
Books
Mass media
Keane gig and record reviews on Record Overplayed webzine, 2003– 2005
SONIKA*. Sonika 53: El triunfo del Indie: Keane o entre la suerte y el talento (August 2006). Retrieved on 15 August 2006
Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007
External links
English alternative rock groups
English pop rock music groups
Post-Britpop groups
Brit Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Ivor Novello Award winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quartets
Island Records artists
Fierce Panda Records artists
Musical groups from East Sussex | false | [
"Two Tongues is an American indie rock side project/supergroup, consisting of members of Say Anything (Max Bemis and Coby Linder) and Saves the Day (Chris Conley), along with David Soloway, a former guitarist with Saves the Day.\n\nHistory\nBefore forming Two Tongues, Bemis, Conley and Linder had collaborated on a cover version of Bob Dylan's \"The Man In Me\" for the compilation album Paupers, Peasants, Princes & Kings: The Songs of Bob Dylan, released by Doghouse Records in 2006. Bemis asked Conley about potentially doing an album together; Conley responded positively by saying \"I would do it with no one else, nothing could be more epic!\" They subsequently recorded an album in January 2008.\n\nThe resulting album, Two Tongues, was scheduled to be released in summer 2008, but was delayed for unspecified reasons. The album was eventually released on February 3, 2009, through Vagrant Records. The thirteen-track album was self-produced and recorded at Electric Ladybug studios in Durham, California.\n\nIn fall 2010, Two Tongues made their first performances as a surprise in the middle of Say Anything's set each night of the Motion City Soundtrack, Say Anything and Saves the Day tour. They performed the song \"Crawl\". Arun Bali (current guitarist of Saves the Day) played guitar, Kenny Vasoli (of The Starting Line and Person L) played bass guitar, Jake Turner (of Say Anything) played guitar, Coby Linder played drums and Conley and Bemis sang.\n\nConley confirmed that there would be a second Two Tongues album in 2012.\n\nOn July 26, 2016, Conley announced the first ever Two Tongues tour beginning fall 2016, along with a fall release of their second album, Two Tongues Two. On October 10, 2016, Say Anything made an announcement on their website that the tour would be cancelled, \"due to unforeseen circumstances.\" The post indicated the group would be, \"playing shows in the future,\" but did not indicate a time-frame for this.\n\nDiscography\nStudio albums\n Two Tongues (2009)\n Two Tongues Two (2016)\n\nMembers\n Max Bemis – vocals, guitar\n Chris Conley – vocals, guitar\n David Soloway – bass guitar\n Coby Linder – drums\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial MySpace\n\nAmerican indie rock groups\nRock music supergroups\nMusical groups established in 2008\nEqual Vision Records artists\nVagrant Records artists",
"\"Clones\" is the first single released from the Meltdown album by the band Ash on . It was exclusive to the UK Downloads. The track came with a free artwork and a video when downloading.\n\nSongwriter Tim Wheeler has talked about the song on various occasions, and described it as:\n\"It's about how homogenized mankind has become. People don't really stand out. It's a rant about some person who's let you down, a person you thought was different and they turn out to be the same as everyone else.\"\n\n\"It's about someone you've idealised - a politician, a band, anything you've believed in that's really let you down. You thought they were unique and special but they've just turned out to be the same.\"\n\n\"I had to step away from myself, write about the wider world for a change. The social commentary songs, like 'Clones' are there because I'm ready now to address what I feel about politics.\"\n\nThe song was played constantly on the accompanying Meltdown tours, and appears on the live Meltdown special edition bonus disc, but has since been rested thus far on the 2007 Higher Education Tour. The song was used on the soundtrack for the game Star Wars: Republic Commando and the song later appeared on the accompanying Commando EP.\n\nMusic video \nThere are two videos for \"Clones\". The first one was directed by Jeff Thomas and stars Ash playing the song in a warehouse, and Wheeler meeting a cloned version of himself at the end of the video. Mark Hamilton, the bassist for Ash, has said of the video: \"This is a straight up performance video. Dark and gritty it was shot in a warehouse in the East End, London. It was a cold winter morning, there was no heating and we got drenched by a guy with a hose between takes. Thanks Jeff!\"\n\nThe second video was also directed by Jeff Thomas. The video was re-filmed in conjunction with the release of the \"Commando\" EP in the USA. The director has said of it: \"(It's an) Ash live performance taken from the original UK video and intercut with video game footage from LucasArts's Star Wars: Republic Commando. We got asked to provide music for the game during the Meltdown writing period and by complete fluke had just demoed the 'Clones' track!\"\n\nTrack listing \n\nDownload Single\n\"Clones\" (Wheeler)\n\"Clones (Video)\" (Wheeler)\n\n2004 singles\nAsh (band) songs\nSongs written by Tim Wheeler\n2004 songs\nSong recordings produced by Nick Raskulinecz"
] |
[
"Keane (band)",
"2008-09: Perfect Symmetry",
"What is Perfect Symmetry?",
"their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour.",
"What major cities did they visit during the tour?",
"I don't know.",
"Was Perfect Symmetry well attended?",
"Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7\" single, \"Better Than This\", or also to hand-make their own glasses.",
"Was there anything else unique about the tour?",
"The show is available to watch on Keane's official site in high definition."
] | C_565f3a357e82409b844e44a9d84ca926_0 | Did any other bands tour with them? | 5 | Did any other bands tour on the Perfect Symmetry world tour along with Keane? | Keane (band) | In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary", became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website also implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This". The album was released on 13, October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted Best Album of the Year by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track. In November of the same year, they started their third world tour, the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single, "Better Than This", or also to hand-make their own glasses. The show is available to watch on Keane's official site in high definition. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met whilst at Tonbridge School together. The band currently comprises Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, electric/acoustic guitar), Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, bass guitar, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals), and Jesse Quin (bass guitar, acoustic/electric guitar, backing vocals). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.
Keane achieved mainstream, international success with the release of their debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Topping the UK charts, the album won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Album and was the second best-selling British album of 2004. It is one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history. Their second album, Under the Iron Sea, released in 2006, topped the UK album charts and debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200. Their third album Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008.
In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, The Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20. In 2009, Hopes and Fears was listed as the ninth best-selling album of the 2000s decade in the UK. Their EP Night Train was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album Strangeland was released in May 2012 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.
Keane are known for using keyboards as the lead instrument instead of guitar, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music which developed on the second and third albums. Keane have sold over 13 million records worldwide.
After the release of their compilation album The Best of Keane in 2013, the band took a hiatus, lasting nearly 5 years.
The band returned after the hiatus with new music, announcing their fifth studio album titled Cause and Effect on 6 June 2019 and releasing the lead single from the album "The Way I Feel". A collection of the songs were written by Tim Rice-Oxley during his divorce, and after discussions with Tom who had visited Tim the previous year, decided to proceed with recording the songs for the album. Cause and Effect was released on 20 September 2019. After the release of the album, the band embarked on the Cause and Effect Tour, visiting Europe and Latin America, before the remainder of the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
1995–99: Early years and formation
Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when very young. Chaplin's father David was the headmaster of Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex (owned by Chaplin's family) for 25 years, the school all three attended until the age of 13. They later attended Tonbridge School in Kent, where Rice-Oxley met Dominic Scott; both discovered their liking for music. Richard Hughes, Keane's future drummer, also attended Tonbridge. Chaplin had learned to play the flute, but none considered music as a proper career at the time.
In 1995, while studying at University College London, Rice-Oxley formed a rock band with Scott and invited Hughes to play drums. The band, named Lotus Eaters, started as a cover band, playing songs by the members' favourite bands, including U2, Oasis, and The Beatles, and rehearsing at home.
After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend at Virginia Water, Surrey in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay. However, Rice-Oxley declined because he did not want to leave The Lotus Eaters, stating "I was seriously interested, but Keane were already operational and Coldplay's keyboard player idea was dropped." Because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. Chaplin's recruitment also marked a change of name from The Lotus Eaters to Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young. At her death from cancer, she had left money for Chaplin's family. Chaplin commented: "I used some of the money to see me through the harder times with the music." The name was shortened to Keane soon afterward.
Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year. Chaplin's early experiences there later were reflected in the band's position for the Make Poverty History campaign. Returning a year later, in July 1998, following a meeting with friend David Lloyd Seaman, Hughes' first words when the band picked up Chaplin at the airport were "we've got a gig in 10 days." With original material, Keane made their debut live appearance at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998. In this same year, Chaplin went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history] However, he later quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. After their debut performance, the band went touring London's pub gig circuit throughout 1998 and 1999.
1999–2003: Early releases and Scott's departure
In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single "Call Me What You Like". Released on CD format through Keane's label Zoomorphic, it was sold after live performances at the pubs where Keane used to play in early 2000. Only 500 copies were printed. The band have declared they are not against fans sharing tracks unreleased on CD, such as the demos "More Matey" and "Emily". Chaplin has said "they most likely see those recordings as an interesting extra to get hold of and I don't see it causing any damage. If it was the album we have coming out leaked early, then I'd probably feel differently." The EP was reviewed by Bec Rodwell from eFestivals who listed "Closer Now" as the best song of the record.
Four months after the "Call Me What You Like" re-recording session in February 2001, "Wolf at the Door" was released. Only 50 copies are known to have been made, using unlabelled CD-Rs. Both singles are considered highly valuable collectors' items by fans. In particular, "Wolf at the Door" has been known to be sold for over £1000 on eBay.
Because of the limited success Keane had at this time, Scott decided to leave the group a month after this single was released to continue his studies at the LSE. Before this, in November 2000, Keane had been invited by record producer James Sanger to his recording studio at Les Essarts, France, where the band recorded a number of tracks from August to November 2001, including "Bedshaped" and "This Is the Last Time". It was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. Sanger received a shared credit for four songs that appeared on Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears, including the song "Sunshine", the only one composed there.
The remaining members of the band returned to England in November 2001. Soon after, they signed to BMG to publish their music, but at this time they did not yet have a recording contract. 2002 was a hard year for Keane. All recording or live performances were stopped, and Scott's feeling of going nowhere was starting to tell on Rice-Oxley and Chaplin.
In December 2002, Keane returned to performing live. Luckily for the band, one gig at the Betsey Trotwood in London was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, the same man who had discovered Coldplay years previously. Williams offered to release the first commercial single by the band. This release was "Everybody's Changing", which Steve Lamacq named single of the week on Lamacq Live on 19 April 2003; the CD single was released on 12 May 2003.
As a result of the attention created by this release and because of the strong live reputation they had built through constant UK touring, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels. The band decided to sign with Island Records in Summer 2003. After first being attracted to the band by the considerable industry buzz then surrounding them and from hearing "Everybody's Changing" on the radio, the Island A&R, Ferdy Unger-Hamilton, told HitQuarters that he wanted to sign them after hearing the five songs "Everybody’s Changing", "This Is the Last Time", "She Has No Time", "Bend and Break" and "Somewhere Only We Know", saying "every one of them was brilliant...they had a fantastic live show [but] even if I hadn't been able to see them live, I would have tried to sign them anyway." According to Unger-Hamilton, Keane chose to sign with Island because they got on well with the A&R and were convinced that he did not want to change them in any way.
The band released "This Is the Last Time" on Fierce Panda, in October 2003 as the final release on that label.
2004–05: Hopes and Fears
With the release of their first major single, Keane began to achieve recognition in the United Kingdom and the United States, where "This Is the Last Time" was released and remained as the only single sold there until "Crystal Ball" in late 2006.
In January 2004, Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll; additionally, this year is popularly referred to as one of the best years for new British music.
A month later, Keane's first release on Island was "Somewhere Only We Know", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in February 2004. On 4 May, a re-release of "Everybody's Changing" followed and featured new cover and b-sides; it reached number four in the UK Singles Chart.
Keane's debut album Hopes and Fears was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, a day before the band started their first world tour. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and became the second best-selling British album of the year. It has been certified 9x platinum in the UK.
Drowned in Sound gave it 5 out of 10, accusing Keane of excessively imitating Coldplay (specifically comparing "Your Eyes Open" and "On a Day Like Today" with, respectively, "Daylight" and "Politik" on the band's album A Rush of Blood to the Head), criticising the album as being "stylistically all over the place" and its lyrics as being "immature" and "cringe-worthy". However, it gave credit to the album's "fine moments", praising lead single "Somewhere Only We Know" as "breathtaking".
The album has sold approximately 5.5 million copies worldwide. In the UK, it stayed in the top 75 of the UK Albums Chart for 72 weeks, appearing again on its 115th week.
The band won two awards at the 2005 BRIT Awards in February; Best British album for Hopes and Fears, and the British breakthrough act award as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. Three months after, Rice-Oxley received the Ivor Novello award for songwriter of the year.
As members of the Make Poverty History, Keane performed "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Bedshaped" at the Live 8 concert, which took place in London on 2 July 2005. Keane are also patrons of War Child, and in September 2005, they recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" to the charity album Help: a Day in the Life. Previously, the band had recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore". It also was released as a 7" single as a gift to members of the Keane emailing list.
Twenty years after the 1984 version, Band Aid (now called Band Aid 20) recorded a new version of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Rice-Oxley and Chaplin both contributed vocals.
During the year, the band achieved minor recognition in the U.S. from their extensive touring, which culminated with a series of gigs as the opening act for U2. The group were nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New Artist category along with Sugarland, John Legend, Ciara, and Fall Out Boy.
2006–07: Under the Iron Sea
In April 2005, in the middle of the Hopes and Fears tour, the band began recording Under the Iron Sea with producer Andy Green, who worked with them on Hopes and Fears. The band later recruited Mark "Spike" Stent for mixing duties. Recording took place in Helioscentric Studios, where Hopes and Fears was recorded. Additional recording was done at The Magic Shop Studios in New York.
The album's release was preceded by the release of the "Atlantic", a download-only music video and the lead single "Is It Any Wonder?", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2007. The album had a worldwide release in June 2006 and was at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart for the first two weeks of its release. , it had sold more than 2.2 million copies. The third single from the album was "Crystal Ball", released on 21 August 2006, and reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart. The fourth single from the album was "Nothing in My Way", released on 30 October 2006, which received particular success on Mexican commercial radio, charting on Top 3 on 13 January 2007 and staying a month on that chart. The band released the single "The Night Sky" in aid of the charity War Child.
Before the release of the album (in May 2006), Keane had started their second world tour. However, because of the extensive touring, on 22 August 2006, Chaplin announced he had admitted himself to a clinic for drinking and drug problems. This initially resulted in the cancellation of three gigs and postponement of their September tour. The entire North American tour was cancelled outright to allow continued treatment. As a result, the upcoming UK and European tours, scheduled for October and November 2006, were considered to be liable for possible postponement depending on Chaplin's treatment. Chaplin then left the Priory Clinic in London on 6 October, but he continued to receive treatment. The tour reached for the first time South American countries (Argentina, Chile and Brazil) and saw the band's third visit to Mexico in late April with four dates, playing at the downtown zócalo in Mexico City, as well their first visit to Monterrey and Guadalajara. On 7 July 2007, Keane played at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, part of a series of gigs similar to Live 8, to highlight the threat of global warming. They performed "Somewhere Only We Know", "Is It Any Wonder?" and "Bedshaped". The Under the Iron Sea tour was brought to an end with performances in Oporto, Portugal, and at the Natural Music Festival in El Ejido, Spain on 3 August and 4 respectively.
In 2008, Under the Iron Sea was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV. In early October, Concert Live announced they were releasing a limited edition nine-CD set of every Keane live performance in the UK during October 2006 under the name Live 06.
2008–09: Perfect Symmetry
In a March 2007 video interview, Chaplin and Hughes spoke of wanting to take a more "organic" approach on album three, but played down suggestions about the use of guitars, referring to them as "a fun part of the live set" at present; however, the cover of "She Sells Sanctuary" became the first song recorded since "The Happy Soldier" (2001) to feature the instrument. Photographic updates to the Keane website implied the use of guitars in the album's recording sessions. Jesse Quin joined the band since this album as permanent studio and live member. He plays the bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals. On 25 August 2008, Keane appeared as studio guests on BBC 6 Music with Steve Lamacq where three of the new songs from Perfect Symmetry were played for the first time: "Spiralling", "The Lovers Are Losing", and "Better Than This".
The album was released on 13 October 2008, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 19 October. It also reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. In December 2008, it was voted "Best Album of the Year" by the readers, listeners and visitors of Q Magazine, Q Radio and Qthemusic.com. The song "Perfect Symmetry" was voted best track.
In November 2008, they started the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. On 2 April 2009, Keane became the first band ever to broadcast a live show in 3D. It was filmed at Abbey Road, the site of the world's first satellite broadcast (by The Beatles). Keane fans were prompted to buy 3D glasses along with the new 7" single "Better Than This" or also to hand-make their own glasses.
2010: Night Train
On 10 May 2010, Keane released the EP titled Night Train which, on 16 May became their fourth number 1 album in the UK. Night Train was recorded during the Perfect Symmetry World Tour. The band first named this record as a mini-album, then that changed to an EP. In an interview, Tim Rice-Oxley said that Night Train is "pretty much an album".
The songs "Stop for a Minute" and "Looking Back" feature Somali Canadian rapper K'naan. The EP includes a cover of the song "You've Got to Help Yourself" by Yellow Magic Orchestra, featuring vocals by Japanese funk MC Tigarah. The song "Your Love" features Keane's keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley onlead vocals. The song "My Shadow" was featured in the Season 6 Grey's Anatomy episode "Shiny Happy People".
Night Train has been met with mixed reviews from critics. Ryan Brockington of the New York Post PopWrap called the work "game changing" while writing that the first single "Stop for a Minute" is "just as brilliant" as the album.
Supporting the Night Train EP, the band began on the Night Train Tour. which started with a show in Brixton, London at The Fridge on 12 May 2010. The tour includes a homecoming show at the Bedgebury Pinetum, outside the band's hometown of Battle. Also festival appearances in Europe followed with a tour of North America, concluding with an appearance at the Mile High Festival in Denver.
2011–13: Strangeland
After the end of Mt. Desolation Tour (alternative project by Tim and Jesse), Tim Rice-Oxley and Jesse Quin joined the other two members of the band to work on the pre-production of Strangeland.
It was announced on 3 February 2011 on the band's official website that Quin had become an official member of the band. He has worked with Keane since 2007.
Keane played a concert in Beijing, China on 13 April 2011 at the invitation of the fashion company Burberry. The band performed an acoustic session at the Wall of China. The band finished recording their fourth studio album on 12 January 2012 and finished mixing the record on 10 February. The album was recorded at Tim Rice-Oxley's Sea Fog Studios, in Polegate, East Sussex.
The Strangeland Tour started at De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex on Friday, 9 March 2012.
The band released "Silenced by the Night", the album's lead single, worldwide except for the United Kingdom on 13 March 2012. Keane performed "Silenced By the Night" for the first time on 12 March on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The song was sent to U.S. adult alternative radio stations on 26 March 2012. In the UK, the single was released on 15 April 2012.
The single "Disconnected" was released on 20 April 2012 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with the official worldwide release on 8 October 2012. The single "Sovereign Light Café" was released on 23 July 2012. The video was filmed in Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex, England.
Helen Lear from The Music wrote that Strangeland "will still sound to some like middle-of-the-road indie-pop" and "pretty much what you would expect from Keane", but "the tempo is noticeably more upbeat and the style more diverse than previous albums" and "offers some more fun in a grown-up style that may attract new fans to take a listen." Chris Roberts of the BBC criticised Strangeland as "an unabashed scurry back to the comfort zone", and that "Keane lack blood, guts and muscle", with the album ultimately classed as "a somewhat saddening step backwards." John Murphy of musicOMH rated the album two stars out of five, where "melodies are stodgy and predictable", with "a whole bucket of cliches piled in", calling Strangeland "proof positive that playing it safe is not always the best option." Ian Gittins of Virgin Media felt the album was "major musical step back from the wilful experimentalism of Perfect Symmetry, a record that saw Keane hiring dance producer Stuart Price and leaping far out of their comfort zone", commenting that the album "finds them fairly back in the middle of the road".
2013–19: The Best of Keane and hiatus
Keane released the compilation album The Best of Keane in November 2013. Two new songs recorded during Strangeland were released from the compilation album; "Higher Than the Sun" was released on 28 September 2013 and "Won't Be Broken" was released on 20 January 2014.
On 20 October 2013, several publications, including The Sun and Digital Spy, claimed that Keane intended to split following the release of The Best of Keane, and reported that the band members were "taking a break...to pursue their own projects." On 21 October 2013, Tom Chaplin clarified on Real Radio Yorkshire that the band was not splitting up, but the band members would like to "take a bit of time out from being Keane" after being busy for the past few years.
In an interview conducted in late 2017 with a correspondent from The Sun, Tom Chaplin stated that he felt that he was too old to reform and relaunch the band. He recorded a solo album titled "The Wave", released on 14 October 2016. He released follow-up Christmas-themed second album Twelve Tales of Christmas on 17 November 2017. Rice-Oxley and Quin continued side project Mt. Desolation, releasing the album When the Night Calls on 25 May 2018.
During the band's hiatus, the band has reunited three times: on 8 August 2015, Chaplin and Rice-Oxley performed a Keane setlist at Battle Festival. On 11 September 2016, the band released a music video for "Tear Up This Town", written and recorded for the film A Monster Calls.
2019–21: Return and Cause and Effect
Toward the end of 2018, Keane posted a series of cryptic images onto their various social media accounts, hinting that the quartet were in the studio working on material.
On 17 January 2019, an article from The Sun revealed that the band are planning "to make a comeback after six years away" and that a "source close to the rockers has revealed the band is ready to work together again after 'putting their differences to one side'".
On 6 February, Keane posted an image of them on their various social media accounts. This was followed by several announcements on their Instagram and Facebook sites of various festivals in which the band would perform, including Cornbury Music Festival (6 July 2019), 4ever Valencia Fest in Spain (21 July 2019), MEO Marés Vivas in Portugal (19 July 2019), Noches del Botánico in Madrid (20 July 2019), and Hello Festival in The Netherlands (9 June).
On 15 March 2019, Keane performed their song "Somewhere Only We Know" on Comic Relief's Red Nose Day on BBC One with London Contemporary Voices. On 26 March 2019, Keane posted "We’ve been desperate to tell you that we’re busy making another album, which we’ll be releasing later this year" to their Facebook page.
On 17 May 2019, Keane released an EP titled Retroactive EP1 featuring "our favourite archived live performances, older demos and random treasures". On 6 June 2019, the band released the first new single from Cause and Effect, titled "The Way I Feel".
On 16 June 2019, Keane performed a set at the Isle of Wight Festival, being the closing act of the event. On 14 July 2019, Keane did a set at the British Summer Time concert in Hyde Park.
The band released a vertical edition of the music video for "The Way I Feel" on 22 July 2019, followed by an AI-generated lyric video for the same song which dropped in July 2019. On 30 July 2019, Keane announced they would co-headline three performances in Mexico with the band Travis, having sets in Monterrey (13 November 2019), Guadalajara (15 November 2019), and at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City (16-17 November 2019). Also on this day, the band announced they would perform at "Espaço Das Americas" in São Paulo on 1 December 2019. The band performed on the main stage at the Lokerse Feesten on 3 August 2019. The band streamed an acoustic session and interview on YouTube on 5 August 2019 at the Paste Studio in New York City. On 6 August 2019, the band performed live "The Way I Feel" on The Today Show. Later that day, they hinted at the release of their second single from Cause and Effect, titled "Love Too Much". On 8 August 2019, "Love Too Much" was released for streaming and debuted on The Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2. Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic gave the album a positive review, writing "Not a game-changing comeback by any means, Cause and Effect is instead a satisfying return to form that manages to gracefully age Keane by invigorating a familiar formula with wisdom and honesty learned over a dramatic, life-changing decade."
2021-present: Dirt EP
On 9 April 2021, Keane announced on their social media platforms they would be participating in Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 on 17 July, with the special early release of their new EP "Dirt" on 12" vinyl, featuring four previously unreleased tracks from Cause and Effect sessions.
On 17 July, the video for the new title track "Dirt" from the EP was released onto YouTube and Apple Music, coinciding with the limited early release of the 12" vinyl of the EP for Record Store Day. This came with the announcement that the full release of the EP will be on 13 August 2021.
Collaborations
In November 2004, Keane collaborated with electronic DJ Faultline on a cover of the Elton John song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". Two years later, Rice-Oxley collaborated with Gwen Stefani as a co-writer of the song "Early Winter", released later in 2007 as a single, from her album The Sweet Escape. Stefani had been wishing to work with the band since 2005, and Rice-Oxley responded by saying "we might give it a go". Tom Chaplin collaborated with Rocco Deluca and the Burden on the song "Mercy". The band collaborated with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan and Japanese Baile Funk singer Tigarah on the EP Night Train. In late 2009, Rice-Oxley collaborated with the Australian singer Kylie Minogue as co-writer of the song "Everything Is Beautiful", for Minogue's eleventh studio album "Aphrodite", released in June 2010.
The band collaborated with dance artist Chicane on a remix of the song "Bend & Break", renamed "Wake Up". It was featured on the artist's 2008 best-of compilation. In 2012, Tom Chaplin collaborated with the Dutch singer Laura Jansen on the song "Same Heart" for a Dutch charity radio programme. The track was featured on Jansen's second studio album Elba. In 2017, a version of Tom Chaplin's solo track "Solid Gold", featuring alternative pop singer JONES, was released as a single.
Musical style and themes
Tim Rice-Oxley and Dominic Scott were the main writers of the band's songs during their early years. When Scott left in 2001, Rice-Oxley became the main composer. However, Rice-Oxley credits the rest of the band on all compositions, so that royalties for song credits are shared.
Keane usually harbours an ample, reverberated, melodic, slow- to mid-tempo fully orchestrated sound, somehow reminiscent of Elton John's early and middle career, and their more introspective songs have brought comparisons to Suede and Jeff Buckley.
While guitars have been (minimally) present even in their early work, their appearance in the final mix has always been slight, and while Chaplin has stepped up as an almost full-time guitarist in the band, that instrument is never featured as prominently as to be more than barely noticed. For this matter, they have been dubbed as "the band with no guitars", thanks to their heavily piano-based sound. By using delay and distortion effects on their pianos and similar keyboards, they often create sounds that aren't immediately recognisable as piano. Rice-Oxley said during an interview in Los Angeles that they tend to think piano-related music is boring and what they really wanted to do was try something different. He referred to the piano as an odd instrument to form part of a rock band instrumentation, comparing it to The Beatles' set of instruments. Rice-Oxley's distortion piano has been key to most of Keane's multifaceted style and most definitely their most recognizable asset.
Keane have covered songs by music artists such as U2, Rufus Wainwright, Depeche Mode, Genesis, The Beatles, The Cult and Queen. Rice-Oxley said "I guess it's classic song writing that is the main influence rather than one band in particular – we love people like Nick Drake who can convey so much emotion and write songs and albums that will be loved and cherished for many years – the things that will be in people's record collections for their whole lives."
Members
Current members
Tom Chaplin – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (1997–present)
Tim Rice-Oxley – keyboards, guitar, bass (1995–present), backing vocals (1997–present), lead vocals (1995–1997)
Richard Hughes – drums, percussion, backing vocals (1995–present)
Jesse Quin – bass, guitar, percussion, backing vocals (2011–present; touring musician 2007–2011)
Former members
Dominic Scott – electric guitar, backing vocals (1995–2001)
Timeline
Awards and nominations
Discography
Hopes and Fears (2004)
Under the Iron Sea (2006)
Perfect Symmetry (2008)
Strangeland (2012)
Cause and Effect (2019)
Concert tours
Hopes and Fears Tour (2004–05)
Under the Iron Sea Tour (2006–07)
Perfect Symmetry World Tour (2008–09)
Night Train Tour (2010)
Strangeland Tour (2012–13)
Cause and Effect Tour (2019–20)
Songs in other media
See also
Live Earth
Make Poverty History
References
Books
Mass media
Keane gig and record reviews on Record Overplayed webzine, 2003– 2005
SONIKA*. Sonika 53: El triunfo del Indie: Keane o entre la suerte y el talento (August 2006). Retrieved on 15 August 2006
Keane video interview with stv.tv/music, March 2007
External links
English alternative rock groups
English pop rock music groups
Post-Britpop groups
Brit Award winners
Interscope Records artists
Ivor Novello Award winners
Musical groups established in 1995
Musical quartets
Island Records artists
Fierce Panda Records artists
Musical groups from East Sussex | false | [
"The Jägermeister Music Tour is a hard rock, hardcore punk, and heavy metal music tour that has been held twice a year in the United States since 2002. It is owned by the American importer of Jägermeister, Sidney Frank Importing.\n\nHistory\nFirst Jägermeister was started in 2002 and had Drowning Pool headlining, featuring Ill Niño, Coal Chamber, 40 Below Summer 68rouge and other local bands. The tour had 37 dates that started March 8 and went to April 23. The tour has happened twice a year since then. Spring 2003 tour went from March 6 to April 20 and featured Saliva, Hed PE headlining, along with Breaking Benjamin, Systematic, Stereomud, 68rouge and local bands. Fall 2003 went from October 8 to November 29 and featured Slayer Headlining with Hatebreed, Arch Enemy, and local bands. Spring 2004 stretched from March 30 to May 14 and featured Slipknot headlining with Fear Factory, Chimaira, and local bands. Fall 2004 went from October 31 to December 17 and featured Slayer's second headlining of this tour along with Killswitch Engage, Mastodon, and local bands such as Q. Spring 2005 went from March 29 to May 6 and featured Alter Bridge as the headlining band with Future Leaders of the World, Submersed, and local bands. In Fall 2005 the tour was headlined by Disturbed with other bands, Bloodsimple, A Dozen Furies, Corrosion of Conformity, and other local bands. This one stretched from November 11 to February 23. In the spring of 2006 the tour went from April 20 to June 16 and had Staind headlining with Three Days Grace, Hurt, and other local bands. \n\nThe Fall 2006 tour started October 19 and went to December 9, and featured Slightly Stoopid and Pepper as headliners and multiple \"guest bands\" including Rev. Right Time, Kicking K8, as well as six other bands. Beginning with the Spring 2003 tour, the event has been hosted by The Lizardman who appears onstage throughout the night performing sideshow stunts, stand-up, and introducing the bands. This year's Fall 2008 line-up featured Hinder headlining, with Buckcherry headlining in Dallas, Trapt and Rev Theory at most shows, and Drowning Pool, In This Moment, Shinedown, Hollywood Undead, Theory of a Deadman, Puddle of Mudd, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Smile Empty Soul making appearances at some shows, along with a local band from each venue's area in tow. The Spring 2009 line-up will feature longtime staples on the punk scene, Pennywise and returning to the tour are the Hawaiian grown reggae rockers Pepper. Beginning in April 2010, the Jägermeister Music Tour will embark on a Canadian leg featuring Korn as headliners, with Five Finger Death Punch and 2Cents as support. Starting in September 2010 the Music Tour will have Slayer returning as well as Megadeth and Anthrax. In January 2011 the tour will have Buckcherry headlining with Hellyeah and direct support with All That Remains also playing.\n\nLineups\n\n2002–2005\nSpring 2002\nDrowning Pool\nCoal Chamber\nIll Niño\n40 Below Summer\n\nSpring 2003\nSaliva\nHed PE\nBreaking Benjamin\nSystematic\nStereomud\n68rouge\n\nFall 2003\nSlayer\nHatebreed\nArch Enemy\n\nSpring 2004\nSlipknot\nFear Factory\nChimaira\n\nFall 2004\nSlayer\nKillswitch Engage\nMastodon\n\nSpring 2005\nAlter Bridge\nFuture Leaders of the World\nSubmersed\n\nFall 2005\nDisturbed\nCorrosion of Conformity\nbloodsimple\nA Dozen Furies\n\n2006–2010\nSpring 2006\nStaind\nThree Days Grace\nHurt\n\nFall 2006\nSlightly Stoopid\nPepper\n\nSpring 2007\nStone Sour\nLacuna Coil\nShadows Fall\nIndorphine\n\nFall 2007\nThe Cult\nAction Action\nThe Cliks\n\nSpring 2008\nHatebreed\nType O Negative\n3 Inches of Blood\n\nFall 2008\nHinder\nTrapt\nRev Theory\nOctane\n\nSpring 2009\nPennywise\nPepper\nBig B\n\nSpring 2010\nKorn\nFive Finger Death Punch (Canada dates only)\n2Cents\nStillWell\nCody Brooks (US dates only)\n\nFall 2010\nMegadeth\nSlayer\nAnthrax\n\n2011–2012\n\nWinter 2011\nBuckcherry\nHellyeah (US Dates)\nAll That Remains (US Dates)\nThe Damned Things (US Dates)\nPapa Roach (Canadian Dates)\nMy Darkest Days (Canadian Dates)\nBleeker Ridge (Canadian Dates)\n\nFall 2011\nChimaira\nUnearth\nSkeletonwitch\nMolotov Solution\n\n2012\n\nFall 2012\nHalestorm\nIn This Moment\nEve To Adam\nPortugal. The Man\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nOfficial website\n\nRock festivals in the United States\nConcert tours\nHeavy metal festivals in the United States",
"The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and was the longest-running touring music festival to date in North America. Vans toured Australia in 1998-2002 and again in 2013. Following the first Warped Tour, the skateboard shoe manufacturer Vans became the main sponsor of the tour, when it became known as the Vans Warped Tour. Although Vans continued as main sponsor and lent its name to the festival, other sponsors also participated, with stages or other aspects of the festival being named after them on occasion.\n\nWarped Tour was conceived by Kevin Lyman as an electric alternative rock festival, but later began focusing on punk rock music. Although it was primarily a punk rock festival, it covered diverse genres over the years.\n\nWarped Tour founder Kevin Lyman said that the 2018 Vans Warped Tour would be the final, full cross-country run. On 18 December 2018, Lyman revealed details for the tour's 25th anniversary, with only three events in 2019.\n\nIn November 2019, rumors spread that Chris Fronzak planned to bring back the Warped Tour after Lyman's retirement. On 4 October 2020, Fronzak confirmed his intent to be involved in the return of Warped Tour, however, \"for legal reasons it (could not) come back for \"three years or so.\"\n\nOverview \n\nBand performance times and sets were posted on an inflatable installation and were available in print for purchase from an on-site information stand.\n\nEvery year had a \"BBQ Band\". In exchange for the privilege of playing on the tour, the BBQ Band prepared the post-show barbecue for the bands and crew most evenings. Past BBQ Bands included the Dropkick Murphys, Art of Shock and \"The Fabulous Rudies\". Similarly, one band, Animo (formerly DORK),was permitted for four years to play on the tour in exchange for working on the setup crew. The \"BBQ Band\" for the 2016 tour was the band Reckless Serenade.\n\nThe tour began as a skate punk and third-wave ska tour, but later came to feature largely pop punk and metalcore acts. Some hardcore and street punk bands also participated, such as the Casualties, the Unseen and Anti-Flag.\n\nThe tour was not set up in a single fixed format; each show venue dictated a different layout. The event was set up in early morning and struck late the same day. Heading into Canada, a bus transported supplies while another bus held equipment not needed during the brief jaunt over the border.\n\nCiting issues like transportation problems for minors, and audience demographics growing younger each year, Kevin Lyman decided to let parents attend Warped Tour performances for free beginning in 2013. Parents had their own adult day care, known as Reverse Day Care. Grown-ups could spend the day waiting for their children in the Reverse Day Care tent, which offered ample seating, as well as fans or cooling devices to keep parents occupied during the festival.\n\nBands\n\nHistory\n\nThe Warped Tour was created in 1995 by Kevin Lyman and Ray Woodbury, president of RK Diversified Entertainment, in production with the short-lived Warp Magazine and Creative Artists Agency. The tour began 21 June at the Idaho Center in Boise, Idaho, and ended 18 August in Detroit, Michigan.\n\nThe tour usually was held at outdoor venues, though on rare occasions it was held indoors. In 1996, due to problems with the event venue, the show was forced to move indoors to The Capitol Ballroom nightclub in Washington, D.C.\n\n1996 was the first year for Vans as a sponsor; they remained the main sponsor for tours ever since.\n\nIn 1997, The Vans Warped Tour went international and included venues in Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States.\n\nIn 1999, the tour started off the new year in New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii. After a pause, it resumed its North American tour in the continental United States through the summer, before finishing the tour in Europe.\n\nIn 2009, the two main stages were condensed into one and bands were given 40-minute sets, as opposed to the traditional 30 minutes across the previous two stages. Despite this, the tour decided to bring back the two main stages concept with 35-minute sets instead for the 2012 tour and beyond.\n\nIn 2012, the Warped Tour traveled to London, the first time the tour had left North America since 1999. In the UK and Europe, Warped Tour is operated by English promoter Kilimanjaro Live. The Warped Tour returned to London in 2015.\n\nWarped Tour 2009\nOn 10 February 2009 details for the annual \"Warped Tour Kick Off Party\" were announced. The show took place 2 April 2009 at The Key Club in West Hollywood, California and featured Warped Tour 2009 bands T.S.O.L., The Adolescents, Sing it Loud, TAT, and TV/TV on the bill. The tour won the Best Festival/Tour Award at the Rock on Request Awards.\n\nWarped Tour 2012\nThe Warped Tour 2012 kick off party took place 29 March 2012 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California featuring performances by Falling in Reverse, The Used, Yellowcard, Dead Sara, Matt Toka and Forever Came Calling. During the Toronto date, a fan fell unconscious during Chelsea Grin's performance and died. Both the band and Warped Tour offered their condolences on Twitter. For the first time in 14 years, the Warped Tour was held in the UK in November 2012. This was also the first year that the show Warped Roadies premiered. The show was a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the Vans Warped Tour as it made its way across the country with more than 60 bands. Zach Booher of the band While We're Up was killed in a road accident in Wisconsin.\n\nWarped Tour 2013\nThe Warped Tour 2013 kick off party took place 28 March 2013 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California featuring performances by Chiodos, New Beat Fund, Gin Wigmore, MC Lars, Craig Owens, Dia Frampton, Charlotte Sometimes, Big Chocolate, Echosmith and special guests. The tour would again return to Europe for the second year in a row with more tour dates. For the first time since 2001, Warped Tour would also appear in Australia.\n\nWarped Tour 2014\nThe Warped Tour 2014 kick off party took place on 1 April 2014 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California featuring performances by Bad Rabbits, Issues, One Ok Rock, Secrets, This Wild Life, To the Wind, Watsky, Chelsea Grin, Beartooth, Volumes and others. The tour returned to Montreal for the first time in two years. On 7 February 2014, it was announced that the Warped Tour would visit Alaska for the first time for a pre-tour \"The Road to Warped\" show. The entire first date (13 June at Houston) was streamed live on the tour's website. In June 2014, Kevin Lyman announced on Twitter that the UK segment of the 2014 tour would not go ahead. The San Diego stop was sponsored by Waveborn Sunglasses. As a part of celebrating the 20th anniversary of the tour, there were surprise appearances from two bands: Linkin Park played at Ventura, California on 22 June 2014, and A Day to Remember played at Chicago, Illinois on 19 July 2014.\n\nWarped Tour 2015\nThe Warped Tour 2015 kickoff party took place on 7 April 2015 at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California featuring performances by As It Is, Bebe Rexha, New Years Day, Knuckle Puck, Metro Station, Candy Hearts, and New Beat Fund. The tour again visited Alaska for \"The Road to Warped\" show. \nThe entire first date (19 June at Pomona) again was streamed live on the tour's website. The tour returned to Europe playing at the Alexandria Palace in London, UK on 18 October.\n\nAustin Jones, a former musician and a convicted sex offender, was due to take part in the 2015 tour until reports surfaced about his behavior and about tour founder Kevin Lyman's role in covering up Jones's actions.\n\nWarped Tour 2016\nThe Warped Tour 2016 announced the lineup on 22 March at its kickoff party at Full Sail University in Florida, featuring select performances by 2016 Warped bands. Headliners of this tour included Falling In Reverse, Less Than Jake, Good Charlotte, Sleeping With Sirens, New Found Glory, and others. The tour kicked off 24 June 2016, in Dallas, Texas and hit 41 cities throughout the summer, ending in Portland, Oregon on 13 August 2016. In addition to the 41 cities, there was a \"Road to Warped Tour Alaska\" on 22 June 2016.\n\nWarped Tour 2017\nThe Warped Tour 2017 announced the lineup on 22 March at its kickoff party at Full Sail University in Florida. Headliners (Bands playing the Journeys Sponsored Stages) of this tour include Andy Black, Beartooth, Dance Gavin Dance, I Prevail, and New Years Day, among others. The tour kicked off 11 June 2017, in Seattle, WA and would hit 41 cities throughout the summer, ending in Pomona, CA on 6 August 2017. In addition to the 41 cities, an additional show was planned with a separate lineup in Toluca, Mexico on 27 May 2017, plus a \"Warped Rewind At Sea\" cruise to sail between New Orleans, LA and Cozumel, Mexico from 28 October to 1 November 2017.\n\nWarped Tour 2018\nOn 15 November 2017, Kevin Lyman announced that the 2018 Warped Tour would be the final tour. \"I am so grateful to have worked with more than 1,700 bands over the last 23 summers,\" Lyman said in his announcement. \"I wish I could thank every band that has played the tour.\" Warped Tour also announced it would play in Japan for 2018. Headliners for the Japan segment were listed as Korn (which had not played the festival previously), Prophets of Rage, and Limp Bizkit (who appeared at Warped Tour 1997)\n\nWarped Tour 2019\nOn December 18, 2018, Lyman revealed details for the tour's 25th anniversary, taking place in 2019.\n\nWarped Tour took place in Cleveland, Ohio 8 June 2019, Atlantic City, New Jersey 29 and 30 June 2019, and Mountain View, California on 20 and 21 July 2019.\n\nLegacy\nWarped Tour became a launching pad for many up-and-coming artists. The festival was credited with bringing unknown artists like Black Veil Brides, Avenged Sevenfold, Blink-182, Sum 41, Limp Bizkit, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, MGK, Bebe Rexha, Katy Perry and Yelawolf to the spotlight.\n\nThe Warped Tour gave artists like will.i.am and The Black Eyed Peas an opportunity and venue to perform. Black Eyed Peas were featured on the 1999 Vans Warped Tour. According to will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas were the first group not categorized as \"punk\" to play at Warped Tour.\n\nTours by year \n\n Warped Tour 1995\n Warped Tour 1996\n Warped Tour 1997\n Warped Tour 1998\n Warped Tour 1999\n Warped Tour 2000\n Warped Tour 2001\n Warped Tour 2002\n Warped Tour 2003\n Warped Tour 2004\n Warped Tour 2005\n Warped Tour 2006\n\n Warped Tour 2007\n Warped Tour 2008\n Warped Tour 2009\n Warped Tour 2010\n Warped Tour 2011\n Warped Tour 2012\n Warped Tour 2013\n Warped Tour 2014\n Warped Tour 2015\n Warped Tour 2016\n Warped Tour 2017\n Warped Tour 2018\n Warped Tour 2019\n\nMusic lessons\n\nMusicians on the Vans Warped tour gave lessons. Percussive Marketing Council teamed up with the Vans Warped Tour and offered free drum lessons Lesson Lab tent to concert goers. These music lessons were for those who were learning to play drums for the first time. The lessons used electronic drum sets and acoustic drum sets. According to PMC Advisory Board Member Billy Cuthrell, having drum teachers from other percussion stores is the \"key\" to the free lessons program.\n\nIn 2005, the Vans Warped tour incorporated a multiple level stage that consisted of two levels for the band Street Drum Corps.\n\nMusic education was a big part of the Vans Warped Tour. Throughout the years, the Warped Tour used the John Lennon Bus to achieve this. The John Lennon Bus, essentially a mobile studio, was started by Brian Rothschild and Yoko Ono in 1968. The goal of the John Lennon Bus was to offer music education from performing artists to people, particularly young people, who attended the Warped Tour. Brian Roschild was executive director of the John Lennon Bus. Artists like Eminem and Bowling For Soup visited the tour bus. Other celebrities to use the bus included Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Natasha Bedingfield, and John Legend.\n\nBattle of the Bands\n\nThe Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands took place at Warped Tour every year. Over 10,000 bands tried out for the battle of the bands in 2005. The bands performed at their local Warped tour date and were judged by music industry professionals. If the bands did well in the competition, they were invited to perform as a side stage act on the Ernie Ball Stage of the Vans Warped Tour.\n\nReception and controversies\n\n\"Warped Tour is a place for teenage kids to go and hear all their favorite bands in one day,\" says Rob Pasalic, guitarist for The Saint Alvia Cartel. \"It wouldn’t make sense for it to be the same tour in 2007 as it was in 1997. These are the bands that kids like, and the tour is smart enough to grow and adapt to that. You still get bands like Bad Religion playing, so it’s not like it’s lost all its roots.\"\n\nJoe Queer of The Queers stated that\n\nYou play music because there's something inside of you that says you have to play music. Now you get bands like Fall Out Boy that are basically created in the studio. The Warped Tour changed it. Fuck it. I just don't like that shit. All the guys in the bands remind me of the jocks I hated in high school. To me a punk gig is a small sweaty club with the audience right in your face knocking over the mic stand and boogying off the energy.\n\nKeith Morris said that \"These kids that are [playing] on the Warped Tour, they should have no choice but to go into the military, and go off to some desert somewhere and spend some time in the desert, rather than having some big, ultra mega record company giving them lots of money and paying for their hotels and buses, making sure their hair is trendy, and that they are wearing the proper clothes that all the kids like and wear, and all that fun shit.\" Morris' band the Circle Jerks would later appear on the 2007 edition of the tour.\n\nIn 2013, Oliver Sykes, lead vocalist of Bring Me the Horizon took to Twitter to pronounce that he was no longer allowed to start a mosh pit or wall of death. Kevin Lyman took to Twitter as well to say that audience members could create mosh pits and walls of death but that someone in the audience had to initiate them, rather than any band member, because then they would be taking responsibility for any injuries which could then lead to costly lawsuits.\n\nOn 1 July 2015, it was announced that Jake McElfresh's music act Front Porch Step would play the Nashville, Tennessee tour stop, Many bands, including The Wonder Years, Senses Fail, Handguns, and Beartooth asked attendees to boycott McElfresh's set. The Wonder Years' lead singer Dan “Soupy” Campbell, who was supposed to perform after Front Porch Step on the Acoustic Basement Stage, asked fans to go see Man Overboard at 1:15 pm, the time the acoustic set would take place. Lyman responded by saying,\n\nHe was only supposed to be here long enough to play his show but the weather today has been putting us behind schedule. He wasn't added to the tour, so those claims that he was ‘added to sell tickets’ are completely groundless.\n\nHe also said because McElfresh had still not been formally charged with misconduct, he agreed to have him perform. \"If he was a danger to anyone, he simply would not have been here.\"\n\nOn 11 July 2016, Vans Warped Tour announced that Virginia pro-life organization Rock for Life would be among the vendors on their 41 tour dates. Rock for Life were known for co-opting punk aesthetics with their logo of a fetus playing a guitar and T-shirts with the phrase “All Lives Matter”. Bands such as Safe to Say and Old Wounds spoke out against the organization, with Safe To Say, replying to Rock for Life's tweet, saying\n\nYes. Everyday. We are a pro choice band. A tent telling young women what to do with their body has no place here.\n\nOn 26 June 2017, a video surfaced that showed the punk rock band The Dickies verbally abusing a crowd member after protests against the band, including signs that said \"Our teenage girls don't need to be subjected to derogatory jokes by a disgusting old man\" and \"Punk isn't predatory\" took place. While Lyman initially said that the band was no longer on the Warped Tour roster, he released a statement on 1 July that said the band had not been kicked off of the tour and that the altercation was between the band's frontman, Leonard Graves Phillips, and a member of the touring party.\n\nI thought it was time to put the facts out since I have watched false information floating around. A video has been circulating of a confrontation between Leonard from the Dickies and a Fan. Fact- it was not a Fan, but a member of the touring party. The member of the touring party was standing next to the PA with a sign protesting some of the things they found offensive about the bands jokes, and props on stage. During one of the last songs they went towards the barricade and directed the sign at the band. After a verbal barrage from Leonard, the member of the touring party threw the sign at Leonard, and left the area. I do not condone verbal or physical violence, whatsoever. The Dickies, last day of the tour was that Sunday, which had always been scheduled. These are the facts of what took place and this is why I ask anyone who has an issue with anyone else on tour, to come sit under my tent with me and express their views diplomatically. On this years tour we have many people who may not agree with each other, but as humans we should be able to express our points of view in a civil manner. If we have any hope to progress as a society, communication will be key in moving forward.\n\nBand conflicts\n\nA few bands have left the tour due to conflicts they had with the tour or with other bands:\n\n Both D12 and Esham were kicked out of the 2001 tour. D12 allegedly attacked Esham because he mentioned Eminem's daughter in his song \"Chemical Imbalance\". Eminem was not present.\n The band Guttermouth was supposedly removed from the Warped Tour 2004 for insulting Simple Plan. The band later stated that they left on their own because \"... '10 or so' unnamed bands didn't jibe with Guttermouth's way of doing business, and in some cases, threatened them with violence\".\nThe band Islander was kicked off the tour after Mikey Carvajal jumped into a backline drum kit onstage and damaged it during their live set in Denver on July 1.\n\nSponsorship\nThe Vans Warped Tour was sponsored by Vans, and in the final years Journeys joined as sponsor. Kevin Lyman was offered sponsorship from Calvin Klein before eventually working with Vans. The tour also was sponsored by Samsung, which enabled the bands and fans to interact with one another. The schedule for the day was sent out to fans on the day of their show. Samsung also sponsored a reverse day care for the Warped tour, which let parents cool off while their children watched their favorite bands. Warped Tour also partnered with other technology companies like Cingular Wireless, Apple Computer and others. This enabled these companies to reach to younger audiences. The communications manager from Memorex said that Warped Tour let them reach a younger demographic because of the music that these people are \"passionate about.\" At one point in time, Warped Tour also provided internet access to attendees while at the festival. Chaos Mobile was formed by Kevin Lyman and John Reese of Freeze Artist Management.\n\nActivism and philanthropy\nActivism was a major component of the Vans Warped Tour and allowed for non-profit organizations such as Invisible Children, To Write Love On Her Arms, Shirts for a Cure, Keep A Breast Foundation, and Hope For The Day to advocate about their causes. Other causes presented at Warped Tour were Music Saves Lives and Earth Echo. Earth Echo promoted recycling and provided a solar-powered stage. Keep A Breast was another organization on the Vans Warped Tour. Keep A Breast educated women about Breast Cancer and preventative measures against the disease. The organization worked in conjunction with the Girlz Garage on the Vans Warped Tour. People who donated to the cause were given T-shirts signed by artists on the tour to spread awareness of Breast Cancer.\n\nSince 2001, the traveling tour was affiliated with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), including food vendors and booths that distributed information about animal rights and veganism.\n\nIn March 2016, it was announced that Warped Tour would team up with A Voice For The Innocent to address the issue of sex crimes in the music scene. The Vans Warped Tour contributed 25 cents from every ticket sold to an organization called Hollywood Heart. Warped Tour also gave money to the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina. Warped Tour and the Taste of Chaos, (a festival) worked together to contribute $500,000.\n\nMusical equipment\nBands on the Warped Tour often brought their own musical equipment, but Industrial Sound also provided equipment for band use, according to lead sound engineer Daniel Bonneau. He also said that the bands had to do line checks instead of traditional soundchecks.\n\nOfficial compilation albums\n\nAn official Warped Tour compilation CD was released annually by SideOneDummy Records to coincide with the start of the tour. Before 1998, official releases were handled by Vans via Uni Distribution in 1996 and Epitaph Records in 1997, respectively. The compilation included songs by numerous artists performing on the tour that year. The first few compilations had varying titles, but starting in 2001 the series used a standard title with the format \"Warped Tour <year> Tour Compilation\". In 2002, the compilation expanded onto two CDs, totaling 50 artists, a format which the series followed in all its subsequent years. The Warped Tour compilation album in 2002 charted at number 55.\n\nIn addition, the digital music service Rhapsody.com released a regular \"Warped Tour Bootleg Series\", with each entry focusing on a single artist's performances on the tour. Bootleg Series artists included Matchbook Romance, My Chemical Romance, Bedouin Soundclash, MxPx, The Starting Line, Millencolin, Avenged Sevenfold, Gogol Bordello, Motion City Soundtrack, The Casualties, Anti-Flag, Less Than Jake, Rise Against, Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, Helmet, and The Academy Is...\n\nSee also\n List of Warped Tour lineups by year\n List of punk rock festivals\n List of historic rock festivals\n\nReferences\n\n \nConcert tours\nMusic festivals established in 1995\nPunk rock festivals\nRock festivals in the United States"
] |
[
"Sam Cooke",
"Aftermath"
] | C_59819786737a43a8835750dd948f0167_0 | what happened to sam cooke in the aftermath? | 1 | What happened to Sam Cooke in the aftermath? | Sam Cooke | The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred in the Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement . It was a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. CANNOTANSWER | Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. | Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and high significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard Black Singles chart.
In 1964, Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. After an inquest and investigation, the courts ruled Cooke's death to be a justifiable homicide; his family has since questioned the circumstances of his death.
Cooke's pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the work of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was "the inventor of soul music", and possessed "an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed".
Cooke was also a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, using his influence and popularity with the white and black population to fight for the cause. He was good friends with boxer Muhammad Ali, activist Malcolm X and football player Jim Brown, who together campaigned for racial equality.
Early life
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the "e" to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life). He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017), later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier. Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway Q.C.'s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group.
Career
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.
Billboards 2015 list of "the 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" includes Cooke, "who broke ground in 1957 with the R&B/pop crossover hit "You Send Me" ... And his activism on the civil rights front resulted in the quiet protest song 'A Change Is Gonna Come'".
Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Twistin' the Night Away was one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one—Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. "Lovable" was never a hit, but neither did it flop, and indicated Cooke's future potential. While gospel was popular, Cooke saw that fans were mostly limited to low-income, rural parts of the country, and sought to branch out. Cooke later admitted he got an endorsement for a career in pop music from the least likely man, his pastor father. "My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy." Taking the name "Sam Cooke", he sought a fresh start in pop.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first hit, "You Send Me", released as the B-side of "Summertime", spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It elevated him from earning $200 a week to over $5,000 a week.
In 1958, Cooke performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.
Cooke signed with the RCA Victor record label in January 1960, having been offered a guaranteed $100,000 () by the label's producers Hugo & Luigi. One of his first RCA Victor singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. It was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Cupid", "Bring It On Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away".
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos (who were Bobby Womack and his brothers), Mel Carter and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm named Kags.
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album, Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
In 1963, Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year deal (three years plus two option years) with RCA Victor in which a holding company, Tracey, Ltd, named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, would produce and own Cooke's recordings. RCA Victor would get exclusive distribution rights in exchange for 6 percent royalty payments and payments for the recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke would receive preferred stock in Tracey instead of an initial cash advance of $100,000. Cooke would receive cash advances of $100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $75,000 for each of the two option years if the deal went to term.
Personal life
Cooke was married twice. His first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who took the stage name "Dee Dee Mohawk" in 1953; they divorced in 1958. She was killed in an auto collision in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid for his ex-wife's funeral expenses. She was survived by her son Joey.
In 1958, Cooke married his second wife, Barbara Campbell (1935–2021), in Chicago. His father performed the ceremony. They had three children, Linda (b. 1953), Tracy (b. 1960), and Vincent (1961–1963), who drowned in the family swimming pool. Less than three months after Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married his friend Bobby Womack. Womack sexually abused Cooke's daughter, Linda. Linda married Womack's brother, Cecil Womack and they became the duo Womack & Womack.
Cooke also fathered at least three other children out of wedlock. In 1958, a woman in Philadelphia, Connie Bolling, claimed Cooke was the father of her son. Cooke paid her an estimated $5,000 settlement out of court.
In November 1958, Cooke was involved in a car accident en route from St. Louis to Greenville. His chauffeur Edward Cunningham was killed, while Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, and singer Lou Rawls were hospitalized.
Death
Cooke was killed at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, in South Central Los Angeles, California, located at 91st and Figueroa Ave. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, claimed to have shot him in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's acquaintances. The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr, said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.
The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin said that Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had. Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. She said she hit him in the head with a broomstick before he finally fell to the floor and died. A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the incident.
Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped her to her panties; she said she was sure he was going to rape her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.
Boyer's story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening, suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with his clothing to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. Cooke was reportedly carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's, according to restaurant employees and friends. However, a search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's Ferrari found only a money clip with $108 and a few loose coins.
However, questions about Boyer's role were beyond the scope of the inquest, the purpose of which was only to establish the circumstances of Franklin's role in the shooting. Boyer's leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cooke's bizarre behavior and state of undress. In addition, because Carr's testimony corroborated Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed polygraph tests, the coroner's jury ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
Some of Cooke's family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke’s close friend Muhammad Ali said “If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating.” Singer Etta James viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented.
Aftermath
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for a grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the civil rights movement. It was a Top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums.
Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages.
Legacy
Cultural depictions
Portrayals
Cooke was portrayed by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story, a 1978 American biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.
In the stage play One Night in Miami, first performed in 2013, Cooke is portrayed by Arinzé Kene. In the 2020 film adaptation, he is played by Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Posthumous honors
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
The words "A change is gonna come" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke" as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs".
Discography
Sam Cooke (1958)
Encore (1958)
Tribute to the Lady (1959)
Cooke's Tour (1960)
Hits of the 50's (1960)
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke (1960, compilation)
Swing Low (1961)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Twistin' the Night Away (1962)
Mr. Soul (1963)
Night Beat (1963)
Ain't That Good News (1964)
Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964, live)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985, live)
Notes
References
Further reading
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective by Erik Greene (2005)
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995)
One More River to Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012)
External links
Sam Cooke (ABKCO Homepage)
"Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
1931 births
1964 deaths
African-American male singer-songwriters
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American rock musicians
African-American rock singers
American gospel singers
American male pop singers
American rhythm and blues musicians
American rhythm and blues singers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American soul musicians
American soul singers
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Keen Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Specialty Records artists
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by firearm in California
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Singers from Chicago
Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century African-American activists
Mississippi Blues Trail
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Illinois | true | [
"\"Wonderful World\" (occasionally referred to as \"(What A) Wonderful World\") is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Released on April 14, 1960, by Keen Records, it had been recorded during an impromptu session the previous year in March 1959, at Sam Cooke's last recording session at Keen. He signed with RCA Victor in 1960 and \"Wonderful World,\" then unreleased, was issued as a single in competition. The song was mainly composed by songwriting team Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, but Cooke revised the lyrics to mention the subject of education more.\n\n\"Wonderful World\" ended up doing substantially better on the charts than several of his early RCA singles, becoming his biggest hit single since \"You Send Me\" (1957). The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number two on Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart.\n\nHerman's Hermits charted with their recording of the song in 1965, reaching number four in the United States and number seven in the United Kingdom, respectively. A remake by Art Garfunkel with James Taylor and Paul Simon charted at number 17 in 1978. The Sam Cooke version was featured in the 1978 film Animal House and gained greater recognition in the UK upon a 1986 re-release when it peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, going silver (it had peaked at number 27 on the UK singles chart on first release in 1960). Its 1986 success was attributed to sound-alike versions featured in the film Witness (1985) and a Levi's 501 television commercial.\n\nBackground\nLou Adler and Herb Alpert composed the song with the theme that neither knowledge nor education can dictate feelings, but that love \"could make the world a wonderful place.\" Adler did not take the song very seriously but Cooke appeared to be taken with it. \"He’d say, ‘What about that song, you know?’ And then he'd start on it again,\" recalled Adler. Cooke wanted to steer the song toward the subject of schooling, revised the song and decided to cut it at a recording session on March 2, 1959, five days after completing his Billie Holiday tribute album, Tribute to the Lady. The threesome's writing credit for the song was given to the pseudonymous \"Barbara Campbell.\" Campbell was also listed on the record labels for two other Cooke hits: \"Only Sixteen\" and \"Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha.\"\n\nThe session's main goal was to record three songs Cooke had composed. There was no arranger or orchestra and the personnel consisted of Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, bassist Adolphus Alsbrook, teenage drummer Ronnie Selico and a quartet of singers that Cooke biographer Peter Guralnick believes may have been the Pilgrim Travelers – J.W. Alexander, Lou Rawls, and George McCurn (nicknamed Oopie).\n\nThere is no known footage of Cooke performing the song, even though, in 1986, ABKCO president Allen Klein offered a $10,000 reward for anyone obtaining such footage.\n\nRelease and reception\nCooke signed to RCA Victor in 1960 but his first two singles on the major label – \"Teenage Sonata\" and \"You Understand Me\" – failed to register on the charts. Meanwhile, John Siamas, co-founder of Keen Records, discovered the \"demo\" recording of \"Wonderful World\" among unreleased Cooke recordings. Keen released \"Wonderful World\" in competition with RCA's issue of \"You Understand Me\" in the same week. \"Wonderful World\" quickly became Cooke's best-performing single since his first hit \"You Send Me,\" reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart. Billboard reviewed the single upon its release, giving it four stars and writing, \"Moderate rocker gets a smooth belt from Sam Cooke in his usual, salable style.\"\n\nIn 2004, the song was placed 373rd in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.\n\nLater versions\n\nHerman's Hermits had a major hit in the mid-1960s with an uptempo version of the song (omitting one verse) which reached number four in the US and number seven in the UK. The Hermits' version was, according to singer Peter Noone and guitarist Keith Hopwood, done as a tribute to Cooke upon his death. In an interview with Hugh Brown prior to a 2020 concert in Edinburgh, Noone recalled that Jimmy Page, later founder of Led Zeppelin, played guitar on the track and was paid £12. Cash Box described it as having \"an infectious, rhythmic blues-tinged warm-hearted style.\"\nOtis Redding recorded a version of the song on his 1965 album Otis Blue.\nJohnny Nash recorded a version for his eponymous 1977 album What a Wonderful World.\nIn 1978, Art Garfunkel recorded the song at a slow tempo, with Paul Simon and James Taylor alternating as lead and backing vocalists. This reached number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 15 on the Cash Box Top 100. The Garfunkel version also became a number-one US Adult Contemporary hit for five weeks. Despite Paul Simon's presence on the recording, the song was not credited as a Simon and Garfunkel single. Instead, labels for US copies of the Columbia Records single read, \"Art Garfunkel with James Taylor & Paul Simon\".\n\nThe song (as credited under the alternate title, \"(What A) Wonderful World\") was included on later versions of Garfunkel's solo album, Watermark. It was added in place of another song (\"Fingerpaint\") to capitalize on the single's success.\n\nThe Garfunkel version includes a final verse not present in the original Sam Cooke recording; however, it is still credited to Adler, Alpert and Cooke. The lyrics to this new verse are as follows:\n\nDon't know much about the middle ages, looked at the pictures then I turned the pages\nDon't know nothin' 'bout no rise and fall, don't know nothin' 'bout nothin' at all\nGirl it's you that I've been thinkin' of, and if I could only win your love, oh, girl\nWhat a wonderful, wonderful world this would be\nWhat a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful world this would be...\n \nThe last line repeats, and the song fades out at this point.\n\nDon McLean recorded a version of the song for his 1986 album For the Memories.\nHong Kong singer Sandy Lam released a cover of the song in 1997.\nIn 1993, Japanese group Ulfuls released a cover of the song, which was later used in 1997 as ending song for the drama \"Sore ga kotae da!\"\nMichael Bolton recorded a cover in 1999 for his second album of covers, Timeless: The Classics Vol. 2.\n\nIn popular culture\nThe song is used in the 1978 film Animal House in the well-known lunchroom scene where Bluto (John Belushi) gathers food in preparation for a food fight. The song was also included in the 1983 film Breathless. The original Sam Cooke version of the song comprised the title soundtrack of the 2005 film Hitch.\n\nAfter a Greg Chapman cover of the song was featured prominently in the 1985 film Witness in a scene where Harrison Ford dances with Kelly McGillis, \"Wonderful World\" gained further exposure. Particularly in the United Kingdom, where a copy of the song, produced by Karl Jenkins and Mike Ratledge and with vocals sung by Barbadian Tony Jackson, a backing singer for Paul Young, appeared in \"Bath\", a well-remembered, Roger Lyons-directed 1985 advertisement for Levi's 501 jeans. As a result, the Sam Cooke version of the song became a hit in the UK, reaching No.2 and selling a certified 250,000 copies. In a 2005 poll by the UK's Channel Four the song was voted the 19th-greatest song ever to feature in a commercial.\n\nThe song is featured in the Mafia III's Official Soundtrack, published on October 7, 2016.\n\nCharts and certifications\n\nWeekly charts\n\nSam Cooke version\n\nHerman's Hermits version\n\nJohnny Nash version\n\nSimon and Garfunkel with James Taylor version\n\nCertifications\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n \n \n\n1959 songs\n1960 singles\nSam Cooke songs\nOtis Redding songs\nSong recordings produced by Mickie Most\nHerman's Hermits songs\nGlen Campbell songs\nSimon & Garfunkel songs\nJames Taylor songs\nRichard Marx songs\nDutch Top 40 number-one singles\nRPM Top Singles number-one singles\nSongs written by Sam Cooke\nThe Flying Pickets songs\nSongs written by Lou Adler\nMGM Records singles\nSongs about school\nKeen Records singles",
"The Best of Sam Cooke is the second greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Produced by Hugo & Luigi, the album was released in 1962 in the United States by RCA Victor. The compilation contains most of Sam Cooke's most well-known hits from 1957 to 1962.\n\nCritical reception \nAllMusic critic Ron Wynn gave The Best of Sam Cooke three-and-a-half out of five stars and called it \"an above-average greatest hits collection, although no sampler could fully convey Sam Cooke's genius.\" In Blender, Robert Christgau was more critical, giving it one star and recommending listeners overlook the album in favor of the 30-song compilation Portrait of a Legend: 1951–1964.\n\nTrack listing\n\nSide one\n\"You Send Me\" – 2:45\n\"Only Sixteen\" – 2:02\n\"Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha\" – 2:42\n\"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons\" – 2:38\n\"Wonderful World\" – 2:06\n\"Summertime\" – 2:21\n\nSide two\n\"Chain Gang\" – 2:35\n\"Cupid\" – 2:37\n\"Twistin' the Night Away\" – 2:43\n\"Sad Mood\" – 2:38\n\"Having a Party\" – 2:36\n\"Bring It On Home to Me\" – 2:44\n\nPersonnel\nSam Cooke – vocals\nLou Rawls – back-up vocals\n\nVinyl Re-Issue\nIn 2018, Sony Music reissued the album in its original vinyl format as part of the RCA Legacy Recordings series.\n\nNotes \n\nSam Cooke compilation albums\nAlbums produced by Hugo & Luigi\n1962 greatest hits albums\nRCA Records compilation albums\nRCA Victor compilation albums"
] |
[
"Sam Cooke",
"Aftermath",
"what happened to sam cooke in the aftermath?",
"Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death."
] | C_59819786737a43a8835750dd948f0167_0 | what was the title of the album released after his death? | 2 | What was the title of the album released after Sam Cooke death? | Sam Cooke | The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred in the Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement . It was a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and high significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard Black Singles chart.
In 1964, Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. After an inquest and investigation, the courts ruled Cooke's death to be a justifiable homicide; his family has since questioned the circumstances of his death.
Cooke's pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the work of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was "the inventor of soul music", and possessed "an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed".
Cooke was also a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, using his influence and popularity with the white and black population to fight for the cause. He was good friends with boxer Muhammad Ali, activist Malcolm X and football player Jim Brown, who together campaigned for racial equality.
Early life
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the "e" to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life). He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017), later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier. Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway Q.C.'s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group.
Career
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.
Billboards 2015 list of "the 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" includes Cooke, "who broke ground in 1957 with the R&B/pop crossover hit "You Send Me" ... And his activism on the civil rights front resulted in the quiet protest song 'A Change Is Gonna Come'".
Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Twistin' the Night Away was one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one—Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. "Lovable" was never a hit, but neither did it flop, and indicated Cooke's future potential. While gospel was popular, Cooke saw that fans were mostly limited to low-income, rural parts of the country, and sought to branch out. Cooke later admitted he got an endorsement for a career in pop music from the least likely man, his pastor father. "My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy." Taking the name "Sam Cooke", he sought a fresh start in pop.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first hit, "You Send Me", released as the B-side of "Summertime", spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It elevated him from earning $200 a week to over $5,000 a week.
In 1958, Cooke performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.
Cooke signed with the RCA Victor record label in January 1960, having been offered a guaranteed $100,000 () by the label's producers Hugo & Luigi. One of his first RCA Victor singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. It was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Cupid", "Bring It On Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away".
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos (who were Bobby Womack and his brothers), Mel Carter and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm named Kags.
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album, Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
In 1963, Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year deal (three years plus two option years) with RCA Victor in which a holding company, Tracey, Ltd, named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, would produce and own Cooke's recordings. RCA Victor would get exclusive distribution rights in exchange for 6 percent royalty payments and payments for the recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke would receive preferred stock in Tracey instead of an initial cash advance of $100,000. Cooke would receive cash advances of $100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $75,000 for each of the two option years if the deal went to term.
Personal life
Cooke was married twice. His first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who took the stage name "Dee Dee Mohawk" in 1953; they divorced in 1958. She was killed in an auto collision in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid for his ex-wife's funeral expenses. She was survived by her son Joey.
In 1958, Cooke married his second wife, Barbara Campbell (1935–2021), in Chicago. His father performed the ceremony. They had three children, Linda (b. 1953), Tracy (b. 1960), and Vincent (1961–1963), who drowned in the family swimming pool. Less than three months after Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married his friend Bobby Womack. Womack sexually abused Cooke's daughter, Linda. Linda married Womack's brother, Cecil Womack and they became the duo Womack & Womack.
Cooke also fathered at least three other children out of wedlock. In 1958, a woman in Philadelphia, Connie Bolling, claimed Cooke was the father of her son. Cooke paid her an estimated $5,000 settlement out of court.
In November 1958, Cooke was involved in a car accident en route from St. Louis to Greenville. His chauffeur Edward Cunningham was killed, while Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, and singer Lou Rawls were hospitalized.
Death
Cooke was killed at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, in South Central Los Angeles, California, located at 91st and Figueroa Ave. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, claimed to have shot him in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's acquaintances. The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr, said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.
The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin said that Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had. Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. She said she hit him in the head with a broomstick before he finally fell to the floor and died. A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the incident.
Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped her to her panties; she said she was sure he was going to rape her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.
Boyer's story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening, suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with his clothing to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. Cooke was reportedly carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's, according to restaurant employees and friends. However, a search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's Ferrari found only a money clip with $108 and a few loose coins.
However, questions about Boyer's role were beyond the scope of the inquest, the purpose of which was only to establish the circumstances of Franklin's role in the shooting. Boyer's leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cooke's bizarre behavior and state of undress. In addition, because Carr's testimony corroborated Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed polygraph tests, the coroner's jury ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
Some of Cooke's family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke’s close friend Muhammad Ali said “If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating.” Singer Etta James viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented.
Aftermath
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for a grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the civil rights movement. It was a Top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums.
Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages.
Legacy
Cultural depictions
Portrayals
Cooke was portrayed by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story, a 1978 American biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.
In the stage play One Night in Miami, first performed in 2013, Cooke is portrayed by Arinzé Kene. In the 2020 film adaptation, he is played by Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Posthumous honors
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
The words "A change is gonna come" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke" as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs".
Discography
Sam Cooke (1958)
Encore (1958)
Tribute to the Lady (1959)
Cooke's Tour (1960)
Hits of the 50's (1960)
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke (1960, compilation)
Swing Low (1961)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Twistin' the Night Away (1962)
Mr. Soul (1963)
Night Beat (1963)
Ain't That Good News (1964)
Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964, live)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985, live)
Notes
References
Further reading
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective by Erik Greene (2005)
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995)
One More River to Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012)
External links
Sam Cooke (ABKCO Homepage)
"Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
1931 births
1964 deaths
African-American male singer-songwriters
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American rock musicians
African-American rock singers
American gospel singers
American male pop singers
American rhythm and blues musicians
American rhythm and blues singers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American soul musicians
American soul singers
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Keen Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Specialty Records artists
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by firearm in California
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Singers from Chicago
Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century African-American activists
Mississippi Blues Trail
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Illinois | false | [
"Adiós is the 64th and final studio album by American singer-songwriter Glen Campbell. Recorded in Nashville between 2012 and 2013. The album was released on June 9, 2017. Campbell died on August 8, 2017, nearly two months later.\n\nBackground and recording\nAfter being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Campbell embarked on a 2011–2012 Farewell Tour. After finishing the tour, he entered the studio in Nashville to record a final album. According to his wife, Kim Campbell, he wanted to preserve \"what magic was left,\" in what would be his final recordings.\n\nFeaturing eleven songs Campbell had long loved but never recorded, the album was made with the help of producer and longtime collaborator Carl Jackson. Singers Willie Nelson, Vince Gill and Campbell's children Ashley, Shannon and Cal also make guest appearances. According to Carl Jackson, he had to stand with Campbell in the recording booth to record the vocals \"line by line\" as Campbell could not remember the lyrics. However, Jackson noted that Campbell \"didn't lose his melodies, and that beautiful perfect pitch and tone\".\n\nRelease\nThe album was released on June 9, 2017. The first track, a remake of the Fred Neil classic \"Everybody's Talkin'\", was released on YouTube and to the media on April 14, 2017. The title track was made available for streaming on May 3, 2017.\n\nSingle\nThe only single from the album is the title track, which was released on July 25, 2017, two weeks before his death.\n\nCommercial performance\nThe album debuted at No. 40 on Billboard 200 with 14,000 units, nearly all of which are from traditional album sales. This is Campbell's 16th top 40 album on the chart. It also debuted at No. 7 on Top Country Albums, his 19th top 10 album on this chart. The album has sold 72,800 copies in the US as of January 2018.\n\nIn the United Kingdom, Adiós debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart on 16 June 2017, becoming Campbell's highest debut ever in the United Kingdom. It also became his second highest charting album there; his highest charting was the greatest hits album Glen Campbell's Twenty Golden Greats, which reached number one in 1976. Following Campbell's death, Adiós reached a new peak of number two.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n2017 albums\nGlen Campbell albums\nUniversal Music Enterprises albums\nAlbums produced by Carl Jackson",
"Skylarkin' is Mic Christopher's first and only solo album, which was released posthumously following his death in November 2001. The album was finalised by Karl Odlum (of Mic's old band, The Mary Janes) and David Odlum (of The Frames). Many fellow musicians from the Irish music scene contributed to the album including Glen Hansard and Colm Mac Con Iomaire of The Frames, Rónán Ó Snodaigh of Kíla, Lisa Hannigan and Gemma Hayes.\n\nSkylarkin' entered the Irish charts at #39 in 2002 and in March of the following year won Best Irish album at the Meteor Awards. November 2004 saw the album achieving Platinum status in Ireland (selling over 15,000 copies). In 2005, Skylarkin''' was voted #14 in the Hot Press \"People's Choice\" Top 100 Irish Albums of All Time.\n\nThe song \"Heyday\", which was released as the title track of an EP in October 2000, was used in the Guinness advertisement Quarrel'', which was produced in Ireland in 2003 and starred Michael Fassbender.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Heyday\"\n \"Kids' Song\"\n \"Listen Girl\"\n \"Looking for Jude\"\n \"That's What Good Friends Do\"\n \"The Loneliest Man In Town\"\n \"Wide Eyed and Lying\"\n \"What a Curious Notion\"\n \"I've Got Your Back\"\n \"Skylarkin\"\n \"Daydreamin'\"\n\nReferences\n\n2002 debut albums\nAlbums published posthumously\nMic Christopher albums"
] |
[
"Sam Cooke",
"Aftermath",
"what happened to sam cooke in the aftermath?",
"Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death.",
"what was the title of the album released after his death?",
"I don't know."
] | C_59819786737a43a8835750dd948f0167_0 | were the songs released after his death successful? | 3 | Were the songs released after Sam Cooke death successful? | Sam Cooke | The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred in the Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement . It was a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. CANNOTANSWER | "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song | Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and high significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard Black Singles chart.
In 1964, Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. After an inquest and investigation, the courts ruled Cooke's death to be a justifiable homicide; his family has since questioned the circumstances of his death.
Cooke's pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the work of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was "the inventor of soul music", and possessed "an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed".
Cooke was also a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, using his influence and popularity with the white and black population to fight for the cause. He was good friends with boxer Muhammad Ali, activist Malcolm X and football player Jim Brown, who together campaigned for racial equality.
Early life
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the "e" to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life). He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017), later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier. Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway Q.C.'s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group.
Career
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.
Billboards 2015 list of "the 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" includes Cooke, "who broke ground in 1957 with the R&B/pop crossover hit "You Send Me" ... And his activism on the civil rights front resulted in the quiet protest song 'A Change Is Gonna Come'".
Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Twistin' the Night Away was one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one—Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. "Lovable" was never a hit, but neither did it flop, and indicated Cooke's future potential. While gospel was popular, Cooke saw that fans were mostly limited to low-income, rural parts of the country, and sought to branch out. Cooke later admitted he got an endorsement for a career in pop music from the least likely man, his pastor father. "My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy." Taking the name "Sam Cooke", he sought a fresh start in pop.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first hit, "You Send Me", released as the B-side of "Summertime", spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It elevated him from earning $200 a week to over $5,000 a week.
In 1958, Cooke performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.
Cooke signed with the RCA Victor record label in January 1960, having been offered a guaranteed $100,000 () by the label's producers Hugo & Luigi. One of his first RCA Victor singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. It was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Cupid", "Bring It On Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away".
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos (who were Bobby Womack and his brothers), Mel Carter and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm named Kags.
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album, Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
In 1963, Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year deal (three years plus two option years) with RCA Victor in which a holding company, Tracey, Ltd, named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, would produce and own Cooke's recordings. RCA Victor would get exclusive distribution rights in exchange for 6 percent royalty payments and payments for the recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke would receive preferred stock in Tracey instead of an initial cash advance of $100,000. Cooke would receive cash advances of $100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $75,000 for each of the two option years if the deal went to term.
Personal life
Cooke was married twice. His first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who took the stage name "Dee Dee Mohawk" in 1953; they divorced in 1958. She was killed in an auto collision in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid for his ex-wife's funeral expenses. She was survived by her son Joey.
In 1958, Cooke married his second wife, Barbara Campbell (1935–2021), in Chicago. His father performed the ceremony. They had three children, Linda (b. 1953), Tracy (b. 1960), and Vincent (1961–1963), who drowned in the family swimming pool. Less than three months after Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married his friend Bobby Womack. Womack sexually abused Cooke's daughter, Linda. Linda married Womack's brother, Cecil Womack and they became the duo Womack & Womack.
Cooke also fathered at least three other children out of wedlock. In 1958, a woman in Philadelphia, Connie Bolling, claimed Cooke was the father of her son. Cooke paid her an estimated $5,000 settlement out of court.
In November 1958, Cooke was involved in a car accident en route from St. Louis to Greenville. His chauffeur Edward Cunningham was killed, while Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, and singer Lou Rawls were hospitalized.
Death
Cooke was killed at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, in South Central Los Angeles, California, located at 91st and Figueroa Ave. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, claimed to have shot him in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's acquaintances. The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr, said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.
The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin said that Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had. Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. She said she hit him in the head with a broomstick before he finally fell to the floor and died. A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the incident.
Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped her to her panties; she said she was sure he was going to rape her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.
Boyer's story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening, suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with his clothing to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. Cooke was reportedly carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's, according to restaurant employees and friends. However, a search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's Ferrari found only a money clip with $108 and a few loose coins.
However, questions about Boyer's role were beyond the scope of the inquest, the purpose of which was only to establish the circumstances of Franklin's role in the shooting. Boyer's leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cooke's bizarre behavior and state of undress. In addition, because Carr's testimony corroborated Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed polygraph tests, the coroner's jury ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
Some of Cooke's family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke’s close friend Muhammad Ali said “If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating.” Singer Etta James viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented.
Aftermath
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for a grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the civil rights movement. It was a Top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums.
Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages.
Legacy
Cultural depictions
Portrayals
Cooke was portrayed by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story, a 1978 American biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.
In the stage play One Night in Miami, first performed in 2013, Cooke is portrayed by Arinzé Kene. In the 2020 film adaptation, he is played by Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Posthumous honors
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
The words "A change is gonna come" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke" as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs".
Discography
Sam Cooke (1958)
Encore (1958)
Tribute to the Lady (1959)
Cooke's Tour (1960)
Hits of the 50's (1960)
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke (1960, compilation)
Swing Low (1961)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Twistin' the Night Away (1962)
Mr. Soul (1963)
Night Beat (1963)
Ain't That Good News (1964)
Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964, live)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985, live)
Notes
References
Further reading
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective by Erik Greene (2005)
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995)
One More River to Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012)
External links
Sam Cooke (ABKCO Homepage)
"Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
1931 births
1964 deaths
African-American male singer-songwriters
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American rock musicians
African-American rock singers
American gospel singers
American male pop singers
American rhythm and blues musicians
American rhythm and blues singers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American soul musicians
American soul singers
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Keen Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Specialty Records artists
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by firearm in California
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Singers from Chicago
Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century African-American activists
Mississippi Blues Trail
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Illinois | true | [
"\"Smile\" is the lead single released from Scarface's fourth album, The Untouchable. The song features 2Pac and R&B singer, Johnny P. \"Smile\" is a remix of the 2Pac song \"Smile For Me Now\", which was produced by 2Pac and Damon Thomas and was released prior on the Death Row Records compilation album, Death Row Greatest Hits. \"Smile\" was produced by Scarface, Mike Dean and Tone Capone. The song became Scarface's most successful single to date, making it to number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.\n\nMusic executive J Prince, in a 2018 interview with Rap Radar, stated that he asked Puff Daddy if the Notorious B.I.G. would also like to feature on the song, but after discovering that 2Pac would feature, he declined. The chorus contains an interpolation of \"Tell Me If You Still Care\" by The S.O.S. Band.\n\nSingle track listing\n\nB-Side\n\"Untouchable\" (Radio Edit)- 3:38\n\"Untouchable\" (Instrumental)- 3:59\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was released for the week ending on April 27, 1997.\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nCertifications\n\nReferences\n\n1997 singles\nScarface (rapper) songs\nTupac Shakur songs\nSong recordings produced by Dr. Dre\n1997 songs\nSongs written by Mike Dean (record producer)\nSongs written by Tupac Shakur\nAmerican contemporary R&B songs\nMusic videos directed by Paul Hunter (director)",
"\"Letter 2 My Unborn\" is a song by Tupac Shakur, released as a posthumous single from his album Until the End of Time in 2001.\n\nThe accompanying music video received moderate airplay though it was less successful than the lead single from the album, the title track. The single peaked at number 64 in the airplay chart.\n\nLyrical content\nIn the song, Tupac speaks to his then-unborn child as a precaution for fear that he would not be able to meet or speak with them in the event of his death prior to their birth. Shakur relays stories of his own life and advises the child to avoid the troubles that he faced.\n\nComposition\nThe song samples Michael Jackson's 1987 hit \"Liberian Girl\" (from Bad, 1987), but is set at a higher tempo and features a female vocal backing track by Tena Jones (formerly of 4th Avenue Jones).\n\nTrack listing\n12\"\n \"Letter 2 My Unborn\" - 3:55\n \"Letter 2 My Unborn\" (instrumental) - 3:55\n \"Hell 4 a Hustler\" - 4:56\nPromo\nSide A\n \"Letter 2 My Unborn\" - 3:57\n \"Letter 2 My Unborn\" (instrumental) -\t3:57\n \"Letter 2 My Unborn\" (a cappella) - 3:56\nSide B\n \"Niggaz Nature\" (remix) (radio edit) - 3:45\n \"Niggaz Nature\" (remix) - 5:04\n \"Niggaz Nature\" (remix) (instrumental) - 5:08\n \"Niggaz Nature\" (remix) (a cappella) - 4:57\n\nChart positions\n\nReferences\n\nSongs about children\nSongs about fathers\nSongs about letters (message)\nSongs released posthumously\nTupac Shakur songs\n2001 singles\nSongs written by Michael Jackson\n2001 songs\nInterscope Records singles\nDeath Row Records singles\nSongs written by Tupac Shakur"
] |
[
"Sam Cooke",
"Aftermath",
"what happened to sam cooke in the aftermath?",
"Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death.",
"what was the title of the album released after his death?",
"I don't know.",
"were the songs released after his death successful?",
"\"Shake\", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, \"A Change Is Gonna Come\", is considered a classic protest song"
] | C_59819786737a43a8835750dd948f0167_0 | what else happened as a result of his death? | 4 | Along with "Shake", reaching the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts, what else happened as a result of Sam Cooke death? | Sam Cooke | The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred in the Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement . It was a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. CANNOTANSWER | fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. | Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and high significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard Black Singles chart.
In 1964, Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. After an inquest and investigation, the courts ruled Cooke's death to be a justifiable homicide; his family has since questioned the circumstances of his death.
Cooke's pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the work of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was "the inventor of soul music", and possessed "an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed".
Cooke was also a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, using his influence and popularity with the white and black population to fight for the cause. He was good friends with boxer Muhammad Ali, activist Malcolm X and football player Jim Brown, who together campaigned for racial equality.
Early life
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the "e" to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life). He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017), later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier. Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway Q.C.'s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group.
Career
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.
Billboards 2015 list of "the 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" includes Cooke, "who broke ground in 1957 with the R&B/pop crossover hit "You Send Me" ... And his activism on the civil rights front resulted in the quiet protest song 'A Change Is Gonna Come'".
Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Twistin' the Night Away was one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one—Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. "Lovable" was never a hit, but neither did it flop, and indicated Cooke's future potential. While gospel was popular, Cooke saw that fans were mostly limited to low-income, rural parts of the country, and sought to branch out. Cooke later admitted he got an endorsement for a career in pop music from the least likely man, his pastor father. "My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy." Taking the name "Sam Cooke", he sought a fresh start in pop.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first hit, "You Send Me", released as the B-side of "Summertime", spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It elevated him from earning $200 a week to over $5,000 a week.
In 1958, Cooke performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.
Cooke signed with the RCA Victor record label in January 1960, having been offered a guaranteed $100,000 () by the label's producers Hugo & Luigi. One of his first RCA Victor singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. It was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Cupid", "Bring It On Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away".
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos (who were Bobby Womack and his brothers), Mel Carter and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm named Kags.
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album, Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
In 1963, Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year deal (three years plus two option years) with RCA Victor in which a holding company, Tracey, Ltd, named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, would produce and own Cooke's recordings. RCA Victor would get exclusive distribution rights in exchange for 6 percent royalty payments and payments for the recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke would receive preferred stock in Tracey instead of an initial cash advance of $100,000. Cooke would receive cash advances of $100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $75,000 for each of the two option years if the deal went to term.
Personal life
Cooke was married twice. His first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who took the stage name "Dee Dee Mohawk" in 1953; they divorced in 1958. She was killed in an auto collision in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid for his ex-wife's funeral expenses. She was survived by her son Joey.
In 1958, Cooke married his second wife, Barbara Campbell (1935–2021), in Chicago. His father performed the ceremony. They had three children, Linda (b. 1953), Tracy (b. 1960), and Vincent (1961–1963), who drowned in the family swimming pool. Less than three months after Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married his friend Bobby Womack. Womack sexually abused Cooke's daughter, Linda. Linda married Womack's brother, Cecil Womack and they became the duo Womack & Womack.
Cooke also fathered at least three other children out of wedlock. In 1958, a woman in Philadelphia, Connie Bolling, claimed Cooke was the father of her son. Cooke paid her an estimated $5,000 settlement out of court.
In November 1958, Cooke was involved in a car accident en route from St. Louis to Greenville. His chauffeur Edward Cunningham was killed, while Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, and singer Lou Rawls were hospitalized.
Death
Cooke was killed at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, in South Central Los Angeles, California, located at 91st and Figueroa Ave. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, claimed to have shot him in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's acquaintances. The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr, said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.
The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin said that Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had. Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. She said she hit him in the head with a broomstick before he finally fell to the floor and died. A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the incident.
Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped her to her panties; she said she was sure he was going to rape her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.
Boyer's story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening, suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with his clothing to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. Cooke was reportedly carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's, according to restaurant employees and friends. However, a search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's Ferrari found only a money clip with $108 and a few loose coins.
However, questions about Boyer's role were beyond the scope of the inquest, the purpose of which was only to establish the circumstances of Franklin's role in the shooting. Boyer's leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cooke's bizarre behavior and state of undress. In addition, because Carr's testimony corroborated Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed polygraph tests, the coroner's jury ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
Some of Cooke's family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke’s close friend Muhammad Ali said “If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating.” Singer Etta James viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented.
Aftermath
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for a grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the civil rights movement. It was a Top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums.
Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages.
Legacy
Cultural depictions
Portrayals
Cooke was portrayed by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story, a 1978 American biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.
In the stage play One Night in Miami, first performed in 2013, Cooke is portrayed by Arinzé Kene. In the 2020 film adaptation, he is played by Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Posthumous honors
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
The words "A change is gonna come" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke" as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs".
Discography
Sam Cooke (1958)
Encore (1958)
Tribute to the Lady (1959)
Cooke's Tour (1960)
Hits of the 50's (1960)
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke (1960, compilation)
Swing Low (1961)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Twistin' the Night Away (1962)
Mr. Soul (1963)
Night Beat (1963)
Ain't That Good News (1964)
Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964, live)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985, live)
Notes
References
Further reading
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective by Erik Greene (2005)
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995)
One More River to Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012)
External links
Sam Cooke (ABKCO Homepage)
"Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
1931 births
1964 deaths
African-American male singer-songwriters
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American rock musicians
African-American rock singers
American gospel singers
American male pop singers
American rhythm and blues musicians
American rhythm and blues singers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American soul musicians
American soul singers
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Keen Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Specialty Records artists
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by firearm in California
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Singers from Chicago
Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century African-American activists
Mississippi Blues Trail
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Illinois | true | [
"Elections to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council in June 2004 heralded a shock result as Labour council leader Sir Bill Taylor lost his seat to Liberal Democrat Zamir Khan. \"This morning as I was shaving I thought I could get beat and that is what happened\", commented Taylor after the result. \"I canvassed more for this election than for any other. I spoke to more than a thousand people on their doorsteps and was not given any suggestion there were any difficulties.\" Liberal Democrat leader Paul Browne blamed the defeat on dissatisfaction with British foreign policy, particularly in areas with high numbers of Muslim voters: \"Sir Bill has gone because of what has happened in Iraq. Simple.\" Only 63 of the 64 seats on the council were filled as the Earcroft ward by-election took place a month after due to the death of Mayor Mike Barratt. Yusuf Sidat was elected as an independent in Queen's Park Ward.\n\nElection result\n\n|-\n!colspan=2|Parties\n!Seats\n!Previous\n!NetGain/Loss\n|-\n| \n|33||35||-2\n|-\n| \n|17||15||+2\n|-\n| \n|12||8||+4\n|-\n|\n|align=left|Independent\n|1||2||-1\n|-\n!colspan=2|Total!!63!!60\n|}\n\nSource:\n\nWards\n\nCorporation Park\nElected\nArshid Mahmood (Lab) 790\nPaul James McGurty (Con) 734\nAbdul Rehman (LD) 884\n\nElectorate 4617\nBallot Papers 2781\n% Poll 60.23\n\nReferences\n\n2004 English local elections\n2004\n2000s in Lancashire",
"Horror-of-personality is a specific sub-category of horror and thriller genres; as opposed to excessive violence or the presence of malevolent supernatural beings, such stories evoke horror and/or suspense through villains who are perfectly human, but possess horrific personalities. They usually focus on Freudian psychology, as well as the cause and effect of profound insanity. Each narrative will either document an unbalanced person's descent into madness, or else follow somebody on the trail of a murderous psychopath. The settings are often deceptively ordinary, such as cheerful suburban homes or shabby hotels. \n\nExamples include the stories of Patricia Highsmith and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as classic films like Psycho and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?\n\nSee also\nPsychological horror\nPsychological thriller\n\nFurther reading\n\nReferences\n\nHorror genres"
] |
[
"Sam Cooke",
"Aftermath",
"what happened to sam cooke in the aftermath?",
"Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death.",
"what was the title of the album released after his death?",
"I don't know.",
"were the songs released after his death successful?",
"\"Shake\", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, \"A Change Is Gonna Come\", is considered a classic protest song",
"what else happened as a result of his death?",
"fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body."
] | C_59819786737a43a8835750dd948f0167_0 | Did his children or any other singers do anything special following his death? | 5 | Besides fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body, did Sam Cooke children or any other singers do anything special following Sam Cooke death? | Sam Cooke | The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred in the Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement . It was a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. CANNOTANSWER | a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, | Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and high significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard Black Singles chart.
In 1964, Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. After an inquest and investigation, the courts ruled Cooke's death to be a justifiable homicide; his family has since questioned the circumstances of his death.
Cooke's pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the work of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was "the inventor of soul music", and possessed "an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed".
Cooke was also a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, using his influence and popularity with the white and black population to fight for the cause. He was good friends with boxer Muhammad Ali, activist Malcolm X and football player Jim Brown, who together campaigned for racial equality.
Early life
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the "e" to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life). He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017), later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier. Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway Q.C.'s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group.
Career
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.
Billboards 2015 list of "the 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" includes Cooke, "who broke ground in 1957 with the R&B/pop crossover hit "You Send Me" ... And his activism on the civil rights front resulted in the quiet protest song 'A Change Is Gonna Come'".
Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Twistin' the Night Away was one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one—Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. "Lovable" was never a hit, but neither did it flop, and indicated Cooke's future potential. While gospel was popular, Cooke saw that fans were mostly limited to low-income, rural parts of the country, and sought to branch out. Cooke later admitted he got an endorsement for a career in pop music from the least likely man, his pastor father. "My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy." Taking the name "Sam Cooke", he sought a fresh start in pop.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first hit, "You Send Me", released as the B-side of "Summertime", spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It elevated him from earning $200 a week to over $5,000 a week.
In 1958, Cooke performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.
Cooke signed with the RCA Victor record label in January 1960, having been offered a guaranteed $100,000 () by the label's producers Hugo & Luigi. One of his first RCA Victor singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. It was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Cupid", "Bring It On Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away".
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos (who were Bobby Womack and his brothers), Mel Carter and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm named Kags.
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album, Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
In 1963, Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year deal (three years plus two option years) with RCA Victor in which a holding company, Tracey, Ltd, named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, would produce and own Cooke's recordings. RCA Victor would get exclusive distribution rights in exchange for 6 percent royalty payments and payments for the recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke would receive preferred stock in Tracey instead of an initial cash advance of $100,000. Cooke would receive cash advances of $100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $75,000 for each of the two option years if the deal went to term.
Personal life
Cooke was married twice. His first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who took the stage name "Dee Dee Mohawk" in 1953; they divorced in 1958. She was killed in an auto collision in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid for his ex-wife's funeral expenses. She was survived by her son Joey.
In 1958, Cooke married his second wife, Barbara Campbell (1935–2021), in Chicago. His father performed the ceremony. They had three children, Linda (b. 1953), Tracy (b. 1960), and Vincent (1961–1963), who drowned in the family swimming pool. Less than three months after Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married his friend Bobby Womack. Womack sexually abused Cooke's daughter, Linda. Linda married Womack's brother, Cecil Womack and they became the duo Womack & Womack.
Cooke also fathered at least three other children out of wedlock. In 1958, a woman in Philadelphia, Connie Bolling, claimed Cooke was the father of her son. Cooke paid her an estimated $5,000 settlement out of court.
In November 1958, Cooke was involved in a car accident en route from St. Louis to Greenville. His chauffeur Edward Cunningham was killed, while Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, and singer Lou Rawls were hospitalized.
Death
Cooke was killed at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, in South Central Los Angeles, California, located at 91st and Figueroa Ave. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, claimed to have shot him in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's acquaintances. The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr, said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.
The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin said that Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had. Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. She said she hit him in the head with a broomstick before he finally fell to the floor and died. A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the incident.
Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped her to her panties; she said she was sure he was going to rape her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.
Boyer's story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening, suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with his clothing to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. Cooke was reportedly carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's, according to restaurant employees and friends. However, a search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's Ferrari found only a money clip with $108 and a few loose coins.
However, questions about Boyer's role were beyond the scope of the inquest, the purpose of which was only to establish the circumstances of Franklin's role in the shooting. Boyer's leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cooke's bizarre behavior and state of undress. In addition, because Carr's testimony corroborated Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed polygraph tests, the coroner's jury ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
Some of Cooke's family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke’s close friend Muhammad Ali said “If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating.” Singer Etta James viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented.
Aftermath
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for a grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the civil rights movement. It was a Top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums.
Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages.
Legacy
Cultural depictions
Portrayals
Cooke was portrayed by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story, a 1978 American biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.
In the stage play One Night in Miami, first performed in 2013, Cooke is portrayed by Arinzé Kene. In the 2020 film adaptation, he is played by Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Posthumous honors
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
The words "A change is gonna come" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke" as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs".
Discography
Sam Cooke (1958)
Encore (1958)
Tribute to the Lady (1959)
Cooke's Tour (1960)
Hits of the 50's (1960)
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke (1960, compilation)
Swing Low (1961)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Twistin' the Night Away (1962)
Mr. Soul (1963)
Night Beat (1963)
Ain't That Good News (1964)
Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964, live)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985, live)
Notes
References
Further reading
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective by Erik Greene (2005)
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995)
One More River to Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012)
External links
Sam Cooke (ABKCO Homepage)
"Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
1931 births
1964 deaths
African-American male singer-songwriters
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American rock musicians
African-American rock singers
American gospel singers
American male pop singers
American rhythm and blues musicians
American rhythm and blues singers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American soul musicians
American soul singers
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Keen Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Specialty Records artists
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by firearm in California
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Singers from Chicago
Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century African-American activists
Mississippi Blues Trail
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Illinois | true | [
"Taking Children Seriously (T.C.S.) is a parenting movement and educational philosophy whose central idea is that it is possible and desirable to raise and educate children without either doing anything to them against their will or making them do anything against their will.\n\nOverview\nIt was founded in 1994 as an on-line mailing-list by libertarian Sarah Fitz-Claridge and David Deutsch, a theoretical physicist at Oxford University.\n\nT.C.S. begins with the observation that most traditional interactions between adults and youth are based on coercion. The T.C.S. model of parenting and education rejects this coercion as infringing on the will of the child, and also rejects parental or educator \"self-sacrifice\" as infringing on the will of the adult. T.C.S. advocates that parents and children work to find a common preference, a solution all parties genuinely prefer to all other candidate solutions they can think of.\n\nThe T.C.S. philosophy was inspired by the epistemology of Karl Popper. Popper was a professional educator himself before he started work in philosophy. In fact, philosophy was only a second option for him at that time, to be able to emigrate to escape the imminent Anschluss. He was active in the Wiener Schulreform (Vienna school reform) movement, and there are connections between the psychology of learning, on which he did his doctoral thesis, and his philosophy. However, as a philosopher, he did not advocate any concrete pedagogy, although he had some general views on the issue. T.C.S. views Popper's epistemology, as did Popper, as a universal theory of how knowledge grows, and tries to work out its profound implications for educational theory.\n\nSee also \n \n Democratic education\n Unschooling\n Voluntaryism\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Taking Children Seriously Website\n Fallible Living TCS Essays\n Reprinted in the Utne Reader\n Taking Children Seriously (TCS) and Anarchy by (I)An-ok in Green Anarchy #10 pp. 20–1. Fall 2002. Internet archive\n \n\nAlternative education\nPhilosophy of education\nPedagogy\nWorks about parenting",
"Murray McNeel Caird Urquhart (24 April 1880 – 12 April 1972), commonly known as Murray Urquhart, was a British painter. His son, Brian Urquhart, would play a significant role in the founding of the United Nations, going on to serve as the United Nations' Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs. He was dubbed “the century’s least successful painter\" by his own son.\n\nEarly life\n\nEarly life \nMurray McNeel Caird Urquhart was born on 24 April 1880 in Kirkcudbright, Scotland, to Andrew John Urquhart, a surgeon, and Helen Crokat McNeel Urquhart (née Caird), the daughter of Alexander McNeel Caird, the Procurator fiscal of Wigtownshire. Both his parents died soon after his birth, his mother died two weeks after Murray’s birth, and his father died 3 months later. Following his parents' death, he was initially brought up by his grandparents in Portpatrick, Wigtownshire. He was later taken in by an aunt, Sarah Urquhart, in Edinburgh.\n\nEducation \nMurray initially studied at the Merchiston Castle School, and briefly became a law student, before finally enrolling at the Edinburgh School of Art. In 1903, he subsequently moved on to study at the Slade School of Art, the Westminster School of Art (where he was tutored by artist Walter Sickert), and finally at the Academié Julian in Paris, where he was tutored by J.P. Laurens and stayed for two years.\n\nCareer \nAfter graduating, he subsequently began exhibiting his paintings. He exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Society of British Artists (later being elected a member), the Royal Hibernian Academy, Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, and the New English Art Club. At the same time as his career as a painter took off, he began working as an illustrator for the children's book publisher T.C. & E.C. Jack in 1907.\n\nIn 2013, Murray's son, Brian, wrote in a New York Review of Books article that “Painting took absolute priority in [Urquhart’s] life, and his wife and children—not to mention national events and international disasters—were all secondary. He painted during daylight hours wherever he happened to be. What he did for money remained a mystery, except that we evidently had very little of it and lived in a primitive farm cottage without electricity or running water.”\n\nBrian also wrote that “The Great War presented a problem for my father, who would do anything to avoid military service. Was he mortally afraid of violent death? Or did he consider that painting was the only thing that he had the right and obligation to do? In any case, his obsession was such that he would hide, take a false name—anything to escape conscription.\"\n\nIn the early-mid 1930s he and his new wife lived in Kent, and later moved briefly to Kensington, from where he exhibited with the London Portrait Society. They then moved to Somerset, where Urquhart became an active member of the Society of Somerset Artists, becoming a vice-president in 1944 and later Chairman of the group in 1949. He remained there for several years, but later left, ending up in a nursing home in Alton, Hampshire, by 1972, he died shortly after.\n\nDeath \nHe died on 12 April 1972 at Graysholt Nursing Home, Alton, Hampshire, he didn't leave a will. His son Brian noted that “he neglected to make any effort to sell his pictures.” Although many have come up for auction since his death and realized respectable sums.\n\nPersonal life \nIn April 1911, in Bridport, Dorset, he married his first wife, Bertha Rendall, a schoolteacher born in Bridport on 14 December 1883, the daughter of Edward Pratt Rendall, a twine manufacturer. Their first child, Andrew, was born in Bridport in April 1914, and their second, Brian, in February 1919. In 1925, Murray (in the words of Brian Urquhart) “carried his easel and paintbox, rode away on his bicycle and never came home again.” Leaving his wife and two children. Two years later, he married Agatha Muriel Anne Snow, his cousin. Though he never officially divorced Bertha.\n\nReferences \n\nBritish painters\n1880 births\n1972 deaths"
] |
[
"Sam Cooke",
"Aftermath",
"what happened to sam cooke in the aftermath?",
"Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death.",
"what was the title of the album released after his death?",
"I don't know.",
"were the songs released after his death successful?",
"\"Shake\", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, \"A Change Is Gonna Come\", is considered a classic protest song",
"what else happened as a result of his death?",
"fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body.",
"Did his children or any other singers do anything special following his death?",
"a much-heralded performance of \"The Angels Keep Watching Over Me\" by Ray Charles,"
] | C_59819786737a43a8835750dd948f0167_0 | what kind of legacy did sam cooke leave? | 6 | What kind of legacy did sam cooke leave after his death? | Sam Cooke | The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred in the Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement . It was a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. CANNOTANSWER | "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement | Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and high significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard Black Singles chart.
In 1964, Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. After an inquest and investigation, the courts ruled Cooke's death to be a justifiable homicide; his family has since questioned the circumstances of his death.
Cooke's pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the work of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was "the inventor of soul music", and possessed "an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed".
Cooke was also a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, using his influence and popularity with the white and black population to fight for the cause. He was good friends with boxer Muhammad Ali, activist Malcolm X and football player Jim Brown, who together campaigned for racial equality.
Early life
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the "e" to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life). He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017), later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier. Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway Q.C.'s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group.
Career
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.
Billboards 2015 list of "the 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" includes Cooke, "who broke ground in 1957 with the R&B/pop crossover hit "You Send Me" ... And his activism on the civil rights front resulted in the quiet protest song 'A Change Is Gonna Come'".
Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Twistin' the Night Away was one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one—Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. "Lovable" was never a hit, but neither did it flop, and indicated Cooke's future potential. While gospel was popular, Cooke saw that fans were mostly limited to low-income, rural parts of the country, and sought to branch out. Cooke later admitted he got an endorsement for a career in pop music from the least likely man, his pastor father. "My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy." Taking the name "Sam Cooke", he sought a fresh start in pop.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first hit, "You Send Me", released as the B-side of "Summertime", spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It elevated him from earning $200 a week to over $5,000 a week.
In 1958, Cooke performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.
Cooke signed with the RCA Victor record label in January 1960, having been offered a guaranteed $100,000 () by the label's producers Hugo & Luigi. One of his first RCA Victor singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. It was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Cupid", "Bring It On Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away".
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos (who were Bobby Womack and his brothers), Mel Carter and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm named Kags.
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album, Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
In 1963, Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year deal (three years plus two option years) with RCA Victor in which a holding company, Tracey, Ltd, named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, would produce and own Cooke's recordings. RCA Victor would get exclusive distribution rights in exchange for 6 percent royalty payments and payments for the recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke would receive preferred stock in Tracey instead of an initial cash advance of $100,000. Cooke would receive cash advances of $100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $75,000 for each of the two option years if the deal went to term.
Personal life
Cooke was married twice. His first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who took the stage name "Dee Dee Mohawk" in 1953; they divorced in 1958. She was killed in an auto collision in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid for his ex-wife's funeral expenses. She was survived by her son Joey.
In 1958, Cooke married his second wife, Barbara Campbell (1935–2021), in Chicago. His father performed the ceremony. They had three children, Linda (b. 1953), Tracy (b. 1960), and Vincent (1961–1963), who drowned in the family swimming pool. Less than three months after Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married his friend Bobby Womack. Womack sexually abused Cooke's daughter, Linda. Linda married Womack's brother, Cecil Womack and they became the duo Womack & Womack.
Cooke also fathered at least three other children out of wedlock. In 1958, a woman in Philadelphia, Connie Bolling, claimed Cooke was the father of her son. Cooke paid her an estimated $5,000 settlement out of court.
In November 1958, Cooke was involved in a car accident en route from St. Louis to Greenville. His chauffeur Edward Cunningham was killed, while Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, and singer Lou Rawls were hospitalized.
Death
Cooke was killed at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, in South Central Los Angeles, California, located at 91st and Figueroa Ave. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, claimed to have shot him in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's acquaintances. The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr, said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.
The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin said that Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had. Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. She said she hit him in the head with a broomstick before he finally fell to the floor and died. A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the incident.
Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped her to her panties; she said she was sure he was going to rape her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.
Boyer's story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening, suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with his clothing to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. Cooke was reportedly carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's, according to restaurant employees and friends. However, a search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's Ferrari found only a money clip with $108 and a few loose coins.
However, questions about Boyer's role were beyond the scope of the inquest, the purpose of which was only to establish the circumstances of Franklin's role in the shooting. Boyer's leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cooke's bizarre behavior and state of undress. In addition, because Carr's testimony corroborated Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed polygraph tests, the coroner's jury ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
Some of Cooke's family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke’s close friend Muhammad Ali said “If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating.” Singer Etta James viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented.
Aftermath
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for a grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the civil rights movement. It was a Top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums.
Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages.
Legacy
Cultural depictions
Portrayals
Cooke was portrayed by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story, a 1978 American biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.
In the stage play One Night in Miami, first performed in 2013, Cooke is portrayed by Arinzé Kene. In the 2020 film adaptation, he is played by Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Posthumous honors
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
The words "A change is gonna come" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke" as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs".
Discography
Sam Cooke (1958)
Encore (1958)
Tribute to the Lady (1959)
Cooke's Tour (1960)
Hits of the 50's (1960)
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke (1960, compilation)
Swing Low (1961)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Twistin' the Night Away (1962)
Mr. Soul (1963)
Night Beat (1963)
Ain't That Good News (1964)
Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964, live)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985, live)
Notes
References
Further reading
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective by Erik Greene (2005)
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995)
One More River to Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012)
External links
Sam Cooke (ABKCO Homepage)
"Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
1931 births
1964 deaths
African-American male singer-songwriters
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American rock musicians
African-American rock singers
American gospel singers
American male pop singers
American rhythm and blues musicians
American rhythm and blues singers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American soul musicians
American soul singers
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Keen Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Specialty Records artists
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by firearm in California
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Singers from Chicago
Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century African-American activists
Mississippi Blues Trail
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Illinois | true | [
"My Kind of Blues may refer to:\n My Kind of Blues (B.B. King album), 1961\n My Kind of Blues (Sam Cooke album), 1961",
"The Best of Sam Cooke is the second greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Produced by Hugo & Luigi, the album was released in 1962 in the United States by RCA Victor. The compilation contains most of Sam Cooke's most well-known hits from 1957 to 1962.\n\nCritical reception \nAllMusic critic Ron Wynn gave The Best of Sam Cooke three-and-a-half out of five stars and called it \"an above-average greatest hits collection, although no sampler could fully convey Sam Cooke's genius.\" In Blender, Robert Christgau was more critical, giving it one star and recommending listeners overlook the album in favor of the 30-song compilation Portrait of a Legend: 1951–1964.\n\nTrack listing\n\nSide one\n\"You Send Me\" – 2:45\n\"Only Sixteen\" – 2:02\n\"Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha\" – 2:42\n\"(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons\" – 2:38\n\"Wonderful World\" – 2:06\n\"Summertime\" – 2:21\n\nSide two\n\"Chain Gang\" – 2:35\n\"Cupid\" – 2:37\n\"Twistin' the Night Away\" – 2:43\n\"Sad Mood\" – 2:38\n\"Having a Party\" – 2:36\n\"Bring It On Home to Me\" – 2:44\n\nPersonnel\nSam Cooke – vocals\nLou Rawls – back-up vocals\n\nVinyl Re-Issue\nIn 2018, Sony Music reissued the album in its original vinyl format as part of the RCA Legacy Recordings series.\n\nNotes \n\nSam Cooke compilation albums\nAlbums produced by Hugo & Luigi\n1962 greatest hits albums\nRCA Records compilation albums\nRCA Victor compilation albums"
] |
[
"Sam Cooke",
"Aftermath",
"what happened to sam cooke in the aftermath?",
"Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death.",
"what was the title of the album released after his death?",
"I don't know.",
"were the songs released after his death successful?",
"\"Shake\", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, \"A Change Is Gonna Come\", is considered a classic protest song",
"what else happened as a result of his death?",
"fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body.",
"Did his children or any other singers do anything special following his death?",
"a much-heralded performance of \"The Angels Keep Watching Over Me\" by Ray Charles,",
"what kind of legacy did sam cooke leave?",
"\"A Change Is Gonna Come\", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement"
] | C_59819786737a43a8835750dd948f0167_0 | What else is interesting about the aftermath? | 7 | Besides a protest song, what else is interesting about the aftermath? | Sam Cooke | The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred in the Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement . It was a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. CANNOTANSWER | Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. | Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and high significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard Black Singles chart.
In 1964, Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. After an inquest and investigation, the courts ruled Cooke's death to be a justifiable homicide; his family has since questioned the circumstances of his death.
Cooke's pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the work of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was "the inventor of soul music", and possessed "an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed".
Cooke was also a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, using his influence and popularity with the white and black population to fight for the cause. He was good friends with boxer Muhammad Ali, activist Malcolm X and football player Jim Brown, who together campaigned for racial equality.
Early life
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the "e" to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life). He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017), later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier. Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway Q.C.'s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group.
Career
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.
Billboards 2015 list of "the 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" includes Cooke, "who broke ground in 1957 with the R&B/pop crossover hit "You Send Me" ... And his activism on the civil rights front resulted in the quiet protest song 'A Change Is Gonna Come'".
Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Twistin' the Night Away was one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one—Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. "Lovable" was never a hit, but neither did it flop, and indicated Cooke's future potential. While gospel was popular, Cooke saw that fans were mostly limited to low-income, rural parts of the country, and sought to branch out. Cooke later admitted he got an endorsement for a career in pop music from the least likely man, his pastor father. "My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy." Taking the name "Sam Cooke", he sought a fresh start in pop.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first hit, "You Send Me", released as the B-side of "Summertime", spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It elevated him from earning $200 a week to over $5,000 a week.
In 1958, Cooke performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.
Cooke signed with the RCA Victor record label in January 1960, having been offered a guaranteed $100,000 () by the label's producers Hugo & Luigi. One of his first RCA Victor singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. It was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Cupid", "Bring It On Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away".
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos (who were Bobby Womack and his brothers), Mel Carter and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm named Kags.
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album, Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
In 1963, Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year deal (three years plus two option years) with RCA Victor in which a holding company, Tracey, Ltd, named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, would produce and own Cooke's recordings. RCA Victor would get exclusive distribution rights in exchange for 6 percent royalty payments and payments for the recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke would receive preferred stock in Tracey instead of an initial cash advance of $100,000. Cooke would receive cash advances of $100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $75,000 for each of the two option years if the deal went to term.
Personal life
Cooke was married twice. His first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who took the stage name "Dee Dee Mohawk" in 1953; they divorced in 1958. She was killed in an auto collision in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid for his ex-wife's funeral expenses. She was survived by her son Joey.
In 1958, Cooke married his second wife, Barbara Campbell (1935–2021), in Chicago. His father performed the ceremony. They had three children, Linda (b. 1953), Tracy (b. 1960), and Vincent (1961–1963), who drowned in the family swimming pool. Less than three months after Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married his friend Bobby Womack. Womack sexually abused Cooke's daughter, Linda. Linda married Womack's brother, Cecil Womack and they became the duo Womack & Womack.
Cooke also fathered at least three other children out of wedlock. In 1958, a woman in Philadelphia, Connie Bolling, claimed Cooke was the father of her son. Cooke paid her an estimated $5,000 settlement out of court.
In November 1958, Cooke was involved in a car accident en route from St. Louis to Greenville. His chauffeur Edward Cunningham was killed, while Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, and singer Lou Rawls were hospitalized.
Death
Cooke was killed at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, in South Central Los Angeles, California, located at 91st and Figueroa Ave. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, claimed to have shot him in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's acquaintances. The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr, said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.
The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin said that Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had. Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. She said she hit him in the head with a broomstick before he finally fell to the floor and died. A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the incident.
Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped her to her panties; she said she was sure he was going to rape her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.
Boyer's story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening, suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with his clothing to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. Cooke was reportedly carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's, according to restaurant employees and friends. However, a search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's Ferrari found only a money clip with $108 and a few loose coins.
However, questions about Boyer's role were beyond the scope of the inquest, the purpose of which was only to establish the circumstances of Franklin's role in the shooting. Boyer's leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cooke's bizarre behavior and state of undress. In addition, because Carr's testimony corroborated Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed polygraph tests, the coroner's jury ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
Some of Cooke's family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke’s close friend Muhammad Ali said “If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating.” Singer Etta James viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented.
Aftermath
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for a grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the civil rights movement. It was a Top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums.
Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages.
Legacy
Cultural depictions
Portrayals
Cooke was portrayed by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story, a 1978 American biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.
In the stage play One Night in Miami, first performed in 2013, Cooke is portrayed by Arinzé Kene. In the 2020 film adaptation, he is played by Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Posthumous honors
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
The words "A change is gonna come" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke" as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs".
Discography
Sam Cooke (1958)
Encore (1958)
Tribute to the Lady (1959)
Cooke's Tour (1960)
Hits of the 50's (1960)
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke (1960, compilation)
Swing Low (1961)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Twistin' the Night Away (1962)
Mr. Soul (1963)
Night Beat (1963)
Ain't That Good News (1964)
Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964, live)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985, live)
Notes
References
Further reading
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective by Erik Greene (2005)
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995)
One More River to Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012)
External links
Sam Cooke (ABKCO Homepage)
"Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
1931 births
1964 deaths
African-American male singer-songwriters
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American rock musicians
African-American rock singers
American gospel singers
American male pop singers
American rhythm and blues musicians
American rhythm and blues singers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American soul musicians
American soul singers
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Keen Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Specialty Records artists
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by firearm in California
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Singers from Chicago
Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century African-American activists
Mississippi Blues Trail
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Illinois | true | [
"\"What Else Is There?\" is the third single from the Norwegian duo Röyksopp's second album The Understanding. It features the vocals of Karin Dreijer from the Swedish electronica duo The Knife. The album was released in the UK with the help of Astralwerks.\n\nThe single was used in an O2 television advertisement in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia during 2008. It was also used in the 2006 film Cashback and the 2007 film, Meet Bill. Trentemøller's remix of \"What Else is There?\" was featured in an episode of the HBO show Entourage.\n\nThe song was covered by extreme metal band Enslaved as a bonus track for their album E.\n\nThe song was listed as the 375th best song of the 2000s by Pitchfork Media.\n\nOfficial versions\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Album Version) – 5:17\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Radio Edit) – 3:38\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Jacques Lu Cont Radio Mix) – 3:46\n\"What Else Is There?\" (The Emperor Machine Vocal Version) – 8:03\n\"What Else Is There?\" (The Emperor Machine Dub Version) – 7:51\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Mix) – 8:25\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Edit) – 4:50\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Thin White Duke Remix) (Radio Edit) – 3:06\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Trentemøller Remix) – 7:42\n\"What Else Is There?\" (Vitalic Remix) – 5:14\n\nResponse\nThe single was officially released on 5 December 2005 in the UK. The single had a limited release on 21 November 2005 to promote the upcoming album. On the UK Singles Chart, it peaked at number 32, while on the UK Dance Chart, it reached number one.\n\nMusic video\nThe music video was directed by Martin de Thurah. It features Norwegian model Marianne Schröder who is shown lip-syncing Dreijer's voice. Schröder is depicted as a floating woman traveling across stormy landscapes and within empty houses. Dreijer makes a cameo appearance as a woman wearing an Elizabethan ruff while dining alone at a festive table.\n\nMovie spots\n\nThe song is also featured in the movie Meet Bill as characters played by Jessica Alba and Aaron Eckhart smoke marijuana while listening to it. It is also part of the end credits music of the film Cashback.\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2005 singles\nRöyksopp songs\nAstralwerks singles\nSongs written by Svein Berge\nSongs written by Torbjørn Brundtland\n2004 songs\nSongs written by Roger Greenaway\nSongs written by Olof Dreijer\nSongs written by Karin Dreijer",
"\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" is a 2010 science fiction/magical realism short story by American writer Harlan Ellison. It was first published in Realms of Fantasy.\n\nPlot summary\nA scientist creates a tiny man. The tiny man is initially very popular, but then draws the hatred of the world, and so the tiny man must flee, together with the scientist (who is now likewise hated, for having created the tiny man).\n\nReception\n\"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" won the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, tied with Kij Johnson's \"Ponies\". It was Ellison's final Nebula nomination and win, of his record-setting eight nominations and three wins.\n\nTor.com calls the story \"deceptively simple\", with \"execution (that) is flawless\" and a \"Geppetto-like\" narrator, while Publishers Weekly describes it as \"memorably depict(ing) humanity's smallness of spirit\". The SF Site, however, felt it was \"contrived and less than profound\".\n\nNick Mamatas compared \"How Interesting: A Tiny Man\" negatively to Ellison's other Nebula-winning short stories, and stated that the story's two mutually exclusive endings (in one, the tiny man is killed; in the other, he becomes God) are evocative of the process of writing short stories. Ben Peek considered it to be \"more allegory than (...) anything else\", and interpreted it as being about how the media \"give(s) everyone a voice\", and also about how Ellison was treated by science fiction fandom.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nAudio version of ''How Interesting: A Tiny Man, at StarShipSofa\nHow Interesting: A Tiny Man, at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database\n\nNebula Award for Best Short Story-winning works\nShort stories by Harlan Ellison"
] |
[
"Sam Cooke",
"Aftermath",
"what happened to sam cooke in the aftermath?",
"Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death.",
"what was the title of the album released after his death?",
"I don't know.",
"were the songs released after his death successful?",
"\"Shake\", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, \"A Change Is Gonna Come\", is considered a classic protest song",
"what else happened as a result of his death?",
"fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body.",
"Did his children or any other singers do anything special following his death?",
"a much-heralded performance of \"The Angels Keep Watching Over Me\" by Ray Charles,",
"what kind of legacy did sam cooke leave?",
"\"A Change Is Gonna Come\", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement",
"What else is interesting about the aftermath?",
"Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke."
] | C_59819786737a43a8835750dd948f0167_0 | What happened to Bertha franklin? | 8 | What happened to Bertha franklin after shooting Sam Cooke? | Sam Cooke | The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred in the Garden of Honor, Lot 5728, Space 1, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the Civil Rights Movement . It was a top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums. After Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married Bobby Womack. Cooke's daughter, Linda, later married Womack's brother, Cecil. Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought US$200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages. CANNOTANSWER | After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. | Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and high significance in popular music.
Cooke was born in Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Wonderful World", "Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", "Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the Billboard Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of Billboard Black Singles chart.
In 1964, Cooke was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. After an inquest and investigation, the courts ruled Cooke's death to be a justifiable homicide; his family has since questioned the circumstances of his death.
Cooke's pioneering contributions to soul music contributed to the rise of Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Billy Preston, and popularized the work of Otis Redding and James Brown. AllMusic biographer Bruce Eder wrote that Cooke was "the inventor of soul music", and possessed "an incredible natural singing voice and a smooth, effortless delivery that has never been surpassed".
Cooke was also a central part of the Civil Rights Movement, using his influence and popularity with the white and black population to fight for the cause. He was good friends with boxer Muhammad Ali, activist Malcolm X and football player Jim Brown, who together campaigned for racial equality.
Early life
Cooke was born Samuel Cook in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in 1931 (he added the "e" to his last name in 1957 to signify a new start to his life). He was the fifth of eight children of the Rev. Charles Cook, a minister in the Church of Christ (Holiness), and his wife, Annie Mae. One of his younger brothers, L.C. (1932–2017), later became a member of the doo-wop band Johnny Keyes and the Magnificents.
The family moved to Chicago in 1933. Cook attended Doolittle Elementary and Wendell Phillips Academy High School in Chicago, the same school that Nat "King" Cole had attended a few years earlier. Cooke began his career with his siblings in a group called the Singing Children when he was six years old. He first became known as lead singer with the Highway Q.C.'s when he was a teenager, having joined the group at the age of 14. During this time, Cooke befriended fellow gospel singer and neighbor Lou Rawls, who sang in a rival gospel group.
Career
The Soul Stirrers
In 1950, Cooke replaced gospel tenor R. H. Harris as lead singer of the gospel group the Soul Stirrers, founded by Harris, who had signed with Specialty Records on behalf of the group. Their first recording under Cooke's leadership was the song "Jesus Gave Me Water" in 1951. They also recorded the gospel songs "Peace in the Valley", "How Far Am I from Canaan?", "Jesus Paid the Debt" and "One More River", among many others, some of which he wrote. Cooke was often credited for bringing gospel music to the attention of a younger crowd of listeners, mainly girls who would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers hit the stage just to get a glimpse of Cooke.
Billboards 2015 list of "the 35 Greatest R&B Artists Of All Time" includes Cooke, "who broke ground in 1957 with the R&B/pop crossover hit "You Send Me" ... And his activism on the civil rights front resulted in the quiet protest song 'A Change Is Gonna Come'".
Crossover pop success
Cooke had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Major hits like "You Send Me", "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", "Chain Gang", "Wonderful World", "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away" are some of his most popular songs. Twistin' the Night Away was one of his biggest selling albums. Cooke was also among the first modern Black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement.
His first pop/soul single was "Lovable" (1956), a remake of the gospel song "Wonderful". It was released under the alias "Dale Cook" in order not to alienate his gospel fan base; there was a considerable stigma against gospel singers performing secular music. However, it fooled no one—Cooke's unique and distinctive vocals were easily recognized. Art Rupe, head of Specialty Records, the label of the Soul Stirrers, gave his blessing for Cooke to record secular music under his real name, but he was unhappy about the type of music Cooke and producer Bumps Blackwell were making. Rupe expected Cooke's secular music to be similar to that of another Specialty Records artist, Little Richard. When Rupe walked in on a recording session and heard Cooke covering Gershwin, he was quite upset. After an argument between Rupe and Blackwell, Cooke and Blackwell left the label. "Lovable" was never a hit, but neither did it flop, and indicated Cooke's future potential. While gospel was popular, Cooke saw that fans were mostly limited to low-income, rural parts of the country, and sought to branch out. Cooke later admitted he got an endorsement for a career in pop music from the least likely man, his pastor father. "My father told me it was not what I sang that was important, but that God gave me a voice and musical talent and the true use of His gift was to share it and make people happy." Taking the name "Sam Cooke", he sought a fresh start in pop.
In 1957, Cooke appeared on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show. That same year, he signed with Keen Records. His first hit, "You Send Me", released as the B-side of "Summertime", spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart. The song also had mainstream success, spending three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. It elevated him from earning $200 a week to over $5,000 a week.
In 1958, Cooke performed for the famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. held at the Shrine Auditorium on August 3. The other headliners were Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Ernie Freeman, and Bo Rhambo. Sammy Davis Jr. was there to crown the winner of the Miss Cavalcade of Jazz beauty contest. The event featured the top four prominent disc jockeys of Los Angeles.
Cooke signed with the RCA Victor record label in January 1960, having been offered a guaranteed $100,000 () by the label's producers Hugo & Luigi. One of his first RCA Victor singles was "Chain Gang", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. It was followed by more hits, including "Sad Mood", "Cupid", "Bring It On Home to Me" (with Lou Rawls on backing vocals), "Another Saturday Night", and "Twistin' the Night Away".
In 1961, Cooke started his own record label, SAR Records, with J. W. Alexander and his manager, Roy Crain. The label soon included the Simms Twins, the Valentinos (who were Bobby Womack and his brothers), Mel Carter and Johnnie Taylor. Cooke then created a publishing imprint and management firm named Kags.
Like most R&B artists of his time, Cooke focused on singles; in all, he had 29 top 40 hits on the pop charts and more on the R&B charts. He was a prolific songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded. He also had a hand in overseeing some of the song arrangements. In spite of releasing mostly singles, he released a well-received blues-inflected LP in 1963, Night Beat, and his most critically acclaimed studio album, Ain't That Good News, which featured five singles, in 1964.
In 1963, Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. Klein negotiated a five-year deal (three years plus two option years) with RCA Victor in which a holding company, Tracey, Ltd, named after Cooke's daughter, owned by Klein and managed by J. W. Alexander, would produce and own Cooke's recordings. RCA Victor would get exclusive distribution rights in exchange for 6 percent royalty payments and payments for the recording sessions. For tax reasons, Cooke would receive preferred stock in Tracey instead of an initial cash advance of $100,000. Cooke would receive cash advances of $100,000 for the next two years, followed by an additional $75,000 for each of the two option years if the deal went to term.
Personal life
Cooke was married twice. His first marriage was to singer-dancer Dolores Elizabeth Milligan Cook, who took the stage name "Dee Dee Mohawk" in 1953; they divorced in 1958. She was killed in an auto collision in Fresno, California in 1959. Although he and Dolores were divorced, Cooke paid for his ex-wife's funeral expenses. She was survived by her son Joey.
In 1958, Cooke married his second wife, Barbara Campbell (1935–2021), in Chicago. His father performed the ceremony. They had three children, Linda (b. 1953), Tracy (b. 1960), and Vincent (1961–1963), who drowned in the family swimming pool. Less than three months after Cooke's death, his widow, Barbara, married his friend Bobby Womack. Womack sexually abused Cooke's daughter, Linda. Linda married Womack's brother, Cecil Womack and they became the duo Womack & Womack.
Cooke also fathered at least three other children out of wedlock. In 1958, a woman in Philadelphia, Connie Bolling, claimed Cooke was the father of her son. Cooke paid her an estimated $5,000 settlement out of court.
In November 1958, Cooke was involved in a car accident en route from St. Louis to Greenville. His chauffeur Edward Cunningham was killed, while Cooke, guitarist Cliff White, and singer Lou Rawls were hospitalized.
Death
Cooke was killed at the age of 33 on December 11, 1964, at the Hacienda Motel, in South Central Los Angeles, California, located at 91st and Figueroa Ave. Answering separate reports of a shooting and a kidnapping at the motel, police found Cooke's body. He had sustained a gunshot wound to the chest, which was later determined to have pierced his heart. The motel's manager, Bertha Franklin, claimed to have shot him in self-defense. Her account was immediately disputed by Cooke's acquaintances. The motel's owner, Evelyn Carr, said that she had been on the telephone with Franklin at the time of the incident. Carr said she overheard Cooke's intrusion and the ensuing conflict and gunshot, and called the police.
The police record states that Franklin fatally shot Cooke, who had checked in earlier that evening. Franklin said that Cooke had banged on the door of her office, shouting "Where's the girl?!", in reference to Elisa Boyer, a woman who had accompanied Cooke to the motel, and who had called the police that night from a telephone booth near the motel minutes before Carr had. Franklin shouted back that there was no one in her office except herself, but an enraged Cooke did not believe her and forced his way into the office, naked except for one shoe and a sport jacket. He grabbed her, demanding again to know the woman's whereabouts. According to Franklin, she grappled with Cooke, the two of them fell to the floor, and she then got up and ran to retrieve a gun. She said she then fired at Cooke in self-defense because she feared for her life. Cooke was struck once in the torso. According to Franklin, he exclaimed, "Lady, you shot me", in a tone that expressed perplexity rather than anger, before advancing on her again. She said she hit him in the head with a broomstick before he finally fell to the floor and died. A coroner's inquest was convened to investigate the incident.
Boyer told the police that she had first met Cooke earlier that night and had spent the evening in his company. She said that after they left a local nightclub together, she had repeatedly requested that he take her home, but he instead took her against her will to the Hacienda Motel. She said that once in one of the motel's rooms, Cooke physically forced her onto the bed, and then stripped her to her panties; she said she was sure he was going to rape her. Cooke allowed her to use the bathroom, from which she attempted an escape but found that the window was firmly shut. According to Boyer, she returned to the main room, where Cooke continued to molest her. When he went to use the bathroom, she quickly grabbed her clothes and ran from the room. She said that in her haste, she had also scooped up most of Cooke's clothing by mistake. She said she ran first to the manager's office and knocked on the door seeking help. However, she said that the manager took too long to respond, so, fearing Cooke would soon be coming after her, she fled from the motel before the manager ever opened the door. She said she then put her clothes back on, hid Cooke's clothing, went to a telephone booth, and called the police.
Boyer's story is the only account of what happened between her and Cooke that night, and her story has long been called into question. Inconsistencies between her version of events and details reported by diners at Martoni's Restaurant, where Cooke dined and drank earlier in the evening, suggest that Boyer may have gone willingly to the motel with Cooke, then slipped out of the room with his clothing to rob him, rather than to escape an attempted rape. Cooke was reportedly carrying a large amount of money at Martoni's, according to restaurant employees and friends. However, a search of Boyer's purse by police revealed nothing except a $20 bill, and a search of Cooke's Ferrari found only a money clip with $108 and a few loose coins.
However, questions about Boyer's role were beyond the scope of the inquest, the purpose of which was only to establish the circumstances of Franklin's role in the shooting. Boyer's leaving the motel room with almost all of Cooke's clothing, and the fact that tests showed Cooke was inebriated at the time, provided a plausible explanation to the inquest jurors for Cooke's bizarre behavior and state of undress. In addition, because Carr's testimony corroborated Franklin's version of events, and because both Boyer and Franklin later passed polygraph tests, the coroner's jury ultimately accepted Franklin's explanation and returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. With that verdict, authorities officially closed the case on Cooke's death.
Some of Cooke's family and supporters, however, have rejected Boyer's version of events, as well as those given by Franklin and Carr. They believe that there was a conspiracy to murder Cooke and that the murder took place in some manner entirely different from the three official accounts. On the perceived lack of an investigation, Cooke’s close friend Muhammad Ali said “If Cooke had been Frank Sinatra, the Beatles or Ricky Nelson, the FBI would be investigating.” Singer Etta James viewed Cooke's body before his funeral and questioned the accuracy of the official version of events. She wrote that the injuries she observed were well beyond the official account of Cooke having fought Franklin alone. James wrote that Cooke was so badly beaten that his head was nearly separated from his shoulders, his hands were broken and crushed, and his nose mangled. Some have speculated that Cooke's manager, Allen Klein, had a role in his death. Klein owned Tracey, Ltd, which ultimately owned all rights to Cooke's recordings. No concrete evidence supporting a criminal conspiracy has been presented.
Aftermath
The first funeral service for Cooke was held on December 18, 1964, at A. R. Leak Funeral Home in Chicago; 200,000 fans lined up for more than four city blocks to view his body. Afterward, his body was flown back to Los Angeles for a second service, at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church on December 19, which included a much-heralded performance of "The Angels Keep Watching Over Me" by Ray Charles, who stood in for a grief-stricken Bessie Griffin. Cooke was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Two singles and an album were released in the month after his death. One of the singles, "Shake", reached the top ten of both the pop and R&B charts. The B-side, "A Change Is Gonna Come", is considered a classic protest song from the era of the civil rights movement. It was a Top 40 pop hit and a top 10 R&B hit. The album, also titled Shake, reached the number one spot for R&B albums.
Bertha Franklin said she received numerous death threats after shooting Cooke. She left her position at the Hacienda Motel and did not publicly disclose where she had moved. After being cleared by the coroner's jury, she sued Cooke's estate, citing physical injuries and mental anguish suffered as a result of Cooke's attack. Her lawsuit sought $200,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. Barbara Womack countersued Franklin on behalf of the estate, seeking $7,000 in damages to cover Cooke's funeral expenses. Elisa Boyer provided testimony in support of Franklin in the case. In 1967, a jury ruled in favor of Franklin on both counts, awarding her $30,000 in damages.
Legacy
Cultural depictions
Portrayals
Cooke was portrayed by Paul Mooney in The Buddy Holly Story, a 1978 American biographical film which tells the life story of rock musician Buddy Holly.
In the stage play One Night in Miami, first performed in 2013, Cooke is portrayed by Arinzé Kene. In the 2020 film adaptation, he is played by Leslie Odom Jr., who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal.
Posthumous honors
In 1986, Cooke was inducted as a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In 1987, Cooke was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1989, Cooke was inducted a second time to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when the Soul Stirrers were inducted.
On February 1, 1994, Cooke received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the music industry, located on 7051 Hollywood Boulevard.
Although Cooke never won a Grammy Award, he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, presented by Larry Blackmon of funk super-group Cameo.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Cooke 16th on its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
In 2008, Cooke was named the fourth "Greatest Singer of All Time" by Rolling Stone.
In 2008, Cooke received the first plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame, located at the New Roxy theater.
In 2009, Cooke was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Clarksdale.
In June 2011, the city of Chicago renamed a portion of East 36th Street near Cottage Grove Avenue as the honorary "Sam Cooke Way" to remember the singer near a corner where he hung out and sang as a teenager.
In 2013, Cooke was inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University. The founder of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame Museum, LaMont Robinson, said he was the greatest singer ever to sing.
The words "A change is gonna come" from the Sam Cooke song of the same name are on a wall of the Contemplative Court, a space for reflection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; the museum opened in 2016.
Cooke is inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.
In 2020, Dion released a song and music video as a tribute to Cooke called "Song for Sam Cooke (Here in America)" (featuring Paul Simon) from his album Blues with Friends. American Songwriter magazine honored "Song for Sam Cooke" as the "Greatest of the Great 2020 Songs".
Discography
Sam Cooke (1958)
Encore (1958)
Tribute to the Lady (1959)
Cooke's Tour (1960)
Hits of the 50's (1960)
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke (1960, compilation)
Swing Low (1961)
My Kind of Blues (1961)
Twistin' the Night Away (1962)
Mr. Soul (1963)
Night Beat (1963)
Ain't That Good News (1964)
Sam Cooke at the Copa (1964, live)
Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (1985, live)
Notes
References
Further reading
Our Uncle Sam: The Sam Cooke Story from His Family's Perspective by Erik Greene (2005)
You Send Me: The Life and Times of Sam Cooke by Daniel Wolff, S. R. Crain, Clifton White, and G. David Tenenbaum (1995)
One More River to Cross: The Redemption of Sam Cooke by B. G. Rhule (2012)
External links
Sam Cooke (ABKCO Homepage)
"Black Elvis" by The Village Voice
1931 births
1964 deaths
African-American male singer-songwriters
Activists for African-American civil rights
African-American rock musicians
African-American rock singers
American gospel singers
American male pop singers
American rhythm and blues musicians
American rhythm and blues singers
American rock musicians
American rock singers
American soul musicians
American soul singers
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners
Keen Records artists
RCA Victor artists
Specialty Records artists
Death conspiracy theories
Deaths by firearm in California
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Singers from Chicago
Singer-songwriters from Mississippi
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)
20th-century African-American activists
Mississippi Blues Trail
20th-century African-American male singers
Singer-songwriters from Illinois | true | [
"Bliss is a modernist short story by Katherine Mansfield first published in 1918. It was published in the English Review in August 1918 and later reprinted in Bliss and Other Stories.\n\nPlot summary\nThe story follows a dinner party given by Bertha Young and her husband Harry.\n\nThe story starts with Bertha in a blissful mood as her party approaches, as she considers the specialness and unconventionality of her mood. The maid has prepared a colourful fruit tray for the party, which Bertha will arrange. The nanny is feeding the baby, who reluctantly lets Bertha hold her. The moment of connection with her daughter brings her more bliss.\n\nAfter a phone call from her husband, who is running late, Bertha thinks ahead to who will attend the party that evening. A couple, Mr. and Mrs. Norman Knight (close friends to Bertha and Harry), Eddie Warren, a neurotic and sought-after writer, and Pearl, a strange, mysterious young woman that Bertha has taken a liking to after meeting at a club. As she prepares the drawing room cushions, Bertha recalls how Harry has declared that he finds Pearl dull. She is sure there is much more to her. Her feeling of bliss continues as she hugs the cushions and looks over the balcony to a most perfect blossoming pear tree in the garden, which she imagines \"as a symbol of her own life.\" She lists to herself some of the many aspects of her life she is grateful for, and finds that her outfit is even reminiscent of the tree.\n\nAs the guests start to arrive, with Mr and Mrs Norman Knight calling each other nicknames and Eddie complaining about his taxi, she notes their outfits and appreciates how attractive the company is. As Harry arrives late, she considers the charm of her husband's eccentricities. Pearl is the last to arrive and, as Bertha takes her arm to lead her to the dining room, she feels an intense yet unspoken intimacy with her guest.\n\nWith everyone present, the meal begins. Compliments are paid regarding the food as theatre is discussed, and Bertha is overcome again by a sense of bliss, delighting in the company she has chosen. She thinks of the perfect pear tree in the moonlight in the garden, as she wonders how she can feel so connected to Pearl. She is somehow sure that Pearl must be feeling the same. \n\nAfter dinner, when Pearl asks if Bertha has a garden, she takes it as a sign of their connection and leads her to the garden window. Here, she opens the curtains to reveal the pear tree. The two women stand side-by-side admiring its beauty and in a seemingly perfect moment of mutual understanding and bliss, when the lights are snapped on and the moment ends.\n\nThey rejoin the group for coffee, cigarettes, and more lively conversation. Bertha thinks about how her husband is being quite rude to Pearl, which upsets Bertha. She decides that she will try to find a way to explain to him what she and Pearl have shared, but also realises that soon the party will end. She fears she will be alone with just her husband but then, \"for the first time in her life\", finds that she is also filled with desire for him. She wonders if this ardent feeling is what all her bliss has been leading up to.\n\nAs the guests begin to leave to catch their trains and taxis, Harry goes to help Pearl with her coat in the hallway, which Bertha appreciates considering his earlier brusqueness. In the drawing room still, Bertha fetches a book for Eddie to borrow. As she turns her head to peer down the hallway she sees Pearl and Harry in a romantic embrace, secretly arranging to see each other the next day.\n\nNot knowing they have been spotted, Pearl returns to the drawing room to say goodbye to Bertha and mentions the pear tree. As the final guests leave, Harry nonchalantly locks up behind them. Uncertain about the future, Bertha runs to her garden window and gazes upon her perfect tree, \"as lovely as ever.\"\n\nCharacters in \"Bliss\"\nBertha Young - the main character, age 30 \nHarry - Bertha's husband\nLittle Bertha/Little B - Bertha's baby daughter\nMary - servant\nNanny - Little B's nurse\nMr and Mrs Norman Knight - dinner guests\nEddie Warren - a poet\nPearl Fulton - a young, beguiling blonde woman\n\nFootnotes\n\nExternal links\nFull Text\n\nModernist short stories\n1920 short stories\nShort stories by Katherine Mansfield\nWorks originally published in The English Review",
"Look What Happened to Samson (Spanish:Lo que le pasó a Sansón) is a 1955 Mexican comedy film directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares and starring Germán Valdés, Ana Bertha Lepe and Yolanda Varela.\n\nMain cast\n Germán Valdés as Tin Tan / Sansón \n Ana Bertha Lepe as Lila / Dalila \n Yolanda Varela as Soledad / Semadar \n Andrés Soler as Tío de Lila / Gran Sarán \n Marcelo Chávez as Arthur / Príncipe Atur \n Eduardo Alcaraz as Padre de Dalila \nElvira Quintana as Miriam \n Manuel Calvo as Matouk \n María Herrero as Arpagona \n Óscar Ortiz de Pinedo \n Armando Arriola as Don Santiago / Arquitecto Pío Rea \n Elvira Lodi \n Carlos Bravo y Fernández as Guardia\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography \n Carlos Monsiváis & John Kraniauskas. Mexican Postcards. Verso, 1997.\n\nExternal links \n \n\n1955 films\n1955 comedy films\nMexican comedy films\nMexican films\nSpanish-language films\nFilms directed by Gilberto Martínez Solares"
] |
[
"Myles Kennedy",
"Work with Slash: 2009-present"
] | C_edd1fcac88a3467d903247d6fb736050_0 | When did Kennedy start working with Slash | 1 | When did Kennedy start working with Slash? | Myles Kennedy | Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010. On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoras), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band. Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators", featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire is produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette and was released on September 16, 2014. CANNOTANSWER | In late 2009, | Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge, and as the lead vocalist in guitarist Slash's backing band, known as Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, he has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released six studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour.
In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
With Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators have recorded three studio albums. Kennedy's debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released in March 2018 and his second solo album The Ides of March was released on May 14, 2021.
Early life
Kennedy was born as Myles Richard Bass on November 27, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Northern Idaho. As a child, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he grew up in a Christian Science family on a farm. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music.
Career
Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing: 1990–1995
Upon graduating from high school in 1988, Kennedy enrolled in a Commercial Music/Jazz Studies program at Spokane Falls Community College. Using the skills he learned from this course, in 1990 he began playing guitar for a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band, which was formed by keyboardist Jim Templeton in 1990. Kennedy's guitar work with Cosmic Dust was advanced; using his knowledge of jazz theory in conjunction with his advanced technical abilities, interweaving difficult techniques such as chord changes on impulse and precise shredding with rock music, he became a well-respected guitarist among local musicians. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. Journey, Cure Me with the Groove, and Deep Down are rare albums and are sought after by fans.
The Mayfield Four: 1995–2002
In 1995, Kennedy started teaching guitar in a store called Rock City Music. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. Kennedy has since said that it is one of the most personal records he has made. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening.
Velvet Revolver audition offer: 2002
After The Mayfield Four's unforeseen breakup, and due to a hearing disorder called tinnitus that he developed because of listening to music that he was recording at earsplitting volumes, Kennedy fell into depression in 2002. He said about music, "I can't do it any more. My ears won't let me." He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Other sources state that Kennedy had sent in a demo tape but still ultimately declined an invitation to audition after being approached by Matt Sorum. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it."
Alter Bridge: 2003–present
Kennedy is best known as the lead vocalist and one of the two lead guitarists in the band, alongside Mark Tremonti, of the American hard rock band Alter Bridge. The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album "World On Fire" as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.
Solo career and collaborations
Work with Led Zeppelin members: 2008–2009
Kennedy received a great amount of press coverage in late 2008, owing to a rumour that he was to join Led Zeppelin.
After Zeppelin's one-off reunion in 2007, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones reportedly felt the band "still had something to offer." As reported by BBC News, Page and Jones were in the studio with Jason Bonham writing and recording material that was reportedly to be used for a new Zeppelin album. According to Bonham, singer Robert Plant was not involved. Page, Jones, and Bonham auditioned singers, fuelling rumours when they were reported to have attended an Alter Bridge concert. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said that they were offering Kennedy the job to persuade Plant to reconsider. Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti said Kennedy "deserves" to play with Zeppelin.
Kennedy remained mostly silent about the rumours until January 2009. "I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin," he said. "I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I'm very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that's that." He later confirmed, however, that he had written and rehearsed with Page, Jones and Bonham. He also said that it was Bonham who "got the ball rolling", since the two had met on the set of the 2001 film Rock Star.
"Working with them felt surreal," he recalled a decade later. "Jimmy played the Les Paul, and just being in the room with that guitar would have been enough for me. But standing next to him as he's playing those iconic riffs, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. We played 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'… We did 'Carouselambra', which was a really challenging arrangement. A lot of wonderful moments."
It is unconfirmed if the songs he wrote with Page, Jones, and Bonham will ever be released. Kennedy maintains that the band, had it materialised, would not have been called Led Zeppelin.
Solo career: 2009–2010; 2017–present
Kennedy has performed two solo benefit concerts: one hosted by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars to benefit cancer patients, and another to benefit abused children. The latter was called Bofest 2009 and was headlined by Kennedy on October 17, 2009. In early 2009, Kennedy announced a solo side project. He described the material as "dreamy" and "[not] aggressive", saving those songs for Alter Bridge. He also said, "It's more singer/songwriter based. I will say it's going to be interesting." He later posted on his Myspace page that he is working with some "great people" and that he has details coming at a future date. Slash announced via Facebook on February 1, 2010 that he would be appearing on Kennedy's solo record, and Kennedy confirmed this via Myspace. Kennedy had originally hoped that his album would be released in early 2010, digitally first and then on CD, but he has since put its release on hold. However, he recently said that he is still too busy to release the album as he stated that he would like to tour to promote it, but he wanted to release it on December 21, 2012, as a joke, although a firm release date has not yet been announced.
When asked if the record would be a departure from his previous work, he replied that it is different and again referred to the singer-songwriter approach that would be featured on it and that it would not be a hard rock album. He also said that "it was maybe the most difficult thing I've ever done in the sense that I didn't have a band." He also said that the music is very intimate and that it features piano as well. In an interview with Guitarist UK magazine, he said that some of the songs will feature jazz, blues, and R&B influences, while others still "get quite atmospheric and ethereal," comparing the sound to Daniel Lanois and Massive Attack, while assuring fans that the rock style will still be present. In the same Guitarist interview, he confirmed the titles of three songs that will appear on his record: "The Light of Day", "Complicated Man", and "The Bar Fly". Most recently, he confirmed that another song will be titled "Love Rain Down". He said in an interview with CraveOnline that "Love Rain Down" differs from anything else he has ever written. In 2017, he said he shelved the songs he had written and started over. His debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released on March 9, 2018. Kennedy's second solo album, The Ides of March, was released on May 14, 2021.
Work with Slash: 2009–present
Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010.
On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoris), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band.
Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire, produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 16, 2014. The band's third album Living the Dream, again produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 21, 2018. The fourth record, titled 4 and produced by Dave Cobb, was released on February 11, 2022.
Other session work: 2001–present
Kennedy is further well known for his work as a session musician and songwriter, having collaborated with several artists. In 2001, he appeared on the album Striped Suit: Lo-Fi by the jazz-rock band Mulligan, playing guitar solos on the songs "Faron" and "Make It Three". In that same year, he provided backing vocals to the song "Breakthrough" by Big Wreck from The Pleasure and the Greed. He also worked with the Spokane based nu-metal band Five Foot Thick on their 2003 album Blood Puddle, providing backing vocals to the song "Ducked Out". In 2005, he sang the chorus of "Nameless Faceless" by Fozzy with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho from their album All That Remains. In 2008, he sang a duet with Sevendust lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon on Sevendust's song "Sorrow" from Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow. Also in 2008, Kennedy made a guest appearance on Mark Tremonti's guitar instructional DVD The Sound & the Story, to which Kennedy provided an in-depth lesson on how to play his guitar solo on the Alter Bridge song "Blackbird". In 2009, he appeared on Slash's self-titled album, co-writing and singing lead vocals on the songs "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". In addition, he has made live appearances with Sevendust and Gov't Mule. In 2011 it was announced that he will appear on a planned tribute album to Tommy Bolin. Further details were announced in January 2012 that the album would be called Great Gypsy Soul. It was released on March 27, 2012, on 429 Records, and Kennedy appeared on a song called "Dreamer" with Nels Cline of Wilco. Other contributors include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Glenn Hughes. In 2016, he collaborated with rapper Darryl McDaniels and Disturbed bassist John Moyer on the song "Flames". Also in 2016, he sang on "Black & White" on the Richards/Crane debut album, World Stands Still.
Artistry and influences
Kennedy is influenced by a wide range of artists of several genres. His earliest influence was Led Zeppelin, although he drew his singing influences from jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and soul artists when he discovered Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums in his parents' record collection. He said that he owned Stevie Wonder's 1982 compilation album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, which was one of his earliest inspirations as a singer. From there, he discovered Songs in the Key of Life, which he has since stated is one of his favorite albums, and today cites Stevie Wonder as a major influence on his singing. He has also cited other jazz players and soul singers John Coltrane, Al Green, Mike Stern, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Curtis Mayfield as early influences. He also loves blues music. Additional influences include Guns N' Roses, U2, AC/DC, Mastodon, and Radiohead.
Singing style
Kennedy's favorite singers include Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bon Scott, Chris Whitley, and k.d. lang. He has stated on several occasions that Jeff Buckley was, and is, a major influence on him as a singer. When asked to describe his vocal style, he said, "I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley." He states that Buckley's "emotional intensity" was one of the most inspirational things for him when it came to singing, and that it made him accept and embrace the fact that he is a tenor. He often performs Buckley's famous cover of "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) during acoustic performances. At one point, he received lessons from Ron Anderson, a bel canto vocal coach who has worked with a wide range of singers, including Axl Rose, Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, Kelly Clarkson, and several others. When asked about his number one secret when it came to singing, Kennedy replied, "Dig deep into your soul and sing as if your life depends on it. Leave your mark. People react to emotion more than technique." Kennedy, who possesses a four-octave vocal range, has been praised for his ability as a singer. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, whose touring band consists of Kennedy, has called him "fucking amazing", calling his style "surreal". About Kennedy's ability to recreate Guns N' Roses songs on tour, Slash said, "Myles is fucking amazing. It's very surreal how he handles the stuff he sings. I'm doing GN'R songs I've never done solo before, and Myles manages to own them without changing the style or trajectory of the song. Which is a fantastic fucking ability." Kennedy is often compared to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.
Guitar playing
Kennedy, a former guitar instructor, is also recognized as an accomplished guitarist. He began learning how to play the guitar by listening to Led Zeppelin records and mimicking Jimmy Page's guitar parts. He said in an interview, "I started off strictly as a lead guitar player. When I first started playing 25 years ago, that was all I’d do is sit in my room and learn solos." He also recalled being inspired by Eddie Van Halen: "When I was in my early teens, I heard 'Eruption' one day and was like, 'That is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard,' and I begged my mother to give me an advance on my allowance for the next month and go buy that record." Over the next few years, and throughout the 1990s, Kennedy played primarily lead guitar. His early work with Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing featured a jazz-influenced rock flavor, combining several advanced techniques used in jazz. He would later join Alter Bridge primarily as a lead vocalist, but began playing rhythm guitar on the band's first tour. Mark Tremonti said, "We knew Myles was an amazing singer, that’s why we hired him. What we found out when we toured the first record was that he’s also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter, as well as a vocalist."
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive, Tremonti said:
Kennedy played rhythm guitar on Blackbird and has since played co-lead on several Alter Bridge tracks. In an article about Kennedy as a guitarist on Lemon Squeezings, writer Steve Sauer noted his dexterity and steady rhythm playing. Doug Clark, a writer for The Spokesman-Review and one of Kennedy's former guitar students, wrote that "his six-string skills are pyrotechnically brilliant." Kennedy notes that his job as a guitar player, especially recently with Alter Bridge, is to add texture and colors to the music.
Lyrics and themes
In addition, Kennedy is the primary lyricist of Alter Bridge and his previous band, The Mayfield Four. His lyrics, which are usually fairly straightforward stylistically, often touch on dark subjects such as death and addiction. On Alter Bridge's first two albums (the lyrics of the former were primarily written by Tremonti, however), the lyrics are about "hope and perseverance in the face of adversity." However, he has been known to write darker lyrics, as heard most notably on Alter Bridge's third album, AB III, which is a loose concept album based on his own personal struggles with faith and spirituality. Similarly, the lyrical themes of The Mayfield Four's second album, Second Skin, touch on struggling with love and substance abuse. Second Skin, Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and The Ides of March are the only albums to feature lyrics written by Kennedy that contain profanity.
Personal life
Kennedy currently resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, Selena, whom he married on June 14, 2003. According to Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, Kennedy is an atheist, although in an article titled Losing My Religion from a November 2010 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Kennedy said he places himself "somewhere in the middle" between being an atheist and a Christian. In an interview on the Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at NAMM 2009, Kennedy mentioned that despite being raised in a Christian household, he is not a religious person and he does not believe in any organized religion. In an interview with CraveOnline, he said "I would consider myself a part of the growing segment of people who question authority and scrutinize concepts that no longer seem as logical as they once did. [...] I don't find peace in the same concepts that many hold as truth. Believe me, I tried. It's not like I didn't spend most of my life submersed in the bosom of doctrine or dogma." In 2014, he identified himself as an agnostic.
Kennedy has been identified as an avid reader and he says that he especially enjoys the work of John Irving, describing Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany as one of his favorite novels. He has also cited Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner as one of his favorites. When asked about his hobbies, he replied: "I guess I have been pretty fortunate since I have turned what was a hobby into a living. Music pretty much consumes me. If I’m not writing, performing or listening I am probably trying to learn more about its history." He has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his right upper arm, and two elephant heads on his chest. He describes the dragon and the fish as symbols of strength, while the octopus was originally supposed to be a small squid but became much larger than he had intended. He got the dragon tattoo first because of a toy he brought back from Japan as a child, and the koi was added a year later after he learned of an ancient Chinese legend of koi swimming up the Yellow River to become dragons. He has said he wants to get more tattoos in the future.
Charity work
Kennedy has served on the board of directors for the Mead Food Bank since 2003. In addition, he co-founded the Future Song Foundation, a charity organization "that provides funding to ensure that kids have access to musical instruction and instruments which are fundamental parts of a complete education", with his wife in 2015. He serves as a director of the program. A proponent of wildlife conservation efforts, Kennedy is a supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is outspoken of his criticism of the ivory trade on Twitter.
Discography
Cosmic Dust
Journey (1991)
Citizen Swing
Cure Me with the Groove (1993)
Deep Down (1995)
The Mayfield Four
Fallout (1998)
Second Skin (2001)
Alter Bridge
One Day Remains (2004)
Blackbird (2007)
AB III (2010)
Fortress (2013)
The Last Hero (2016)
Walk the Sky (2019)
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Apocalyptic Love (2012)
World on Fire (2014)
Living the Dream (2018)
4 (2022)
Solo
Year of the Tiger (2018)
The Ides of March (2021)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
Alter Bridge members
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)
Musicians from Spokane, Washington
Rhythm guitarists
Roadrunner Records artists
Singers with a four-octave vocal range
American tenors
Guitarists from Washington (state)
20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists | true | [
"Slash is an English-American hard rock musician. Best known as the lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses (1985–1996 and 2016–present) and Velvet Revolver (2002–2008), he began his solo career in 2009 with the recording of his eponymous debut album. The album featured a range of musicians and vocalists, with the core rhythm section made up of bassist Chris Chaney and drummer Josh Freese. In promotion of the release, Slash toured throughout 2010 and 2011 with vocalist Myles Kennedy (who had recorded two songs for the album), rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck, bassist Todd Kerns and drummer Brent Fitz. Former Big Wreck bassist Dave Henning was originally planned to be a member of the touring group, but was replaced by Kerns within weeks of the lineup's initial announcement.\n\nAfter the conclusion of his first solo touring cycle, Slash continued working with Kennedy, Kerns and Fitz on the recording of his second album. Released in 2012, Apocalyptic Love was billed as the first album by \"Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators\", the new name for the guitarist's backing band. Schneck was not retained for the Apocalyptic Love World Tour, with The Cab's Frank Sidoris announced as his replacement in February 2012. During the promotional tour for 2014's World on Fire, Slash and his band recorded their third live release Live at the Roxy 9.25.14, which was the first to feature Sidoris on guitar. The guitarist became a full member of the band in 2018, when he contributed to his first Slash studio recording, Living the Dream, which was released later in the year.\n\nOfficial members\n\nCurrent members\n\nFormer members\n\nOther contributors\n\nSession musicians\n\nTouring substitutes\n\nTimeline\n\nLineups\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nSlash official website\n\nBand members\nSlash\nSlash band members",
"4 is the fourth studio album by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, and Slash's fifth solo album overall. It was released on February 11, 2022, as the first album from the new Gibson Records label. The album was produced by country producer Dave Cobb in Nashville. The album was announced on October 20, 2021, with the release of the first track \"The River Is Rising\" as a single.\n\nBackground\nThough Slash reunited with Guns N' Roses in 2016, he has still continued with his solo work, this being the second studio album release in that time period. Writing for the album started during the 2018-19 Living the Dream Tour. Slash stated of the album, \"There’s two or three songs on the record that were written during the pandemic; everything else was written before\".\n\nLooking to record the album in a different style than previously, the band travelled to Nashville to record at RCA Studio A with Dave Cobb. Cobb shared the band's vision of recording the tracks live together, a tactic they had not employed on the previous albums. Slash noted that \"we did it more or less live, and the mistakes are all in there. It’s the sound of the five of us just jamming together in one room.\"\n\nThe band faced the complications of COVID-19 not only in a delay of getting together to record the album, but also with the recording itself. Myles Kennedy was the first of several band members to contract the virus. He points out that you can hear his congestion on the opening track but states that these anomalies make the album interesting because \"We just let those imperfections lay.\"\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nSlash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators\nSlash – lead guitar, talkbox\nMyles Kennedy – lead vocals\nTodd Kerns – bass guitar, backing vocals\nBrent Fitz – drums, percussion\nFrank Sidoris – rhythm guitar\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2022 albums\nSlash (musician) albums\nAlbums produced by Dave Cobb"
] |
[
"Myles Kennedy",
"Work with Slash: 2009-present",
"When did Kennedy start working with Slash",
"In late 2009,"
] | C_edd1fcac88a3467d903247d6fb736050_0 | What project were they working on together | 2 | What project were Kennedy and Slash working on together in late 2009? | Myles Kennedy | Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010. On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoras), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band. Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators", featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire is produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette and was released on September 16, 2014. CANNOTANSWER | it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. | Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge, and as the lead vocalist in guitarist Slash's backing band, known as Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, he has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released six studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour.
In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
With Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators have recorded three studio albums. Kennedy's debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released in March 2018 and his second solo album The Ides of March was released on May 14, 2021.
Early life
Kennedy was born as Myles Richard Bass on November 27, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Northern Idaho. As a child, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he grew up in a Christian Science family on a farm. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music.
Career
Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing: 1990–1995
Upon graduating from high school in 1988, Kennedy enrolled in a Commercial Music/Jazz Studies program at Spokane Falls Community College. Using the skills he learned from this course, in 1990 he began playing guitar for a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band, which was formed by keyboardist Jim Templeton in 1990. Kennedy's guitar work with Cosmic Dust was advanced; using his knowledge of jazz theory in conjunction with his advanced technical abilities, interweaving difficult techniques such as chord changes on impulse and precise shredding with rock music, he became a well-respected guitarist among local musicians. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. Journey, Cure Me with the Groove, and Deep Down are rare albums and are sought after by fans.
The Mayfield Four: 1995–2002
In 1995, Kennedy started teaching guitar in a store called Rock City Music. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. Kennedy has since said that it is one of the most personal records he has made. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening.
Velvet Revolver audition offer: 2002
After The Mayfield Four's unforeseen breakup, and due to a hearing disorder called tinnitus that he developed because of listening to music that he was recording at earsplitting volumes, Kennedy fell into depression in 2002. He said about music, "I can't do it any more. My ears won't let me." He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Other sources state that Kennedy had sent in a demo tape but still ultimately declined an invitation to audition after being approached by Matt Sorum. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it."
Alter Bridge: 2003–present
Kennedy is best known as the lead vocalist and one of the two lead guitarists in the band, alongside Mark Tremonti, of the American hard rock band Alter Bridge. The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album "World On Fire" as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.
Solo career and collaborations
Work with Led Zeppelin members: 2008–2009
Kennedy received a great amount of press coverage in late 2008, owing to a rumour that he was to join Led Zeppelin.
After Zeppelin's one-off reunion in 2007, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones reportedly felt the band "still had something to offer." As reported by BBC News, Page and Jones were in the studio with Jason Bonham writing and recording material that was reportedly to be used for a new Zeppelin album. According to Bonham, singer Robert Plant was not involved. Page, Jones, and Bonham auditioned singers, fuelling rumours when they were reported to have attended an Alter Bridge concert. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said that they were offering Kennedy the job to persuade Plant to reconsider. Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti said Kennedy "deserves" to play with Zeppelin.
Kennedy remained mostly silent about the rumours until January 2009. "I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin," he said. "I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I'm very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that's that." He later confirmed, however, that he had written and rehearsed with Page, Jones and Bonham. He also said that it was Bonham who "got the ball rolling", since the two had met on the set of the 2001 film Rock Star.
"Working with them felt surreal," he recalled a decade later. "Jimmy played the Les Paul, and just being in the room with that guitar would have been enough for me. But standing next to him as he's playing those iconic riffs, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. We played 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'… We did 'Carouselambra', which was a really challenging arrangement. A lot of wonderful moments."
It is unconfirmed if the songs he wrote with Page, Jones, and Bonham will ever be released. Kennedy maintains that the band, had it materialised, would not have been called Led Zeppelin.
Solo career: 2009–2010; 2017–present
Kennedy has performed two solo benefit concerts: one hosted by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars to benefit cancer patients, and another to benefit abused children. The latter was called Bofest 2009 and was headlined by Kennedy on October 17, 2009. In early 2009, Kennedy announced a solo side project. He described the material as "dreamy" and "[not] aggressive", saving those songs for Alter Bridge. He also said, "It's more singer/songwriter based. I will say it's going to be interesting." He later posted on his Myspace page that he is working with some "great people" and that he has details coming at a future date. Slash announced via Facebook on February 1, 2010 that he would be appearing on Kennedy's solo record, and Kennedy confirmed this via Myspace. Kennedy had originally hoped that his album would be released in early 2010, digitally first and then on CD, but he has since put its release on hold. However, he recently said that he is still too busy to release the album as he stated that he would like to tour to promote it, but he wanted to release it on December 21, 2012, as a joke, although a firm release date has not yet been announced.
When asked if the record would be a departure from his previous work, he replied that it is different and again referred to the singer-songwriter approach that would be featured on it and that it would not be a hard rock album. He also said that "it was maybe the most difficult thing I've ever done in the sense that I didn't have a band." He also said that the music is very intimate and that it features piano as well. In an interview with Guitarist UK magazine, he said that some of the songs will feature jazz, blues, and R&B influences, while others still "get quite atmospheric and ethereal," comparing the sound to Daniel Lanois and Massive Attack, while assuring fans that the rock style will still be present. In the same Guitarist interview, he confirmed the titles of three songs that will appear on his record: "The Light of Day", "Complicated Man", and "The Bar Fly". Most recently, he confirmed that another song will be titled "Love Rain Down". He said in an interview with CraveOnline that "Love Rain Down" differs from anything else he has ever written. In 2017, he said he shelved the songs he had written and started over. His debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released on March 9, 2018. Kennedy's second solo album, The Ides of March, was released on May 14, 2021.
Work with Slash: 2009–present
Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010.
On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoris), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band.
Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire, produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 16, 2014. The band's third album Living the Dream, again produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 21, 2018. The fourth record, titled 4 and produced by Dave Cobb, was released on February 11, 2022.
Other session work: 2001–present
Kennedy is further well known for his work as a session musician and songwriter, having collaborated with several artists. In 2001, he appeared on the album Striped Suit: Lo-Fi by the jazz-rock band Mulligan, playing guitar solos on the songs "Faron" and "Make It Three". In that same year, he provided backing vocals to the song "Breakthrough" by Big Wreck from The Pleasure and the Greed. He also worked with the Spokane based nu-metal band Five Foot Thick on their 2003 album Blood Puddle, providing backing vocals to the song "Ducked Out". In 2005, he sang the chorus of "Nameless Faceless" by Fozzy with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho from their album All That Remains. In 2008, he sang a duet with Sevendust lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon on Sevendust's song "Sorrow" from Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow. Also in 2008, Kennedy made a guest appearance on Mark Tremonti's guitar instructional DVD The Sound & the Story, to which Kennedy provided an in-depth lesson on how to play his guitar solo on the Alter Bridge song "Blackbird". In 2009, he appeared on Slash's self-titled album, co-writing and singing lead vocals on the songs "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". In addition, he has made live appearances with Sevendust and Gov't Mule. In 2011 it was announced that he will appear on a planned tribute album to Tommy Bolin. Further details were announced in January 2012 that the album would be called Great Gypsy Soul. It was released on March 27, 2012, on 429 Records, and Kennedy appeared on a song called "Dreamer" with Nels Cline of Wilco. Other contributors include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Glenn Hughes. In 2016, he collaborated with rapper Darryl McDaniels and Disturbed bassist John Moyer on the song "Flames". Also in 2016, he sang on "Black & White" on the Richards/Crane debut album, World Stands Still.
Artistry and influences
Kennedy is influenced by a wide range of artists of several genres. His earliest influence was Led Zeppelin, although he drew his singing influences from jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and soul artists when he discovered Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums in his parents' record collection. He said that he owned Stevie Wonder's 1982 compilation album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, which was one of his earliest inspirations as a singer. From there, he discovered Songs in the Key of Life, which he has since stated is one of his favorite albums, and today cites Stevie Wonder as a major influence on his singing. He has also cited other jazz players and soul singers John Coltrane, Al Green, Mike Stern, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Curtis Mayfield as early influences. He also loves blues music. Additional influences include Guns N' Roses, U2, AC/DC, Mastodon, and Radiohead.
Singing style
Kennedy's favorite singers include Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bon Scott, Chris Whitley, and k.d. lang. He has stated on several occasions that Jeff Buckley was, and is, a major influence on him as a singer. When asked to describe his vocal style, he said, "I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley." He states that Buckley's "emotional intensity" was one of the most inspirational things for him when it came to singing, and that it made him accept and embrace the fact that he is a tenor. He often performs Buckley's famous cover of "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) during acoustic performances. At one point, he received lessons from Ron Anderson, a bel canto vocal coach who has worked with a wide range of singers, including Axl Rose, Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, Kelly Clarkson, and several others. When asked about his number one secret when it came to singing, Kennedy replied, "Dig deep into your soul and sing as if your life depends on it. Leave your mark. People react to emotion more than technique." Kennedy, who possesses a four-octave vocal range, has been praised for his ability as a singer. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, whose touring band consists of Kennedy, has called him "fucking amazing", calling his style "surreal". About Kennedy's ability to recreate Guns N' Roses songs on tour, Slash said, "Myles is fucking amazing. It's very surreal how he handles the stuff he sings. I'm doing GN'R songs I've never done solo before, and Myles manages to own them without changing the style or trajectory of the song. Which is a fantastic fucking ability." Kennedy is often compared to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.
Guitar playing
Kennedy, a former guitar instructor, is also recognized as an accomplished guitarist. He began learning how to play the guitar by listening to Led Zeppelin records and mimicking Jimmy Page's guitar parts. He said in an interview, "I started off strictly as a lead guitar player. When I first started playing 25 years ago, that was all I’d do is sit in my room and learn solos." He also recalled being inspired by Eddie Van Halen: "When I was in my early teens, I heard 'Eruption' one day and was like, 'That is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard,' and I begged my mother to give me an advance on my allowance for the next month and go buy that record." Over the next few years, and throughout the 1990s, Kennedy played primarily lead guitar. His early work with Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing featured a jazz-influenced rock flavor, combining several advanced techniques used in jazz. He would later join Alter Bridge primarily as a lead vocalist, but began playing rhythm guitar on the band's first tour. Mark Tremonti said, "We knew Myles was an amazing singer, that’s why we hired him. What we found out when we toured the first record was that he’s also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter, as well as a vocalist."
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive, Tremonti said:
Kennedy played rhythm guitar on Blackbird and has since played co-lead on several Alter Bridge tracks. In an article about Kennedy as a guitarist on Lemon Squeezings, writer Steve Sauer noted his dexterity and steady rhythm playing. Doug Clark, a writer for The Spokesman-Review and one of Kennedy's former guitar students, wrote that "his six-string skills are pyrotechnically brilliant." Kennedy notes that his job as a guitar player, especially recently with Alter Bridge, is to add texture and colors to the music.
Lyrics and themes
In addition, Kennedy is the primary lyricist of Alter Bridge and his previous band, The Mayfield Four. His lyrics, which are usually fairly straightforward stylistically, often touch on dark subjects such as death and addiction. On Alter Bridge's first two albums (the lyrics of the former were primarily written by Tremonti, however), the lyrics are about "hope and perseverance in the face of adversity." However, he has been known to write darker lyrics, as heard most notably on Alter Bridge's third album, AB III, which is a loose concept album based on his own personal struggles with faith and spirituality. Similarly, the lyrical themes of The Mayfield Four's second album, Second Skin, touch on struggling with love and substance abuse. Second Skin, Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and The Ides of March are the only albums to feature lyrics written by Kennedy that contain profanity.
Personal life
Kennedy currently resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, Selena, whom he married on June 14, 2003. According to Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, Kennedy is an atheist, although in an article titled Losing My Religion from a November 2010 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Kennedy said he places himself "somewhere in the middle" between being an atheist and a Christian. In an interview on the Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at NAMM 2009, Kennedy mentioned that despite being raised in a Christian household, he is not a religious person and he does not believe in any organized religion. In an interview with CraveOnline, he said "I would consider myself a part of the growing segment of people who question authority and scrutinize concepts that no longer seem as logical as they once did. [...] I don't find peace in the same concepts that many hold as truth. Believe me, I tried. It's not like I didn't spend most of my life submersed in the bosom of doctrine or dogma." In 2014, he identified himself as an agnostic.
Kennedy has been identified as an avid reader and he says that he especially enjoys the work of John Irving, describing Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany as one of his favorite novels. He has also cited Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner as one of his favorites. When asked about his hobbies, he replied: "I guess I have been pretty fortunate since I have turned what was a hobby into a living. Music pretty much consumes me. If I’m not writing, performing or listening I am probably trying to learn more about its history." He has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his right upper arm, and two elephant heads on his chest. He describes the dragon and the fish as symbols of strength, while the octopus was originally supposed to be a small squid but became much larger than he had intended. He got the dragon tattoo first because of a toy he brought back from Japan as a child, and the koi was added a year later after he learned of an ancient Chinese legend of koi swimming up the Yellow River to become dragons. He has said he wants to get more tattoos in the future.
Charity work
Kennedy has served on the board of directors for the Mead Food Bank since 2003. In addition, he co-founded the Future Song Foundation, a charity organization "that provides funding to ensure that kids have access to musical instruction and instruments which are fundamental parts of a complete education", with his wife in 2015. He serves as a director of the program. A proponent of wildlife conservation efforts, Kennedy is a supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is outspoken of his criticism of the ivory trade on Twitter.
Discography
Cosmic Dust
Journey (1991)
Citizen Swing
Cure Me with the Groove (1993)
Deep Down (1995)
The Mayfield Four
Fallout (1998)
Second Skin (2001)
Alter Bridge
One Day Remains (2004)
Blackbird (2007)
AB III (2010)
Fortress (2013)
The Last Hero (2016)
Walk the Sky (2019)
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Apocalyptic Love (2012)
World on Fire (2014)
Living the Dream (2018)
4 (2022)
Solo
Year of the Tiger (2018)
The Ides of March (2021)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
Alter Bridge members
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)
Musicians from Spokane, Washington
Rhythm guitarists
Roadrunner Records artists
Singers with a four-octave vocal range
American tenors
Guitarists from Washington (state)
20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists | true | [
"Palladium was an Australian band from Brisbane that was active from 1997 to 2003. The band consisted of members Chris Chalk (drums), Andrew Morris (guitar and vocals), Justin Sykes (bass) and Brant Ward (guitar and vocals).\n\nPalladium released their debut EP, Hoarsey, in 2001. Their debut album, the obscurely named Sister Flute and the Sunday Best, was released later in the year. They released another EP, Everybody Loves New Fashion, in early 2003 and the title track reached No. 92 on the ARIA Top 100 Singles chart.\n\nThe band received significant national airplay on Triple J with songs such as \"Hoarsey\" and \"Good Girls\".\n\nThey played their last show in October 2003 after Ward had decided to part ways. Morris, Sykes and Chalk were already working together on a new project. The band were recording a new album at the time. In 2009 the material that the band was working on at the time of their break-up had remained unreleased.\n\nDiscography\n\nAlbums/EPs\n\nSingles\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nAustralian indie rock groups",
"Mrs. Piss is a collaborative project consisting of American musicians Chelsea Wolfe and Jess Gowrie.\n\nHistory\nMrs. Piss played together in a band called Red Host in the early 2000s. The duo started the project while touring around Wolfe's 2017 album Hiss Spun. Wolfe said \"Working on this project brought Jess and I so much closer as songwriters and production partners, after reuniting as friends and bandmates.\"\n\nMrs. Piss released their debut album Self-Surgery on May 29, 2020.They shared two singles from the album. Downer Surrounded by Uppers and Knelt, on May 14.\n\nMembers\n Chelsea Wolfe – guitar, vocals\n Jess Gowrie – drums, guitar, bass, programming\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n Self-Surgery (2020)\n\nReferences\n\nMusical groups established in 2017\nAmerican musical duos\n2017 establishments in the United States"
] |
[
"Myles Kennedy",
"Work with Slash: 2009-present",
"When did Kennedy start working with Slash",
"In late 2009,",
"What project were they working on together",
"it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album."
] | C_edd1fcac88a3467d903247d6fb736050_0 | What was the name of the album | 3 | What was the name of Slash's self-titled debut solo album? | Myles Kennedy | Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010. On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoras), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band. Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators", featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire is produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette and was released on September 16, 2014. CANNOTANSWER | self-titled debut solo album. | Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge, and as the lead vocalist in guitarist Slash's backing band, known as Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, he has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released six studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour.
In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
With Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators have recorded three studio albums. Kennedy's debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released in March 2018 and his second solo album The Ides of March was released on May 14, 2021.
Early life
Kennedy was born as Myles Richard Bass on November 27, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Northern Idaho. As a child, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he grew up in a Christian Science family on a farm. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music.
Career
Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing: 1990–1995
Upon graduating from high school in 1988, Kennedy enrolled in a Commercial Music/Jazz Studies program at Spokane Falls Community College. Using the skills he learned from this course, in 1990 he began playing guitar for a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band, which was formed by keyboardist Jim Templeton in 1990. Kennedy's guitar work with Cosmic Dust was advanced; using his knowledge of jazz theory in conjunction with his advanced technical abilities, interweaving difficult techniques such as chord changes on impulse and precise shredding with rock music, he became a well-respected guitarist among local musicians. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. Journey, Cure Me with the Groove, and Deep Down are rare albums and are sought after by fans.
The Mayfield Four: 1995–2002
In 1995, Kennedy started teaching guitar in a store called Rock City Music. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. Kennedy has since said that it is one of the most personal records he has made. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening.
Velvet Revolver audition offer: 2002
After The Mayfield Four's unforeseen breakup, and due to a hearing disorder called tinnitus that he developed because of listening to music that he was recording at earsplitting volumes, Kennedy fell into depression in 2002. He said about music, "I can't do it any more. My ears won't let me." He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Other sources state that Kennedy had sent in a demo tape but still ultimately declined an invitation to audition after being approached by Matt Sorum. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it."
Alter Bridge: 2003–present
Kennedy is best known as the lead vocalist and one of the two lead guitarists in the band, alongside Mark Tremonti, of the American hard rock band Alter Bridge. The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album "World On Fire" as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.
Solo career and collaborations
Work with Led Zeppelin members: 2008–2009
Kennedy received a great amount of press coverage in late 2008, owing to a rumour that he was to join Led Zeppelin.
After Zeppelin's one-off reunion in 2007, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones reportedly felt the band "still had something to offer." As reported by BBC News, Page and Jones were in the studio with Jason Bonham writing and recording material that was reportedly to be used for a new Zeppelin album. According to Bonham, singer Robert Plant was not involved. Page, Jones, and Bonham auditioned singers, fuelling rumours when they were reported to have attended an Alter Bridge concert. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said that they were offering Kennedy the job to persuade Plant to reconsider. Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti said Kennedy "deserves" to play with Zeppelin.
Kennedy remained mostly silent about the rumours until January 2009. "I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin," he said. "I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I'm very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that's that." He later confirmed, however, that he had written and rehearsed with Page, Jones and Bonham. He also said that it was Bonham who "got the ball rolling", since the two had met on the set of the 2001 film Rock Star.
"Working with them felt surreal," he recalled a decade later. "Jimmy played the Les Paul, and just being in the room with that guitar would have been enough for me. But standing next to him as he's playing those iconic riffs, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. We played 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'… We did 'Carouselambra', which was a really challenging arrangement. A lot of wonderful moments."
It is unconfirmed if the songs he wrote with Page, Jones, and Bonham will ever be released. Kennedy maintains that the band, had it materialised, would not have been called Led Zeppelin.
Solo career: 2009–2010; 2017–present
Kennedy has performed two solo benefit concerts: one hosted by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars to benefit cancer patients, and another to benefit abused children. The latter was called Bofest 2009 and was headlined by Kennedy on October 17, 2009. In early 2009, Kennedy announced a solo side project. He described the material as "dreamy" and "[not] aggressive", saving those songs for Alter Bridge. He also said, "It's more singer/songwriter based. I will say it's going to be interesting." He later posted on his Myspace page that he is working with some "great people" and that he has details coming at a future date. Slash announced via Facebook on February 1, 2010 that he would be appearing on Kennedy's solo record, and Kennedy confirmed this via Myspace. Kennedy had originally hoped that his album would be released in early 2010, digitally first and then on CD, but he has since put its release on hold. However, he recently said that he is still too busy to release the album as he stated that he would like to tour to promote it, but he wanted to release it on December 21, 2012, as a joke, although a firm release date has not yet been announced.
When asked if the record would be a departure from his previous work, he replied that it is different and again referred to the singer-songwriter approach that would be featured on it and that it would not be a hard rock album. He also said that "it was maybe the most difficult thing I've ever done in the sense that I didn't have a band." He also said that the music is very intimate and that it features piano as well. In an interview with Guitarist UK magazine, he said that some of the songs will feature jazz, blues, and R&B influences, while others still "get quite atmospheric and ethereal," comparing the sound to Daniel Lanois and Massive Attack, while assuring fans that the rock style will still be present. In the same Guitarist interview, he confirmed the titles of three songs that will appear on his record: "The Light of Day", "Complicated Man", and "The Bar Fly". Most recently, he confirmed that another song will be titled "Love Rain Down". He said in an interview with CraveOnline that "Love Rain Down" differs from anything else he has ever written. In 2017, he said he shelved the songs he had written and started over. His debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released on March 9, 2018. Kennedy's second solo album, The Ides of March, was released on May 14, 2021.
Work with Slash: 2009–present
Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010.
On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoris), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band.
Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire, produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 16, 2014. The band's third album Living the Dream, again produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 21, 2018. The fourth record, titled 4 and produced by Dave Cobb, was released on February 11, 2022.
Other session work: 2001–present
Kennedy is further well known for his work as a session musician and songwriter, having collaborated with several artists. In 2001, he appeared on the album Striped Suit: Lo-Fi by the jazz-rock band Mulligan, playing guitar solos on the songs "Faron" and "Make It Three". In that same year, he provided backing vocals to the song "Breakthrough" by Big Wreck from The Pleasure and the Greed. He also worked with the Spokane based nu-metal band Five Foot Thick on their 2003 album Blood Puddle, providing backing vocals to the song "Ducked Out". In 2005, he sang the chorus of "Nameless Faceless" by Fozzy with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho from their album All That Remains. In 2008, he sang a duet with Sevendust lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon on Sevendust's song "Sorrow" from Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow. Also in 2008, Kennedy made a guest appearance on Mark Tremonti's guitar instructional DVD The Sound & the Story, to which Kennedy provided an in-depth lesson on how to play his guitar solo on the Alter Bridge song "Blackbird". In 2009, he appeared on Slash's self-titled album, co-writing and singing lead vocals on the songs "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". In addition, he has made live appearances with Sevendust and Gov't Mule. In 2011 it was announced that he will appear on a planned tribute album to Tommy Bolin. Further details were announced in January 2012 that the album would be called Great Gypsy Soul. It was released on March 27, 2012, on 429 Records, and Kennedy appeared on a song called "Dreamer" with Nels Cline of Wilco. Other contributors include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Glenn Hughes. In 2016, he collaborated with rapper Darryl McDaniels and Disturbed bassist John Moyer on the song "Flames". Also in 2016, he sang on "Black & White" on the Richards/Crane debut album, World Stands Still.
Artistry and influences
Kennedy is influenced by a wide range of artists of several genres. His earliest influence was Led Zeppelin, although he drew his singing influences from jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and soul artists when he discovered Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums in his parents' record collection. He said that he owned Stevie Wonder's 1982 compilation album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, which was one of his earliest inspirations as a singer. From there, he discovered Songs in the Key of Life, which he has since stated is one of his favorite albums, and today cites Stevie Wonder as a major influence on his singing. He has also cited other jazz players and soul singers John Coltrane, Al Green, Mike Stern, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Curtis Mayfield as early influences. He also loves blues music. Additional influences include Guns N' Roses, U2, AC/DC, Mastodon, and Radiohead.
Singing style
Kennedy's favorite singers include Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bon Scott, Chris Whitley, and k.d. lang. He has stated on several occasions that Jeff Buckley was, and is, a major influence on him as a singer. When asked to describe his vocal style, he said, "I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley." He states that Buckley's "emotional intensity" was one of the most inspirational things for him when it came to singing, and that it made him accept and embrace the fact that he is a tenor. He often performs Buckley's famous cover of "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) during acoustic performances. At one point, he received lessons from Ron Anderson, a bel canto vocal coach who has worked with a wide range of singers, including Axl Rose, Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, Kelly Clarkson, and several others. When asked about his number one secret when it came to singing, Kennedy replied, "Dig deep into your soul and sing as if your life depends on it. Leave your mark. People react to emotion more than technique." Kennedy, who possesses a four-octave vocal range, has been praised for his ability as a singer. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, whose touring band consists of Kennedy, has called him "fucking amazing", calling his style "surreal". About Kennedy's ability to recreate Guns N' Roses songs on tour, Slash said, "Myles is fucking amazing. It's very surreal how he handles the stuff he sings. I'm doing GN'R songs I've never done solo before, and Myles manages to own them without changing the style or trajectory of the song. Which is a fantastic fucking ability." Kennedy is often compared to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.
Guitar playing
Kennedy, a former guitar instructor, is also recognized as an accomplished guitarist. He began learning how to play the guitar by listening to Led Zeppelin records and mimicking Jimmy Page's guitar parts. He said in an interview, "I started off strictly as a lead guitar player. When I first started playing 25 years ago, that was all I’d do is sit in my room and learn solos." He also recalled being inspired by Eddie Van Halen: "When I was in my early teens, I heard 'Eruption' one day and was like, 'That is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard,' and I begged my mother to give me an advance on my allowance for the next month and go buy that record." Over the next few years, and throughout the 1990s, Kennedy played primarily lead guitar. His early work with Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing featured a jazz-influenced rock flavor, combining several advanced techniques used in jazz. He would later join Alter Bridge primarily as a lead vocalist, but began playing rhythm guitar on the band's first tour. Mark Tremonti said, "We knew Myles was an amazing singer, that’s why we hired him. What we found out when we toured the first record was that he’s also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter, as well as a vocalist."
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive, Tremonti said:
Kennedy played rhythm guitar on Blackbird and has since played co-lead on several Alter Bridge tracks. In an article about Kennedy as a guitarist on Lemon Squeezings, writer Steve Sauer noted his dexterity and steady rhythm playing. Doug Clark, a writer for The Spokesman-Review and one of Kennedy's former guitar students, wrote that "his six-string skills are pyrotechnically brilliant." Kennedy notes that his job as a guitar player, especially recently with Alter Bridge, is to add texture and colors to the music.
Lyrics and themes
In addition, Kennedy is the primary lyricist of Alter Bridge and his previous band, The Mayfield Four. His lyrics, which are usually fairly straightforward stylistically, often touch on dark subjects such as death and addiction. On Alter Bridge's first two albums (the lyrics of the former were primarily written by Tremonti, however), the lyrics are about "hope and perseverance in the face of adversity." However, he has been known to write darker lyrics, as heard most notably on Alter Bridge's third album, AB III, which is a loose concept album based on his own personal struggles with faith and spirituality. Similarly, the lyrical themes of The Mayfield Four's second album, Second Skin, touch on struggling with love and substance abuse. Second Skin, Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and The Ides of March are the only albums to feature lyrics written by Kennedy that contain profanity.
Personal life
Kennedy currently resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, Selena, whom he married on June 14, 2003. According to Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, Kennedy is an atheist, although in an article titled Losing My Religion from a November 2010 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Kennedy said he places himself "somewhere in the middle" between being an atheist and a Christian. In an interview on the Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at NAMM 2009, Kennedy mentioned that despite being raised in a Christian household, he is not a religious person and he does not believe in any organized religion. In an interview with CraveOnline, he said "I would consider myself a part of the growing segment of people who question authority and scrutinize concepts that no longer seem as logical as they once did. [...] I don't find peace in the same concepts that many hold as truth. Believe me, I tried. It's not like I didn't spend most of my life submersed in the bosom of doctrine or dogma." In 2014, he identified himself as an agnostic.
Kennedy has been identified as an avid reader and he says that he especially enjoys the work of John Irving, describing Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany as one of his favorite novels. He has also cited Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner as one of his favorites. When asked about his hobbies, he replied: "I guess I have been pretty fortunate since I have turned what was a hobby into a living. Music pretty much consumes me. If I’m not writing, performing or listening I am probably trying to learn more about its history." He has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his right upper arm, and two elephant heads on his chest. He describes the dragon and the fish as symbols of strength, while the octopus was originally supposed to be a small squid but became much larger than he had intended. He got the dragon tattoo first because of a toy he brought back from Japan as a child, and the koi was added a year later after he learned of an ancient Chinese legend of koi swimming up the Yellow River to become dragons. He has said he wants to get more tattoos in the future.
Charity work
Kennedy has served on the board of directors for the Mead Food Bank since 2003. In addition, he co-founded the Future Song Foundation, a charity organization "that provides funding to ensure that kids have access to musical instruction and instruments which are fundamental parts of a complete education", with his wife in 2015. He serves as a director of the program. A proponent of wildlife conservation efforts, Kennedy is a supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is outspoken of his criticism of the ivory trade on Twitter.
Discography
Cosmic Dust
Journey (1991)
Citizen Swing
Cure Me with the Groove (1993)
Deep Down (1995)
The Mayfield Four
Fallout (1998)
Second Skin (2001)
Alter Bridge
One Day Remains (2004)
Blackbird (2007)
AB III (2010)
Fortress (2013)
The Last Hero (2016)
Walk the Sky (2019)
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Apocalyptic Love (2012)
World on Fire (2014)
Living the Dream (2018)
4 (2022)
Solo
Year of the Tiger (2018)
The Ides of March (2021)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
Alter Bridge members
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)
Musicians from Spokane, Washington
Rhythm guitarists
Roadrunner Records artists
Singers with a four-octave vocal range
American tenors
Guitarists from Washington (state)
20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists | true | [
"White Witch is the title of the second studio album by the group Andrea True Connection. It was released in 1977. The album had two singles: and \"N.Y., You Got Me Dancing\" and \"What's Your Name, What's Your Number\". This was the last album released by the group and the vocalist Andrea True would release a new album as a solo release only in 1980.\n\nBackground and production\nAfter the success of her first album and the gold-certified single More, More, More, the band begun to prepeare for their second release. The album production included studio musicians with a new band assembled for the tour, the second line-up, which included future Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick, it was also produce by the disco pioneers Michael Zager and Jerry Love.\n\nSingles\nThe first single of the album was \"N.Y., You Got Me Dancing\", it was released in 1977 and became True's second biggest hit, reaching No. 27 on Billboard's pop chart, and #4 on the U.S. club chart, it also peaked #89 in the Canadian RPM's chart. \"What's Your Name, What's Your Number\" was released as the second and last single of the album (and also of the group) in 1978 and reached #9 on the U.S. club chart, #34 in the UK and #56 on the Billboard Hot 100\n\nCritical reception\n\nThe album received mixed reviews from music critics. Alex Henderson from the Allmusic website gave the album two and a half stars out of five in a mixed review which he wrote that \"while White Witch isn't a bad album, it falls short of the excellence her first album, More, More, More.\" He also stated that there are a few gems in the album \"including the Michael Zager-produced \"What's Your Name, What's Your Number\" and the exuberant, Gregg Diamond-produced \"N.Y., You Got Me Dancing\"\" according to him they're both \"exercises in unapologetically campy fun.\" He concluded that the album \"LP is strictly for diehard disco collectors.\"\n\nTrack listing\nsource:\n\nReferences\n\n1977 albums\nAndrea True albums\nBuddah Records albums",
"Third Eye Open is a 1992 album by American funk/rock supergroup Hardware. Hardware consists of lead guitarist Stevie Salas, P-Funk bassist Bootsy Collins, and drummer Buddy Miles, formerly of the Band of Gypsys. The album was produced by Bill Laswell and Salas, and was the first release to be part of Laswell's Black Arc Series, which includes Lord of the Harvest by Zillatron, Out of the Dark by O.G. Funk, and Under the 6 by Slave Master.\n\nAlbum history\nWhen the album was first released in Japan on the Polystar label, the band was called The Third Eye and the name of the album was \"Hardware\". When the album secured distribution in the U.S., it was found that another band had owned the name \"The Third Eye\". To avoid any further legal hassles, it was opted that the title of the album and the name of band would simply be switched, thus the name of the band would be Hardware and the title of the album became Third Eye Open.\n\nThe song \"Leakin'\" is a version of a track that appeared on Collins' 1988 album What's Bootsy Doin'?, which featured Salas playing guitar. On this album, the song is credited to Salas, whereas the previous version is credited to Collins, George Clinton and Trey Stone.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nStevie Salas – guitars, vocals\nBootsy Collins – space bass, vocals\nBuddy Miles – drums, fuzz bass, vocals\nGeorge Clinton, Gary \"Mudbone\" Cooper, Bernard Fowler – background vocals\nDavid Friendly, Vince McClean, Matt Stein – digital bollocks\n\nHardware (band) albums\n1992 albums\nAlbums produced by Bill Laswell\nRykodisc albums"
] |
[
"Myles Kennedy",
"Work with Slash: 2009-present",
"When did Kennedy start working with Slash",
"In late 2009,",
"What project were they working on together",
"it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album.",
"What was the name of the album",
"self-titled debut solo album."
] | C_edd1fcac88a3467d903247d6fb736050_0 | Was the album a hit | 4 | Was Slash's debut solo album a hit? | Myles Kennedy | Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010. On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoras), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band. Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators", featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire is produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette and was released on September 16, 2014. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge, and as the lead vocalist in guitarist Slash's backing band, known as Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, he has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released six studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour.
In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
With Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators have recorded three studio albums. Kennedy's debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released in March 2018 and his second solo album The Ides of March was released on May 14, 2021.
Early life
Kennedy was born as Myles Richard Bass on November 27, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Northern Idaho. As a child, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he grew up in a Christian Science family on a farm. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music.
Career
Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing: 1990–1995
Upon graduating from high school in 1988, Kennedy enrolled in a Commercial Music/Jazz Studies program at Spokane Falls Community College. Using the skills he learned from this course, in 1990 he began playing guitar for a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band, which was formed by keyboardist Jim Templeton in 1990. Kennedy's guitar work with Cosmic Dust was advanced; using his knowledge of jazz theory in conjunction with his advanced technical abilities, interweaving difficult techniques such as chord changes on impulse and precise shredding with rock music, he became a well-respected guitarist among local musicians. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. Journey, Cure Me with the Groove, and Deep Down are rare albums and are sought after by fans.
The Mayfield Four: 1995–2002
In 1995, Kennedy started teaching guitar in a store called Rock City Music. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. Kennedy has since said that it is one of the most personal records he has made. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening.
Velvet Revolver audition offer: 2002
After The Mayfield Four's unforeseen breakup, and due to a hearing disorder called tinnitus that he developed because of listening to music that he was recording at earsplitting volumes, Kennedy fell into depression in 2002. He said about music, "I can't do it any more. My ears won't let me." He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Other sources state that Kennedy had sent in a demo tape but still ultimately declined an invitation to audition after being approached by Matt Sorum. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it."
Alter Bridge: 2003–present
Kennedy is best known as the lead vocalist and one of the two lead guitarists in the band, alongside Mark Tremonti, of the American hard rock band Alter Bridge. The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album "World On Fire" as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.
Solo career and collaborations
Work with Led Zeppelin members: 2008–2009
Kennedy received a great amount of press coverage in late 2008, owing to a rumour that he was to join Led Zeppelin.
After Zeppelin's one-off reunion in 2007, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones reportedly felt the band "still had something to offer." As reported by BBC News, Page and Jones were in the studio with Jason Bonham writing and recording material that was reportedly to be used for a new Zeppelin album. According to Bonham, singer Robert Plant was not involved. Page, Jones, and Bonham auditioned singers, fuelling rumours when they were reported to have attended an Alter Bridge concert. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said that they were offering Kennedy the job to persuade Plant to reconsider. Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti said Kennedy "deserves" to play with Zeppelin.
Kennedy remained mostly silent about the rumours until January 2009. "I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin," he said. "I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I'm very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that's that." He later confirmed, however, that he had written and rehearsed with Page, Jones and Bonham. He also said that it was Bonham who "got the ball rolling", since the two had met on the set of the 2001 film Rock Star.
"Working with them felt surreal," he recalled a decade later. "Jimmy played the Les Paul, and just being in the room with that guitar would have been enough for me. But standing next to him as he's playing those iconic riffs, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. We played 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'… We did 'Carouselambra', which was a really challenging arrangement. A lot of wonderful moments."
It is unconfirmed if the songs he wrote with Page, Jones, and Bonham will ever be released. Kennedy maintains that the band, had it materialised, would not have been called Led Zeppelin.
Solo career: 2009–2010; 2017–present
Kennedy has performed two solo benefit concerts: one hosted by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars to benefit cancer patients, and another to benefit abused children. The latter was called Bofest 2009 and was headlined by Kennedy on October 17, 2009. In early 2009, Kennedy announced a solo side project. He described the material as "dreamy" and "[not] aggressive", saving those songs for Alter Bridge. He also said, "It's more singer/songwriter based. I will say it's going to be interesting." He later posted on his Myspace page that he is working with some "great people" and that he has details coming at a future date. Slash announced via Facebook on February 1, 2010 that he would be appearing on Kennedy's solo record, and Kennedy confirmed this via Myspace. Kennedy had originally hoped that his album would be released in early 2010, digitally first and then on CD, but he has since put its release on hold. However, he recently said that he is still too busy to release the album as he stated that he would like to tour to promote it, but he wanted to release it on December 21, 2012, as a joke, although a firm release date has not yet been announced.
When asked if the record would be a departure from his previous work, he replied that it is different and again referred to the singer-songwriter approach that would be featured on it and that it would not be a hard rock album. He also said that "it was maybe the most difficult thing I've ever done in the sense that I didn't have a band." He also said that the music is very intimate and that it features piano as well. In an interview with Guitarist UK magazine, he said that some of the songs will feature jazz, blues, and R&B influences, while others still "get quite atmospheric and ethereal," comparing the sound to Daniel Lanois and Massive Attack, while assuring fans that the rock style will still be present. In the same Guitarist interview, he confirmed the titles of three songs that will appear on his record: "The Light of Day", "Complicated Man", and "The Bar Fly". Most recently, he confirmed that another song will be titled "Love Rain Down". He said in an interview with CraveOnline that "Love Rain Down" differs from anything else he has ever written. In 2017, he said he shelved the songs he had written and started over. His debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released on March 9, 2018. Kennedy's second solo album, The Ides of March, was released on May 14, 2021.
Work with Slash: 2009–present
Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010.
On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoris), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band.
Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire, produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 16, 2014. The band's third album Living the Dream, again produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 21, 2018. The fourth record, titled 4 and produced by Dave Cobb, was released on February 11, 2022.
Other session work: 2001–present
Kennedy is further well known for his work as a session musician and songwriter, having collaborated with several artists. In 2001, he appeared on the album Striped Suit: Lo-Fi by the jazz-rock band Mulligan, playing guitar solos on the songs "Faron" and "Make It Three". In that same year, he provided backing vocals to the song "Breakthrough" by Big Wreck from The Pleasure and the Greed. He also worked with the Spokane based nu-metal band Five Foot Thick on their 2003 album Blood Puddle, providing backing vocals to the song "Ducked Out". In 2005, he sang the chorus of "Nameless Faceless" by Fozzy with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho from their album All That Remains. In 2008, he sang a duet with Sevendust lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon on Sevendust's song "Sorrow" from Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow. Also in 2008, Kennedy made a guest appearance on Mark Tremonti's guitar instructional DVD The Sound & the Story, to which Kennedy provided an in-depth lesson on how to play his guitar solo on the Alter Bridge song "Blackbird". In 2009, he appeared on Slash's self-titled album, co-writing and singing lead vocals on the songs "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". In addition, he has made live appearances with Sevendust and Gov't Mule. In 2011 it was announced that he will appear on a planned tribute album to Tommy Bolin. Further details were announced in January 2012 that the album would be called Great Gypsy Soul. It was released on March 27, 2012, on 429 Records, and Kennedy appeared on a song called "Dreamer" with Nels Cline of Wilco. Other contributors include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Glenn Hughes. In 2016, he collaborated with rapper Darryl McDaniels and Disturbed bassist John Moyer on the song "Flames". Also in 2016, he sang on "Black & White" on the Richards/Crane debut album, World Stands Still.
Artistry and influences
Kennedy is influenced by a wide range of artists of several genres. His earliest influence was Led Zeppelin, although he drew his singing influences from jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and soul artists when he discovered Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums in his parents' record collection. He said that he owned Stevie Wonder's 1982 compilation album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, which was one of his earliest inspirations as a singer. From there, he discovered Songs in the Key of Life, which he has since stated is one of his favorite albums, and today cites Stevie Wonder as a major influence on his singing. He has also cited other jazz players and soul singers John Coltrane, Al Green, Mike Stern, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Curtis Mayfield as early influences. He also loves blues music. Additional influences include Guns N' Roses, U2, AC/DC, Mastodon, and Radiohead.
Singing style
Kennedy's favorite singers include Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bon Scott, Chris Whitley, and k.d. lang. He has stated on several occasions that Jeff Buckley was, and is, a major influence on him as a singer. When asked to describe his vocal style, he said, "I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley." He states that Buckley's "emotional intensity" was one of the most inspirational things for him when it came to singing, and that it made him accept and embrace the fact that he is a tenor. He often performs Buckley's famous cover of "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) during acoustic performances. At one point, he received lessons from Ron Anderson, a bel canto vocal coach who has worked with a wide range of singers, including Axl Rose, Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, Kelly Clarkson, and several others. When asked about his number one secret when it came to singing, Kennedy replied, "Dig deep into your soul and sing as if your life depends on it. Leave your mark. People react to emotion more than technique." Kennedy, who possesses a four-octave vocal range, has been praised for his ability as a singer. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, whose touring band consists of Kennedy, has called him "fucking amazing", calling his style "surreal". About Kennedy's ability to recreate Guns N' Roses songs on tour, Slash said, "Myles is fucking amazing. It's very surreal how he handles the stuff he sings. I'm doing GN'R songs I've never done solo before, and Myles manages to own them without changing the style or trajectory of the song. Which is a fantastic fucking ability." Kennedy is often compared to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.
Guitar playing
Kennedy, a former guitar instructor, is also recognized as an accomplished guitarist. He began learning how to play the guitar by listening to Led Zeppelin records and mimicking Jimmy Page's guitar parts. He said in an interview, "I started off strictly as a lead guitar player. When I first started playing 25 years ago, that was all I’d do is sit in my room and learn solos." He also recalled being inspired by Eddie Van Halen: "When I was in my early teens, I heard 'Eruption' one day and was like, 'That is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard,' and I begged my mother to give me an advance on my allowance for the next month and go buy that record." Over the next few years, and throughout the 1990s, Kennedy played primarily lead guitar. His early work with Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing featured a jazz-influenced rock flavor, combining several advanced techniques used in jazz. He would later join Alter Bridge primarily as a lead vocalist, but began playing rhythm guitar on the band's first tour. Mark Tremonti said, "We knew Myles was an amazing singer, that’s why we hired him. What we found out when we toured the first record was that he’s also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter, as well as a vocalist."
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive, Tremonti said:
Kennedy played rhythm guitar on Blackbird and has since played co-lead on several Alter Bridge tracks. In an article about Kennedy as a guitarist on Lemon Squeezings, writer Steve Sauer noted his dexterity and steady rhythm playing. Doug Clark, a writer for The Spokesman-Review and one of Kennedy's former guitar students, wrote that "his six-string skills are pyrotechnically brilliant." Kennedy notes that his job as a guitar player, especially recently with Alter Bridge, is to add texture and colors to the music.
Lyrics and themes
In addition, Kennedy is the primary lyricist of Alter Bridge and his previous band, The Mayfield Four. His lyrics, which are usually fairly straightforward stylistically, often touch on dark subjects such as death and addiction. On Alter Bridge's first two albums (the lyrics of the former were primarily written by Tremonti, however), the lyrics are about "hope and perseverance in the face of adversity." However, he has been known to write darker lyrics, as heard most notably on Alter Bridge's third album, AB III, which is a loose concept album based on his own personal struggles with faith and spirituality. Similarly, the lyrical themes of The Mayfield Four's second album, Second Skin, touch on struggling with love and substance abuse. Second Skin, Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and The Ides of March are the only albums to feature lyrics written by Kennedy that contain profanity.
Personal life
Kennedy currently resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, Selena, whom he married on June 14, 2003. According to Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, Kennedy is an atheist, although in an article titled Losing My Religion from a November 2010 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Kennedy said he places himself "somewhere in the middle" between being an atheist and a Christian. In an interview on the Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at NAMM 2009, Kennedy mentioned that despite being raised in a Christian household, he is not a religious person and he does not believe in any organized religion. In an interview with CraveOnline, he said "I would consider myself a part of the growing segment of people who question authority and scrutinize concepts that no longer seem as logical as they once did. [...] I don't find peace in the same concepts that many hold as truth. Believe me, I tried. It's not like I didn't spend most of my life submersed in the bosom of doctrine or dogma." In 2014, he identified himself as an agnostic.
Kennedy has been identified as an avid reader and he says that he especially enjoys the work of John Irving, describing Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany as one of his favorite novels. He has also cited Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner as one of his favorites. When asked about his hobbies, he replied: "I guess I have been pretty fortunate since I have turned what was a hobby into a living. Music pretty much consumes me. If I’m not writing, performing or listening I am probably trying to learn more about its history." He has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his right upper arm, and two elephant heads on his chest. He describes the dragon and the fish as symbols of strength, while the octopus was originally supposed to be a small squid but became much larger than he had intended. He got the dragon tattoo first because of a toy he brought back from Japan as a child, and the koi was added a year later after he learned of an ancient Chinese legend of koi swimming up the Yellow River to become dragons. He has said he wants to get more tattoos in the future.
Charity work
Kennedy has served on the board of directors for the Mead Food Bank since 2003. In addition, he co-founded the Future Song Foundation, a charity organization "that provides funding to ensure that kids have access to musical instruction and instruments which are fundamental parts of a complete education", with his wife in 2015. He serves as a director of the program. A proponent of wildlife conservation efforts, Kennedy is a supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is outspoken of his criticism of the ivory trade on Twitter.
Discography
Cosmic Dust
Journey (1991)
Citizen Swing
Cure Me with the Groove (1993)
Deep Down (1995)
The Mayfield Four
Fallout (1998)
Second Skin (2001)
Alter Bridge
One Day Remains (2004)
Blackbird (2007)
AB III (2010)
Fortress (2013)
The Last Hero (2016)
Walk the Sky (2019)
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Apocalyptic Love (2012)
World on Fire (2014)
Living the Dream (2018)
4 (2022)
Solo
Year of the Tiger (2018)
The Ides of March (2021)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
Alter Bridge members
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)
Musicians from Spokane, Washington
Rhythm guitarists
Roadrunner Records artists
Singers with a four-octave vocal range
American tenors
Guitarists from Washington (state)
20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists | false | [
"Ben James Peters (born Greenville, Mississippi, June 20, 1933; died Nashville, Tennessee, May 25, 2005) was an American country music songwriter who wrote many #1 songs. Charley Pride recorded 68 of his songs and 6 of them went to #1 on the American country charts. Peters was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980.\n\nPeters was briefly a recording artist himself; his only charting hit was his own composition \"San Francisco is a Lonely Town\", which hit #46 on the country charts in 1969.\n\nNumber One Compositions in America\n\n\"Turn the World Around\" (1967) was a #1 Billboard chart country hit for Eddy Arnold & top 5 Billboard chart AC single.\n\"That's A No, No\" was a 1969 #1 Cashbox chart country hit for Lynn Anderson.\n\"Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'\" was a 1971 #1 Billboard chart country hit for Charley Pride; it also went to #21 on the American pop charts. It won Ben Peters the 1973 Grammy Award for Best Country Song.\n\"It's Gonna Take a Little Bit Longer\" was a 1972 #1 Billboard chart country hit for Charley Pride.\n\"Before the Next Teardrop Falls\" (w/Vivian Keith); first recorded in 1967 by Duane Dee in a version which reached #44 on the Billboard country singles chart early in 1968, the 1975 version by Freddy Fender was a #1 Billboard chart country and a #1 Billboard chart pop hit; it won a Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year in 1975.\n\"Love Put a Song in My Heart\" (1975) was a #1 Billboard chart country hit for Johnny Rodriguez.\n\"A Whole Lotta Things to Sing About\" was a #1 Billboard chart country hit for Charley Pride in 1976.\n\"Daytime Friends\" (1977) was a #1 Billboard chart country hit for Kenny Rogers. Westlife covered this song for a special BBC performance with Tony Brown as producer.\n\"Burgers and Fries\" was a 1978 #1 Billboard chart country hit for Charley Pride.\n\"Before My Time\" was a 1979 #1 Record World chart country hit for John Conlee and also a #1 hit on Canada's RPM'S country chart.\n\"You're So Good When You're Bad\" (1982) was a #1 Billboard chart country hit for Charley Pride.\n\nOther Number One Compositions\n I Want To Wake Up With You as recorded by Reggae singer, Boris Gardiner (1986-1987). This song was #1 in UK for 3 weeks. This song is one of the biggest hits in the history of reggae music.\n\"Living It Down\" went #1 in Canada's country music charts and it went to #2 as a Billboard chart country hit for Freddy Fender in 1976 in America.\n\nNotable Compositions\n\n\"If The Whole World Stopped Lovin'\" was a #3 pop hit in the UK in November 1967 for the Irish singer Val Doonican. It made #2 in Ireland.\n\"If The Whole World Stopped Lovin'\" was a #12 American Billboard chart hit in 1966 pop hit for Roy Drusky.\n\"Misty Memories\" was a Grammy Nominated country chart hit for Brenda Lee in 1971.\n\"I Need Somebody Bad\" was a #11 Billboard country chart hit for Jack Greene in 1973.\n\"Don't Give Up On Me\" was a #3 American Billboard country chart hit for Jerry Wallace in 1973.\n\"It's Time To Cross That Bridge\" was a #13 Billboard chart country hit for Jack Greene in 1973.\n\"I Can't Believe That It's All Over\" was a #13 Billboard chart country hit for Skeeter Davis in 1973.\n\"All Over Me\" was a 1975 #4 Billboard chart country hit in America for Charlie Rich.\n\"Lovin' On\" was a #20 American Billboard chart country hit for T.G. Sheppard in 1977.\n\"Before the Night is Over\" was recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis originally in 1977 and by Jerry Lee and BB King in 2006.\n\"Puttin' In Overtime At Home\" was a 1977 #8 Billboard chart country hit in America for Charlie Rich. It made #3 in Canada.\n\"Lovin' On\" was a #16 American Billboard chart country hit for Bellamy Brothers in 1978.\n\"Tell Me What It's Like\" (1979) was a #8 American Billboard chart Grammy Nominated country hit for Brenda Lee.\n\"Lost My Baby Blues\" was a 1982 top 5 Billboard chart country hit in America for David Frizzell. It made #5 in Canada.\n\"I'm Only a Woman\" recorded by Tammy Wynette.\n\nNotable History Making Albums\n\nPeters had 3 songs, \"The Little Town Square\", \"That's A No No\" and \"Satan Place\" on the million selling The Harper Valley P.T.A. album. This is a pop culture music album by Jeannie C. Riley released in 1968. This is Jeannie C. Riley's biggest album ever. The album was released by Plantation Records, and was very successful. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop album chart, and No. 1 on the Billboard country album chart.\nPeters had 2 songs, \"Mr. Mistletoe\" and \"Soon It Will Be Christmas Day\" on The Christmas Album. This is a holiday music album by country music singer Lynn Anderson released in 1971. This was Lynn Anderson's first Christmas music album. The album was released by Columbia Records, and was very successful. The album reached No. 13 on the \"Billboard 200\" in 1971 (her highest chart position on that chart).\nPeters had 1 song, \"Daytime Friends\" on the 4 million selling 10 Years of Gold album. This is a collection of 10 years of Kenny Rogers hits. The album was released by United Artist, and went No. 1 on the Billboard country album chart in 1977.\nPeters had 1 song, \"Daytime Friends\" on the 4 million selling Kenny Rogers 20 Greatest Hits album. This is a collection of his hits prior to this project released in 1983. The album was released by Liberty Records, and was successful.\n\nReferences\n\nAmerican country songwriters\nAmerican male songwriters\nUniversity of Southern Mississippi alumni\n2005 deaths\n1933 births\nMusicians from Greenville, Mississippi\n20th-century American musicians\nSongwriters from Mississippi\n20th-century American male musicians",
"Carpark North is the debut album by Danish electronic rock band Carpark North. It was released on 10 February 2003.\n\nTwo songs from the album were previously released: \"There's a Place\" in 2001 on the airwaves of Danish national radio, and \"40 Days\" on Carpark North's 40 Days EP.\n\nThe album was used as a soundtrack for the Danish teen-horror hit movie \"Midsommer\". The first single from the album, \"Transparent & Glasslike\" was an instant hit on the radio, and the album sold 10,000 units the first week. Over the following months the debut was certified platinum in Denmark, and the following Danish tour was sold out.\n\nIn 2005, the song \"Homeland\" was used in the hit American TV series Alias.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nReferences\n\n2003 debut albums\nCarpark North albums\nAlbums produced by Joshua (record producer)"
] |
[
"Myles Kennedy",
"Work with Slash: 2009-present",
"When did Kennedy start working with Slash",
"In late 2009,",
"What project were they working on together",
"it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album.",
"What was the name of the album",
"self-titled debut solo album.",
"Was the album a hit",
"I don't know."
] | C_edd1fcac88a3467d903247d6fb736050_0 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? | 5 | Are there any other interesting aspects about this article besides Kennedy working with Slash to release Slash's solo album? | Myles Kennedy | Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010. On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoras), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band. Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators", featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire is produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette and was released on September 16, 2014. CANNOTANSWER | On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. | Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge, and as the lead vocalist in guitarist Slash's backing band, known as Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, he has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released six studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour.
In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
With Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators have recorded three studio albums. Kennedy's debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released in March 2018 and his second solo album The Ides of March was released on May 14, 2021.
Early life
Kennedy was born as Myles Richard Bass on November 27, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Northern Idaho. As a child, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he grew up in a Christian Science family on a farm. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music.
Career
Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing: 1990–1995
Upon graduating from high school in 1988, Kennedy enrolled in a Commercial Music/Jazz Studies program at Spokane Falls Community College. Using the skills he learned from this course, in 1990 he began playing guitar for a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band, which was formed by keyboardist Jim Templeton in 1990. Kennedy's guitar work with Cosmic Dust was advanced; using his knowledge of jazz theory in conjunction with his advanced technical abilities, interweaving difficult techniques such as chord changes on impulse and precise shredding with rock music, he became a well-respected guitarist among local musicians. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. Journey, Cure Me with the Groove, and Deep Down are rare albums and are sought after by fans.
The Mayfield Four: 1995–2002
In 1995, Kennedy started teaching guitar in a store called Rock City Music. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. Kennedy has since said that it is one of the most personal records he has made. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening.
Velvet Revolver audition offer: 2002
After The Mayfield Four's unforeseen breakup, and due to a hearing disorder called tinnitus that he developed because of listening to music that he was recording at earsplitting volumes, Kennedy fell into depression in 2002. He said about music, "I can't do it any more. My ears won't let me." He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Other sources state that Kennedy had sent in a demo tape but still ultimately declined an invitation to audition after being approached by Matt Sorum. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it."
Alter Bridge: 2003–present
Kennedy is best known as the lead vocalist and one of the two lead guitarists in the band, alongside Mark Tremonti, of the American hard rock band Alter Bridge. The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album "World On Fire" as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.
Solo career and collaborations
Work with Led Zeppelin members: 2008–2009
Kennedy received a great amount of press coverage in late 2008, owing to a rumour that he was to join Led Zeppelin.
After Zeppelin's one-off reunion in 2007, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones reportedly felt the band "still had something to offer." As reported by BBC News, Page and Jones were in the studio with Jason Bonham writing and recording material that was reportedly to be used for a new Zeppelin album. According to Bonham, singer Robert Plant was not involved. Page, Jones, and Bonham auditioned singers, fuelling rumours when they were reported to have attended an Alter Bridge concert. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said that they were offering Kennedy the job to persuade Plant to reconsider. Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti said Kennedy "deserves" to play with Zeppelin.
Kennedy remained mostly silent about the rumours until January 2009. "I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin," he said. "I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I'm very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that's that." He later confirmed, however, that he had written and rehearsed with Page, Jones and Bonham. He also said that it was Bonham who "got the ball rolling", since the two had met on the set of the 2001 film Rock Star.
"Working with them felt surreal," he recalled a decade later. "Jimmy played the Les Paul, and just being in the room with that guitar would have been enough for me. But standing next to him as he's playing those iconic riffs, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. We played 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'… We did 'Carouselambra', which was a really challenging arrangement. A lot of wonderful moments."
It is unconfirmed if the songs he wrote with Page, Jones, and Bonham will ever be released. Kennedy maintains that the band, had it materialised, would not have been called Led Zeppelin.
Solo career: 2009–2010; 2017–present
Kennedy has performed two solo benefit concerts: one hosted by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars to benefit cancer patients, and another to benefit abused children. The latter was called Bofest 2009 and was headlined by Kennedy on October 17, 2009. In early 2009, Kennedy announced a solo side project. He described the material as "dreamy" and "[not] aggressive", saving those songs for Alter Bridge. He also said, "It's more singer/songwriter based. I will say it's going to be interesting." He later posted on his Myspace page that he is working with some "great people" and that he has details coming at a future date. Slash announced via Facebook on February 1, 2010 that he would be appearing on Kennedy's solo record, and Kennedy confirmed this via Myspace. Kennedy had originally hoped that his album would be released in early 2010, digitally first and then on CD, but he has since put its release on hold. However, he recently said that he is still too busy to release the album as he stated that he would like to tour to promote it, but he wanted to release it on December 21, 2012, as a joke, although a firm release date has not yet been announced.
When asked if the record would be a departure from his previous work, he replied that it is different and again referred to the singer-songwriter approach that would be featured on it and that it would not be a hard rock album. He also said that "it was maybe the most difficult thing I've ever done in the sense that I didn't have a band." He also said that the music is very intimate and that it features piano as well. In an interview with Guitarist UK magazine, he said that some of the songs will feature jazz, blues, and R&B influences, while others still "get quite atmospheric and ethereal," comparing the sound to Daniel Lanois and Massive Attack, while assuring fans that the rock style will still be present. In the same Guitarist interview, he confirmed the titles of three songs that will appear on his record: "The Light of Day", "Complicated Man", and "The Bar Fly". Most recently, he confirmed that another song will be titled "Love Rain Down". He said in an interview with CraveOnline that "Love Rain Down" differs from anything else he has ever written. In 2017, he said he shelved the songs he had written and started over. His debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released on March 9, 2018. Kennedy's second solo album, The Ides of March, was released on May 14, 2021.
Work with Slash: 2009–present
Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010.
On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoris), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band.
Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire, produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 16, 2014. The band's third album Living the Dream, again produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 21, 2018. The fourth record, titled 4 and produced by Dave Cobb, was released on February 11, 2022.
Other session work: 2001–present
Kennedy is further well known for his work as a session musician and songwriter, having collaborated with several artists. In 2001, he appeared on the album Striped Suit: Lo-Fi by the jazz-rock band Mulligan, playing guitar solos on the songs "Faron" and "Make It Three". In that same year, he provided backing vocals to the song "Breakthrough" by Big Wreck from The Pleasure and the Greed. He also worked with the Spokane based nu-metal band Five Foot Thick on their 2003 album Blood Puddle, providing backing vocals to the song "Ducked Out". In 2005, he sang the chorus of "Nameless Faceless" by Fozzy with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho from their album All That Remains. In 2008, he sang a duet with Sevendust lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon on Sevendust's song "Sorrow" from Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow. Also in 2008, Kennedy made a guest appearance on Mark Tremonti's guitar instructional DVD The Sound & the Story, to which Kennedy provided an in-depth lesson on how to play his guitar solo on the Alter Bridge song "Blackbird". In 2009, he appeared on Slash's self-titled album, co-writing and singing lead vocals on the songs "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". In addition, he has made live appearances with Sevendust and Gov't Mule. In 2011 it was announced that he will appear on a planned tribute album to Tommy Bolin. Further details were announced in January 2012 that the album would be called Great Gypsy Soul. It was released on March 27, 2012, on 429 Records, and Kennedy appeared on a song called "Dreamer" with Nels Cline of Wilco. Other contributors include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Glenn Hughes. In 2016, he collaborated with rapper Darryl McDaniels and Disturbed bassist John Moyer on the song "Flames". Also in 2016, he sang on "Black & White" on the Richards/Crane debut album, World Stands Still.
Artistry and influences
Kennedy is influenced by a wide range of artists of several genres. His earliest influence was Led Zeppelin, although he drew his singing influences from jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and soul artists when he discovered Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums in his parents' record collection. He said that he owned Stevie Wonder's 1982 compilation album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, which was one of his earliest inspirations as a singer. From there, he discovered Songs in the Key of Life, which he has since stated is one of his favorite albums, and today cites Stevie Wonder as a major influence on his singing. He has also cited other jazz players and soul singers John Coltrane, Al Green, Mike Stern, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Curtis Mayfield as early influences. He also loves blues music. Additional influences include Guns N' Roses, U2, AC/DC, Mastodon, and Radiohead.
Singing style
Kennedy's favorite singers include Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bon Scott, Chris Whitley, and k.d. lang. He has stated on several occasions that Jeff Buckley was, and is, a major influence on him as a singer. When asked to describe his vocal style, he said, "I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley." He states that Buckley's "emotional intensity" was one of the most inspirational things for him when it came to singing, and that it made him accept and embrace the fact that he is a tenor. He often performs Buckley's famous cover of "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) during acoustic performances. At one point, he received lessons from Ron Anderson, a bel canto vocal coach who has worked with a wide range of singers, including Axl Rose, Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, Kelly Clarkson, and several others. When asked about his number one secret when it came to singing, Kennedy replied, "Dig deep into your soul and sing as if your life depends on it. Leave your mark. People react to emotion more than technique." Kennedy, who possesses a four-octave vocal range, has been praised for his ability as a singer. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, whose touring band consists of Kennedy, has called him "fucking amazing", calling his style "surreal". About Kennedy's ability to recreate Guns N' Roses songs on tour, Slash said, "Myles is fucking amazing. It's very surreal how he handles the stuff he sings. I'm doing GN'R songs I've never done solo before, and Myles manages to own them without changing the style or trajectory of the song. Which is a fantastic fucking ability." Kennedy is often compared to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.
Guitar playing
Kennedy, a former guitar instructor, is also recognized as an accomplished guitarist. He began learning how to play the guitar by listening to Led Zeppelin records and mimicking Jimmy Page's guitar parts. He said in an interview, "I started off strictly as a lead guitar player. When I first started playing 25 years ago, that was all I’d do is sit in my room and learn solos." He also recalled being inspired by Eddie Van Halen: "When I was in my early teens, I heard 'Eruption' one day and was like, 'That is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard,' and I begged my mother to give me an advance on my allowance for the next month and go buy that record." Over the next few years, and throughout the 1990s, Kennedy played primarily lead guitar. His early work with Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing featured a jazz-influenced rock flavor, combining several advanced techniques used in jazz. He would later join Alter Bridge primarily as a lead vocalist, but began playing rhythm guitar on the band's first tour. Mark Tremonti said, "We knew Myles was an amazing singer, that’s why we hired him. What we found out when we toured the first record was that he’s also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter, as well as a vocalist."
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive, Tremonti said:
Kennedy played rhythm guitar on Blackbird and has since played co-lead on several Alter Bridge tracks. In an article about Kennedy as a guitarist on Lemon Squeezings, writer Steve Sauer noted his dexterity and steady rhythm playing. Doug Clark, a writer for The Spokesman-Review and one of Kennedy's former guitar students, wrote that "his six-string skills are pyrotechnically brilliant." Kennedy notes that his job as a guitar player, especially recently with Alter Bridge, is to add texture and colors to the music.
Lyrics and themes
In addition, Kennedy is the primary lyricist of Alter Bridge and his previous band, The Mayfield Four. His lyrics, which are usually fairly straightforward stylistically, often touch on dark subjects such as death and addiction. On Alter Bridge's first two albums (the lyrics of the former were primarily written by Tremonti, however), the lyrics are about "hope and perseverance in the face of adversity." However, he has been known to write darker lyrics, as heard most notably on Alter Bridge's third album, AB III, which is a loose concept album based on his own personal struggles with faith and spirituality. Similarly, the lyrical themes of The Mayfield Four's second album, Second Skin, touch on struggling with love and substance abuse. Second Skin, Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and The Ides of March are the only albums to feature lyrics written by Kennedy that contain profanity.
Personal life
Kennedy currently resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, Selena, whom he married on June 14, 2003. According to Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, Kennedy is an atheist, although in an article titled Losing My Religion from a November 2010 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Kennedy said he places himself "somewhere in the middle" between being an atheist and a Christian. In an interview on the Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at NAMM 2009, Kennedy mentioned that despite being raised in a Christian household, he is not a religious person and he does not believe in any organized religion. In an interview with CraveOnline, he said "I would consider myself a part of the growing segment of people who question authority and scrutinize concepts that no longer seem as logical as they once did. [...] I don't find peace in the same concepts that many hold as truth. Believe me, I tried. It's not like I didn't spend most of my life submersed in the bosom of doctrine or dogma." In 2014, he identified himself as an agnostic.
Kennedy has been identified as an avid reader and he says that he especially enjoys the work of John Irving, describing Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany as one of his favorite novels. He has also cited Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner as one of his favorites. When asked about his hobbies, he replied: "I guess I have been pretty fortunate since I have turned what was a hobby into a living. Music pretty much consumes me. If I’m not writing, performing or listening I am probably trying to learn more about its history." He has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his right upper arm, and two elephant heads on his chest. He describes the dragon and the fish as symbols of strength, while the octopus was originally supposed to be a small squid but became much larger than he had intended. He got the dragon tattoo first because of a toy he brought back from Japan as a child, and the koi was added a year later after he learned of an ancient Chinese legend of koi swimming up the Yellow River to become dragons. He has said he wants to get more tattoos in the future.
Charity work
Kennedy has served on the board of directors for the Mead Food Bank since 2003. In addition, he co-founded the Future Song Foundation, a charity organization "that provides funding to ensure that kids have access to musical instruction and instruments which are fundamental parts of a complete education", with his wife in 2015. He serves as a director of the program. A proponent of wildlife conservation efforts, Kennedy is a supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is outspoken of his criticism of the ivory trade on Twitter.
Discography
Cosmic Dust
Journey (1991)
Citizen Swing
Cure Me with the Groove (1993)
Deep Down (1995)
The Mayfield Four
Fallout (1998)
Second Skin (2001)
Alter Bridge
One Day Remains (2004)
Blackbird (2007)
AB III (2010)
Fortress (2013)
The Last Hero (2016)
Walk the Sky (2019)
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Apocalyptic Love (2012)
World on Fire (2014)
Living the Dream (2018)
4 (2022)
Solo
Year of the Tiger (2018)
The Ides of March (2021)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
Alter Bridge members
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)
Musicians from Spokane, Washington
Rhythm guitarists
Roadrunner Records artists
Singers with a four-octave vocal range
American tenors
Guitarists from Washington (state)
20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists | true | [
"Přírodní park Třebíčsko (before Oblast klidu Třebíčsko) is a natural park near Třebíč in the Czech Republic. There are many interesting plants. The park was founded in 1983.\n\nKobylinec and Ptáčovský kopeček\n\nKobylinec is a natural monument situated ca 0,5 km from the village of Trnava.\nThe area of this monument is 0,44 ha. Pulsatilla grandis can be found here and in the Ptáčovský kopeček park near Ptáčov near Třebíč. Both monuments are very popular for tourists.\n\nPonds\n\nIn the natural park there are some interesting ponds such as Velký Bor, Malý Bor, Buršík near Přeckov and a brook Březinka. Dams on the brook are examples of European beaver activity.\n\nSyenitové skály near Pocoucov\n\nSyenitové skály (rocks of syenit) near Pocoucov is one of famed locations. There are interesting granite boulders. The area of the reservation is 0,77 ha.\n\nExternal links\nParts of this article or all article was translated from Czech. The original article is :cs:Přírodní park Třebíčsko.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nNature near the village Trnava which is there\n\nTřebíč\nParks in the Czech Republic\nTourist attractions in the Vysočina Region",
"Damn Interesting is an independent website founded by Alan Bellows in 2005. The website presents true stories from science, history, and psychology, primarily as long-form articles, often illustrated with original artwork. Works are written by various authors, and published at irregular intervals. The website openly rejects advertising, relying on reader and listener donations to cover operating costs.\n\nAs of October 2012, each article is also published as a podcast under the same name. In November 2019, a second podcast was launched under the title Damn Interesting Week, featuring unscripted commentary on an assortment of news articles featured on the website's \"Curated Links\" section that week. In mid-2020, a third podcast called Damn Interesting Curio Cabinet began highlighting the website's periodic short-form articles in the same radioplay format as the original podcast.\n\nIn July 2009, Damn Interesting published the print book Alien Hand Syndrome through Workman Publishing. It contains some favorites from the site and some exclusive content.\n\nAwards and recognition \nIn August 2007, PC Magazine named Damn Interesting one of the \"Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites\".\nThe article \"The Zero-Armed Bandit\" by Alan Bellows won a 2015 Sidney Award from David Brooks in The New York Times.\nThe article \"Ghoulish Acts and Dastardly Deeds\" by Alan Bellows was cited as \"nonfiction journalism from 2017 that will stand the test of time\" by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.\nThe article \"Dupes and Duplicity\" by Jennifer Lee Noonan won a 2020 Sidney Award from David Brooks in the New York Times.\n\nAccusing The Dollop of plagiarism \n\nOn July 9, 2015, Bellows posted an open letter accusing The Dollop, a comedy podcast about history, of plagiarism due to their repeated use of verbatim text from Damn Interesting articles without permission or attribution. Dave Anthony, the writer of The Dollop, responded on reddit, admitting to using Damn Interesting content, but claiming that the use was protected by fair use, and that \"historical facts are not copyrightable.\" In an article about the controversy on Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey concluded, \"Any way one looks at it, The Dollop failed its ethical obligations to all of the people, not just those writing for Damn Interesting, who put in the time, energy and expertise into writing the original content upon which their show is based.\"\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Official website\n\n2005 podcast debuts"
] |
[
"Myles Kennedy",
"Work with Slash: 2009-present",
"When did Kennedy start working with Slash",
"In late 2009,",
"What project were they working on together",
"it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album.",
"What was the name of the album",
"self-titled debut solo album.",
"Was the album a hit",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour."
] | C_edd1fcac88a3467d903247d6fb736050_0 | Where did they go on tour | 6 | Where did Slash and Kennedy go on tour? | Myles Kennedy | Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010. On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoras), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band. Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators", featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire is produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette and was released on September 16, 2014. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge, and as the lead vocalist in guitarist Slash's backing band, known as Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, he has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released six studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour.
In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
With Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators have recorded three studio albums. Kennedy's debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released in March 2018 and his second solo album The Ides of March was released on May 14, 2021.
Early life
Kennedy was born as Myles Richard Bass on November 27, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Northern Idaho. As a child, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he grew up in a Christian Science family on a farm. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music.
Career
Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing: 1990–1995
Upon graduating from high school in 1988, Kennedy enrolled in a Commercial Music/Jazz Studies program at Spokane Falls Community College. Using the skills he learned from this course, in 1990 he began playing guitar for a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band, which was formed by keyboardist Jim Templeton in 1990. Kennedy's guitar work with Cosmic Dust was advanced; using his knowledge of jazz theory in conjunction with his advanced technical abilities, interweaving difficult techniques such as chord changes on impulse and precise shredding with rock music, he became a well-respected guitarist among local musicians. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. Journey, Cure Me with the Groove, and Deep Down are rare albums and are sought after by fans.
The Mayfield Four: 1995–2002
In 1995, Kennedy started teaching guitar in a store called Rock City Music. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. Kennedy has since said that it is one of the most personal records he has made. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening.
Velvet Revolver audition offer: 2002
After The Mayfield Four's unforeseen breakup, and due to a hearing disorder called tinnitus that he developed because of listening to music that he was recording at earsplitting volumes, Kennedy fell into depression in 2002. He said about music, "I can't do it any more. My ears won't let me." He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Other sources state that Kennedy had sent in a demo tape but still ultimately declined an invitation to audition after being approached by Matt Sorum. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it."
Alter Bridge: 2003–present
Kennedy is best known as the lead vocalist and one of the two lead guitarists in the band, alongside Mark Tremonti, of the American hard rock band Alter Bridge. The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album "World On Fire" as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.
Solo career and collaborations
Work with Led Zeppelin members: 2008–2009
Kennedy received a great amount of press coverage in late 2008, owing to a rumour that he was to join Led Zeppelin.
After Zeppelin's one-off reunion in 2007, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones reportedly felt the band "still had something to offer." As reported by BBC News, Page and Jones were in the studio with Jason Bonham writing and recording material that was reportedly to be used for a new Zeppelin album. According to Bonham, singer Robert Plant was not involved. Page, Jones, and Bonham auditioned singers, fuelling rumours when they were reported to have attended an Alter Bridge concert. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said that they were offering Kennedy the job to persuade Plant to reconsider. Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti said Kennedy "deserves" to play with Zeppelin.
Kennedy remained mostly silent about the rumours until January 2009. "I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin," he said. "I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I'm very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that's that." He later confirmed, however, that he had written and rehearsed with Page, Jones and Bonham. He also said that it was Bonham who "got the ball rolling", since the two had met on the set of the 2001 film Rock Star.
"Working with them felt surreal," he recalled a decade later. "Jimmy played the Les Paul, and just being in the room with that guitar would have been enough for me. But standing next to him as he's playing those iconic riffs, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. We played 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'… We did 'Carouselambra', which was a really challenging arrangement. A lot of wonderful moments."
It is unconfirmed if the songs he wrote with Page, Jones, and Bonham will ever be released. Kennedy maintains that the band, had it materialised, would not have been called Led Zeppelin.
Solo career: 2009–2010; 2017–present
Kennedy has performed two solo benefit concerts: one hosted by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars to benefit cancer patients, and another to benefit abused children. The latter was called Bofest 2009 and was headlined by Kennedy on October 17, 2009. In early 2009, Kennedy announced a solo side project. He described the material as "dreamy" and "[not] aggressive", saving those songs for Alter Bridge. He also said, "It's more singer/songwriter based. I will say it's going to be interesting." He later posted on his Myspace page that he is working with some "great people" and that he has details coming at a future date. Slash announced via Facebook on February 1, 2010 that he would be appearing on Kennedy's solo record, and Kennedy confirmed this via Myspace. Kennedy had originally hoped that his album would be released in early 2010, digitally first and then on CD, but he has since put its release on hold. However, he recently said that he is still too busy to release the album as he stated that he would like to tour to promote it, but he wanted to release it on December 21, 2012, as a joke, although a firm release date has not yet been announced.
When asked if the record would be a departure from his previous work, he replied that it is different and again referred to the singer-songwriter approach that would be featured on it and that it would not be a hard rock album. He also said that "it was maybe the most difficult thing I've ever done in the sense that I didn't have a band." He also said that the music is very intimate and that it features piano as well. In an interview with Guitarist UK magazine, he said that some of the songs will feature jazz, blues, and R&B influences, while others still "get quite atmospheric and ethereal," comparing the sound to Daniel Lanois and Massive Attack, while assuring fans that the rock style will still be present. In the same Guitarist interview, he confirmed the titles of three songs that will appear on his record: "The Light of Day", "Complicated Man", and "The Bar Fly". Most recently, he confirmed that another song will be titled "Love Rain Down". He said in an interview with CraveOnline that "Love Rain Down" differs from anything else he has ever written. In 2017, he said he shelved the songs he had written and started over. His debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released on March 9, 2018. Kennedy's second solo album, The Ides of March, was released on May 14, 2021.
Work with Slash: 2009–present
Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010.
On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoris), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band.
Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire, produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 16, 2014. The band's third album Living the Dream, again produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 21, 2018. The fourth record, titled 4 and produced by Dave Cobb, was released on February 11, 2022.
Other session work: 2001–present
Kennedy is further well known for his work as a session musician and songwriter, having collaborated with several artists. In 2001, he appeared on the album Striped Suit: Lo-Fi by the jazz-rock band Mulligan, playing guitar solos on the songs "Faron" and "Make It Three". In that same year, he provided backing vocals to the song "Breakthrough" by Big Wreck from The Pleasure and the Greed. He also worked with the Spokane based nu-metal band Five Foot Thick on their 2003 album Blood Puddle, providing backing vocals to the song "Ducked Out". In 2005, he sang the chorus of "Nameless Faceless" by Fozzy with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho from their album All That Remains. In 2008, he sang a duet with Sevendust lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon on Sevendust's song "Sorrow" from Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow. Also in 2008, Kennedy made a guest appearance on Mark Tremonti's guitar instructional DVD The Sound & the Story, to which Kennedy provided an in-depth lesson on how to play his guitar solo on the Alter Bridge song "Blackbird". In 2009, he appeared on Slash's self-titled album, co-writing and singing lead vocals on the songs "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". In addition, he has made live appearances with Sevendust and Gov't Mule. In 2011 it was announced that he will appear on a planned tribute album to Tommy Bolin. Further details were announced in January 2012 that the album would be called Great Gypsy Soul. It was released on March 27, 2012, on 429 Records, and Kennedy appeared on a song called "Dreamer" with Nels Cline of Wilco. Other contributors include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Glenn Hughes. In 2016, he collaborated with rapper Darryl McDaniels and Disturbed bassist John Moyer on the song "Flames". Also in 2016, he sang on "Black & White" on the Richards/Crane debut album, World Stands Still.
Artistry and influences
Kennedy is influenced by a wide range of artists of several genres. His earliest influence was Led Zeppelin, although he drew his singing influences from jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and soul artists when he discovered Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums in his parents' record collection. He said that he owned Stevie Wonder's 1982 compilation album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, which was one of his earliest inspirations as a singer. From there, he discovered Songs in the Key of Life, which he has since stated is one of his favorite albums, and today cites Stevie Wonder as a major influence on his singing. He has also cited other jazz players and soul singers John Coltrane, Al Green, Mike Stern, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Curtis Mayfield as early influences. He also loves blues music. Additional influences include Guns N' Roses, U2, AC/DC, Mastodon, and Radiohead.
Singing style
Kennedy's favorite singers include Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bon Scott, Chris Whitley, and k.d. lang. He has stated on several occasions that Jeff Buckley was, and is, a major influence on him as a singer. When asked to describe his vocal style, he said, "I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley." He states that Buckley's "emotional intensity" was one of the most inspirational things for him when it came to singing, and that it made him accept and embrace the fact that he is a tenor. He often performs Buckley's famous cover of "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) during acoustic performances. At one point, he received lessons from Ron Anderson, a bel canto vocal coach who has worked with a wide range of singers, including Axl Rose, Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, Kelly Clarkson, and several others. When asked about his number one secret when it came to singing, Kennedy replied, "Dig deep into your soul and sing as if your life depends on it. Leave your mark. People react to emotion more than technique." Kennedy, who possesses a four-octave vocal range, has been praised for his ability as a singer. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, whose touring band consists of Kennedy, has called him "fucking amazing", calling his style "surreal". About Kennedy's ability to recreate Guns N' Roses songs on tour, Slash said, "Myles is fucking amazing. It's very surreal how he handles the stuff he sings. I'm doing GN'R songs I've never done solo before, and Myles manages to own them without changing the style or trajectory of the song. Which is a fantastic fucking ability." Kennedy is often compared to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.
Guitar playing
Kennedy, a former guitar instructor, is also recognized as an accomplished guitarist. He began learning how to play the guitar by listening to Led Zeppelin records and mimicking Jimmy Page's guitar parts. He said in an interview, "I started off strictly as a lead guitar player. When I first started playing 25 years ago, that was all I’d do is sit in my room and learn solos." He also recalled being inspired by Eddie Van Halen: "When I was in my early teens, I heard 'Eruption' one day and was like, 'That is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard,' and I begged my mother to give me an advance on my allowance for the next month and go buy that record." Over the next few years, and throughout the 1990s, Kennedy played primarily lead guitar. His early work with Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing featured a jazz-influenced rock flavor, combining several advanced techniques used in jazz. He would later join Alter Bridge primarily as a lead vocalist, but began playing rhythm guitar on the band's first tour. Mark Tremonti said, "We knew Myles was an amazing singer, that’s why we hired him. What we found out when we toured the first record was that he’s also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter, as well as a vocalist."
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive, Tremonti said:
Kennedy played rhythm guitar on Blackbird and has since played co-lead on several Alter Bridge tracks. In an article about Kennedy as a guitarist on Lemon Squeezings, writer Steve Sauer noted his dexterity and steady rhythm playing. Doug Clark, a writer for The Spokesman-Review and one of Kennedy's former guitar students, wrote that "his six-string skills are pyrotechnically brilliant." Kennedy notes that his job as a guitar player, especially recently with Alter Bridge, is to add texture and colors to the music.
Lyrics and themes
In addition, Kennedy is the primary lyricist of Alter Bridge and his previous band, The Mayfield Four. His lyrics, which are usually fairly straightforward stylistically, often touch on dark subjects such as death and addiction. On Alter Bridge's first two albums (the lyrics of the former were primarily written by Tremonti, however), the lyrics are about "hope and perseverance in the face of adversity." However, he has been known to write darker lyrics, as heard most notably on Alter Bridge's third album, AB III, which is a loose concept album based on his own personal struggles with faith and spirituality. Similarly, the lyrical themes of The Mayfield Four's second album, Second Skin, touch on struggling with love and substance abuse. Second Skin, Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and The Ides of March are the only albums to feature lyrics written by Kennedy that contain profanity.
Personal life
Kennedy currently resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, Selena, whom he married on June 14, 2003. According to Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, Kennedy is an atheist, although in an article titled Losing My Religion from a November 2010 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Kennedy said he places himself "somewhere in the middle" between being an atheist and a Christian. In an interview on the Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at NAMM 2009, Kennedy mentioned that despite being raised in a Christian household, he is not a religious person and he does not believe in any organized religion. In an interview with CraveOnline, he said "I would consider myself a part of the growing segment of people who question authority and scrutinize concepts that no longer seem as logical as they once did. [...] I don't find peace in the same concepts that many hold as truth. Believe me, I tried. It's not like I didn't spend most of my life submersed in the bosom of doctrine or dogma." In 2014, he identified himself as an agnostic.
Kennedy has been identified as an avid reader and he says that he especially enjoys the work of John Irving, describing Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany as one of his favorite novels. He has also cited Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner as one of his favorites. When asked about his hobbies, he replied: "I guess I have been pretty fortunate since I have turned what was a hobby into a living. Music pretty much consumes me. If I’m not writing, performing or listening I am probably trying to learn more about its history." He has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his right upper arm, and two elephant heads on his chest. He describes the dragon and the fish as symbols of strength, while the octopus was originally supposed to be a small squid but became much larger than he had intended. He got the dragon tattoo first because of a toy he brought back from Japan as a child, and the koi was added a year later after he learned of an ancient Chinese legend of koi swimming up the Yellow River to become dragons. He has said he wants to get more tattoos in the future.
Charity work
Kennedy has served on the board of directors for the Mead Food Bank since 2003. In addition, he co-founded the Future Song Foundation, a charity organization "that provides funding to ensure that kids have access to musical instruction and instruments which are fundamental parts of a complete education", with his wife in 2015. He serves as a director of the program. A proponent of wildlife conservation efforts, Kennedy is a supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is outspoken of his criticism of the ivory trade on Twitter.
Discography
Cosmic Dust
Journey (1991)
Citizen Swing
Cure Me with the Groove (1993)
Deep Down (1995)
The Mayfield Four
Fallout (1998)
Second Skin (2001)
Alter Bridge
One Day Remains (2004)
Blackbird (2007)
AB III (2010)
Fortress (2013)
The Last Hero (2016)
Walk the Sky (2019)
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Apocalyptic Love (2012)
World on Fire (2014)
Living the Dream (2018)
4 (2022)
Solo
Year of the Tiger (2018)
The Ides of March (2021)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
Alter Bridge members
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)
Musicians from Spokane, Washington
Rhythm guitarists
Roadrunner Records artists
Singers with a four-octave vocal range
American tenors
Guitarists from Washington (state)
20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists | false | [
"We All Need a Reason to Believe is the second studio album by American pop punk band Valencia. It was produced by Ariel Rechtshaid, who has done projects for We Are Scientists and Plain White T's. An early review from AbsolutePunk writer Drew Beringer stated the release proved Valencia is \"a band that can breathe new life into pop-punk\".\n\nThe album title comes from lyrics in the second track, \"Holiday\".\n\nRelease\nIn early April 2008, the band appeared at the Bamboozle Left festival. On April 8, the band posted a rough mix of \"Holiday\" online. It was mentioned that the track would feature on the band's next album, which was planned for release in late summer/early fall. In July, the band supported All Time Low on their headlining US tour. We All Need a Reason to Believe was made available for streaming on August 19 through the band's Myspace profile, before being released on August 26 through major label Columbia Records. In October and November, the band supported Bayside on their headlining US tour. On November 21, the band released a music video for \"Where Did You Go?\". In January and February 2009, the band went on a headlining tour of the US with support from Houston Calls. In February and March, the band toured Australia as part of the Soundwave festival. On April 30, a music video was released for \"The Good Life\". The band appeared at The Bamboozle festival in early May. Between late June and late August, the band performed on the Warped Tour.\n\nTrack listing\n \"Better Be Prepared\" — 3:09\n \"Holiday\" — 2:58\n \"Where Did You Go?\" (featuring Rachel Minton of Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer) — 3:21\n \"Head in Hands\" — 2:56\n \"Carry On\" — 3:41\n \"All at Once\" — 3:27\n \"Safe to Say\" — 3:21\n \"Listen Up\" (featuring Kenny Vasoli of The Starting Line) — 3:39 \n \"I Can't See Myself\" — 3:39\n \"The Good Life\" — 4:02\n \"Free\" — 4:18\n\nBonus track\n \"Running Away\" – 3:30\n\nWe All Need a Reason to B-Side\n \"When Words Fail, This Music Speaks\" — 2:41\n \"Working\" — 2:32\n \"Running Away\" — 3:33\n \"A Better Place to Land\" — 3:26\n\nPersonnel\n Shane Henderson — vocals\n JD Perry — guitar\n Maxim Soria — drums\n George Ciukurescu — bass\n Brendan Walter — guitar\n Kenny Vasoli (The Starting Line) — guest vocals on \"Listen Up\"\n Rachel Minton (Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer) — guest vocals on \"Where Did You Go?\"\n Dana Nielsen — engineer\n\nReferences\n\n2008 albums\nValencia (band) albums\nColumbia Records albums",
"The Where Do We Go? World Tour was the fifth concert tour by American singer Billie Eilish, in support of her debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019). The tour commenced on March 9, 2020 in Miami, Florida at American Airlines Arena and concluded prematurely on March 12, 2020 in Raleigh, North Carolina at PNC Arena. It was planned to conclude on September 7, 2020 in Jakarta, Indonesia at Indonesia Convention Exhibition, before Eilish cancelled future shows because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of November 2021, it is unknown if the remaining tour dates will be transferred to her followup tour.\n\nBackground and development \nThe name of this tour essentially finishes the name of the previous tour (When We All Fall Asleep Tour), of which the same album was promoted. The tour was officially announced through Eilish's Instagram account on September 27, 2019. Eilish posted a picture along with the tour dates and venues. Then, on February 28, 2020, Eilish announced Jessie Reyez as the support act for North America and European dates.\n\nEilish was planned to embark on a sold-out North American tour in March 2020 and was set to tour South America and Europe before heading to Asia. On March 16, 2020, Eilish announced the postponement of her North American tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on May 13, 2020, Eilish announced the postponement of the remainder of the tour for the same reason. On December 3, 2020, Eilish announced that the tour would be officially cancelled and gave fans a full refund, all while informing them that they'll be granted new tickets for her new tour.\n\nSet list \nThis set list is from the concert on March 9, 2020 in Miami. It is not intended to represent all shows from the tour.\n\n\"Bury a Friend\"\n\"You Should See Me in a Crown\"\n\"My Strange Addiction\"\n\"Ocean Eyes\"\n\"Copycat\"\n\"When I Was Older\"\n\"8\"\n\"Wish You Were Gay\"\n\"Xanny\"\n\"The Hill\" \n\"Lovely\"\n\"Listen Before I Go\"\n\"I Love You\"\n\"Ilomilo\"\n\"Bellyache\"\n\"Idontwannabeyouanymore\"\n\"No Time to Die\"\n\"When the Party's Over\"\n\"All the Good Girls Go to Hell\"\n\"Everything I Wanted\"\n\"Bad Guy\"\n\"Goodbye\"\n\nTour dates\n\nCancelled and Postponed shows\n\nNotes\n\nReferences \n\n2020 concert tours\nConcert tours of Europe\nBillie Eilish concert tours\nConcert tours of North America\nConcert tours of South America\nConcert tours cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic"
] |
[
"Myles Kennedy",
"Work with Slash: 2009-present",
"When did Kennedy start working with Slash",
"In late 2009,",
"What project were they working on together",
"it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album.",
"What was the name of the album",
"self-titled debut solo album.",
"Was the album a hit",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour.",
"Where did they go on tour",
"I don't know."
] | C_edd1fcac88a3467d903247d6fb736050_0 | What happened in 2009 | 7 | What happened to Slash and Kennedy in 2009? | Myles Kennedy | Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010. On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoras), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band. Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators", featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire is produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette and was released on September 16, 2014. CANNOTANSWER | they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. | Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge, and as the lead vocalist in guitarist Slash's backing band, known as Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, he has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released six studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour.
In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
With Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators have recorded three studio albums. Kennedy's debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released in March 2018 and his second solo album The Ides of March was released on May 14, 2021.
Early life
Kennedy was born as Myles Richard Bass on November 27, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Northern Idaho. As a child, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he grew up in a Christian Science family on a farm. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music.
Career
Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing: 1990–1995
Upon graduating from high school in 1988, Kennedy enrolled in a Commercial Music/Jazz Studies program at Spokane Falls Community College. Using the skills he learned from this course, in 1990 he began playing guitar for a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band, which was formed by keyboardist Jim Templeton in 1990. Kennedy's guitar work with Cosmic Dust was advanced; using his knowledge of jazz theory in conjunction with his advanced technical abilities, interweaving difficult techniques such as chord changes on impulse and precise shredding with rock music, he became a well-respected guitarist among local musicians. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. Journey, Cure Me with the Groove, and Deep Down are rare albums and are sought after by fans.
The Mayfield Four: 1995–2002
In 1995, Kennedy started teaching guitar in a store called Rock City Music. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. Kennedy has since said that it is one of the most personal records he has made. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening.
Velvet Revolver audition offer: 2002
After The Mayfield Four's unforeseen breakup, and due to a hearing disorder called tinnitus that he developed because of listening to music that he was recording at earsplitting volumes, Kennedy fell into depression in 2002. He said about music, "I can't do it any more. My ears won't let me." He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Other sources state that Kennedy had sent in a demo tape but still ultimately declined an invitation to audition after being approached by Matt Sorum. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it."
Alter Bridge: 2003–present
Kennedy is best known as the lead vocalist and one of the two lead guitarists in the band, alongside Mark Tremonti, of the American hard rock band Alter Bridge. The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album "World On Fire" as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.
Solo career and collaborations
Work with Led Zeppelin members: 2008–2009
Kennedy received a great amount of press coverage in late 2008, owing to a rumour that he was to join Led Zeppelin.
After Zeppelin's one-off reunion in 2007, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones reportedly felt the band "still had something to offer." As reported by BBC News, Page and Jones were in the studio with Jason Bonham writing and recording material that was reportedly to be used for a new Zeppelin album. According to Bonham, singer Robert Plant was not involved. Page, Jones, and Bonham auditioned singers, fuelling rumours when they were reported to have attended an Alter Bridge concert. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said that they were offering Kennedy the job to persuade Plant to reconsider. Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti said Kennedy "deserves" to play with Zeppelin.
Kennedy remained mostly silent about the rumours until January 2009. "I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin," he said. "I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I'm very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that's that." He later confirmed, however, that he had written and rehearsed with Page, Jones and Bonham. He also said that it was Bonham who "got the ball rolling", since the two had met on the set of the 2001 film Rock Star.
"Working with them felt surreal," he recalled a decade later. "Jimmy played the Les Paul, and just being in the room with that guitar would have been enough for me. But standing next to him as he's playing those iconic riffs, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. We played 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'… We did 'Carouselambra', which was a really challenging arrangement. A lot of wonderful moments."
It is unconfirmed if the songs he wrote with Page, Jones, and Bonham will ever be released. Kennedy maintains that the band, had it materialised, would not have been called Led Zeppelin.
Solo career: 2009–2010; 2017–present
Kennedy has performed two solo benefit concerts: one hosted by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars to benefit cancer patients, and another to benefit abused children. The latter was called Bofest 2009 and was headlined by Kennedy on October 17, 2009. In early 2009, Kennedy announced a solo side project. He described the material as "dreamy" and "[not] aggressive", saving those songs for Alter Bridge. He also said, "It's more singer/songwriter based. I will say it's going to be interesting." He later posted on his Myspace page that he is working with some "great people" and that he has details coming at a future date. Slash announced via Facebook on February 1, 2010 that he would be appearing on Kennedy's solo record, and Kennedy confirmed this via Myspace. Kennedy had originally hoped that his album would be released in early 2010, digitally first and then on CD, but he has since put its release on hold. However, he recently said that he is still too busy to release the album as he stated that he would like to tour to promote it, but he wanted to release it on December 21, 2012, as a joke, although a firm release date has not yet been announced.
When asked if the record would be a departure from his previous work, he replied that it is different and again referred to the singer-songwriter approach that would be featured on it and that it would not be a hard rock album. He also said that "it was maybe the most difficult thing I've ever done in the sense that I didn't have a band." He also said that the music is very intimate and that it features piano as well. In an interview with Guitarist UK magazine, he said that some of the songs will feature jazz, blues, and R&B influences, while others still "get quite atmospheric and ethereal," comparing the sound to Daniel Lanois and Massive Attack, while assuring fans that the rock style will still be present. In the same Guitarist interview, he confirmed the titles of three songs that will appear on his record: "The Light of Day", "Complicated Man", and "The Bar Fly". Most recently, he confirmed that another song will be titled "Love Rain Down". He said in an interview with CraveOnline that "Love Rain Down" differs from anything else he has ever written. In 2017, he said he shelved the songs he had written and started over. His debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released on March 9, 2018. Kennedy's second solo album, The Ides of March, was released on May 14, 2021.
Work with Slash: 2009–present
Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010.
On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoris), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band.
Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire, produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 16, 2014. The band's third album Living the Dream, again produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 21, 2018. The fourth record, titled 4 and produced by Dave Cobb, was released on February 11, 2022.
Other session work: 2001–present
Kennedy is further well known for his work as a session musician and songwriter, having collaborated with several artists. In 2001, he appeared on the album Striped Suit: Lo-Fi by the jazz-rock band Mulligan, playing guitar solos on the songs "Faron" and "Make It Three". In that same year, he provided backing vocals to the song "Breakthrough" by Big Wreck from The Pleasure and the Greed. He also worked with the Spokane based nu-metal band Five Foot Thick on their 2003 album Blood Puddle, providing backing vocals to the song "Ducked Out". In 2005, he sang the chorus of "Nameless Faceless" by Fozzy with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho from their album All That Remains. In 2008, he sang a duet with Sevendust lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon on Sevendust's song "Sorrow" from Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow. Also in 2008, Kennedy made a guest appearance on Mark Tremonti's guitar instructional DVD The Sound & the Story, to which Kennedy provided an in-depth lesson on how to play his guitar solo on the Alter Bridge song "Blackbird". In 2009, he appeared on Slash's self-titled album, co-writing and singing lead vocals on the songs "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". In addition, he has made live appearances with Sevendust and Gov't Mule. In 2011 it was announced that he will appear on a planned tribute album to Tommy Bolin. Further details were announced in January 2012 that the album would be called Great Gypsy Soul. It was released on March 27, 2012, on 429 Records, and Kennedy appeared on a song called "Dreamer" with Nels Cline of Wilco. Other contributors include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Glenn Hughes. In 2016, he collaborated with rapper Darryl McDaniels and Disturbed bassist John Moyer on the song "Flames". Also in 2016, he sang on "Black & White" on the Richards/Crane debut album, World Stands Still.
Artistry and influences
Kennedy is influenced by a wide range of artists of several genres. His earliest influence was Led Zeppelin, although he drew his singing influences from jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and soul artists when he discovered Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums in his parents' record collection. He said that he owned Stevie Wonder's 1982 compilation album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, which was one of his earliest inspirations as a singer. From there, he discovered Songs in the Key of Life, which he has since stated is one of his favorite albums, and today cites Stevie Wonder as a major influence on his singing. He has also cited other jazz players and soul singers John Coltrane, Al Green, Mike Stern, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Curtis Mayfield as early influences. He also loves blues music. Additional influences include Guns N' Roses, U2, AC/DC, Mastodon, and Radiohead.
Singing style
Kennedy's favorite singers include Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bon Scott, Chris Whitley, and k.d. lang. He has stated on several occasions that Jeff Buckley was, and is, a major influence on him as a singer. When asked to describe his vocal style, he said, "I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley." He states that Buckley's "emotional intensity" was one of the most inspirational things for him when it came to singing, and that it made him accept and embrace the fact that he is a tenor. He often performs Buckley's famous cover of "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) during acoustic performances. At one point, he received lessons from Ron Anderson, a bel canto vocal coach who has worked with a wide range of singers, including Axl Rose, Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, Kelly Clarkson, and several others. When asked about his number one secret when it came to singing, Kennedy replied, "Dig deep into your soul and sing as if your life depends on it. Leave your mark. People react to emotion more than technique." Kennedy, who possesses a four-octave vocal range, has been praised for his ability as a singer. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, whose touring band consists of Kennedy, has called him "fucking amazing", calling his style "surreal". About Kennedy's ability to recreate Guns N' Roses songs on tour, Slash said, "Myles is fucking amazing. It's very surreal how he handles the stuff he sings. I'm doing GN'R songs I've never done solo before, and Myles manages to own them without changing the style or trajectory of the song. Which is a fantastic fucking ability." Kennedy is often compared to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.
Guitar playing
Kennedy, a former guitar instructor, is also recognized as an accomplished guitarist. He began learning how to play the guitar by listening to Led Zeppelin records and mimicking Jimmy Page's guitar parts. He said in an interview, "I started off strictly as a lead guitar player. When I first started playing 25 years ago, that was all I’d do is sit in my room and learn solos." He also recalled being inspired by Eddie Van Halen: "When I was in my early teens, I heard 'Eruption' one day and was like, 'That is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard,' and I begged my mother to give me an advance on my allowance for the next month and go buy that record." Over the next few years, and throughout the 1990s, Kennedy played primarily lead guitar. His early work with Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing featured a jazz-influenced rock flavor, combining several advanced techniques used in jazz. He would later join Alter Bridge primarily as a lead vocalist, but began playing rhythm guitar on the band's first tour. Mark Tremonti said, "We knew Myles was an amazing singer, that’s why we hired him. What we found out when we toured the first record was that he’s also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter, as well as a vocalist."
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive, Tremonti said:
Kennedy played rhythm guitar on Blackbird and has since played co-lead on several Alter Bridge tracks. In an article about Kennedy as a guitarist on Lemon Squeezings, writer Steve Sauer noted his dexterity and steady rhythm playing. Doug Clark, a writer for The Spokesman-Review and one of Kennedy's former guitar students, wrote that "his six-string skills are pyrotechnically brilliant." Kennedy notes that his job as a guitar player, especially recently with Alter Bridge, is to add texture and colors to the music.
Lyrics and themes
In addition, Kennedy is the primary lyricist of Alter Bridge and his previous band, The Mayfield Four. His lyrics, which are usually fairly straightforward stylistically, often touch on dark subjects such as death and addiction. On Alter Bridge's first two albums (the lyrics of the former were primarily written by Tremonti, however), the lyrics are about "hope and perseverance in the face of adversity." However, he has been known to write darker lyrics, as heard most notably on Alter Bridge's third album, AB III, which is a loose concept album based on his own personal struggles with faith and spirituality. Similarly, the lyrical themes of The Mayfield Four's second album, Second Skin, touch on struggling with love and substance abuse. Second Skin, Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and The Ides of March are the only albums to feature lyrics written by Kennedy that contain profanity.
Personal life
Kennedy currently resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, Selena, whom he married on June 14, 2003. According to Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, Kennedy is an atheist, although in an article titled Losing My Religion from a November 2010 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Kennedy said he places himself "somewhere in the middle" between being an atheist and a Christian. In an interview on the Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at NAMM 2009, Kennedy mentioned that despite being raised in a Christian household, he is not a religious person and he does not believe in any organized religion. In an interview with CraveOnline, he said "I would consider myself a part of the growing segment of people who question authority and scrutinize concepts that no longer seem as logical as they once did. [...] I don't find peace in the same concepts that many hold as truth. Believe me, I tried. It's not like I didn't spend most of my life submersed in the bosom of doctrine or dogma." In 2014, he identified himself as an agnostic.
Kennedy has been identified as an avid reader and he says that he especially enjoys the work of John Irving, describing Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany as one of his favorite novels. He has also cited Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner as one of his favorites. When asked about his hobbies, he replied: "I guess I have been pretty fortunate since I have turned what was a hobby into a living. Music pretty much consumes me. If I’m not writing, performing or listening I am probably trying to learn more about its history." He has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his right upper arm, and two elephant heads on his chest. He describes the dragon and the fish as symbols of strength, while the octopus was originally supposed to be a small squid but became much larger than he had intended. He got the dragon tattoo first because of a toy he brought back from Japan as a child, and the koi was added a year later after he learned of an ancient Chinese legend of koi swimming up the Yellow River to become dragons. He has said he wants to get more tattoos in the future.
Charity work
Kennedy has served on the board of directors for the Mead Food Bank since 2003. In addition, he co-founded the Future Song Foundation, a charity organization "that provides funding to ensure that kids have access to musical instruction and instruments which are fundamental parts of a complete education", with his wife in 2015. He serves as a director of the program. A proponent of wildlife conservation efforts, Kennedy is a supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is outspoken of his criticism of the ivory trade on Twitter.
Discography
Cosmic Dust
Journey (1991)
Citizen Swing
Cure Me with the Groove (1993)
Deep Down (1995)
The Mayfield Four
Fallout (1998)
Second Skin (2001)
Alter Bridge
One Day Remains (2004)
Blackbird (2007)
AB III (2010)
Fortress (2013)
The Last Hero (2016)
Walk the Sky (2019)
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Apocalyptic Love (2012)
World on Fire (2014)
Living the Dream (2018)
4 (2022)
Solo
Year of the Tiger (2018)
The Ides of March (2021)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
Alter Bridge members
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)
Musicians from Spokane, Washington
Rhythm guitarists
Roadrunner Records artists
Singers with a four-octave vocal range
American tenors
Guitarists from Washington (state)
20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists | true | [
"Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books",
"\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim"
] |
[
"Myles Kennedy",
"Work with Slash: 2009-present",
"When did Kennedy start working with Slash",
"In late 2009,",
"What project were they working on together",
"it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album.",
"What was the name of the album",
"self-titled debut solo album.",
"Was the album a hit",
"I don't know.",
"Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?",
"On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour.",
"Where did they go on tour",
"I don't know.",
"What happened in 2009",
"they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album."
] | C_edd1fcac88a3467d903247d6fb736050_0 | When did they finish the album | 8 | When did Slash and Kennedy finish the solo album? | Myles Kennedy | Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010. On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoras), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band. Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to "Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators", featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire is produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette and was released on September 16, 2014. CANNOTANSWER | The album was released in April 2010. | Myles Richard Bass (born November 27, 1969), known professionally as Myles Kennedy, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Alter Bridge, and as the lead vocalist in guitarist Slash's backing band, known as Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators. A former guitar instructor from Spokane, Washington, he has worked as a session musician and songwriter, making both studio and live appearances with several artists, and has been involved with several projects throughout his career.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Northern Idaho and Spokane, Kennedy attended Spokane Falls Community College to study music theory. He began his music career in 1990 as the lead guitarist of the instrumental jazz ensemble Cosmic Dust, with which he released one studio album. His second band, Citizen Swing, released two studio albums before disbanding in 1996. With fellow Citizen Swing member Craig Johnson, Kennedy founded the rock band The Mayfield Four, for which he provided lead vocals and guitar. The band released two studio albums and broke up in 2002. After declining an offer to audition as the lead vocalist of Velvet Revolver, he was asked to join Alter Bridge by Mark Tremonti in late 2003, formally joining in 2004, and he has been with the band ever since. He has released six studio albums with Alter Bridge.
While Alter Bridge was on tour in 2008, Kennedy and former members of Led Zeppelin met and improvised as a group in an informal jam session, but the band never fully materialized. He then started working with Slash, featuring on the guitarist's 2010 eponymous solo album on two tracks and later serving as Slash's vocalist on tour.
In 2012, Kennedy filled in with short notice for Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose when Rose refused to show up for the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
With Slash, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators have recorded three studio albums. Kennedy's debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released in March 2018 and his second solo album The Ides of March was released on May 14, 2021.
Early life
Kennedy was born as Myles Richard Bass on November 27, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, and subsequently lived in Northern Idaho. As a child, he moved to Spokane, Washington, where he grew up in a Christian Science family on a farm. His father, Richard Bass, died when he was four years old and his mother subsequently went on to marry a Methodist minister, and the family took the surname Kennedy. Before Kennedy attended Mead High School (which he attended with football player Jason Hanson and Everclear bassist Craig Montoya), he found musical inspiration from Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and John Sykes' Blue Murder band. Kennedy began playing trumpet at the age of ten and was in a teen air guitar band with then best friends Michael Murphy, Mark Terzenbach and Bruce Kidd at 13. He later traded for a real guitar copying the playing style of Jimmy Page.
He found his singing voice by listening to his parents' Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder records, and also states that he was influenced by Robert Plant. He played guitar in the school's jazz band and trumpet in the school's marching band. He also spent some time playing in a local heavy metal band called Bittersweet with some of his friends Zia Uddin on drums, Jason Stewart as lead vocal, Mark Terzenbach (and later, Chris Steffens) on bass and Myles on lead guitar. After graduating in 1988, he enrolled in Spokane Falls Community College to study music.
Career
Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing: 1990–1995
Upon graduating from high school in 1988, Kennedy enrolled in a Commercial Music/Jazz Studies program at Spokane Falls Community College. Using the skills he learned from this course, in 1990 he began playing guitar for a jazz group called the Cosmic Dust Fusion Band, which was formed by keyboardist Jim Templeton in 1990. Kennedy's guitar work with Cosmic Dust was advanced; using his knowledge of jazz theory in conjunction with his advanced technical abilities, interweaving difficult techniques such as chord changes on impulse and precise shredding with rock music, he became a well-respected guitarist among local musicians. Cosmic Dust's first album, Journey, was released in 1991. The album was well received by critics. In 1993, the song "Spiritus" was awarded the Washington State Artist Trust Grant for $5,000.
After the release of Journey, Kennedy left Cosmic Dust to begin working on a new band that would become Citizen Swing, for which Kennedy provided both lead vocals and lead guitar. They were described as "a band that combined the sounds of funk, soul, R&B, blues and alternative into a unique and cohesive sound" and as " meets Stevie Wonder and then some." They released their first album, Cure Me with the Groove, in 1993. This album featured Kennedy (who helped produce the album), rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, bassist Dave Turner (also of Cosmic Dust), drummer/percussionist Mike Tschirgi, and trumpeter Geoff Miller. Citizen Swing's second and final album was called Deep Down and was released in 1995. The band disbanded the same year. All the music and lyrics on that album were written by Kennedy. Journey, Cure Me with the Groove, and Deep Down are rare albums and are sought after by fans.
The Mayfield Four: 1995–2002
In 1995, Kennedy started teaching guitar in a store called Rock City Music. By August 1996, he became the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of The Mayfield Four, a rock band he formed with his childhood friends Zia Uddin, Marty Meisner, and Craig Johnson (also of Citizen Swing). They signed a contract with Epic Records thanks to a critically acclaimed demo called Thirty Two Point Five Hours that the band recorded in 1996, followed by a live extended play called Motion in 1997. The Mayfield Four's debut album, Fallout, was supported with a fifteen-month tour with bands such as Creed, Big Wreck, and Stabbing Westward. The album was praised by critics, but it failed to chart, and ultimately became the only album by the band to feature rhythm guitarist Craig Johnson, who was fired from the band due to undisclosed reasons.
Following the Fallout tour, Kennedy made an appearance in the 2001 drama film Rock Star starring Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. He said that he got a call from his manager telling him that the filmmakers needed someone who could sing high and that his name was suggested. On the set of the film, he met Wahlberg along with Zakk Wylde and Jason Bonham, who also appeared in the movie alongside several other notable musicians. Kennedy was the only actor in the movie whose actual singing voice was used. In the movie, directly paralleling a scene at the beginning of the film, Kennedy's character (Mike, also known as "Thor") is noticed by Wahlberg's character, Chris "Izzy" Cole, the lead singer of Thor's favorite band, Steel Dragon. Izzy pulls Thor onstage and sings the rest of the song with him, eventually telling him to finish the rest of the band's concert. The film was met with mostly mixed reviews, garnering a 52% "Rotten" score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Mayfield Four's second and final album, Second Skin, was released in June 2001. Kennedy has since said that it is one of the most personal records he has made. The album has been critically acclaimed and Kennedy has commented on how it and Fallout are much more popular now than when they were released.
Though popular, The Mayfield Four never garnered enough exposure to break into the mainstream. In 2002, the future of the band began to look unlikely, and Kennedy began recording new music, which he described as "Daniel Lanois meets Massive Attack." The band went on hiatus that year, and would ultimately disband. In an interview with Pulse Weekly in 2004, Kennedy said that it was because he was "burned out with the whole rock industry at that point." However, three previously unreleased songs appeared on a fan-run Myspace page dedicated to and approved by The Mayfield Four in early 2010, causing rumors of a possible reunion to begin circulating. However, when asked about this during an interview, Kennedy replied that he does not see it happening.
Velvet Revolver audition offer: 2002
After The Mayfield Four's unforeseen breakup, and due to a hearing disorder called tinnitus that he developed because of listening to music that he was recording at earsplitting volumes, Kennedy fell into depression in 2002. He said about music, "I can't do it any more. My ears won't let me." He said that he had grown "disillusioned with music and the music business," so he took a hiatus from playing music and went back to teaching guitar. However, in 2002, he was contacted by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who was looking for a vocalist for a band he was forming, but Kennedy declined the offer. Other sources state that Kennedy had sent in a demo tape but still ultimately declined an invitation to audition after being approached by Matt Sorum. Kennedy recalls, "They had reached out to me in 2002 when they were just getting together. They had sent me a demo tape, and I kind of sat on it for a month, and I didn't really follow up on it."
Alter Bridge: 2003–present
Kennedy is best known as the lead vocalist and one of the two lead guitarists in the band, alongside Mark Tremonti, of the American hard rock band Alter Bridge. The band's origins lie in late 2003 when Kennedy was contacted by former Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti, who was interested in having Kennedy lay down vocal tracks for some songs he had recently written. Tremonti and drummer Scott Phillips had reunited with former bassist Brian Marshall who had left Creed in 2000 to form a new band. Alter Bridge, taking its name from an actual bridge that used to be located near Tremonti's home in Detroit, was officially formed in January 2004. Coinciding with the official announcement of Alter Bridge's formation was an announcement regarding their debut album, One Day Remains, along with the release of that album's lead single, "Open Your Eyes." One Day Remains was released in 2004 on Wind-up Records. It received generally mixed to negative reviews and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Two other singles, "Find the Real" and "Broken Wings" were released. One Day Remains was the only album by a band with Kennedy as an official member that does not feature his guitar playing, before his 2014 album "World On Fire" as a part of Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.
Following a successful tour in support of the album, Alter Bridge announced plans for a second release. The album, Blackbird, was released in 2007 on Universal Republic to mostly positive reviews. Unlike One Day Remains, which was largely written by Tremonti, Blackbird featured Kennedy's guitar playing as well as more of his songwriting contributions. Alter Bridge toured in support of Blackbird throughout 2007 and 2008, recording a concert film titled Live from Amsterdam and releasing it in 2009 via Amazon.com. It would later be released in stores in early 2011 after several delays.
Alter Bridge took a temporary break in early 2009 with its members working on other projects, but the band continued writing music throughout the year. The band regrouped later that year to begin work on their third album, AB III, which was released in 2010 on Roadrunner Records worldwide, except for North America where the album was self-released on Alter Bridge Recordings via EMI. For the album, Kennedy chose to write lyrics based on his own personal experiences with faith and believing. As such, it is lyrically the band's darkest album, with Kennedy calling it the most personal album he had made since The Mayfield Four's Second Skin. AB III has received critical acclaim. A second concert film, Live at Wembley, was released on March 26, 2012. The band reunited in late 2012 and recorded from April to July 2013 their fourth album titled Fortress, which was released on September 30, 2013. The band reconvened in January 2016 and, through that July, recorded their fifth album The Last Hero, which was released on October 7, 2016. Walk the Sky was released on October 18, 2019.
Having joined Alter Bridge primarily as lead vocalist, Kennedy began to play rhythm guitar during live performances following the release of One Day Remains. He has since played rhythm guitar on the band's subsequent studio releases, and also played lead tracks on a number of songs and during live performances.
Solo career and collaborations
Work with Led Zeppelin members: 2008–2009
Kennedy received a great amount of press coverage in late 2008, owing to a rumour that he was to join Led Zeppelin.
After Zeppelin's one-off reunion in 2007, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones reportedly felt the band "still had something to offer." As reported by BBC News, Page and Jones were in the studio with Jason Bonham writing and recording material that was reportedly to be used for a new Zeppelin album. According to Bonham, singer Robert Plant was not involved. Page, Jones, and Bonham auditioned singers, fuelling rumours when they were reported to have attended an Alter Bridge concert. Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider said that they were offering Kennedy the job to persuade Plant to reconsider. Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti said Kennedy "deserves" to play with Zeppelin.
Kennedy remained mostly silent about the rumours until January 2009. "I am not singing in Led Zeppelin or any offshoot of Led Zeppelin," he said. "I did have a great opportunity and it was something that I'm very grateful for. But Alter Bridge will go on, and that's that." He later confirmed, however, that he had written and rehearsed with Page, Jones and Bonham. He also said that it was Bonham who "got the ball rolling", since the two had met on the set of the 2001 film Rock Star.
"Working with them felt surreal," he recalled a decade later. "Jimmy played the Les Paul, and just being in the room with that guitar would have been enough for me. But standing next to him as he's playing those iconic riffs, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. We played 'No Quarter', 'Kashmir'… We did 'Carouselambra', which was a really challenging arrangement. A lot of wonderful moments."
It is unconfirmed if the songs he wrote with Page, Jones, and Bonham will ever be released. Kennedy maintains that the band, had it materialised, would not have been called Led Zeppelin.
Solo career: 2009–2010; 2017–present
Kennedy has performed two solo benefit concerts: one hosted by Paul Reed Smith and PRS Guitars to benefit cancer patients, and another to benefit abused children. The latter was called Bofest 2009 and was headlined by Kennedy on October 17, 2009. In early 2009, Kennedy announced a solo side project. He described the material as "dreamy" and "[not] aggressive", saving those songs for Alter Bridge. He also said, "It's more singer/songwriter based. I will say it's going to be interesting." He later posted on his Myspace page that he is working with some "great people" and that he has details coming at a future date. Slash announced via Facebook on February 1, 2010 that he would be appearing on Kennedy's solo record, and Kennedy confirmed this via Myspace. Kennedy had originally hoped that his album would be released in early 2010, digitally first and then on CD, but he has since put its release on hold. However, he recently said that he is still too busy to release the album as he stated that he would like to tour to promote it, but he wanted to release it on December 21, 2012, as a joke, although a firm release date has not yet been announced.
When asked if the record would be a departure from his previous work, he replied that it is different and again referred to the singer-songwriter approach that would be featured on it and that it would not be a hard rock album. He also said that "it was maybe the most difficult thing I've ever done in the sense that I didn't have a band." He also said that the music is very intimate and that it features piano as well. In an interview with Guitarist UK magazine, he said that some of the songs will feature jazz, blues, and R&B influences, while others still "get quite atmospheric and ethereal," comparing the sound to Daniel Lanois and Massive Attack, while assuring fans that the rock style will still be present. In the same Guitarist interview, he confirmed the titles of three songs that will appear on his record: "The Light of Day", "Complicated Man", and "The Bar Fly". Most recently, he confirmed that another song will be titled "Love Rain Down". He said in an interview with CraveOnline that "Love Rain Down" differs from anything else he has ever written. In 2017, he said he shelved the songs he had written and started over. His debut solo album, Year of the Tiger, was released on March 9, 2018. Kennedy's second solo album, The Ides of March, was released on May 14, 2021.
Work with Slash: 2009–present
Kennedy has become very well known for his collaborations with Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Slash. In late 2009, it was reported that they would be working together on Slash's self-titled debut solo album. Slash later confirmed that Kennedy was chosen to sing and co-write the final song, "Starlight", on his album. Other musicians who appeared on the album include Ozzy Osbourne, Adam Levine of Maroon 5, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Then, according to MusicRadar, Slash asked Kennedy to co-write and sing another song, "Back from Cali", which was added to the album at the last minute, making him the only musician to appear on more than one song on the album's standard track listing. The album was released in April 2010.
On February 3, 2010, Slash announced that Kennedy would be the lead vocalist for his band on tour. On tour, Kennedy performed a number of songs found throughout Slash's catalog. Slash and Kennedy were also the supporting act on Ozzy Osbourne's tour in 2010. The other members of Slash's band are rhythm guitarist Bobby Schneck (replaced as of the Apocalyptic Love tour with Frank Sidoris), bassist Todd Kerns (formerly of Age of Electric), and drummer Brent Fitz (formerly of Theory of a Deadman). In late 2010, Kennedy and Slash appeared on That Metal Show, a talk show on VH1 Classic. On November 14, 2011, Slash released a concert film and live album titled Made in Stoke 24/7/11 featuring Kennedy and the rest of his band.
Slash's second solo album featured Myles Kennedy, this time as the sole vocalist. It was also announced that band mates Bobby Schneck, Todd Kerns, and Brent Fitz, along with Slash, would complete the lineup for the album. In an interview with MusicRadar, Slash confirmed that it would be less of an actual solo album and more of a collaboration album with Kennedy, and that he was not sure if the album will be billed to Slash or a new name entirely. As of December 2011, three songs had been recorded: "Halo", "Standing in the Sun", and "Bad Rain". Slash has described the music as "very heavy". The album was released on May 22, 2012. A behind-the-scenes video was also released with this announcement. Titled Apocalyptic Love, the album will be billed to Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, featuring Kennedy, Kerns, and Fitz as members of Slash's band. The band performed the album in its entirety on April 11, 2012, at the Revolver Golden God Awards. The first single, "You're a Lie", was released to rock radio on February 27, 2012; a 30-second preview of the song was released online. Kennedy has reportedly said that some of the lyrics on the album are about his earlier experiences with drugs. On April 14, 2012, Kennedy performed three Guns N' Roses songs with five former members of Guns N' Roses during their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in Axl Rose's absence. In 2013, he also toured with Kings of Chaos, along with Slash and other ex-Guns N' Roses members. The band's second collective album World on Fire, produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 16, 2014. The band's third album Living the Dream, again produced by Michael "Elvis" Baskette, was released on September 21, 2018. The fourth record, titled 4 and produced by Dave Cobb, was released on February 11, 2022.
Other session work: 2001–present
Kennedy is further well known for his work as a session musician and songwriter, having collaborated with several artists. In 2001, he appeared on the album Striped Suit: Lo-Fi by the jazz-rock band Mulligan, playing guitar solos on the songs "Faron" and "Make It Three". In that same year, he provided backing vocals to the song "Breakthrough" by Big Wreck from The Pleasure and the Greed. He also worked with the Spokane based nu-metal band Five Foot Thick on their 2003 album Blood Puddle, providing backing vocals to the song "Ducked Out". In 2005, he sang the chorus of "Nameless Faceless" by Fozzy with Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho from their album All That Remains. In 2008, he sang a duet with Sevendust lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon on Sevendust's song "Sorrow" from Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow. Also in 2008, Kennedy made a guest appearance on Mark Tremonti's guitar instructional DVD The Sound & the Story, to which Kennedy provided an in-depth lesson on how to play his guitar solo on the Alter Bridge song "Blackbird". In 2009, he appeared on Slash's self-titled album, co-writing and singing lead vocals on the songs "Back from Cali" and "Starlight". In addition, he has made live appearances with Sevendust and Gov't Mule. In 2011 it was announced that he will appear on a planned tribute album to Tommy Bolin. Further details were announced in January 2012 that the album would be called Great Gypsy Soul. It was released on March 27, 2012, on 429 Records, and Kennedy appeared on a song called "Dreamer" with Nels Cline of Wilco. Other contributors include Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa, Peter Frampton, and Glenn Hughes. In 2016, he collaborated with rapper Darryl McDaniels and Disturbed bassist John Moyer on the song "Flames". Also in 2016, he sang on "Black & White" on the Richards/Crane debut album, World Stands Still.
Artistry and influences
Kennedy is influenced by a wide range of artists of several genres. His earliest influence was Led Zeppelin, although he drew his singing influences from jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and soul artists when he discovered Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye albums in his parents' record collection. He said that he owned Stevie Wonder's 1982 compilation album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, which was one of his earliest inspirations as a singer. From there, he discovered Songs in the Key of Life, which he has since stated is one of his favorite albums, and today cites Stevie Wonder as a major influence on his singing. He has also cited other jazz players and soul singers John Coltrane, Al Green, Mike Stern, Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Frank Gambale, Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays, and Curtis Mayfield as early influences. He also loves blues music. Additional influences include Guns N' Roses, U2, AC/DC, Mastodon, and Radiohead.
Singing style
Kennedy's favorite singers include Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bon Scott, Chris Whitley, and k.d. lang. He has stated on several occasions that Jeff Buckley was, and is, a major influence on him as a singer. When asked to describe his vocal style, he said, "I wanted to fuse together my favorite elements of rock and soul singers into something I could call my own. The inflections of Stevie Wonder with the soaring qualities of someone like Buckley." He states that Buckley's "emotional intensity" was one of the most inspirational things for him when it came to singing, and that it made him accept and embrace the fact that he is a tenor. He often performs Buckley's famous cover of "Hallelujah" (originally by Leonard Cohen) during acoustic performances. At one point, he received lessons from Ron Anderson, a bel canto vocal coach who has worked with a wide range of singers, including Axl Rose, Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, Kelly Clarkson, and several others. When asked about his number one secret when it came to singing, Kennedy replied, "Dig deep into your soul and sing as if your life depends on it. Leave your mark. People react to emotion more than technique." Kennedy, who possesses a four-octave vocal range, has been praised for his ability as a singer. Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, whose touring band consists of Kennedy, has called him "fucking amazing", calling his style "surreal". About Kennedy's ability to recreate Guns N' Roses songs on tour, Slash said, "Myles is fucking amazing. It's very surreal how he handles the stuff he sings. I'm doing GN'R songs I've never done solo before, and Myles manages to own them without changing the style or trajectory of the song. Which is a fantastic fucking ability." Kennedy is often compared to Soundgarden vocalist Chris Cornell.
Guitar playing
Kennedy, a former guitar instructor, is also recognized as an accomplished guitarist. He began learning how to play the guitar by listening to Led Zeppelin records and mimicking Jimmy Page's guitar parts. He said in an interview, "I started off strictly as a lead guitar player. When I first started playing 25 years ago, that was all I’d do is sit in my room and learn solos." He also recalled being inspired by Eddie Van Halen: "When I was in my early teens, I heard 'Eruption' one day and was like, 'That is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard,' and I begged my mother to give me an advance on my allowance for the next month and go buy that record." Over the next few years, and throughout the 1990s, Kennedy played primarily lead guitar. His early work with Cosmic Dust and Citizen Swing featured a jazz-influenced rock flavor, combining several advanced techniques used in jazz. He would later join Alter Bridge primarily as a lead vocalist, but began playing rhythm guitar on the band's first tour. Mark Tremonti said, "We knew Myles was an amazing singer, that’s why we hired him. What we found out when we toured the first record was that he’s also an incredibly gifted guitar player and songwriter, as well as a vocalist."
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar Archive, Tremonti said:
Kennedy played rhythm guitar on Blackbird and has since played co-lead on several Alter Bridge tracks. In an article about Kennedy as a guitarist on Lemon Squeezings, writer Steve Sauer noted his dexterity and steady rhythm playing. Doug Clark, a writer for The Spokesman-Review and one of Kennedy's former guitar students, wrote that "his six-string skills are pyrotechnically brilliant." Kennedy notes that his job as a guitar player, especially recently with Alter Bridge, is to add texture and colors to the music.
Lyrics and themes
In addition, Kennedy is the primary lyricist of Alter Bridge and his previous band, The Mayfield Four. His lyrics, which are usually fairly straightforward stylistically, often touch on dark subjects such as death and addiction. On Alter Bridge's first two albums (the lyrics of the former were primarily written by Tremonti, however), the lyrics are about "hope and perseverance in the face of adversity." However, he has been known to write darker lyrics, as heard most notably on Alter Bridge's third album, AB III, which is a loose concept album based on his own personal struggles with faith and spirituality. Similarly, the lyrical themes of The Mayfield Four's second album, Second Skin, touch on struggling with love and substance abuse. Second Skin, Apocalyptic Love, World on Fire and The Ides of March are the only albums to feature lyrics written by Kennedy that contain profanity.
Personal life
Kennedy currently resides in Spokane, Washington with his wife, Selena, whom he married on June 14, 2003. According to Alter Bridge lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, Kennedy is an atheist, although in an article titled Losing My Religion from a November 2010 issue of Kerrang! magazine, Kennedy said he places himself "somewhere in the middle" between being an atheist and a Christian. In an interview on the Blairing Out with Eric Blair Show at NAMM 2009, Kennedy mentioned that despite being raised in a Christian household, he is not a religious person and he does not believe in any organized religion. In an interview with CraveOnline, he said "I would consider myself a part of the growing segment of people who question authority and scrutinize concepts that no longer seem as logical as they once did. [...] I don't find peace in the same concepts that many hold as truth. Believe me, I tried. It's not like I didn't spend most of my life submersed in the bosom of doctrine or dogma." In 2014, he identified himself as an agnostic.
Kennedy has been identified as an avid reader and he says that he especially enjoys the work of John Irving, describing Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany as one of his favorite novels. He has also cited Effortless Mastery by Kenny Werner as one of his favorites. When asked about his hobbies, he replied: "I guess I have been pretty fortunate since I have turned what was a hobby into a living. Music pretty much consumes me. If I’m not writing, performing or listening I am probably trying to learn more about its history." He has five tattoos: a dragon on his left forearm, a koi fish on his right forearm, an octopus on his right upper arm, and two elephant heads on his chest. He describes the dragon and the fish as symbols of strength, while the octopus was originally supposed to be a small squid but became much larger than he had intended. He got the dragon tattoo first because of a toy he brought back from Japan as a child, and the koi was added a year later after he learned of an ancient Chinese legend of koi swimming up the Yellow River to become dragons. He has said he wants to get more tattoos in the future.
Charity work
Kennedy has served on the board of directors for the Mead Food Bank since 2003. In addition, he co-founded the Future Song Foundation, a charity organization "that provides funding to ensure that kids have access to musical instruction and instruments which are fundamental parts of a complete education", with his wife in 2015. He serves as a director of the program. A proponent of wildlife conservation efforts, Kennedy is a supporter of the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is outspoken of his criticism of the ivory trade on Twitter.
Discography
Cosmic Dust
Journey (1991)
Citizen Swing
Cure Me with the Groove (1993)
Deep Down (1995)
The Mayfield Four
Fallout (1998)
Second Skin (2001)
Alter Bridge
One Day Remains (2004)
Blackbird (2007)
AB III (2010)
Fortress (2013)
The Last Hero (2016)
Walk the Sky (2019)
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators
Apocalyptic Love (2012)
World on Fire (2014)
Living the Dream (2018)
4 (2022)
Solo
Year of the Tiger (2018)
The Ides of March (2021)
Filmography
References
External links
1969 births
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
Alter Bridge members
American heavy metal guitarists
American heavy metal singers
American male singer-songwriters
American rock songwriters
Living people
Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)
Musicians from Spokane, Washington
Rhythm guitarists
Roadrunner Records artists
Singers with a four-octave vocal range
American tenors
Guitarists from Washington (state)
20th-century American guitarists
American male guitarists | true | [
"The 2021 24H GT Series powered by Hankook was the seventh season of the 24H Series with drivers battling for championship points and titles and the twelfth season since Creventic, the organiser and promoter of the series, organised multiple races a year. The races will be contested with GT3-spec cars, GT4-spec cars, sports cars and 24H-Specials, like silhouette cars.\n\nCalendar\n\nEntry List\n\nRace Results\nBold indicates overall winner.\n\nChampionship standings\n\nDrivers' Overall\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nTeams' Overall\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nGT3-Pro Drivers'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nGT3-Pro Teams'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nGT3-Am Drivers'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nGT3-Am Teams'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nGTX Drivers'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nGTX Teams'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\n991 Drivers'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\n991 Teams'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nGT4 Drivers'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nGT4 Teams'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nSee also\n24H Series\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n24H GT Series\n24H GT Series",
"The 2021 24H Touring Car Endurance Series powered by Hankook was the sixth season of the Touring Car Endurance Series (TCES). Creventic is the organiser and promoter of the series. The races will be contested with TCR Touring Cars, TCX cars and TC cars.\n\nCalendar\n\nEntry list\n\nRace Results\nBold indicates overall winner.\n\nChampionship standings\n\nDrivers' Overall\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nTeams' Overall\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nTCR Drivers'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nTCR Teams'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nTCX Drivers'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nTCX Teams'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nTC Drivers'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nTC Teams'\n\n† – Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 60% of the class winner's race distance.\n\nSee also\n24H Series\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n24H TCE\n24H TCE\n24H TCE"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records"
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | When did he begin with Paramount records? | 1 | When did Blind Lemon Jefferson begin with Paramount records? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson.\n\nEarly years\nParamount Records was formed in 1917 by United Phonographs, a subsidiary of the Wisconsin Chair Company, which trademarked its record brand from Port Washington and began issuing records the following year on the Puritan and Paramount labels. Puritan lasted only until 1927, but Paramount, based in the factory of its parent company in Grafton, Wisconsin, published some of the nation's most important early blues recordings between 1929 and 1932. The label's offices were located in Port Washington, Wisconsin and the pressing plant was located at 1819 S. Green Bay Road in Grafton, Wisconsin. The label was managed by Fred Dennett Key.\n\nThe Wisconsin Chair Company made wooden phonograph cabinets for Edison Records. In 1915 it started making its own phonographs in the name of its subsidiary, the United Phonograph Corporation. It made phonographs under the Vista brand name through the end of the decade; the line failed commercially.\n\nIn 1918, a line of records debuted on the Paramount label. They were recorded and pressed by a Chair Company subsidiary, the New York Recording Laboratories, Inc. which, despite its name, was located in the same Wisconsin factory in Port Washington. Advertisements, however, stated: \"Paramounts are recorded in our own New York laboratory\".\n\nIn its early years, the Paramount label fared only slightly better than the Vista phonograph line. The product had little to distinguish itself. Paramount released pop recordings with average audio quality pressed on average quality shellac. With the coming of electric recording, both the audio fidelity and the shellac quality declined to well below average, although some Paramount records were well pressed on better shellac and have become collectible.\n\nIn the early 1920s, Paramount was accumulating debt while producing no profit. Paramount began offering to press records for other companies on a contract basis at low prices.\n\nRace records\nParamount was contracted to press discs for Black Swan Records. When the Black Swan company later floundered, Paramount bought out Black Swan and made records by and for African Americans. These so-called race music records became Paramount's most famous and lucrative business, especially its 12000 series. It is estimated that a quarter of all race records released between 1922 and 1932 were on the Paramount label.\n\nParamount's race record series was launched in 1922 with vaudeville blues songs by Lucille Hegamin and Alberta Hunter. The company had a large mail-order operation which was a key to its early success.\n\nMost of Paramount's race music recordings were arranged by black entrepreneur J. Mayo Williams. \"Ink\" Williams, as he was known, had no official position with Paramount, but he was given wide latitude to bring African American talent to the Paramount recording studios and to market Paramount records to African American consumers. Williams did not know at the time that the \"race market\" had become Paramount's prime business and that he was keeping the label afloat.\n\nProblems with low fidelity and poor pressings continued. Blind Lemon Jefferson's 1926 hits, \"Got the Blues\" and \"Long Lonesome Blues\", were quickly rerecorded in the superior facilities of Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used the rerecorded version. Both versions were released on compilation albums.\n\nIn 1927, Ink Williams moved to competitor Okeh, taking Blind Lemon Jefferson with him for just one recording, \"Matchbox Blues\". Paramount's recording of the same song can be compared with Okeh's on compilation albums. In 1929, Paramount was building a new studio in Grafton, so it sent Charley Patton —\"sent up\" by Jackson, Mississippi, storeowner H. C. Speir —to the studio of Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, where on June 14 he cut 14 famous sides, which led many to consider him the \"Father of the Delta Blues\".\n\nAfter Williams left Paramount, he placed the business in the hands of his secretary, Aletha Dickerson, who had not been informed that her former employer had quit. Dickerson continued working for Paramount, and eventually moved to the company's new headquarters is Grafton. In 1931, she quit when the management, facing hard times, cut her wages.\n\nDepression, closure, reissues\nThe Great Depression drove many record companies out of business. Paramount stopped recording in 1932 and closed in 1935.\n\nIn 1948, Paramount was bought by John Steiner, who revived the label for reissues of important historical recordings and new recordings of jazz and blues. In 1952, Steiner leased reissue rights to a newly formed Riverside jazz label. Riverside reissued 10\" and then 12\" LPs by many blues singers in the Paramount catalog, as well as jazz by such Chicago-based musicians as Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band (which included a young Louis Armstrong), Johnny Dodds, Muggsy Spanier, and Meade Lux Lewis. The Riverside label remained active until 1964. The rights to Paramount's back catalog were acquired by George H. Buck in 1970. The use of the name \"Paramount Records\" was purchased from Buck by Paramount Pictures, a previously unconnected company.\n\nLike other record companies during the Great Depression, Paramount sold most of its master recordings as scrap metal. Some of the company's recordings were said to have been thrown into the Milwaukee River by disgruntled employees when the company was closing in the mid-1930s. A 2006 episode of the PBS television show History Detectives showed divers searching the river for Paramount masters and unsold 78s, but they were unsuccessful. Author Amanda Petrusich also dived in the river looking for records for her 2014 book Do Not Sell At Any Price, but did not find any.\n\nWhen Riverside re-released the original recordings, they used records from the collection of John Hammond.\n\nJohn Fahey's Revenant Records and Jack White's Third Man Records issued two volumes of remastered tracks from Paramount's catalog, The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Volume One (1917–27) and The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Volume Two (1928–32), on vinyl records with a USB drive for digital access. Each volume features 800 songs, contemporary ads and images (200 in volume one and 90 in volume 2), two books (a history of Paramount and a guide to the artists and recordings) and six 180-gram vinyl LPs, packaged in a hand-crafted oak case modeled after those that carried phonographs in the 1920s.\n\nSee also\n List of record labels\n Paramount Records (1969)\n Puritan Records\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n 1924 Paramount catalog\nOnline Discography, University of Wisconsin-Madison\n\"In A Few Fateful Years, One Record Label Blew Open The Blues\". Tom Cole, NPR Weekend Edition, January 31, 2015.\n\"Paramount Records\". Interview with author Amanda Petrusich on Central Time show on Wisconsin Public Radio, April 22, 2015.\nParamount Records on the Internet Archive's Great 78 Project\n\n \nRecord labels established in 1918\nRecord labels disestablished in 1935\nRecord labels established in 1948\nRe-established companies\nVertical cut record labels\nJazz record labels\nBlues record labels\nDefunct companies based in Wisconsin\nHistory of Wisconsin\nOzaukee County, Wisconsin",
"Famous Music Corporation was the worldwide music publishing division of Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom since 1994. Its copyright holdings span several decades and includes music from such Academy Award-winning motion pictures as The Godfather and Forrest Gump. It was founded in 1928 by Paramount’s predecessor, the Famous-Lasky Corporation, to publish music from its \"talking pictures.\" Some of the classic songs in the Famous Music catalog that originated in motion pictures include \"Moon River\", \"Thanks for the Memory\", \"Silver Bells\", \"Mona Lisa\", \"Where Do I Begin?\" (the theme from Love Story), \"Speak Softly, Love\" (the theme from The Godfather), \"Up Where We Belong\", \"Footloose\", \"Take My Breath Away\" and \"My Heart Will Go On\".\n\nFamous Music additionally owned music and songs from television programs produced by Paramount until ownership of most of those songs was transferred to CBS in 2006 as part of Viacom's split into two separate companies: CBS and \"new\" Viacom. These included the \"Theme from Mission: Impossible\" (ownership remained with Paramount), the \"Theme from Star Trek\", and \"Where Everybody Knows Your Name\" (the theme from Cheers).\n\nFamous Music also provided licensing and administration services for many prominent music catalog owners such as CBS, The Clyde Otis Music Catalogs, as well as for other Viacom divisions including MTV, Nickelodeon and BET.\n\nStarting mostly in the late 1980s and continuing until the company was sold in 2007 (see below), Famous Music was active in acquiring songs that did not originate in Paramount motion pictures or television programs. These included the purchase of many works from the Duke Ellington catalog, as well as acquisition or administration agreements with recording artists and producers such as Shakira, Eminem, Akon, She Wants Revenge, Boyz II Men, Paula Cole, The Cunninghams, Björk, Gavin Rossdale, Daniel Powter, Harvey Danger, Martika, KC Porter, Linda Perry, Kike Santander, Irv Gotti, Placebo, Modest Mouse, Jet and P.O.D.\n\nIn May 2007, Viacom sold Famous Music to Sony/ATV Music Publishing co-owned by Sony and Michael Jackson for a reported $370m. Famous Music was then renamed Sony/ATV Harmony and Sony/ATV Melody.\n\nIn December 2012, Sony/ATV sold the Famous Music UK song catalogue (which included Placebo and The Kooks) to BMG Rights Management. Paramount Pictures moved the administration of its music to Universal Music Publishing Group sometime in the late 2010s; ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks (excluding Showtime Networks) followed suit in 2020.\n\nFamous Music Records Group \nFor a number of years, Famous Music also had a record label group division that included Blue Thumb Records, Dot Records and Paramount Records. In 1974 these were acquired by ABC Records for $5.5 million with most of the Famous labels absorbed into ABC Records.\n\nFamous had distribution deals with Neighborhood Records and Sire Records, the latter of which was distributed by ABC until 1977.\n\nThe catalogs of all the ABC/Famous Music labels are now owned by Universal Music Group (with some exceptions, for example, the 1968-1970 catalog of Stax Records, which during that period was owned by Famous, is owned by Concord Music Group, itself distributed by UMG.)\n\nVarious labels under Universal manage different parts of the catalog depending on the genre. Here are some examples:\n\nPop, rock, R&B: Geffen Records\nCountry: MCA Nashville Records\nJazz: Impulse! Records\nClassical: Deutsche Grammophon\nMusical theater: Decca Broadway\n\nArtists\n Hillary Lindsey\n Green Bottle Records\n John Lee Hooker\n Clockwork\n David Tolk\n Jonathan Mead Radford\n Monifah\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nFamous Music Videos Database Collection\n\nMusic publishing companies of the United States\nFormer Viacom subsidiaries\nFormer Sony subsidiaries\n2007 mergers and acquisitions\nParamount Pictures\nGulf and Western Industries\nAmerican companies established in 1928\nEntertainment companies established in 1928\nSony Music Publishing"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s."
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | What was their significance for Jefferson? | 2 | What was Paramount records significance for Jefferson? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"Glenmore is a historic house in Jefferson City, Tennessee, United States.\n\nHistory\nThe three-story house was built in 1868-1869 for John Roper Branner, the President of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway. From 1868 to 1879, it was the location of the Branner Institute for Young Women, run by his brother.\n\nThe house was acquired by Milton Preston Jarnagin in 1882. It was Jarnagin who named it Glenmore. When he died, the house was inherited by his son, Frank Watkins Jarnagin, who raised Percheron horses on the property.\n\nIt was deeded to the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities in 1969-1970.\n\nArchitectural significance\nThe house was designed in the Second Empire architectural style. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since April 13, 1973.\n\nReferences\n\nHouses completed in 1869\nHouses in Jefferson County, Tennessee\nSecond Empire architecture in Tennessee\nHouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee\nNational Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Tennessee",
"Fairfax is a historic mansion in White Pine, Jefferson County, Tennessee, USA.\n\nHistory\nThe mansion was completed in 1840. It was built by Lawson D. Franklin (1801–1861), Tennessee's first millionaire, for his son, Isaac White Rodgers Franklin, Sr. (1827–1866). It was designed in the Greek Revival architectural style.\n\nSenator Herbert S. Walters grew up in this house. By 1953, it was acquired by Thomas H. Berry and his wife, Ellen McClung. They restored it a year later, in 1954. They hired Irish painter James Reynolds to do the murals in the living-room.\n\nArchitectural significance\nIt has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since April 13, 1973. The house was surveyed and photographed for the Historic American Buildings Survey, where it is called the Isaac Franklin House.\n\nReferences\n\nHouses in Jefferson County, Tennessee\nHouses completed in 1840\nGreek Revival houses in Tennessee\nHouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee\nNational Register of Historic Places in Jefferson County, Tennessee"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs"
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | Did Jefferson sing for them? | 3 | Did Jefferson sing for Paramount records? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"The Mystery Of Cabin Island is Volume 8 in the original The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories published by Grosset & Dunlap.\nThis book was written for the Stratemeyer Syndicate by Leslie McFarlane in 1929. Between 1959 and 1973 the first 38 volumes of this series were systematically revised as part of a project directed by Harriet Adams, Edward Stratemeyer's daughter. The original version of this book was rewritten in 1966 by Anne Shultes resulting in two different stories with the same title.\n\nPlot summary (revised edition)\n\nA series of adventures begins for the Hardy Boys and their friends Chet and Biff after they are invited to spend Christmas vacation on Cabin Island at the invitation of its owner, Mr. Jefferson, as a reward for recovering Jefferson's car in The Shore Road Mystery. While they are collecting the keys to the cabin from Mr. Jefferson they meet Mr. Hanleigh who is interested in purchasing the island. As well, Mr. Jefferson asks the Hardy boys to locate his grandson Johnny who has gone missing.\n\nAs the boys try to enjoy themselves, someone seems determined to spoil their fun. First, two high school dropouts vandalize their loaded ice boat, the Sea Gull, which delays their departure for Cabin Island by a few hours. Once on the island, a ghost-like hooting leads to an innocent and humorous discovery. All their groceries are stolen, and so Frank and Joe head for the coast to purchase new supplies, but not long after, they find the original stock buried in snow. Chet sees a ghost walking through the woods, as well Mr. Hanleigh and the two high school dropouts are seen sneaking around the island, apparently searching for something.\n\nAfter a series of collisions and near misses with the Sea Gull, the Hardys learn that Mr. Hanleigh is the nephew of a former servant of Mr. Jefferson and he is looking for something hidden in the fireplace. A foreign dignitary, who was earlier mistaken for a ghost due to his white robes, reveals that he is seeking a medal that was presented to the grandfather of his nation's ruler, and had been misled by Mr. Hanleigh who was pretending to be Jefferson's representative.\n\nThe Hardy boys find the missing medals hidden in the chimney and also locate Johnny, returning both to Mr. Jefferson who rewards them with a medal for each of them.\n\nPlot summary (original edition)\n\nWhile riding in their homemade iceboat on the frozen surface of Barmet Bay, Frank and Joe Hardy and Chet Morton discuss their plans for the upcoming Christmas holiday break, and decide to ask if they could rent out the namesake cabin on Cabin Island. However, a mysterious stranger chases them off the island, and on their return to shore, they nearly crash into an iceboat piloted by Ted Carson and Ike Nash, two reckless and obnoxious youths. The boys are later invited to the home of Elroy Jefferson, a man whose car they returned in The Shore Road Mystery, so he can reward them. They overhear an argument between Jefferson, the owner of Cabin Island, and a Mr. Hanleigh, who is constantly trying to buy the titular cabin for large sums of money. Mr. Jefferson initially tries to give them a monetary reward for returning his stolen Pierce Arrow (Jefferson was in Europe when the car was returned), but the boys ask if they can use his cabin for the holidays, which Mr. Jefferson grants them permission for. As time goes by on the island, the boys notice that strange things have been going on, most notably the disappearance of their supplies. Frank and Joe head to a village on the mainland to get more supplies, and end up talking to a storekeeper named Amos Grice. Grice tells the boys that Jefferson had once married a woman who would inherit the valuable Bender stamp collection from her father, and that rumor has it that Jefferson really married her for the stamps, which were turned over to Elroy when she did inherit them. Jefferson built the cabin years ago for his late wife and son to use in the summer, but while it was being constructed the stamp collection vanished along with their servant, John Sparewell, and Mrs. Jefferson died shortly thereafter. It is later revealed that after Sparewell was almost caught with the stamps, he went to Cabin Island to try to return the stamps in secret. However, he hid them in a gap in the chimney, intending to retrieve them the next day, but the gap was mortared up, sealing them up. Before Sparewell died, he willed the box of stamps to his nephew, Mr. Hanleigh, with the instructions to return it to Jefferson. Hanleigh had been trying to buy the island and prowl around it to recover the stamps, but never intended to give them back to Jefferson. Neither Hanleigh nor the boys were able to find the stamps, but when a violent storm tears the chimney apart, the box of stamps is miraculously recovered.\n\nReferences\n\nThe Hardy Boys books\n1929 American novels\n1929 children's books\n1966 American novels\n1966 children's books\nGrosset & Dunlap books",
"The Ultimate Collection is a compilation album by the American vocalist, pianist and songwriter Oleta Adams, released in 2004.\n\nTrack listing \nDisc 1\t\n\"Rhythm Of Life\" - 4:18\n\"Circle Of One\" - 3:52\n\"Get Here\" - 4:35\n\"I've Got To Sing My Song\" - 4:02\n\"You've Got To Give Me Room\" - 5:15\n\"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me\" - 5:54\n\"I Just Had To Hear Your Voice\" - 3:39\n\"Hold Me For A While\" - 5:09\n\"The Day I Stop Loving You\" - 5:02\n\"My Heart Won't Lie\" - 4:41\n\"When Love Comes To The Rescue\" - 5:14\n\"Window Of Hope\" - 4:21\n\"Oh Me, Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby)\" - 4:40\n\"I Believe You\" - 4:14\nDisc 2\n\"Blessed With You\" - 3:25\n\"No Secrets\" - 4:08\n\"You Won't Get Away\" - 5:56\n\"Never Knew Love\" - 3:21\n\"I Knew You When\" - 4:19\n\"We Will Meet Again\" - 4:46\n\"New Star\" - 4:17\n\"Once In A Lifetime\" - 5:21\n\"You Need To Be Loved\" - 4:39\n\"Between Hello And Goodbye\" - 6:11\n\"Come And Walk With Me\" - 6:07\n\"I Will Love You\" - 5:30\n\"When You Walked Into My Life\" - 4:16\n\"Learning To Love You More\" - 4:25\nDisc 3\n\"Woman In Chains\" (featuring Tears For Fears) - 6:30\n\"Bad Man's Song\" (featuring Tears For Fears) - 8:33\n\"I've Got To Sing My Song (Live)\" - 4:32\n\"Get Here (Live)\" - 4:54\n\"Slow Motion (Live)\" - 4:20\n\"Life Keeps Moving On (Live)\" - 4:35\n\"Rhythm Of Life (Reverend Jefferson's Original Dance Hall Mix)\" - 6:48\n\"Never Knew Love (Reverend Jefferson Mix)\" - 7:12\n\n2004 compilation albums\nOleta Adams compilation albums"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him."
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | Was he a hit with the public? | 4 | Was Blind Lemon Jefferson a hit with the public? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"Jason Cory Jaramillo (born October 9, 1982) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) catcher who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2009 to 2011.\n\nAmateur career\nJaramillo attended Oklahoma State University, and in 2003 he played collegiate summer baseball with the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League.\n\nProfessional career\n\nPhiladelphia Phillies\nJaramillo, who is of Mexican descent, was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the second round of the 2004 MLB draft. Jaramillo played 2004 with Short-Season A Batavia, where in 31 games, he hit .223 with 1 HR and 14 RBI. Jaramillo played 2005 with Single-A Lakewood, where in 119 games, he hit .304 with 8 HR and 63 RBI, and he was an All-Star. He was also ranked one of the top ten prospects in the Phillies system for the 2005 baseball season. Jaramillo played 2006 with Double-A Reading, where in 93 games, he hit .258 with 6 HR and 39 RBI. He also played 2 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. After the season, he played in the Arizona Fall League with Peoria, where in 17 games, he hit .379 with 2 HR and 17 RBI. Jaramillo played 2007 with Triple-A Ottawa, where in 118 games, he hit .271 with 6 HR and 56 RBI. Jaramillo played 2008 with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where in 115 games, he hit .266 with 8 HR and 39 RBI.\n\nPittsburgh Pirates\nOn December 10, 2008, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for catcher Ronny Paulino. Jaramillo made the Pirates Opening Day roster as the backup catcher to Ryan Doumit. Jaramillo made his Major League debut on April 16, 2009; he acquired his first hit in the fourth inning, off Houston Astros pitcher, Russ Ortiz. On April 21, Doumit went on the disabled list with a broken wrist, and Jaramillo became the starter, with Robinzon Díaz as his backup. He had a good April, hitting .345 with 3 RBI. He had a less solid May, and Díaz earned more starts in the month. He hit his first major league home run, on June 2 against the Mets off of Johan Santana, tying the game at 1. When Doumit returned on July 10, Jaramillo was kept, and Díaz was optioned. He played only 5 games in July, 7 games in August, and 10 in September to finish the season. In 63 games, he hit .252 with 3 HR and 26 RBI.\n\nJaramillo began 2010 as the backup catcher to Doumit. Jaramillo went 4–17 in April, 4–22 in May and 3–26 in June. On July 12, Jaramillo was demoted to Triple-A Indianapolis, and was replaced as backup catcher by Erik Kratz. When Doumit went down with a concussion on July 22, Jaramillo was recalled to split time with Kratz. He played in 4 games with the Pirates before being optioned when Chris Snyder was acquired. Jaramillo was recalled on September 7 after Indianapolis's season had ended, and Kratz was designated for assignment, making Jaramillo the third catcher. In 33 games with the Pirates, he hit .149 with 1 HR and 6 RBI.\n\nJaramillo made the 2011 Opening Day roster, but that was only because Snyder was on the disabled list to begin the season. On April 14, Jaramillo was optioned to Indianapolis. On May 27, he suffered an arm injury, and after 7 rehab games with the GCL Pirates, he returned on July 20. On September 1, Jaramillo was recalled when the rosters expanded and was used mostly off the bench. In 23 games with Pittsburgh, he hit .326 (14-43) with 3 doubles and 6 RBI. On December 7, Jaramillo was designated for assignment, and he elected free agency 5 days later.\n\nChicago Cubs\nHe signed as a minor league free agent with the Chicago Cubs on January 18, 2012. He was released by Chicago in March.\n\nMilwaukee Brewers\nJaramillo signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers on March 29, 2012. He was assigned to Double-A Huntsville and was their Opening Day catcher. On May 29, Jaramillo was promoted to Triple-A Nashville. In 34 games with the Stars, he hit .258 with 8 doubles and 12 RBI. On August 14, Jaramillo was released by the Brewers.\n\nOakland Athletics\nOn August 21, Jaramillo signed with the Oakland Athletics and was assigned to Triple-A Sacramento, where he played 11 games with. In 52 games with Nashville and Sacramento, he hit .198 with 2 HR and 17 RBI. After the season, he became a free agent.\n\nHouston Astros\nOn January 12, 2013, Jaramillo signed a minor league deal with the Houston Astros. Jaramillo began the year with Triple-A Oklahoma City, where in 23 games, he hit .130 with 4 XBH and 7 RBI. On June 1, Jaramillo was released by the Astros.\n\nSeattle Mariners\nOn June 9, Jaramillo signed with the Seattle Mariners, and was assigned to Triple-A Tacoma. In 38 games with Tacoma, he hit .257 with 2 HR and 15 RBI.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1982 births\nLiving people\nAmerican baseball players of Mexican descent\nAmerican expatriate baseball players in Canada\nBaseball players from Wisconsin\nBatavia Muckdogs players\nFlorida Complex League Phillies players\nGulf Coast Pirates players\nHuntsville Stars players\nIndianapolis Indians players\nLakewood BlueClaws players\nLehigh Valley IronPigs players\nMajor League Baseball catchers\nNashville Sounds players\nOklahoma City RedHawks players\nOrleans Firebirds players\nOttawa Lynx players\nPittsburgh Pirates players\nReading Phillies players\nScranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players\nSportspeople from Racine, Wisconsin\nSportspeople from the Milwaukee metropolitan area\nSacramento River Cats players\nTacoma Rainiers players\nOklahoma State Cowboys baseball players",
"Thomas Samuel Field (born February 22, 1987) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and Texas Rangers.\n\nProfessional career\n\nColorado Rockies\nField was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 24th round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft out of Texas State University. Field was assigned to the Short-Season A Tri-City Dust Devils, where in 56 games, Field hit .247 with 5 HR, 32 RBI and 10 SB.\n\nField played all of 2009 with the Single-A Asheville Tourists, where in 89 games, Field hit .257 with 2 HR, 32 RBI and 8 SB. Field played all of 2010 with the Class A-Advanced Modesto Nuts, where in 124 games, he hit .284 with 15 HR, 72 RBI and 16 SB. After the season, Field played with the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .209 in 18 games.\n\nField began the 2011 season with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers, where in 134 games he hit .271 with 17 HR, 61 RBI and 9 SB. On September 11, he was called up to the Rockies. He made his debut that day, and recorded his first hit in his third game (second start), a single off of Shaun Marcum. In 16 games with the Rockies that year, he hit .271 with 3 RBI.\n\nField began 2012 with the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox. On July 28, Field was recalled when Marco Scutaro was traded to the San Francisco Giants, but was optioned back to Colorado Springs the next day when Jonathan Herrera was activated from the disabled list. He went 0-2 with a walk in his 2 game stint. In 121 games with Colorado Springs, he hit .246 with 8 HR, 49 RBI and 4 SB.\n\nIn 2 seasons with the Rockies, Field hit .260/.315/.260 in 18 games with 3 RBI and 0 XBH.\n\nMinnesota Twins\nOn November 2, 2012 he was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Twins.\n\nLos Angeles Angels\nOn November 28, Field was claimed off of waivers by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.\n\nField began 2013 with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees. On April 20, Field was recalled when Mark Lowe was placed on the disabled list, but was optioned back to Salt Lake 3 days later when Nick Maronde was recalled. On July 20, Field was recalled to replace Brendan Harris, who was designated for assignment.\n\nPittsburgh Pirates\nField was designated for assignment on August 7, 2014. He was then claimed by the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 10, 2014. The Pirates designated Field for assignment on August 24, 2014.\n\nTexas Rangers\nHe was signed by the Texas Rangers on December 16, 2014, to a minor league contract. Field made his Rangers' debut on May 11, 2015 against the Kansas City Royals and hit his first career homerun in the same game. He hit another homer on May 16, 2015 against the Cleveland Indians. He was designated for assignment by the Rangers on May 30.\n\nDuring the 2015 season, Field, played for the Texas Rangers and the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate, Round Rock Express. In 14 games with the Rangers, Fields hit .195 with six runs, one double, two home runs and five RBIs. In 103 games with Round Rock, Field hit .247 with 51 runs, 23 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs and 44 RBIs.\n\nDetroit Tigers\nOn December 11, 2015, Field signed a minor-league contract with the Detroit Tigers, and was invited to spring training. He was released by the Tigers on May 6, 2016.\n\nSecond stint with Twins\nIn December 2016, Field signed a minor league contract with the Minnesota Twins. He elected free agency on November 6, 2017 and chose to retire on January 19, 2018 rather than seek employment with another organization.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1987 births\nLiving people\nAsheville Tourists players\nBaseball players from Austin, Texas\nColorado Rockies players\nColorado Springs Sky Sox players\nIndianapolis Indians players\nLos Angeles Angels players\nMajor League Baseball infielders\nModesto Nuts players\nRochester Red Wings players\nRound Rock Express players\nSalt Lake Bees players\nScottsdale Scorpions players\nTexas Rangers players\nTexas State Bobcats baseball players\nToledo Mud Hens players\nTri-City Dust Devils players\nTulsa Drillers players"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him.",
"Was he a hit with the public?",
"varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a \"simple country blues singer.\""
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | Did he set any records? | 5 | Did Blind Lemon Jefferson set any records? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"Manvel Mamoyan () is an Armenian fitness and bodybuilding trainer, fitness blogger, and three times Guinness World Records holder. He is also a multiple record holder of Armenian Book of Records (Dyutsaznagirk).\n\nBiography\n\nManvel was born on April 6, 1993 in Yerevan. Currently works as fitness and bodybuilding trainer. He has been practising sports since 10, when he started attending Judo classes.\n\nIn 2011-2013 he served in the Armenian Armed Forces.\n\nRecords \n\nUntil 18, Manvel also tried himself in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling. Manvel set his 11th record in Armenia when he was only 17. His first record was set in Dyutsaznagirk by doing sit up - abdominal exercise for 2 h. 46 min for 3511 reps. For the second time he appeared in Dyutsaznagirk for the most push-ups with one arm using back of the hand in one minute - 89 reps.\n\n2015-2016 \nAfter returning from the army, Manvel set a Guinness world record in October 23, 2015. He did 27 handstand push-ups in a minute. In order to complete one handstand push-up, Manvel’s elbows had to reach 90 degrees or less and then he had to fully straighten his arms. His legs also had to be straight or cross his ankles. He did the exercise in 48,3 seconds. Manvel didn’t have any injury before his performance, and the record was set. He dedicated his victory to the memory of the Genocide of Armenian and Yazidi people promised to update his record throughout the year.\n\n2016-2017 \nOn 25 August, 2016 Manvel dedicated his record in memory of the victims of the 2016 April Four-Day War unleashed in Nagorno-Karabakh. In response to the murder of Hayk Torosyan, Hrant Gharibyan and his compatriot Kyaram Sloyan by Azeris, Manvel Mamoyan set a new record: however, in August, 2016 he couldn’t exceed the record (84 push-ups) of the Canadian Roy Berger from his first performance in the Freedom Square, Yerevan, by reaching 83 reps. According to the Guinness World Records’ rules the athlete has a right to perform the exercise for 3 sets. Manvel managed to set the desired record from his second performance, after having a rest. By doing push-ups for 86 reps in a minute, the athlete exceeded the previous record and set a record in the Guinness World Records.\n\nIn one his interviews Manvel told about his desire to set 10 records in Guinness World Records in a year, particularly by through the Flag exercise, which was set as a record a few years ago by him and was performed for only 20 seconds. It was included in Dyutsaznagirk. He also mentioned he strives to set records more for Guinness World Records. In 2016 Manvel fell behind 5-6 seconds of setting a new world record and the record was 1 min. 5 sec. 71 millisec.\n\n2017-2018 \nIn 2017 Manvel set 4 records in handstand push-ups. He did the exercise 37 reps in a minute. With this result then he set a new record by doing 37 reps non-stop in a minute. \n\nFor his second record he did the same exercise 55 reps in 3 minutes. However, Manvel's last and most important result was doing push-ups for 352 reps in an hour. According to him, the achieved most result was 300 reps and he wished to surpass that record. \n\nIn 2017 Manvel also set a record for the Most jump squats in one minute (male), with 67 reps per minute.\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography \n \n \n\n1993 births\nLiving people\nGuinness World Records\nSportspeople from Yerevan\nMale bodybuilders",
"3 (sometimes referred to as Emerson, Berry & Palmer) were a short-lived progressive rock band formed by former Emerson, Lake & Palmer members Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer and American multi-instrumentalist Robert Berry in 1988.\n\nAfter one album, To the Power of Three, 3 split up. Emerson & Palmer reunited with Greg Lake for 1992's Black Moon and Berry would form Alliance.\n\nThey performed live, as \"Emerson and Palmer\" (Berry was onstage but unnamed), at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988, broadcast on HBO, but only performed a long medley instrumental set including Fanfare for the Common Man, Leonard Bernstein's America, and Dave Brubeck's Blue Rondo, which later became an ELP encore in their 1990s concerts. They did not perform any original ELP material without Lake, nor did they perform any 3 songs since the band's label was Geffen Records.\n\n3 performed at live venues to support their album, sometime in 1988. The three studio musicians were sometimes augmented by Paul Keller on guitar, Debra Parks and Jennifer Steele on backing vocals. Their setlist mainly consisted of material from their album, including \"Runaway\" and an extended jam version of the cover song \"Eight Miles High\". The group did a different arrangement of \"Desde La Vida\". The band did long instrumental jams based on music ELP covered including \"Hoedown\" & \"Fanfare for the Common Man\", but did not do any original ELP compositions. A long, elaborate cover of The Four Tops' \"Standing in the Shadows of Love\" was also included in the set.\n\nTwo live albums were released many years later, both on Rock Beat Records: Live Boston 88 (2015) and Live - Rockin' The Ritz (2017).\n\nIn October 2015, Emerson and Berry signed a contract with Frontiers Records to record a follow-up album at last, to be called 3.2. Emerson's death in March of the following year put a halt to that project. However, in July 2018, Berry released (as 3.2) The Rules Have Changed, built from musical ideas contributed by Emerson, but produced and performed entirely by Berry. A second 3.2 album, Third Impression, was released in 2021.\n\nBand members\nKeith Emerson - keyboards (1988–1989)\nRobert Berry - lead vocals, guitars, bass (1988–1989)\nCarl Palmer - drums, percussion (1988–1989)\n\nLive members\nPaul Keller – guitars (1988–1989)\nDebra Parks - backing vocals (1988-1989)\nJennifer Steele – backing vocals (1988–1989)\n\nDiscography\n\nStudio albums\n\nSingle\n\nReferences\n\nSee also\nEmerson, Lake & Palmer\nEmerson, Lake & Powell\n\nEnglish progressive rock groups\nRock music supergroups\nMusical groups established in 1988\nMusical groups disestablished in 1989\nMusical trios"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him.",
"Was he a hit with the public?",
"varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a \"simple country blues singer.\"",
"Did he set any records?",
"\"Matchbox Blues\" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions,"
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | Did he have a spouse or family during this time? | 6 | Did Blind Lemon Jefferson have a spouse or family during the 1920s? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | false | [
"In the law of property, a pretermitted heir is a person who would likely stand to inherit under a will, except that the testator (the person who wrote the will) did not include the person in the testator's will. Omission may occur because the testator did not know of the omitted person at the time the will was written.\n\nA will may contain a clause that explicitly disinherits any heirs unknown at the time that the will is executed, or any heirs not named in the will. While such a clause will not necessarily prevent a claim against an estate by a pretermitted heir, it may make it more difficult to succeed in such an action.\n\nPretermitted child\nOne common category of pretermitted heir is the pretermitted child, born after the writing of the will. Claims may also potentially be brought by children born outside of the decedent's marital relationship.\n\nA person who claims to be a pretermitted child of a deceased parent may bring an action in probate court to contest the parent's will. Many jurisdictions have enacted statutes that permit a pretermitted child to demand an inheritance under the will. Some statutes allow a pretermitted child to claim their intestate share, while others limit the inheritance to an amount that is comparable to devises made in the will for the children who were alive when the will was written.\n\nSome jurisdictions provide the same rights for a child who was pretermitted because, although born before the will was executed, he was not known of at the time the will was made. This may be because the child was incorrectly believed to be dead, or was adopted by the testator after the will was drafted.\n\nSome jurisdictions prohibit a pretermitted child from claiming an inheritance if the will devised substantially all of the testator's estate to the surviving spouse, and the surviving spouse is the other parent of the pretermitted child. A child may also be denied the right to take under the will as a pretermitted heir if the child received an advancement against their inheritance - an inter vivos gift from the testator of an amount equivalent to what child might have otherwise received under the will.\n\nWhen a court finds that a child was pretermitted and is entitled to inheritance, in order to provide the child with an inheritance the court may proportionally reduce the gift under the will to the decedent's other children, or may reduce gifts under the will to non-family members.\n\nPretermitted spouse\nLaws in most nations provide protection for a pretermitted spouse, a spouse whom the testator does not marry until after the execution of the will. Many jurisdictions provide that a pretermitted spouse will receive either her intestate share (what she would have received had the testator died with no will), or an elective share of the deceased spouse's estate (a set amount or formula provided by law for spouses who are fully or partially disinherited in the will).\n\nLike a pretermitted child, a pretermitted spouse may be explicitly disinherited in the will, or may be excluded from taking under the will if they received an advancement on their inheritance in anticipation of the marriage. A pretermitted spouse may also disclaim any interest in the testator's estate through an antenuptial or prenuptial agreement.\n\nReferences\n\nWills and trusts",
"Divorce in Norway can be obtained on several grounds.\n\nDivorce grounds\nThere are several grounds of divorce described in The Marriage Act.\n\nOne year legal separation\nEither spouse may demand a legal separation, and after a year has passed, a divorce.\n\nSection 20 provides that \"A spouse who finds that he or she cannot continue cohabitation may demand a separation\", while Section 21 provides \"Each of the spouses may demand a divorce when they have been separated for at least one year.\"\n\nHowever, the continuation of marital cohabitation during this period leads to the legal separation losing its effect, although this does not happen if the cohabitation, or an attempt to cohabitation, are transitional or brief.\n\nTwo years de facto separation\nIf the spouses have lived separate and apart for two years, this creates a ground of divorce.\n\nSection 22 stipulates that \"Each of the spouses may demand a divorce if they have not cohabited for at least two years.\"\n\nViolence and forced marriage\nUnlike the other previous grounds, this is a 'fault' ground, which means that a person obtains the divorce based on the wrongdoing of the other. However, the behavior must be of a serious nature, Section 23 reads: \"A spouse may demand a divorce if the other spouse has intentionally attempted to kill him or her or their children or wilfully exposed them to severe maltreatment. The same applies if the spouse has behaved in a manner that is likely to arouse grave fear of such conduct\". There is also a time limit placed on obtaining a divorce on this ground, a request must be made \"within six months after the spouse learned of the act, and not later than two years after it took place\"\n\nIn addition to the above, a spouse may also obtain a divorce if he/she has been forced into the marriage, whether by the other spouse or by somebody else.\n\nIncestuous marriage and bigamous marriage \nSection 24 provides that a person may obtain a divorce if the marriage was done contrary to Section 3. Prohibition against marriage between close relatives or Section 4. Prohibition against marriage when a previous marriage subsists.\n\nStatistics\nStatistics from the year of 2000 found that divorce on the ground of legal separation accounted for the vast majority of divorces at 93.8%, divorce of the ground of de facto separation accounted for 4.3% of divorces, abuse accounted only for 0.3%, while for 1.6% the cause was unknown.\n\nReferences\n\nNorway"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him.",
"Was he a hit with the public?",
"varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a \"simple country blues singer.\"",
"Did he set any records?",
"\"Matchbox Blues\" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions,",
"Did he have a spouse or family during this time?",
"I don't know."
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | Is there anything else interesting I should know? | 7 | Besides making hit music, is there anything else interesting I should know about Blind Lemon Jefferson? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"Metrodorus of Chios (; fl. 4th century BC) was a Greek philosopher, belonging to the school of Democritus. He is an important forerunner of Pyrrhonism and Epicureanism.\n\n \nMetrodorus was a pupil of Nessos of Chios, or, as some accounts prefer, of Democritus himself. He is said to have taught Diogenes of Smyrna, who, in turn, taught Anaxarchus. Pyrrho was Anaxarchus' student.\n\nLike Pyrrho, Metrodorus was a sceptic. According to Cicero he said, “None of us knows anything, not even this, whether we know or we do not know; nor do we know what ‘to not know’ or ‘to know’ are, nor on the whole, whether anything is or is not.” Metrodorus maintained that everything is to each person only what it appears to him to be. He is especially interesting as a forerunner of Anaxarchus and as a connecting link between atomism and Pyrrhonism.\n\nMetrodorus accepted the Democritean theory of atoms and void and the plurality of worlds. He also held a theory of his own that the stars are formed from day to day by the moisture in the air under the heat of the Sun. \n\nMetrodorus also said, \"A single ear of wheat in a large field is as strange as a single world in infinite space.\"\n\nReferences\n\n \n\n4th-century BC Greek people\n4th-century BC philosophers\nAncient Greek atomist philosophers\nAncient Chians\nClassical Greek philosophers\nAncient Skeptic philosophers",
"Quite Interesting Limited is a British research company, most notable for providing the research for the British television panel game QI (itself an abbreviation of Quite Interesting) and the Swedish version Intresseklubben, as well as other QI–related programmes and products. The company founder and chairman is John Lloyd, the creator and producer of QI, and host of the radio panel game The Museum of Curiosity, which also uses Quite Interesting Limited for its research. John Mitchinson is the company's director and also works as head of research for QI.\n\nAbout\nLloyd founded Quite Interesting Limited in 1999. It is claimed that the idea of founding the company came on Christmas Eve 1993. According to his profile on QI.com, \"he came to the sudden and alarming realisation that he didn't really know anything. Changing gear again, he started reading books for the first time since he was 17. To his horror, he discovered that he hadn't been paying attention and, with painful slowness, unearthed the closely guarded secret that the universe is astoundingly quite interesting.\"\n\nThe philosophy of the company is that it claims that there are four primal drives: food, sex, shelter and curiosity. Out of these, curiosity is supposedly the most important because, \"unlike the other three drives, it is what makes us uniquely human.\" The company claims that, \"Whatever is interesting we are interested in. Whatever is not interesting, we are even more interested in. Everything is interesting if looked at in the right way.\"\n\nThose who carry out research are known as the \"QI Elves\". Notable elves include Justin Pollard and Vitali Vitaliev. They are also responsible for helping to write the questions used on QI. People wishing to become elves are recommended to start by commenting on the forums of the QI website.\n\nProducts\n\nDVDs\n\nBooks\n\nReferences\n\nQI\nCompanies based in Oxford\nBritish companies established in 1999\nPrivately held companies of the United Kingdom"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him.",
"Was he a hit with the public?",
"varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a \"simple country blues singer.\"",
"Did he set any records?",
"\"Matchbox Blues\" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions,",
"Did he have a spouse or family during this time?",
"I don't know.",
"Is there anything else interesting I should know?",
"Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500)."
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | Why was he unhappy? | 8 | Why was Blind Lemon Jefferson unhappy with his royalties? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"Life Is Full of Possibilities is the third studio album by American electronic music producer Dntel. It was released on October 30, 2001 by Plug Research.\n\n\"(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan\", a collaboration with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, was released as a single on August 6, 2002. Dntel would collaborate with Gibbard again for an entire album, Give Up, released in 2003 under the name The Postal Service. The song \"Life Is Full of Possibilities\" includes a repeating sample of Bloop, a sound of undetermined origin.\n\nA two-disc remastered deluxe edition of Life Is Full of Possibilities was released on October 24, 2011 by Sub Pop, which featured four additional songs not included on the initial release, along with remixed versions of other songs from the album.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nCredits are adapted from the album's liner notes.\n\nMusicians\n Dntel – music\n Meredith Figurine – vocals on \"Suddenly Is Sooner Than You Think\"\n Ben Gibbard – vocals on \"(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan\"\n Chris Gunst – vocals on \"Umbrella\"\n Rachel Haden – vocals on \"Why I'm So Unhappy\"\n Paul Larson – guitar on \"Last Songs\"\n Brian McMahan – guitar on \"Why I'm So Unhappy\"\n Mia Doi Todd – vocals on \"Anywhere Anyone\"\n\nAdditional personnel\n Low Culture – design\n Brian Tamborello – photography\n D. Zelonky – mastering\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n2001 albums\nDntel albums\nPlug Research albums",
"Johann Knüpfer (1866–1910) was a schizophrenic outsider artist and one of the \"schizophrenic masters\" profiled by Hans Prinzhorn in his field-defining work Artistry of the Mentally Ill.\n\nKnüpfer was a baker's apprentice for three years as a youth before moving to a large city where he worked in a cement factory and learned the trade of locksmithing. His friends persuaded him to marry, but the union was unhappy from the start. He was an alcoholic and an abusive husband, and mistrusted not only his wife but everyone he knew. He attempted suicide in 1902 and was committed soon afterwards.\n\nIt became evident that he had been having paranoiac delusions for years, and visions in which Christ explained why he was being persecuted. He told psychiatrists that \"no one had suffered as much, not even Christ\" (Prinzhorn 1972, p. 172).\n\nHis works can be divided into two categories, the formal religious images covered with oracular inscriptions and the paintings of memories from his youth. Both categories display a preoccupation with symmetry and a fascination with circles.\n\nResources\n\n Prinzhorn, Hans. Artistry of the mentally ill: a contribution to the psychology and psychopathology of configuration. Trans. Eric von Brockdorff. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 1972. .\n\n1866 births\n1910 deaths\nOutsider artists\nPeople with schizophrenia\n19th-century German painters\n19th-century male artists\n20th-century German painters\n20th-century male artists\nGerman male painters"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him.",
"Was he a hit with the public?",
"varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a \"simple country blues singer.\"",
"Did he set any records?",
"\"Matchbox Blues\" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions,",
"Did he have a spouse or family during this time?",
"I don't know.",
"Is there anything else interesting I should know?",
"Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500).",
"Why was he unhappy?",
"In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released"
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | Was any action taken in regard to royalties? | 9 | Was any action taken by Blind Lemon Jefferson in regard to royalties? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | (this information has been disputed); | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"Philip Collins Ltd v Davis [2000] 3 All ER 808 is an English unjust enrichment case, an example of a restitution claim and the change of position defence.\n\nFacts\nPhil Collins released Serious Hits… Live! with 15 tracks in 1990. Rahmlee Davis and Louis Satterfield contributed performances on five tracks and received album royalties via Collins' publishing company Philip Collins Ltd. In 1997, Collins said they had been mistakenly overpaid by a factor of three. They had been paid as if they had performed on all fifteen tracks, but they had only performed on five. To reverse this alleged unjust enrichment, Collins proposed to set off the overpaid royalties on future royalties. Davis and Satterfield argued back they were entitled to royalties without the pro rata reduction, and raised both estoppel and change of position defences.\n\nJudgment\nJonathan Parker J held Collins had overpaid Davis and Satterfield and he was entitled to set future royalties off against half of the sums overpaid. He said the overpayment was a mistake of fact, because Collins thought they had played in all 15 tracks. Collins was not estopped from maintaining there was overpayment of royalties because there was never any assumption between the parties that Davis and Satterfield would get royalties for all 15 tracks and there was no acquiescence in the assumption. Overpayment was not acquiescence. There was no evidence Davis and Satterfield ever thought they were entitled. The overpayments did not amount to representations that they were (so no estoppel by representation). But the fact of overpayment did result in a general change of position on Davis and Satterfield's part. It increased their level of outgoings. However, the defence of change of position was not an “all or nothing” doctrine and, in this case, it would be fair to allow the defence to cover one half of the overpayments (Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd [1991] 2 AC 548 applied). Finally, if Collins had made a claim to recover the overpayments his claim would have been statute barred under the Limitation Act 1980, s.5 because it was six years. But here it was not a return of overpayments, only an equitable set off against future royalties.\n\nThe following is an excerpt about the change of position defence at work.\n\nSee also\nEnglish unjust enrichment\n\nNotes\n\nEnglish unjust enrichment case law\nHigh Court of Justice cases\n2000 in case law\n2000 in British law\nPhil Collins",
"Murray v United Kingdom was a legal case heard by the European Court of Human Rights in 1994 to determine if part of the United Kingdom's anti-terrorism laws were in violation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.\n\nThe case was referred to the Court on 7 April 1993 from an application lodged on 28 September 1988 relating to events occurring in 1982. The case was heard in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg, on 24 January 1994 and the Chamber delivered their judgement on 28 October 1994.\n\nThe applicants were six Irish citizens, all members of the same family: Margaret Murray, Thomas Murray, Mark Murray, Allana Murray, Michaela Murray and Rosena Murray.\n\nIn June 1982 two brothers of Margaret Murray were convicted in the United States in connection with the supplying of weapons to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Mrs Murray, her husband Thomas, and their four children were then residing in Belfast.\n\nOn the morning of 26 July, Margaret Murray was taken into custody by the Army on suspicion of fund-raising for the Provisional IRA in connection with her brothers' activities and taken to the Springfield Road screening centre. The style and procedure of her arrest was under section 14 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978, her suspected offences were contained with section 21 of the act and also section 10 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1976.\n\nAt Springfield Road, Mrs Murray gave her name but refused to answer any other questions and she also declined to be photographed or to submit to an examination by a medical orderly. She sat through two short interviews and was also photographed without her knowledge or consent. She was released after two hours without being charged; the \"screening proforma\" record form did not list any offence.\n\nOn 9 February 1984 Mrs Murray brought an action before the High Court against the Ministry of Defence for false imprisonment and other torts, arguing that her arrest and detention were illegal on a number of grounds - notably that they had been without genuine suspicion that she had committed an offence or any genuine intention to question her, it had been a \"fishing expedition\" for improper purposes. In his judgment of 25 October 1985 the judge dismissed all the plaintiff's arguments. Mrs Murray took her case to the Court of Appeal, which unanimously rejected her claims on 20 February 1987. The case was appealed to the House of Lords – on the manner of the arrest, the use of the screening proforma, and the length of detention – and was unanimously rejected on 25 May 1988.\n\nThe Murrays applied to the ECHR, as previously noted, in 1988. Mrs Murray stating that her arrest and detention were a violation of Article 5 (paragraphs 1, 2 and 5) and that the photograph and record taking was in breach of Article 8. Her family also applied under the same parts of Article 5 because they had been required to assemble in a single room of their house while Mrs Murray prepared to leave with the Army. They also applied under Article 8 in regard to the recording and retention of personal details. The entire family also applied that under Article 8 regarding the entry and visual search of their home and under Article 13 that no effective remedies existed under domestic law.\n\nIn February 1993 the Commission supported the Murrays' application in part. There had been a violation of Article 5, but no violation of Article 8, or of Article 13 in regard to the entry and search, or the taking and keeping of a photograph and personal details, or concerning the lack of remedies in domestic law. The case went to a public hearing on 24 January 1994.\n\nAt the hearing the Court gave significant weight to the need for a democratic society to protect itself against the threat of organised terrorism and to the problems involved in the arrest and detention of persons suspected of terrorist-linked offences.\n\nThe Court dismissed Mrs Murray's claims against her arrest and detention under 5(1)(c); dismissed her contention that she had not been informed promptly of the reasons for the arrest and of any charge (5(2)). Since there had been no violation of 5(1) or 5(2) in the Court's opinion there could be no consideration of 5(5). The Court decided that there had been no violation of Article 8 as the Army's action had been in accordance with the law, as contained in paragraph two of the Article, and had not been disproportionate to the aim pursued. The Court dismissed the Murrays' claims of a violation of Article 13.\n\nThe Court's decisions were by majority – 14–4 in regard of Article 5(1), 13–5 in regard of Article 5(2), 13–5 in regard of Article 5(5), 15–3 in regard of Article 8, and unanimous in regard of Article 13.\n\nExternal links\n ECHR judgment\n\nArticle 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights\nArticle 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights\nEuropean Court of Human Rights cases involving the United Kingdom\n1994 in British law\n1994 in case law"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him.",
"Was he a hit with the public?",
"varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a \"simple country blues singer.\"",
"Did he set any records?",
"\"Matchbox Blues\" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions,",
"Did he have a spouse or family during this time?",
"I don't know.",
"Is there anything else interesting I should know?",
"Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500).",
"Why was he unhappy?",
"In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released",
"Was any action taken in regard to royalties?",
"(this information has been disputed);"
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | Did he ever leave Paramount? | 10 | Did Blind Lemon Jefferson ever leave Paramount records? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | ). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"The Paramount at Buckhead is a 478 ft (146 m) tall residential skyscraper in Atlanta, Georgia, and the tallest building in The Alliance Center complex. It was constructed between 2002 and 2004, and has 40 floors above ground and 5 floors below ground. It is the 21st tallest building in Atlanta. The Paramount at Buckhead is the tallest residential structure ever built using tunnelform concrete construction.\n\nReferences \n\nResidential skyscrapers in Atlanta\nResidential condominiums in the United States",
"Loyal Griggs, A.S.C. (August 15, 1906May 6, 1978), was an American cinematographer.\n\nGriggs joined the staff of Paramount Pictures in 1924 after graduating from school and initially worked at the studio's process department. He was promoted from assistant photographer to second unit photographer to camera process photographer, before becoming director of photography for three 1951 releases: Crosswinds, Passage West and The Last Outpost.\n\nGriggs won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for the 1953 Western Shane. \nHe was part of the production team that received an Academy Honorary Award at the 11th Academy Awards for their efforts on the Paramount film Spawn of the North.\n\nGriggs' other Paramount films as cinematographer included the 1954 musical White Christmas, the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille epic The Ten Commandments, and the Jerry Lewis comedies The Sad Sack (1957) and Visit to a Small Planet (1960). He was also the cinematographer on George Stevens' 1965 United Artists release The Greatest Story Ever Told as well as Otto Preminger's World War II drama of that same year, In Harm's Way. His final film was the 1971 American International Pictures comedy Bunny O'Hare starring Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine.\n\nSelected filmography\nHot News (1928)\nWhite Christmas (1954)\nThe Ten Commandments (1956)\nThe Sad Sack (1957)\nVisit to a Small Planet (1960)\nThe Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)\nIn Harm's Way (1965)\nBunny O'Hare (1971)\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nBest Cinematographer Academy Award winners\nAmerican cinematographers\nAcademy Honorary Award recipients\n1906 births\n1978 deaths"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him.",
"Was he a hit with the public?",
"varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a \"simple country blues singer.\"",
"Did he set any records?",
"\"Matchbox Blues\" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions,",
"Did he have a spouse or family during this time?",
"I don't know.",
"Is there anything else interesting I should know?",
"Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500).",
"Why was he unhappy?",
"In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released",
"Was any action taken in regard to royalties?",
"(this information has been disputed);",
"Did he ever leave Paramount?",
"). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him,"
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | How did that move go? | 11 | How did Blind Lemon Jefferson move to Okeh records go? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | ". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Texas
Guitarists from Texas
African-American male singer-songwriters
African-American guitarists
20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"Words Move is a 4-track EP by Get Smart!, released on Syntax Records on December 8, 1981. It was recorded at Ramona Studios in Lawrence, KS and produced by Dave Stuckey, of the Dave and Deke Combo. The track \"Eat, Sleep A Go-Go\" from this EP was included on the Sub Pop #5 cassette compilation.\n\nTrack listing\nSide 1:\n\"Disillusion\" - 2:03\n\"Where Did This Week Go?\" - 1:55\n\nSide 2:\n\"Eat, Sleep A Go-Go\" - 2:17\n\"This Is Style\" - 2:48\n\nReception\n \"Get Smart! is a trio of Kansans with brains and a beat. You may prefer bassist Lisa Wertman's vocals over guitarist Marc Koch's but eventually every stark melody on this EP will wheedle its way into your head (and then move onto your feet). This seven incher also features the same version of GS! smash hit \"Eat, Sleep A Go-Go\" that you heard on Sub Pop 5\" (New York Rocker, June 1982) \n\"We're particularly impressed with Words Move, the new four-song EP debut from Get Smart!. Highlights are \"Where Did This Week Go?\" a song about being dog-tired to a slowed down B-52's beat (or Pylon at its natural speed) and \"Eat, Sleep A Go-Go,\" which is minimal to Cramps proportions with its own unique set of dissonances.\" (Cary Baker, Illinois Entertainer, 1982) \n\"Four-song offering of sparse brains-and-beat music from a Lawrence, KS new-rock trio that already has reaped some praise with independent releases.\" (Bart Becker, Lincoln Evening Journal, 1982) \n\"Twangy, big-beat minimalism with a Dave Byrne-ish singer\" (Trouser Press, 1982) \n\"Get Smart sports a catchy, beaty minimalism and a modern \"lost in a supermarket\" viewpoint. A strong debut, more encouraging new music from the Midwest, I'm looking forward to hearing more. Sharp packaging too.\" (Jim Manion, The Bloomington Free Rider, 1982)\n\nPersonnel\nMarc Koch - vocals, guitar\nLisa Wertman Crowe - vocals, bass\nFrank Loose - drums\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\nGet Smart! discography\n\n1981 debut EPs\nGet Smart! (band) albums",
"Ryu Shikun (柳時熏, born December 8, 1971 in Seoul, South Korea) is a professional Go player.\n\nBiography \nRyu Shikun is a Go player who grew up in Seoul. He did not move to Japan until he was 15, and just 2 years later he turned professional. He was promoted to 9 dan in 2003.\n\nTitles & runners-up\n\nSee also\nGo players\n\nExternal links\nGoBase Profile\nNihon Ki-in Profile (Japanese)\n\n1971 births\nLiving people\nSouth Korean Go players"
] |
[
"Blind Lemon Jefferson",
"Success with Paramount Records",
"When did he begin with Paramount records?",
"Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s.",
"What was their significance for Jefferson?",
"Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs",
"Did Jefferson sing for them?",
"Jefferson's \"old-fashioned\" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him.",
"Was he a hit with the public?",
"varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a \"simple country blues singer.\"",
"Did he set any records?",
"\"Matchbox Blues\" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions,",
"Did he have a spouse or family during this time?",
"I don't know.",
"Is there anything else interesting I should know?",
"Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500).",
"Why was he unhappy?",
"In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released",
"Was any action taken in regard to royalties?",
"(this information has been disputed);",
"Did he ever leave Paramount?",
"). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him,",
"How did that move go?",
"\". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount."
] | C_df27e28f6d4641bd862f0190f558f719_0 | What was the only recording? | 12 | What was the only Blind Lemon Jefferson recording for Okeh? | Blind Lemon Jefferson | Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category. Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar. Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928. CANNOTANSWER | "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". | Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929) was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the "Father of the Texas Blues".
Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson's performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.
Biography
Early life
Jefferson was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas. He was the youngest of seven (or possibly eight) children born to Alex and Clarissa Jefferson, who were African-American sharecroppers. Disputes regarding the date of his birth derive from contradictory census records and draft registration records. By 1900, the family was farming southeast of Streetman, Texas. Jefferson's birth date was recorded as September 1893 in the 1900 census. The 1910 census, taken in May, before his birthday, confirms his year of birth as 1893 and indicated that the family was farming northwest of Wortham, near his birthplace.
In his 1917 draft registration, Jefferson gave his birthday as October 26, 1894, stating that he lived in Dallas, Texas, and had been blind since birth. In the 1920 census, he is recorded as having returned to Freestone County and was living with his half-brother, Kit Banks, on a farm between Wortham and Streetman.
Jefferson began playing the guitar in his early teens and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties. He became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on street corners. According to his cousin Alec Jefferson, quoted in the notes for Blind Lemon Jefferson, Classic Sides:
In the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with the blues musician Lead Belly. Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum section of Dallas. It is likely that he moved to Deep Ellum on a more permanent basis by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of playing blues guitar in exchange for Walker's occasional services as a guide. By the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support a wife and, possibly, a child. However, firm evidence of his marriage and children has not been found.
Beginning of recording career
Prior to Jefferson, few artists had recorded solo voice and blues guitar, the first of which were the vocalist Sara Martin and the guitarist Sylvester Weaver, who recorded "Longing for Daddy Blues", probably on October 24, 1923. The first self-accompanied solo performer of a self-composed blues song was Lee Morse, whose "Mail Man Blues" was recorded on October 7, 1924. Jefferson's music is uninhibited and represented the classic sounds of everyday life, from a honky-tonk to a country picnic, to street corner blues, to work in the burgeoning oil fields (a reflection of his interest in mechanical objects and processes).
Jefferson did what few had ever done before him – he became a successful solo guitarist and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. Unlike many artists who were "discovered" and recorded in their normal venues, Jefferson was taken to Chicago in December 1925 or January 1926 to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, his first two recordings from this session were gospel songs ("I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" and "All I Want Is That Pure Religion"), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates. A second recording session was held in March 1926. His first releases under his own name, "Booster Blues" and "Dry Southern Blues", were hits. Their popularity led to the release of the other two songs from that session, "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues", which became a runaway success, with sales in six figures. He recorded about 100 tracks between 1926 and 1929; 43 records were issued, all but one for Paramount Records. Paramount's studio techniques and quality were poor, and the recordings were released with poor sound quality. In May 1926, Paramount re-recorded Jefferson performing his hits "Got the Blues" and "Long Lonesome Blues" in the superior facilities at Marsh Laboratories, and subsequent releases used those versions. Both versions appear on compilation albums.
Success with Paramount Records
Largely because of the popularity of artists such as Jefferson and his contemporaries Blind Blake and Ma Rainey, Paramount became the leading recording company for the blues in the 1920s. Jefferson's earnings reputedly enabled him to buy a car and employ chauffeurs (this information has been disputed); he was given a Ford car "worth over $700" by Mayo Williams, Paramount's connection with the black community. This was a common compensation for recording rights in that market. Jefferson is known to have done an unusual amount of traveling for the time in the American South, which is reflected in the difficulty of placing his music in a single regional category.
Jefferson's "old-fashioned" sound and confident musicianship made it easy to market him. His skillful guitar playing and impressive vocal range opened the door for a new generation of male solo blues performers, such as Furry Lewis, Charlie Patton, and Barbecue Bob. He stuck to no musical conventions, varying his riffs and rhythm and singing complex and expressive lyrics in a manner exceptional at the time for a "simple country blues singer." According to the North Carolina musician Walter Davis, Jefferson played on the streets in Johnson City, Tennessee, during the early 1920s, at which time Davis and the entertainer Clarence Greene learned the art of blues guitar.
Jefferson was reputedly unhappy with his royalties (although Williams said that Jefferson had a bank account containing as much as $1500). In 1927, when Williams moved to Okeh Records, he took Jefferson with him, and Okeh quickly recorded and released Jefferson's "Matchbox Blues", backed with "Black Snake Moan". It was his only Okeh recording, probably because of contractual obligations with Paramount. Jefferson's two songs released on Okeh have considerably better sound quality than his Paramount records at the time. When he returned to Paramount a few months later, "Matchbox Blues" had already become such a hit that Paramount re-recorded and released two new versions, with the producer Arthur Laibly. In 1927, Jefferson recorded another of his classic songs, the haunting "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" (again using the pseudonym Deacon L. J. Bates), and two other uncharacteristically spiritual songs, "He Arose from the Dead" and "Where Shall I Be". "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" was so successful that it was re-recorded and re-released in 1928.
Death and grave
Jefferson died in Chicago at 10:00 a.m. on December 19, 1929, of what his death certificate said was "probably acute myocarditis". For many years, rumors circulated that a jealous lover had poisoned his coffee, but a more likely explanation is that he died of a heart attack after becoming disoriented during a snowstorm. Some have said that he died of a heart attack after being attacked by a dog in the middle of the night. In his 1983 book Tolbert's Texas, Frank X. Tolbert claims that he was killed while being robbed of a large royalty payment by a guide escorting him to Chicago Union Station to catch a train home to Texas. Paramount Records paid for the return of his body to Texas by train, accompanied by the pianist William Ezell.
Jefferson was buried at Wortham Negro Cemetery (later Wortham Black Cemetery) in Wortham, Freestone County, Texas. His grave was unmarked until 1967, when a Texas historical marker was erected in the general area of his plot; however, the precise location of the grave is still unknown. By 1996, the cemetery and marker were in poor condition, and a new granite headstone was erected in 1997. The inscription reads: "Lord, it's one kind favor I'll ask of you, see that my grave is kept clean." The words come from the lyrics of his own song, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". In 2007, the cemetery's name was changed to Blind Lemon Memorial Cemetery, and his gravesite is kept clean by a cemetery committee in Wortham.
Discography and awards
Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin' Hopkins.
He was the author of many songs covered by later musicians, including the classic "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean". Another of his songs, "Matchbox Blues", was recorded more than 30 years later by the Beatles, in a rockabilly version credited to Carl Perkins, who did not credit Jefferson on his 1955 recording. Fellow blues artist B.B. King credited Jefferson as one of his biggest musical influences, next to Lonnie Johnson, Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame selected Jefferson's 1927 recording of "Matchbox Blues" as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. Jefferson was among the inaugural class of blues musicians inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Cover versions
Canned Heat, "One Kind Favor," on "Living the Blues", released in 1968, (credited: "Arr. & Adpt. by L.T.Tatman III")
Bukka White, "Jack o' Diamonds", on 1963 Isn't 1962, released in the 1990s
Bob Dylan, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Bob Dylan
Grateful Dead, "One Kind Favor" (a version of "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"), on Birth of the Dead
Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, John Kahn, Bil Vitt, "One Kind Favor", on Keystone Encores Volume I
John Hammond, "One Kind Favor", on John Hammond Live
B.B. King, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on One Kind Favor
Peter, Paul & Mary, "One Kind Favor", on In Concert
Kelly Joe Phelps, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Roll Away the Stone
The Dream Syndicate, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on Ghost Stories
Counting Crows, "Mean Jumper Blues". Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz accidentally claimed credit for "Mean Jumper Blues" in the liner notes of the deluxe edition reissue of the album August and Everything After. The cover was featured as part of a selection of early demo tracks. Immediately after the error was brought to his attention, Duritz apologized in his personal blog.
Laibach, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on SPECTRE
Pat Donohue, "One Kind Favor", live on Garrison Keillor's radio program A Prairie Home Companion and later released on the CD Radio Blues
Corey Harris, "Jack o' Diamonds", on Fish Ain't Bitin''', released in 1997
Diamanda Galás, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", on The Singer
Phish, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean", live at Madison Square Garden, New York, August 4, 2017
Scott H. Biram, "Jack of Diamonds" on Nothin' But Blood released in 2014
Steve Suffet, "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" on Now the Wheel Has Turned, released in 2005.
In popular culture
In 2009, the Grammy-nominated R&B act Yarbrough and Peoples were featured in the off-Broadway play Blind Lemon Blues.
A tribute song, "My Buddy Blind Papa Lemon", was recorded for Paramount Records in 1932 by King Solomon Hill. The record was long considered lost, but a copy was located by John Tefteller in 2002.
Geoff Muldaur refers to Jefferson in the song "Got to Find Blind Lemon" on the album The Secret Handshake.
Art Evans portrayed Jefferson in the 1976 film Leadbelly, directed by Gordon Parks.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds recorded the song "Blind Lemon Jefferson" on the album The Firstborn Is Dead.
The 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas, in one of its downloadable add-ons Old World Blues, features an AI jukebox named Blind Diode Jefferson. The AI claims to have been a blues musician before his music hard drives were stripped from him. The voicing of the AI can be characterized as a Southern drawl in homage to Jefferson.
In the 2003 movie Masked and Anonymous, Bobby Cupid (Luke Wilson) gives his friend Jack Fate (Bob Dylan) Jefferson's guitar, which he claims was used in recording "Matchbox Blues".
Cheech & Chong parodied Jefferson as "Blind Melon Chitlin'" on their self-titled 1971 album Cheech and Chong, on their 1985 album Get Out of My Room, and in a stage routine that can be seen in their 1983 film Still Smokin'.
Chet Atkins called Jefferson "one of my first finger-picking influences" in the song "Nine Pound Hammer", on the album The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show.
A practical joke played on Down Beat magazine editor Gene Lees in the late 1950s took on a life of its own and became a long-running hoax when one of his correspondents included a reference to the blues legend "Blind Orange Adams" in an article published in the magazine, an obvious parody of Jefferson's name. References to the nonexistent Adams appeared in subsequent articles in Down Beat over the next few years.
The American dramatic film Black Snake Moan was named after one of his only songs recorded for Okeh Records.
Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup took the title of his classic song "That's All Right," which launched the career of Elvis Presley, from a lyric in Jefferson's "Black Snake Moan".
According to some sources, the "Jefferson" in the name of the rock group Jefferson Airplane references Blind Lemon Jefferson: founding member and blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen was nicknamed "Blind Lemon Jefferson Airplane" by a friend, and suggested the last part as the name of the band. However, other sources give other origins for the name, involving Blind Lemon Jefferson either more indirectly or not at all.
In June 2021, Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" plays in the Season 6 finale of Fear the Walking Dead while survivalist character Victor Strand discovers an apartment of artwork and historical artifacts as he awaits his fate.
See also
List of nicknames of blues musicians
References
Sources
Govenar, Alan; Brakefield, Jay F. (1998). Deep Ellum and Central Track: Where the Black and White Worlds of Dallas Converged. Denton: University of North Texas Press. .
Further reading
Evans, David (2000). "Musical Innovation in the Blues of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 83–116.
Monge, Luigi (2000). "The Language of Blind Lemon Jefferson: The Covert Theme of Blindness". Black Music Research Journal. Vol. 20, no. 1, Blind Lemon Jefferson (Spring 2000). pp. 35–81.
Monge, Luigi; Evans, David (2003). "New Songs of Blind Lemon Jefferson". Journal of Texas Music History. Vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall 2003).
Pisigin, Valeriy (2013). The Coming of the Blues (Пришествие блюза). Vol. 4. Country Blues. Blind Lemon Jefferson. — M.: 2013. — C.320. .
Swinton, Paul. (1997) A Twist of Lemon. Blues & Rhythm, Issue No. 121, August 1997.
Uzzel, Robert L. (2002). Blind Lemon Jefferson: His Life, His Death, and His Legacy''. Austin, Texas: Eakin Press. .
External links
Blues Foundation Hall of Fame induction
Illustrated Blind Lemon Jefferson discography
The lyrics of his songs
1893 births
1929 deaths
American blues guitarists
American blues singer-songwriters
American street performers
Blind musicians
Gospel blues musicians
American folk musicians
People from Freestone County, Texas
Musicians from Dallas
Gennett Records artists
Okeh Records artists
Texas blues musicians
Paramount Records artists
American acoustic guitarists
American male guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
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Guitarists from Texas
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20th-century African-American male singers | true | [
"“What It Was, Was Football” is a monologue by actor-comedian Andy Griffith. The monologue is a description of a college football game, as seen by a naive country preacher who attends the game by accident and is entirely puzzled by it.\n\nProduction\nAccording to radio host Dr. Demento, What It Was, Was Football was originally an old vaudeville routine that Griffith, who claimed to have improvised the routine shortly before its first performance, \"may have heard ... and subconsciously drawn inspiration from\".\n\nAt Griffith's request, Milton Alderfer (who was only 19 at the time), recorded and produced the original master tape in Greensboro, North Carolina. The master was then sent to Chapel Hill, North Carolina and mass-produced by the Colonial Records label in late 1953. Soon, after Colonial had sold nearly 50,000 copies of the record, Capitol Records took over distribution and ultimately sold nearly 800,000 copies. It also shot into the Top 10 in the Billboard record charts, peaking at #9 in February 1954. \n\nWhat It Was, Was Football (which remains one of the biggest-selling comedy records of all time) was instrumental in launching Griffith's career in television, stage, and film. On the original single, the monologue is credited to \"Deacon Andy Griffith.\"\n\nGriffith made an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1954, in large part due to the popularity of the record.\n\nWhat It Was, Was Football was printed in Mad magazine in 1958, with illustrations by artist George Woodbridge. Most of the text of the recording is printed verbatim with faithful renderings of Griffith's accent as heard on the recording; however, Griffith's original climactic description of \"the awfullest fight that I have ever seen...in my life!\" is moved to an earlier position in the printed version. Also, while the original recording makes no direct reference to a specific university as a setting for the game witnessed, the illustrations in the Mad version refer to both the Ivy League and University of Notre Dame. Due to licensing issues, this adaptation had to be omitted from the Totally MAD CD-ROM collection of the magazine's run.\n\nIn 1987, Griffith made an appearance on The Tonight Show. During the interview, guest host Bill Cosby told Griffith that he had purchased Griffith's recording of What It Was, Was Football. Cosby then told Griffith that he had performed it at school and received an A, much to Griffith's surprise and delight.\n \nIn 1997, the monologue was made into a short film.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nYouTube: What it Was, Was Football\n\nMonologues\nColonial Records\nSpoken word\n1953 singles\nComedy albums by American artists\nSpoken word albums by American artists\nCapitol Records singles",
"What You Hear Is What You Get – Live at Carnegie Hall is a live album by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner released on United Artists Records in 1971.\n\nRecording and release \nWhat You Hear Is What You Get – Live at Carnegie Hall is a live recording of Ike & Tina Turner's doubleheader at the Carnegie Hall in New York City on April 1, 1971. The second show carried on into the early hours of April 2. Musician Fats Domino was the opening act.\n\nIn addition to Ike Turner-penned songs, the album includes interpretations of songs from Otis Redding, Sly Stone and the Family Stone, the Rolling Stones and their latest hit at the time, \"Proud Mary\" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The album was released three months after the concert in July 1971. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard Soul LPs chart and No. 25 on the Top LPs chart. It was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1972.\n\nWhat You Hear Is What You Get – Live at Carnegie Hall was the subject of the TV special Faberge Album of the Month, a series which featured \"top contemporary recording artists and their hit LP's.\"\n\nCritical reception \n\nThe album was chosen as Pick of the Week for Record World magazine.\n\nRecord World (July 3, 1971): \"This boisterous two-record volume is what a Carnegie Hall audience got live not too long ago. When those who have paid their dues are discussed, Ike and Tina just about head the list. Tops.\"\n\nBillboard (July 3, 1971): This 2 record set of the Ike & Tina Turner revue's recent Carnegie Hall concert only hints at the charge of excitement generated by the Ikettes, Ike, and, especially Tina Turner before the capacity crowd. \"Proud Mary,\" \"Honky Tonk Women,\" \"Ooh Poo Pah Doo,\" and excitingly visual \"I've Been Loving You Too Long,\" suggests the frenzied entertainment they provided.\n\nReissues \nWhat You Hear Is What You Get – Live at Carnegie Hall was reissued on CD by EMI Records in 1996. In 2012, it was digitally remastered and released on CD by BGO Records.\n\nTrack listing\n\nChart performance\n\nCertification and sales\n\nReferences \n\n1971 live albums\nIke & Tina Turner live albums\nAlbums produced by Ike Turner\nUnited Artists Records live albums\nLive funk rock albums"
] |
[
"James Cook",
"Newfoundland"
] | C_45fa6db2110848ccb0f8e088f5106087_1 | What did he do in Newfoundland? | 1 | What did James Cook do in Newfoundland? | James Cook | During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel HMS Pembroke. With others in Pembroke's crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography, and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard HMS Grenville. He surveyed the north-west stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair". His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would be used into the 20th century--copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years. Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, it was at this time that Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go". CANNOTANSWER | His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, | James Cook (7 November 172814 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HMS Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In these voyages, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers. He surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook was attacked and killed in 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap the ruling chief of the island of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, to reclaim a cutter taken from one of his ships after his crew took wood from a burial ground. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.
Early life and family
James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 (NS) in the village of Marton in the North Riding of Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November (N.S.) in the parish church of St Cuthbert, where his name can be seen in the church register. He was the second of eight children of James Cook (1693–1779), a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, and his locally born wife, Grace Pace (1702–1765), from Thornaby-on-Tees. In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years' schooling, he began work for his father, who had been promoted to farm manager. Despite not being formally educated he became capable in mathematics, astronomy and charting by the time of his Endeavour voyage. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks' Cottage, his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, Australia, having been moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick, in 1934.
In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved to the fishing village of Staithes, to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.
After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to Sanderson's friends John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels, plying coal along the English coast. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy—all skills he would need one day to command his own ship.
His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea. After passing his examinations in 1752, he soon progressed through the merchant navy ranks, starting with his promotion in that year to mate aboard the collier brig Friendship. In 1755, within a month of being offered command of this vessel, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, when Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years' War. Despite the need to start back at the bottom of the naval hierarchy, Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service and entered the Navy at Wapping on 17 June 1755.
Cook married Elizabeth Batts, the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of the Bell Inn in Wapping and one of his mentors, on 21 December 1762 at St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex. The couple had six children: James (1763–1794), Nathaniel (1764–1780, lost aboard which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–1771), Joseph (1768–1768), George (1772–1772) and Hugh (1776–1793, who died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge). When not at sea, Cook lived in the East End of London. He attended St Paul's Church, Shadwell, where his son James was baptised. Cook has no direct descendants—all of his children died before having children of their own.
Start of Royal Navy career
Cook's first posting was with , serving as able seaman and master's mate under Captain Joseph Hamar for his first year aboard, and Captain Hugh Palliser thereafter. In October and November 1755, he took part in Eagle'''s capture of one French warship and the sinking of another, following which he was promoted to boatswain in addition to his other duties. His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he was briefly master of Cruizer, a small cutter attached to Eagle while on patrol.
In June 1757 Cook formally passed his master's examinations at Trinity House, Deptford, qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet. He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig.
Newfoundland
During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel . With others in Pembrokes crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard . He surveyed the northwest stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time, Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair".
While in Newfoundland, Cook also conducted astronomical observations, in particular of the eclipse of the sun on 5 August 1766. By obtaining an accurate estimate of the time of the start and finish of the eclipse, and comparing these with the timings at a known position in England it was possible to calculate the longitude of the observation site in Newfoundland. This result was communicated to the Royal Society in 1767.
His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's maps were used into the 20th century, with copies being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years.
Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go".
First voyage (1768–1771)
On 25 May 1768, the Admiralty commissioned Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun which, when combined with observations from other places, would help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Cook, at age 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command. For its part, the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay.
The expedition sailed aboard , departing England on 26 August 1768. Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis.
Cook then sailed to New Zealand where he mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. With the aid of Tupaia, a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the Māori. He then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.
On 23 April, he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point, noting in his journal: "... and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the C[l]othes they might have on I know not." On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula. Cook originally named the area "Stingray Bay", but later he crossed this out and named it "Botany Bay" after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. It is here that Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the Gweagal.
After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards. He stopped at Bustard Bay (now known as Seventeen Seventy) on 23 May 1770. On 24 May, Cook and Banks and others went ashore. Continuing north, on 11 June a mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770". The ship was badly damaged, and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach (near the docks of modern Cooktown, Queensland, at the mouth of the Endeavour River). The voyage then continued and at about midday on 22 August 1770, they reached the northernmost tip of the coast and, without leaving the ship, Cook named it York Cape (now Cape York). Leaving the east coast, Cook turned west and nursed his battered ship through the dangerously shallow waters of Torres Strait. Searching for a vantage point, Cook saw a steep hill on a nearby island from the top of which he hoped to see "a passage into the Indian Seas". Cook named the island Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia), where many in his crew succumbed to malaria, and then the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at the island of Saint Helena on 30 April 1771. The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in The Downs, with Cook going to Deal.
Interlude
Cook's journals were published upon his return, and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a greater hero. Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage but removed himself from the voyage before it began, and Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster were taken on as scientists for the voyage. Cook's son George was born five days before he left for his second voyage.
Second voyage (1772–1775)
Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771 to the rank of commander. In 1772, he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for the hypothetical Terra Australis. On his first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south. Although he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia, showing it to be continental in size, the Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Despite this evidence to the contrary, Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that a massive southern continent should exist.
Cook commanded on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, . Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773. In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774.
Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then resumed his southward course in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent. On this leg of the voyage, he brought a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage. On his return voyage to New Zealand in 1774, Cook landed at the Friendly Islands, Easter Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
Before returning to England, Cook made a final sweep across the South Atlantic from Cape Horn and surveyed, mapped, and took possession for Britain of South Georgia, which had been explored by the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Cook also discovered and named Clerke Rocks and the South Sandwich Islands ("Sandwich Land"). He then turned north to South Africa and from there continued back to England. His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.
Cook's second voyage marked a successful employment of Larcum Kendall's K1 copy of John Harrison's H4 marine chronometer, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for this time-piece which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.
Upon his return, Cook was promoted to the rank of post-captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, with a posting as an officer of the Greenwich Hospital. He reluctantly accepted, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if an opportunity for active duty should arise. His fame extended beyond the Admiralty; he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal for completing his second voyage without losing a man to scurvy. Nathaniel Dance-Holland painted his portrait; he dined with James Boswell; he was described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe". But he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned, and Cook volunteered to find the Northwest Passage. He travelled to the Pacific and hoped to travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage travelled the opposite route.
Third voyage (1776–1779)
Hawaii
On his last voyage, Cook again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded . The voyage was ostensibly planned to return the Pacific Islander Omai to Tahiti, or so the public was led to believe. The trip's principal goal was to locate a Northwest Passage around the American continent. After dropping Omai at Tahiti, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to begin formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands. After his initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.
North America
From the Sandwich Islands, Cook sailed north and then northeast to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California. He sighted the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming Cape Foulweather, after the bad weather which forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward. He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot. Cook's two ships remained in Nootka Sound from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove, at the south end of Bligh Island. Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial but sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had been acceptable in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but the lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items which the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. During the stay, the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels; the natives usually visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove.
After leaving Nootka Sound in search of the Northwest Passage, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. In a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska, and closed the gaps in Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of the northern limits of the Pacific.
By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea. He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north. Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then southeast down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait. By early September 1778 he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they had pronounced inedible.
Return to Hawaii
Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island, largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Cook's arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Coincidentally the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship. Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around the island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued (most extensively by Marshall Sahlins) that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono. Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, the idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it, were challenged in 1992.
Death
After a month's stay, Cook attempted to resume his exploration of the northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, however, Resolutions foremast broke, so the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.
Tensions rose, and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay, including the theft of wood from a burial ground under Cook's orders. An unknown group of Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. The evening when the cutter was taken, the people had become "insolent" even with threats to fire upon them. Cook attempted to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu.
The following day, 14 February 1779, Cook marched through the village to retrieve the king. Cook took the king (aliʻi nui) by his own hand and led him away. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favourite wives, Kanekapolei, and two chiefs approached the group as they were heading to the boats. They pleaded with the king not to go. An old kahuna (priest), chanting rapidly while holding out a coconut, attempted to distract Cook and his men as a large crowd began to form at the shore. At this point, the king began to understand that Cook was his enemy. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf. He was first struck on the head with a club by a chief named Kalaimanokahoʻowaha or Kanaʻina (namesake of Charles Kana'ina) and then stabbed by one of the king's attendants, Nuaa. The Hawaiians carried his body away towards the back of the town, still visible to the ship through their spyglass. Four marines, Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett and Private John Allen, were also killed and two others were wounded in the confrontation.
Aftermath
The esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, thus preserved, were eventually returned to his crew for a formal burial at sea.
Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait. He died of tuberculosis on 22 August 1779 and John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, took command of Resolution and of the expedition. James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery. The expedition returned home, reaching England in October 1780. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage.
Legacy
Ethnographic collections
The Australian Museum acquired its "Cook Collection" in 1894 from the Government of New South Wales. At that time the collection consisted of 115 artefacts collected on Cook's three voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period 1768–80, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artefacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of the documents and memorabilia were transferred to the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South Wales. The provenance of the collection shows that the objects remained in the hands of Cook's widow Elizabeth Cook, and her descendants, until 1886. In this year John Mackrell, the great-nephew of Isaac Smith, Elizabeth Cook's cousin, organised the display of this collection at the request of the NSW Government at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. In 1887 the London-based Agent-General for the New South Wales Government, Saul Samuel, bought John Mackrell's items and also acquired items belonging to the other relatives Reverend Canon Frederick Bennett, Mrs Thomas Langton, H.M.C. Alexander, and William Adams. The collection remained with the Colonial Secretary of NSW until 1894, when it was transferred to the Australian Museum.
Navigation and science
Cook's 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to Europeans' knowledge of the area. Several islands, such as the Hawaiian group, were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement. To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude must be accurately determined. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. The Earth turns a full 360 degrees relative to the sun each day. Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage from his navigational skills, with the help of astronomer Charles Green, and by using the newly published Nautical Almanac tables, via the lunar distance method – measuring the angular distance from the moon to either the sun during daytime or one of eight bright stars during night-time to determine the time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and comparing that to his local time determined via the altitude of the sun, moon, or stars.
On his second voyage, Cook used the K1 chronometer made by Larcum Kendall, which was the shape of a large pocket watch, in diameter. It was a copy of the H4 clock made by John Harrison, which proved to be the first to keep accurate time at sea when used on the ship Deptfords journey to Jamaica in 1761–62. He succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time. He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food. For presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776. Cook became the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. He correctly postulated a link among all the Pacific peoples, despite their being separated by great ocean stretches (see Malayo-Polynesian languages). Cook theorised that Polynesians originated from Asia, which scientist Bryan Sykes later verified. In New Zealand the coming of Cook is often used to signify the onset of the colonisation
which officially started more than 70 years after his crew became the second group of Europeans to visit that archipelago.
Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made significant observations and discoveries. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and the Swede Daniel Solander, sailed on the first voyage. The two collected over 3,000 plant species. Banks subsequently strongly promoted British settlement of Australia, leading to the establishment of New South Wales as a penal settlement in 1788. Artists also sailed on Cook's first voyage. Sydney Parkinson was heavily involved in documenting the botanists' findings, completing 264 drawings before his death near the end of the voyage. They were of immense scientific value to British botanists. Cook's second expedition included William Hodges, who produced notable landscape paintings of Tahiti, Easter Island, and other locations. Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit. Bligh became known for the mutiny of his crew, which resulted in his being set adrift in 1789. He later became Governor of New South Wales, where he was the subject of another mutiny—the 1808 Rum Rebellion. George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794. In honour of Vancouver's former commander, his ship was named . George Dixon, who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded his own. Henry Roberts, a lieutenant under Cook, spent many years after that voyage preparing the detailed charts that went into Cook's posthumous atlas, published around 1784.
Cook's contributions to knowledge gained international recognition during his lifetime. In 1779, while the American colonies were fighting Britain for their independence, Benjamin Franklin wrote to captains of colonial warships at sea, recommending that if they came into contact with Cook's vessel, they were to "not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or to America; but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness ... as common friends to mankind."
Memorials
A U.S. coin, the 1928 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half-dollar, carries Cook's image. Minted for the 150th anniversary of his discovery of the islands, its low mintage (10,008) has made this example of an early United States commemorative coin both scarce and expensive. The site where he was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk set on of chained-off beach. This land, although in Hawaii, was deeded to the United Kingdom by Princess Likelike and her husband, Archibald Scott Cleghorn, to the British Consul to Hawaii, James Hay Wodehouse, in 1877. A nearby town is named Captain Cook, Hawaii; several Hawaiian businesses also carry his name. The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, , as was the . In addition, the first Crew Dragon capsule flown by SpaceX was named for Endeavour. Another shuttle, Discovery, was named after Cook's .
The first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia, was named after him, with James Cook University opening in Townsville in 1970. Numerous institutions, landmarks and place names reflect the importance of Cook's contributions, including the Cook Islands, Cook Strait, Cook Inlet and the Cook crater on the Moon. Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest summit in New Zealand, is named for him. Another Mount Cook is on the border between the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon territory, and is designated Boundary Peak 182 as one of the official Boundary Peaks of the Hay–Herbert Treaty. A life-size statue of Cook upon a column stands in Hyde Park located in the centre of Sydney. A large aquatic monument is planned for Cook's landing place at Botany Bay, Sydney.
One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache, erected in 1780 by Admiral Hugh Palliser, a contemporary of Cook and one-time owner of the estate. A large obelisk was built in 1827 as a monument to Cook on Easby Moor overlooking his boyhood village of Great Ayton, along with a smaller monument at the former location of Cook's cottage. There is also a monument to Cook in the church of St Andrew the Great, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, where his sons Hugh, a student at Christ's College, and James were buried. Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep. The 250th anniversary of Cook's birth was marked at the site of his birthplace in Marton by the opening of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, located within Stewart Park (1978). A granite vase just to the south of the museum marks the approximate spot where he was born. Tributes also abound in post-industrial Middlesbrough, including a primary school, shopping square and the Bottle 'O Notes, a public artwork by Claes Oldenburg, that was erected in the town's Central Gardens in 1993. Also named after Cook is James Cook University Hospital, a major teaching hospital which opened in 2003 with a railway station serving it called James Cook opening in 2014.
The Royal Research Ship RRS James Cook was built in 2006 to replace the RRS Charles Darwin in the UK's Royal Research Fleet, and Stepney Historical Trust placed a plaque on Free Trade Wharf in the Highway, Shadwell to commemorate his life in the East End of London. A statue erected in his honour can be viewed near Admiralty Arch on the south side of The Mall in London. In 2002, Cook was placed at number 12 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
In 1959, the Cooktown Re-enactment Association first performed a re-enactment of Cook's 1770 landing at the site of modern Cooktown, Australia, and have continued the tradition each year, with the support and participation of many of the local Guugu Yimithirr people.
Cultural references
Cook was a subject in many literary creations; one of the earliest was "Captain Cook" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.). In 1931, Kenneth Slessor's poem "Five Visions of Captain Cook" was the "most dramatic break-through" in Australian poetry of the 20th century according to poet Douglas Stewart.
The Australian slang phrase "Have a Captain Cook" means to have a look or conduct a brief inspection.
Controversy
The period 2018 to 2021 marked the 250th anniversary of Cook's first voyage of exploration. A number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand, arranged official events to commemorate the voyage leading to widespread public debate about Cook's legacy. In the leadup to the commemorations, various memorials to Cook in Australia and New Zealand were vandalised and there were public calls for their removal or modification due to their alleged promotion of colonialist narratives. On 1 July 2021, a statue of James Cook in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was torn down following an earlier peaceful protest about the deaths of Indigenous residential school children in Canada. There were also campaigns for the return of Indigenous artefacts taken during Cook's voyages (see Gweagal shield). Alice Proctor argues that the controversies over public representations of Cook and the display of Indigenous artefacts from his voyages are part of a broader debate over the decolonisation of museums and public spaces and resistance to colonialist narratives. While a number of commentators argue that Cook was an enabler of British colonialism in the Pacific, Geoffrey Blainey, among others, notes that it was Banks who promoted Botany Bay as a site for colonisation after Cook's death. Robert Tombs defended Cook, associating him with the values of the Enlightenment and positing him as "The leading figure in an age of scientific exploration".
See also
New Zealand places named by James Cook
Australian places named by James Cook
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
Exploration of the Pacific
List of places named after Captain James Cook
List of sea captains
Death of Cook (paintings)
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
, Volume I, Volume II–III.
Richardson, Brian. (2005) Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World (University of British Columbia Press.) .
Sydney Daily Telegraph (1970) Captain Cook: His Artists – His Voyages The Sydney Daily Telegraph Portfolio of Original Works by Artists who sailed with Captain Cook. Australian Consolidated Press, Sydney
Thomas, Nicholas The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. Walker & Co., New York. (2003)
Uglow, Jenny, "Island Hopping" (review of Captain James Cook: The Journals, selected and edited by Philip Edwards, London, Folio Society, three volumes and a chart of the voyages, 1,309 pp.; and William Frame with Laura Walker, James Cook: The Voyages, McGill-Queen University Press, 224 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 2 (7 February 2019), pp. 18–20.
Withey, Lynne. Voyages of discovery: Captain Cook and the exploration of the Pacific'' (Univ of California Press, 1989).
External links
Captain Cook Society
Captain Cook historic plaque, Halifax
Biographical dictionaries
Journals
The Endeavour journal (1) and The Endeavour journal (2), as kept by James Cook – digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
The South Seas Project: maps and online editions of the Journals of James Cook's First Pacific Voyage, 1768–1771. Includes full text of journals kept by Cook, Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson, as well as the complete text of John Hawkesworth's 1773 Account of Cook's first voyage.
Digitised copies of log books from James Cook's voyages at the British Atmospheric Data Centre
Log book of Cook's second voyage: high-resolution digitised version in Cambridge Digital Library
Digitised Tapa cloth catalogue held at Auckland Libraries
Collections and museums
The Library of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia specialises in collecting works on Captain James Cook, his voyages and HMS Endeavour
Cook's Pacific Encounters: Cook-Forster Collection online Images and descriptions of more than 300 artefacts collected during the three Pacific voyages of James Cook.
Images and descriptions of items associated with James Cook at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum Marton
Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby
Cook's manuscript maps of the south-east coast of Australia, held at the American Geographical Society Library at UW Milwaukee.
1728 births
1779 deaths
18th-century English people
18th-century explorers
Death in Hawaii
English explorers of the Pacific
British military personnel of the French and Indian War
British navigators
British people executed abroad
Circumnavigators of the globe
English cartographers
English explorers of North America
English hydrographers
English people of Scottish descent
English sailors
Explorers of Alaska
Explorers of Antarctica
Explorers of Australia
Explorers of British Columbia
Explorers of New Zealand
Explorers of Oregon
Explorers of Washington (state)
Fellows of the Royal Society
Hydrographers
Maritime writers
People from Middlesbrough
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Recipients of the Copley Medal
Royal Navy officers
Q150 Icons
Sea captains | true | [
"Sylvester Joe (unknown – 1839), hunter and explorer, born Baie d'Espoir, Newfoundland. Joe, a native Mi'kmaq of Newfoundland, was the noted hunter from the south-west coast of the island of Newfoundland who was engaged by William Cormack to guide him on his trek across Newfoundland, the first European Canadian to do so.\n\nIn his writings William Cormack refers to him as Joseph Sylvester, it would appear that he had reversed the name inadvertently, as Joe is a common first name in this area of Newfoundland while Sylvester is unknown as a surname among Newfoundland Mi'kmaq.\n\nJoe can be credited for much of the success of Cormack's venture which began at Smith Sound, Trinity Bay and ended at St. George's Bay on the west coast of the Island. This cross island expedition was undertaken by just Joe and Cormack in search of the declining population of the native Beothuk and to also explore the interior of the Island.\n\nOn September 10, 1822, five days into their journey, Cormack immortalized Joe by naming Mount Sylvester in his honour. When Joe realized the immensity of the task at hand, he suggested to Cormack that they abandon their expedition and head south to his home town of Baie d'Espoir. Cormack convinced him to continue by drawing up a new contract on September 14. The contract reads as follows: \nI promise and agree with Joseph Silvester that if he accompanies me from St. John's to St. George's Bay by land ... besides what I may have already done for him, that after he takes me safe there, that I will on our return, give his mother one barrel of flour, one barrel of pork and anything else that may be found suitable, and further, that he is to go along with me to England or Scotland and stay there as long as I do, or if he likes he may return to St. John's with me next year, or if he likes I will give him passage ... to Portugal or Spain in order that it might do his health good. If Joe should ever go to Prince Edward Island I will give him a letter to my friends there to do what they can for him... \"B.D. Fardy (1985)\"\n\nDespite the many hardships and their personal conflicts the pair continued the cross island journey and reached their destination on November 4. Joe spent the winter in St. George's. From then on little is known of Sylvester Joe.\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\n Cormack, W. E. Report of Mr. W.E. Cormack's Journey in Search of the Red Indians in Newfoundland Read Before the Bœothick Institution of St. John's, Newfoundland. S.l: s.n, 1828. \n Cormack, W. E. Narrative of a Journey Across the Island of Newfoundland. St. John's, Nfld.?: s.n.], 1856.\n\nExternal links\nBiography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online\n\n1868 deaths\n19th-century First Nations people\nCanadian explorers\nMi'kmaq people\nNewfoundland Colony people\nPeople from Newfoundland (island)\nPersons of National Historic Significance (Canada)\nYear of birth missing",
"Stanley Bayley Carter (1853 – May 8, 1888) was a lawyer and politician in Newfoundland. He represented Twillingate and Fogo in the Newfoundland House of Assembly from 1878 to 1882.\n\nThe son of Frederick Carter, he was born in St. John's, was educated there and was called to the Newfoundland bar in 1876. Carter did not run for reelection in 1882. He died of tuberculosis six years later.\n\nReferences \n\nMembers of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly\n1853 births\n1888 deaths\n19th-century deaths from tuberculosis\nTuberculosis deaths in Newfoundland and Labrador\nNewfoundland Colony people"
] |
[
"James Cook",
"Newfoundland",
"What did he do in Newfoundland?",
"His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific,"
] | C_45fa6db2110848ccb0f8e088f5106087_1 | Who sent him to Newfoundland? | 2 | Who sent James Cook to Newfoundland? | James Cook | During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel HMS Pembroke. With others in Pembroke's crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography, and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard HMS Grenville. He surveyed the north-west stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair". His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would be used into the 20th century--copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years. Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, it was at this time that Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go". CANNOTANSWER | 1760s, aboard HMS Grenville. | James Cook (7 November 172814 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HMS Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In these voyages, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers. He surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook was attacked and killed in 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap the ruling chief of the island of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, to reclaim a cutter taken from one of his ships after his crew took wood from a burial ground. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.
Early life and family
James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 (NS) in the village of Marton in the North Riding of Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November (N.S.) in the parish church of St Cuthbert, where his name can be seen in the church register. He was the second of eight children of James Cook (1693–1779), a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, and his locally born wife, Grace Pace (1702–1765), from Thornaby-on-Tees. In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years' schooling, he began work for his father, who had been promoted to farm manager. Despite not being formally educated he became capable in mathematics, astronomy and charting by the time of his Endeavour voyage. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks' Cottage, his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, Australia, having been moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick, in 1934.
In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved to the fishing village of Staithes, to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.
After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to Sanderson's friends John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels, plying coal along the English coast. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy—all skills he would need one day to command his own ship.
His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea. After passing his examinations in 1752, he soon progressed through the merchant navy ranks, starting with his promotion in that year to mate aboard the collier brig Friendship. In 1755, within a month of being offered command of this vessel, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, when Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years' War. Despite the need to start back at the bottom of the naval hierarchy, Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service and entered the Navy at Wapping on 17 June 1755.
Cook married Elizabeth Batts, the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of the Bell Inn in Wapping and one of his mentors, on 21 December 1762 at St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex. The couple had six children: James (1763–1794), Nathaniel (1764–1780, lost aboard which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–1771), Joseph (1768–1768), George (1772–1772) and Hugh (1776–1793, who died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge). When not at sea, Cook lived in the East End of London. He attended St Paul's Church, Shadwell, where his son James was baptised. Cook has no direct descendants—all of his children died before having children of their own.
Start of Royal Navy career
Cook's first posting was with , serving as able seaman and master's mate under Captain Joseph Hamar for his first year aboard, and Captain Hugh Palliser thereafter. In October and November 1755, he took part in Eagle'''s capture of one French warship and the sinking of another, following which he was promoted to boatswain in addition to his other duties. His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he was briefly master of Cruizer, a small cutter attached to Eagle while on patrol.
In June 1757 Cook formally passed his master's examinations at Trinity House, Deptford, qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet. He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig.
Newfoundland
During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel . With others in Pembrokes crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard . He surveyed the northwest stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time, Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair".
While in Newfoundland, Cook also conducted astronomical observations, in particular of the eclipse of the sun on 5 August 1766. By obtaining an accurate estimate of the time of the start and finish of the eclipse, and comparing these with the timings at a known position in England it was possible to calculate the longitude of the observation site in Newfoundland. This result was communicated to the Royal Society in 1767.
His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's maps were used into the 20th century, with copies being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years.
Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go".
First voyage (1768–1771)
On 25 May 1768, the Admiralty commissioned Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun which, when combined with observations from other places, would help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Cook, at age 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command. For its part, the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay.
The expedition sailed aboard , departing England on 26 August 1768. Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis.
Cook then sailed to New Zealand where he mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. With the aid of Tupaia, a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the Māori. He then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.
On 23 April, he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point, noting in his journal: "... and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the C[l]othes they might have on I know not." On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula. Cook originally named the area "Stingray Bay", but later he crossed this out and named it "Botany Bay" after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. It is here that Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the Gweagal.
After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards. He stopped at Bustard Bay (now known as Seventeen Seventy) on 23 May 1770. On 24 May, Cook and Banks and others went ashore. Continuing north, on 11 June a mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770". The ship was badly damaged, and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach (near the docks of modern Cooktown, Queensland, at the mouth of the Endeavour River). The voyage then continued and at about midday on 22 August 1770, they reached the northernmost tip of the coast and, without leaving the ship, Cook named it York Cape (now Cape York). Leaving the east coast, Cook turned west and nursed his battered ship through the dangerously shallow waters of Torres Strait. Searching for a vantage point, Cook saw a steep hill on a nearby island from the top of which he hoped to see "a passage into the Indian Seas". Cook named the island Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia), where many in his crew succumbed to malaria, and then the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at the island of Saint Helena on 30 April 1771. The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in The Downs, with Cook going to Deal.
Interlude
Cook's journals were published upon his return, and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a greater hero. Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage but removed himself from the voyage before it began, and Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster were taken on as scientists for the voyage. Cook's son George was born five days before he left for his second voyage.
Second voyage (1772–1775)
Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771 to the rank of commander. In 1772, he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for the hypothetical Terra Australis. On his first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south. Although he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia, showing it to be continental in size, the Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Despite this evidence to the contrary, Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that a massive southern continent should exist.
Cook commanded on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, . Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773. In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774.
Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then resumed his southward course in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent. On this leg of the voyage, he brought a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage. On his return voyage to New Zealand in 1774, Cook landed at the Friendly Islands, Easter Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
Before returning to England, Cook made a final sweep across the South Atlantic from Cape Horn and surveyed, mapped, and took possession for Britain of South Georgia, which had been explored by the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Cook also discovered and named Clerke Rocks and the South Sandwich Islands ("Sandwich Land"). He then turned north to South Africa and from there continued back to England. His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.
Cook's second voyage marked a successful employment of Larcum Kendall's K1 copy of John Harrison's H4 marine chronometer, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for this time-piece which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.
Upon his return, Cook was promoted to the rank of post-captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, with a posting as an officer of the Greenwich Hospital. He reluctantly accepted, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if an opportunity for active duty should arise. His fame extended beyond the Admiralty; he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal for completing his second voyage without losing a man to scurvy. Nathaniel Dance-Holland painted his portrait; he dined with James Boswell; he was described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe". But he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned, and Cook volunteered to find the Northwest Passage. He travelled to the Pacific and hoped to travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage travelled the opposite route.
Third voyage (1776–1779)
Hawaii
On his last voyage, Cook again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded . The voyage was ostensibly planned to return the Pacific Islander Omai to Tahiti, or so the public was led to believe. The trip's principal goal was to locate a Northwest Passage around the American continent. After dropping Omai at Tahiti, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to begin formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands. After his initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.
North America
From the Sandwich Islands, Cook sailed north and then northeast to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California. He sighted the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming Cape Foulweather, after the bad weather which forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward. He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot. Cook's two ships remained in Nootka Sound from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove, at the south end of Bligh Island. Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial but sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had been acceptable in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but the lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items which the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. During the stay, the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels; the natives usually visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove.
After leaving Nootka Sound in search of the Northwest Passage, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. In a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska, and closed the gaps in Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of the northern limits of the Pacific.
By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea. He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north. Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then southeast down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait. By early September 1778 he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they had pronounced inedible.
Return to Hawaii
Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island, largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Cook's arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Coincidentally the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship. Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around the island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued (most extensively by Marshall Sahlins) that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono. Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, the idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it, were challenged in 1992.
Death
After a month's stay, Cook attempted to resume his exploration of the northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, however, Resolutions foremast broke, so the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.
Tensions rose, and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay, including the theft of wood from a burial ground under Cook's orders. An unknown group of Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. The evening when the cutter was taken, the people had become "insolent" even with threats to fire upon them. Cook attempted to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu.
The following day, 14 February 1779, Cook marched through the village to retrieve the king. Cook took the king (aliʻi nui) by his own hand and led him away. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favourite wives, Kanekapolei, and two chiefs approached the group as they were heading to the boats. They pleaded with the king not to go. An old kahuna (priest), chanting rapidly while holding out a coconut, attempted to distract Cook and his men as a large crowd began to form at the shore. At this point, the king began to understand that Cook was his enemy. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf. He was first struck on the head with a club by a chief named Kalaimanokahoʻowaha or Kanaʻina (namesake of Charles Kana'ina) and then stabbed by one of the king's attendants, Nuaa. The Hawaiians carried his body away towards the back of the town, still visible to the ship through their spyglass. Four marines, Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett and Private John Allen, were also killed and two others were wounded in the confrontation.
Aftermath
The esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, thus preserved, were eventually returned to his crew for a formal burial at sea.
Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait. He died of tuberculosis on 22 August 1779 and John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, took command of Resolution and of the expedition. James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery. The expedition returned home, reaching England in October 1780. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage.
Legacy
Ethnographic collections
The Australian Museum acquired its "Cook Collection" in 1894 from the Government of New South Wales. At that time the collection consisted of 115 artefacts collected on Cook's three voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period 1768–80, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artefacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of the documents and memorabilia were transferred to the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South Wales. The provenance of the collection shows that the objects remained in the hands of Cook's widow Elizabeth Cook, and her descendants, until 1886. In this year John Mackrell, the great-nephew of Isaac Smith, Elizabeth Cook's cousin, organised the display of this collection at the request of the NSW Government at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. In 1887 the London-based Agent-General for the New South Wales Government, Saul Samuel, bought John Mackrell's items and also acquired items belonging to the other relatives Reverend Canon Frederick Bennett, Mrs Thomas Langton, H.M.C. Alexander, and William Adams. The collection remained with the Colonial Secretary of NSW until 1894, when it was transferred to the Australian Museum.
Navigation and science
Cook's 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to Europeans' knowledge of the area. Several islands, such as the Hawaiian group, were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement. To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude must be accurately determined. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. The Earth turns a full 360 degrees relative to the sun each day. Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage from his navigational skills, with the help of astronomer Charles Green, and by using the newly published Nautical Almanac tables, via the lunar distance method – measuring the angular distance from the moon to either the sun during daytime or one of eight bright stars during night-time to determine the time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and comparing that to his local time determined via the altitude of the sun, moon, or stars.
On his second voyage, Cook used the K1 chronometer made by Larcum Kendall, which was the shape of a large pocket watch, in diameter. It was a copy of the H4 clock made by John Harrison, which proved to be the first to keep accurate time at sea when used on the ship Deptfords journey to Jamaica in 1761–62. He succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time. He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food. For presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776. Cook became the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. He correctly postulated a link among all the Pacific peoples, despite their being separated by great ocean stretches (see Malayo-Polynesian languages). Cook theorised that Polynesians originated from Asia, which scientist Bryan Sykes later verified. In New Zealand the coming of Cook is often used to signify the onset of the colonisation
which officially started more than 70 years after his crew became the second group of Europeans to visit that archipelago.
Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made significant observations and discoveries. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and the Swede Daniel Solander, sailed on the first voyage. The two collected over 3,000 plant species. Banks subsequently strongly promoted British settlement of Australia, leading to the establishment of New South Wales as a penal settlement in 1788. Artists also sailed on Cook's first voyage. Sydney Parkinson was heavily involved in documenting the botanists' findings, completing 264 drawings before his death near the end of the voyage. They were of immense scientific value to British botanists. Cook's second expedition included William Hodges, who produced notable landscape paintings of Tahiti, Easter Island, and other locations. Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit. Bligh became known for the mutiny of his crew, which resulted in his being set adrift in 1789. He later became Governor of New South Wales, where he was the subject of another mutiny—the 1808 Rum Rebellion. George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794. In honour of Vancouver's former commander, his ship was named . George Dixon, who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded his own. Henry Roberts, a lieutenant under Cook, spent many years after that voyage preparing the detailed charts that went into Cook's posthumous atlas, published around 1784.
Cook's contributions to knowledge gained international recognition during his lifetime. In 1779, while the American colonies were fighting Britain for their independence, Benjamin Franklin wrote to captains of colonial warships at sea, recommending that if they came into contact with Cook's vessel, they were to "not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or to America; but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness ... as common friends to mankind."
Memorials
A U.S. coin, the 1928 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half-dollar, carries Cook's image. Minted for the 150th anniversary of his discovery of the islands, its low mintage (10,008) has made this example of an early United States commemorative coin both scarce and expensive. The site where he was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk set on of chained-off beach. This land, although in Hawaii, was deeded to the United Kingdom by Princess Likelike and her husband, Archibald Scott Cleghorn, to the British Consul to Hawaii, James Hay Wodehouse, in 1877. A nearby town is named Captain Cook, Hawaii; several Hawaiian businesses also carry his name. The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, , as was the . In addition, the first Crew Dragon capsule flown by SpaceX was named for Endeavour. Another shuttle, Discovery, was named after Cook's .
The first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia, was named after him, with James Cook University opening in Townsville in 1970. Numerous institutions, landmarks and place names reflect the importance of Cook's contributions, including the Cook Islands, Cook Strait, Cook Inlet and the Cook crater on the Moon. Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest summit in New Zealand, is named for him. Another Mount Cook is on the border between the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon territory, and is designated Boundary Peak 182 as one of the official Boundary Peaks of the Hay–Herbert Treaty. A life-size statue of Cook upon a column stands in Hyde Park located in the centre of Sydney. A large aquatic monument is planned for Cook's landing place at Botany Bay, Sydney.
One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache, erected in 1780 by Admiral Hugh Palliser, a contemporary of Cook and one-time owner of the estate. A large obelisk was built in 1827 as a monument to Cook on Easby Moor overlooking his boyhood village of Great Ayton, along with a smaller monument at the former location of Cook's cottage. There is also a monument to Cook in the church of St Andrew the Great, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, where his sons Hugh, a student at Christ's College, and James were buried. Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep. The 250th anniversary of Cook's birth was marked at the site of his birthplace in Marton by the opening of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, located within Stewart Park (1978). A granite vase just to the south of the museum marks the approximate spot where he was born. Tributes also abound in post-industrial Middlesbrough, including a primary school, shopping square and the Bottle 'O Notes, a public artwork by Claes Oldenburg, that was erected in the town's Central Gardens in 1993. Also named after Cook is James Cook University Hospital, a major teaching hospital which opened in 2003 with a railway station serving it called James Cook opening in 2014.
The Royal Research Ship RRS James Cook was built in 2006 to replace the RRS Charles Darwin in the UK's Royal Research Fleet, and Stepney Historical Trust placed a plaque on Free Trade Wharf in the Highway, Shadwell to commemorate his life in the East End of London. A statue erected in his honour can be viewed near Admiralty Arch on the south side of The Mall in London. In 2002, Cook was placed at number 12 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
In 1959, the Cooktown Re-enactment Association first performed a re-enactment of Cook's 1770 landing at the site of modern Cooktown, Australia, and have continued the tradition each year, with the support and participation of many of the local Guugu Yimithirr people.
Cultural references
Cook was a subject in many literary creations; one of the earliest was "Captain Cook" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.). In 1931, Kenneth Slessor's poem "Five Visions of Captain Cook" was the "most dramatic break-through" in Australian poetry of the 20th century according to poet Douglas Stewart.
The Australian slang phrase "Have a Captain Cook" means to have a look or conduct a brief inspection.
Controversy
The period 2018 to 2021 marked the 250th anniversary of Cook's first voyage of exploration. A number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand, arranged official events to commemorate the voyage leading to widespread public debate about Cook's legacy. In the leadup to the commemorations, various memorials to Cook in Australia and New Zealand were vandalised and there were public calls for their removal or modification due to their alleged promotion of colonialist narratives. On 1 July 2021, a statue of James Cook in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was torn down following an earlier peaceful protest about the deaths of Indigenous residential school children in Canada. There were also campaigns for the return of Indigenous artefacts taken during Cook's voyages (see Gweagal shield). Alice Proctor argues that the controversies over public representations of Cook and the display of Indigenous artefacts from his voyages are part of a broader debate over the decolonisation of museums and public spaces and resistance to colonialist narratives. While a number of commentators argue that Cook was an enabler of British colonialism in the Pacific, Geoffrey Blainey, among others, notes that it was Banks who promoted Botany Bay as a site for colonisation after Cook's death. Robert Tombs defended Cook, associating him with the values of the Enlightenment and positing him as "The leading figure in an age of scientific exploration".
See also
New Zealand places named by James Cook
Australian places named by James Cook
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
Exploration of the Pacific
List of places named after Captain James Cook
List of sea captains
Death of Cook (paintings)
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
, Volume I, Volume II–III.
Richardson, Brian. (2005) Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World (University of British Columbia Press.) .
Sydney Daily Telegraph (1970) Captain Cook: His Artists – His Voyages The Sydney Daily Telegraph Portfolio of Original Works by Artists who sailed with Captain Cook. Australian Consolidated Press, Sydney
Thomas, Nicholas The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. Walker & Co., New York. (2003)
Uglow, Jenny, "Island Hopping" (review of Captain James Cook: The Journals, selected and edited by Philip Edwards, London, Folio Society, three volumes and a chart of the voyages, 1,309 pp.; and William Frame with Laura Walker, James Cook: The Voyages, McGill-Queen University Press, 224 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 2 (7 February 2019), pp. 18–20.
Withey, Lynne. Voyages of discovery: Captain Cook and the exploration of the Pacific'' (Univ of California Press, 1989).
External links
Captain Cook Society
Captain Cook historic plaque, Halifax
Biographical dictionaries
Journals
The Endeavour journal (1) and The Endeavour journal (2), as kept by James Cook – digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
The South Seas Project: maps and online editions of the Journals of James Cook's First Pacific Voyage, 1768–1771. Includes full text of journals kept by Cook, Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson, as well as the complete text of John Hawkesworth's 1773 Account of Cook's first voyage.
Digitised copies of log books from James Cook's voyages at the British Atmospheric Data Centre
Log book of Cook's second voyage: high-resolution digitised version in Cambridge Digital Library
Digitised Tapa cloth catalogue held at Auckland Libraries
Collections and museums
The Library of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia specialises in collecting works on Captain James Cook, his voyages and HMS Endeavour
Cook's Pacific Encounters: Cook-Forster Collection online Images and descriptions of more than 300 artefacts collected during the three Pacific voyages of James Cook.
Images and descriptions of items associated with James Cook at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum Marton
Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby
Cook's manuscript maps of the south-east coast of Australia, held at the American Geographical Society Library at UW Milwaukee.
1728 births
1779 deaths
18th-century English people
18th-century explorers
Death in Hawaii
English explorers of the Pacific
British military personnel of the French and Indian War
British navigators
British people executed abroad
Circumnavigators of the globe
English cartographers
English explorers of North America
English hydrographers
English people of Scottish descent
English sailors
Explorers of Alaska
Explorers of Antarctica
Explorers of Australia
Explorers of British Columbia
Explorers of New Zealand
Explorers of Oregon
Explorers of Washington (state)
Fellows of the Royal Society
Hydrographers
Maritime writers
People from Middlesbrough
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Recipients of the Copley Medal
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Q150 Icons
Sea captains | false | [
"John Valentine Nugent (1796 – 12 June 1874) was an Irish-born educator, journalist and political figure in Newfoundland. He represented Placentia and St. Mary's from 1836 to 1842 and St. John's from 1842 to 1848 in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. Nugent died in St. John's in 1874.\n\nEarly life\nHe was born in Waterford, Ireland. Nugent married Ellen Maria Creedon. In 1833, he came to St. John's where he opened a private school, following an invite by Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming, who was responsible for much emigration to Newfoundland from the south east of Ireland. His mother who was ill, and his wife's sister Sister Marianne travelled with them to Newfoundland.\n\nCareer\nHe was elected to the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly in 1836 but the election results were declared invalid; he was elected again in 1837. Nugent served as solicitor for the Newfoundland Assembly. He became owner of the Newfoundland Patriot in 1837 after Robert John Parsons was sent to jail for contempt of court. In 1840, he became editor of the Newfoundland Vindicator and later of the Newfoundland Indicator. In 1844, he was named inspector of schools. Nugent helped found the St. John's Academy in 1845 and taught there from 1845 to 1856. He was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1848. He served as sheriff for the Central District from 1856 to 1871.\n\nReferences \n\nMembers of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly\n1796 births\n1874 deaths\n19th-century Irish people\nPoliticians from County Waterford\nIrish emigrants to pre-Confederation Newfoundland\nNewfoundland Colony people",
"John Treworgie (born ca. 1618, date of death unknown) was the last Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland. Treworgie had worked as an agent at a Kittery, Maine trading post from 1635 to 1650. In 1651 he was named as one of a party of six sent to Newfoundland to arrest Sir David Kirke who had been accused of withholding taxes collected on behalf of the crown and otherwise violating the royal charter which granted him the governorship of Newfoundland. His party was also ordered to administer the fishery and collect taxes on fish and oil from foreign fishermen. He remained after the arrest of Kirke and was named governor by the English government and given authority over both migratory fisherman and colonists and ordered to fortify the colony. John Treworgie was the son of James Treworgie (or Treworgy), the son-in-law of Alexander Shapleigh, a Devonshire merchant and fisheries owner who founded Kittery, Maine. John Treworgie was the brother-in-law of Hon. John Gilman of Exeter, New Hampshire.\n\nIn 1654 Treworgie and two other commissioners were arrested for illegally taking possession of David Kirke's property and was found guilty. Oliver Cromwell ordered a second trial which cleared him and Treworgie continued as governor until 1660.\n\nIn 1660, he asked for another term as governor but the legal conflict between Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore and the Kirke family over ownership of Newfoundland complicated matters and it is unlikely Treworgie ever returned to the island.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \nGovernment House The Governorship of Newfoundland and Labrador\n \n\n1618 births\nGovernors of Newfoundland Colony\nMembers of the New Hampshire House of Representatives\nYear of death missing\nPeople from Kittery, Maine"
] |
[
"James Cook",
"Newfoundland",
"What did he do in Newfoundland?",
"His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific,",
"Who sent him to Newfoundland?",
"1760s, aboard HMS Grenville."
] | C_45fa6db2110848ccb0f8e088f5106087_1 | Did he find anything interesting there? | 3 | Did James Cook find anything interesting in Newfoundland? | James Cook | During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel HMS Pembroke. With others in Pembroke's crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography, and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard HMS Grenville. He surveyed the north-west stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair". His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would be used into the 20th century--copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years. Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, it was at this time that Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go". CANNOTANSWER | the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. | James Cook (7 November 172814 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HMS Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In these voyages, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers. He surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook was attacked and killed in 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap the ruling chief of the island of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, to reclaim a cutter taken from one of his ships after his crew took wood from a burial ground. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.
Early life and family
James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 (NS) in the village of Marton in the North Riding of Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November (N.S.) in the parish church of St Cuthbert, where his name can be seen in the church register. He was the second of eight children of James Cook (1693–1779), a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, and his locally born wife, Grace Pace (1702–1765), from Thornaby-on-Tees. In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years' schooling, he began work for his father, who had been promoted to farm manager. Despite not being formally educated he became capable in mathematics, astronomy and charting by the time of his Endeavour voyage. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks' Cottage, his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, Australia, having been moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick, in 1934.
In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved to the fishing village of Staithes, to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.
After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to Sanderson's friends John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels, plying coal along the English coast. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy—all skills he would need one day to command his own ship.
His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea. After passing his examinations in 1752, he soon progressed through the merchant navy ranks, starting with his promotion in that year to mate aboard the collier brig Friendship. In 1755, within a month of being offered command of this vessel, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, when Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years' War. Despite the need to start back at the bottom of the naval hierarchy, Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service and entered the Navy at Wapping on 17 June 1755.
Cook married Elizabeth Batts, the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of the Bell Inn in Wapping and one of his mentors, on 21 December 1762 at St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex. The couple had six children: James (1763–1794), Nathaniel (1764–1780, lost aboard which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–1771), Joseph (1768–1768), George (1772–1772) and Hugh (1776–1793, who died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge). When not at sea, Cook lived in the East End of London. He attended St Paul's Church, Shadwell, where his son James was baptised. Cook has no direct descendants—all of his children died before having children of their own.
Start of Royal Navy career
Cook's first posting was with , serving as able seaman and master's mate under Captain Joseph Hamar for his first year aboard, and Captain Hugh Palliser thereafter. In October and November 1755, he took part in Eagle'''s capture of one French warship and the sinking of another, following which he was promoted to boatswain in addition to his other duties. His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he was briefly master of Cruizer, a small cutter attached to Eagle while on patrol.
In June 1757 Cook formally passed his master's examinations at Trinity House, Deptford, qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet. He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig.
Newfoundland
During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel . With others in Pembrokes crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard . He surveyed the northwest stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time, Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair".
While in Newfoundland, Cook also conducted astronomical observations, in particular of the eclipse of the sun on 5 August 1766. By obtaining an accurate estimate of the time of the start and finish of the eclipse, and comparing these with the timings at a known position in England it was possible to calculate the longitude of the observation site in Newfoundland. This result was communicated to the Royal Society in 1767.
His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's maps were used into the 20th century, with copies being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years.
Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go".
First voyage (1768–1771)
On 25 May 1768, the Admiralty commissioned Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun which, when combined with observations from other places, would help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Cook, at age 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command. For its part, the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay.
The expedition sailed aboard , departing England on 26 August 1768. Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis.
Cook then sailed to New Zealand where he mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. With the aid of Tupaia, a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the Māori. He then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.
On 23 April, he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point, noting in his journal: "... and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the C[l]othes they might have on I know not." On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula. Cook originally named the area "Stingray Bay", but later he crossed this out and named it "Botany Bay" after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. It is here that Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the Gweagal.
After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards. He stopped at Bustard Bay (now known as Seventeen Seventy) on 23 May 1770. On 24 May, Cook and Banks and others went ashore. Continuing north, on 11 June a mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770". The ship was badly damaged, and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach (near the docks of modern Cooktown, Queensland, at the mouth of the Endeavour River). The voyage then continued and at about midday on 22 August 1770, they reached the northernmost tip of the coast and, without leaving the ship, Cook named it York Cape (now Cape York). Leaving the east coast, Cook turned west and nursed his battered ship through the dangerously shallow waters of Torres Strait. Searching for a vantage point, Cook saw a steep hill on a nearby island from the top of which he hoped to see "a passage into the Indian Seas". Cook named the island Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia), where many in his crew succumbed to malaria, and then the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at the island of Saint Helena on 30 April 1771. The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in The Downs, with Cook going to Deal.
Interlude
Cook's journals were published upon his return, and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a greater hero. Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage but removed himself from the voyage before it began, and Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster were taken on as scientists for the voyage. Cook's son George was born five days before he left for his second voyage.
Second voyage (1772–1775)
Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771 to the rank of commander. In 1772, he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for the hypothetical Terra Australis. On his first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south. Although he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia, showing it to be continental in size, the Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Despite this evidence to the contrary, Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that a massive southern continent should exist.
Cook commanded on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, . Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773. In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774.
Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then resumed his southward course in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent. On this leg of the voyage, he brought a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage. On his return voyage to New Zealand in 1774, Cook landed at the Friendly Islands, Easter Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
Before returning to England, Cook made a final sweep across the South Atlantic from Cape Horn and surveyed, mapped, and took possession for Britain of South Georgia, which had been explored by the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Cook also discovered and named Clerke Rocks and the South Sandwich Islands ("Sandwich Land"). He then turned north to South Africa and from there continued back to England. His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.
Cook's second voyage marked a successful employment of Larcum Kendall's K1 copy of John Harrison's H4 marine chronometer, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for this time-piece which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.
Upon his return, Cook was promoted to the rank of post-captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, with a posting as an officer of the Greenwich Hospital. He reluctantly accepted, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if an opportunity for active duty should arise. His fame extended beyond the Admiralty; he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal for completing his second voyage without losing a man to scurvy. Nathaniel Dance-Holland painted his portrait; he dined with James Boswell; he was described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe". But he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned, and Cook volunteered to find the Northwest Passage. He travelled to the Pacific and hoped to travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage travelled the opposite route.
Third voyage (1776–1779)
Hawaii
On his last voyage, Cook again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded . The voyage was ostensibly planned to return the Pacific Islander Omai to Tahiti, or so the public was led to believe. The trip's principal goal was to locate a Northwest Passage around the American continent. After dropping Omai at Tahiti, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to begin formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands. After his initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.
North America
From the Sandwich Islands, Cook sailed north and then northeast to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California. He sighted the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming Cape Foulweather, after the bad weather which forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward. He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot. Cook's two ships remained in Nootka Sound from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove, at the south end of Bligh Island. Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial but sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had been acceptable in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but the lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items which the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. During the stay, the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels; the natives usually visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove.
After leaving Nootka Sound in search of the Northwest Passage, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. In a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska, and closed the gaps in Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of the northern limits of the Pacific.
By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea. He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north. Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then southeast down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait. By early September 1778 he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they had pronounced inedible.
Return to Hawaii
Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island, largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Cook's arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Coincidentally the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship. Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around the island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued (most extensively by Marshall Sahlins) that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono. Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, the idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it, were challenged in 1992.
Death
After a month's stay, Cook attempted to resume his exploration of the northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, however, Resolutions foremast broke, so the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.
Tensions rose, and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay, including the theft of wood from a burial ground under Cook's orders. An unknown group of Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. The evening when the cutter was taken, the people had become "insolent" even with threats to fire upon them. Cook attempted to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu.
The following day, 14 February 1779, Cook marched through the village to retrieve the king. Cook took the king (aliʻi nui) by his own hand and led him away. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favourite wives, Kanekapolei, and two chiefs approached the group as they were heading to the boats. They pleaded with the king not to go. An old kahuna (priest), chanting rapidly while holding out a coconut, attempted to distract Cook and his men as a large crowd began to form at the shore. At this point, the king began to understand that Cook was his enemy. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf. He was first struck on the head with a club by a chief named Kalaimanokahoʻowaha or Kanaʻina (namesake of Charles Kana'ina) and then stabbed by one of the king's attendants, Nuaa. The Hawaiians carried his body away towards the back of the town, still visible to the ship through their spyglass. Four marines, Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett and Private John Allen, were also killed and two others were wounded in the confrontation.
Aftermath
The esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, thus preserved, were eventually returned to his crew for a formal burial at sea.
Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait. He died of tuberculosis on 22 August 1779 and John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, took command of Resolution and of the expedition. James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery. The expedition returned home, reaching England in October 1780. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage.
Legacy
Ethnographic collections
The Australian Museum acquired its "Cook Collection" in 1894 from the Government of New South Wales. At that time the collection consisted of 115 artefacts collected on Cook's three voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period 1768–80, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artefacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of the documents and memorabilia were transferred to the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South Wales. The provenance of the collection shows that the objects remained in the hands of Cook's widow Elizabeth Cook, and her descendants, until 1886. In this year John Mackrell, the great-nephew of Isaac Smith, Elizabeth Cook's cousin, organised the display of this collection at the request of the NSW Government at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. In 1887 the London-based Agent-General for the New South Wales Government, Saul Samuel, bought John Mackrell's items and also acquired items belonging to the other relatives Reverend Canon Frederick Bennett, Mrs Thomas Langton, H.M.C. Alexander, and William Adams. The collection remained with the Colonial Secretary of NSW until 1894, when it was transferred to the Australian Museum.
Navigation and science
Cook's 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to Europeans' knowledge of the area. Several islands, such as the Hawaiian group, were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement. To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude must be accurately determined. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. The Earth turns a full 360 degrees relative to the sun each day. Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage from his navigational skills, with the help of astronomer Charles Green, and by using the newly published Nautical Almanac tables, via the lunar distance method – measuring the angular distance from the moon to either the sun during daytime or one of eight bright stars during night-time to determine the time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and comparing that to his local time determined via the altitude of the sun, moon, or stars.
On his second voyage, Cook used the K1 chronometer made by Larcum Kendall, which was the shape of a large pocket watch, in diameter. It was a copy of the H4 clock made by John Harrison, which proved to be the first to keep accurate time at sea when used on the ship Deptfords journey to Jamaica in 1761–62. He succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time. He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food. For presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776. Cook became the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. He correctly postulated a link among all the Pacific peoples, despite their being separated by great ocean stretches (see Malayo-Polynesian languages). Cook theorised that Polynesians originated from Asia, which scientist Bryan Sykes later verified. In New Zealand the coming of Cook is often used to signify the onset of the colonisation
which officially started more than 70 years after his crew became the second group of Europeans to visit that archipelago.
Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made significant observations and discoveries. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and the Swede Daniel Solander, sailed on the first voyage. The two collected over 3,000 plant species. Banks subsequently strongly promoted British settlement of Australia, leading to the establishment of New South Wales as a penal settlement in 1788. Artists also sailed on Cook's first voyage. Sydney Parkinson was heavily involved in documenting the botanists' findings, completing 264 drawings before his death near the end of the voyage. They were of immense scientific value to British botanists. Cook's second expedition included William Hodges, who produced notable landscape paintings of Tahiti, Easter Island, and other locations. Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit. Bligh became known for the mutiny of his crew, which resulted in his being set adrift in 1789. He later became Governor of New South Wales, where he was the subject of another mutiny—the 1808 Rum Rebellion. George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794. In honour of Vancouver's former commander, his ship was named . George Dixon, who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded his own. Henry Roberts, a lieutenant under Cook, spent many years after that voyage preparing the detailed charts that went into Cook's posthumous atlas, published around 1784.
Cook's contributions to knowledge gained international recognition during his lifetime. In 1779, while the American colonies were fighting Britain for their independence, Benjamin Franklin wrote to captains of colonial warships at sea, recommending that if they came into contact with Cook's vessel, they were to "not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or to America; but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness ... as common friends to mankind."
Memorials
A U.S. coin, the 1928 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half-dollar, carries Cook's image. Minted for the 150th anniversary of his discovery of the islands, its low mintage (10,008) has made this example of an early United States commemorative coin both scarce and expensive. The site where he was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk set on of chained-off beach. This land, although in Hawaii, was deeded to the United Kingdom by Princess Likelike and her husband, Archibald Scott Cleghorn, to the British Consul to Hawaii, James Hay Wodehouse, in 1877. A nearby town is named Captain Cook, Hawaii; several Hawaiian businesses also carry his name. The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, , as was the . In addition, the first Crew Dragon capsule flown by SpaceX was named for Endeavour. Another shuttle, Discovery, was named after Cook's .
The first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia, was named after him, with James Cook University opening in Townsville in 1970. Numerous institutions, landmarks and place names reflect the importance of Cook's contributions, including the Cook Islands, Cook Strait, Cook Inlet and the Cook crater on the Moon. Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest summit in New Zealand, is named for him. Another Mount Cook is on the border between the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon territory, and is designated Boundary Peak 182 as one of the official Boundary Peaks of the Hay–Herbert Treaty. A life-size statue of Cook upon a column stands in Hyde Park located in the centre of Sydney. A large aquatic monument is planned for Cook's landing place at Botany Bay, Sydney.
One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache, erected in 1780 by Admiral Hugh Palliser, a contemporary of Cook and one-time owner of the estate. A large obelisk was built in 1827 as a monument to Cook on Easby Moor overlooking his boyhood village of Great Ayton, along with a smaller monument at the former location of Cook's cottage. There is also a monument to Cook in the church of St Andrew the Great, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, where his sons Hugh, a student at Christ's College, and James were buried. Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep. The 250th anniversary of Cook's birth was marked at the site of his birthplace in Marton by the opening of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, located within Stewart Park (1978). A granite vase just to the south of the museum marks the approximate spot where he was born. Tributes also abound in post-industrial Middlesbrough, including a primary school, shopping square and the Bottle 'O Notes, a public artwork by Claes Oldenburg, that was erected in the town's Central Gardens in 1993. Also named after Cook is James Cook University Hospital, a major teaching hospital which opened in 2003 with a railway station serving it called James Cook opening in 2014.
The Royal Research Ship RRS James Cook was built in 2006 to replace the RRS Charles Darwin in the UK's Royal Research Fleet, and Stepney Historical Trust placed a plaque on Free Trade Wharf in the Highway, Shadwell to commemorate his life in the East End of London. A statue erected in his honour can be viewed near Admiralty Arch on the south side of The Mall in London. In 2002, Cook was placed at number 12 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
In 1959, the Cooktown Re-enactment Association first performed a re-enactment of Cook's 1770 landing at the site of modern Cooktown, Australia, and have continued the tradition each year, with the support and participation of many of the local Guugu Yimithirr people.
Cultural references
Cook was a subject in many literary creations; one of the earliest was "Captain Cook" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.). In 1931, Kenneth Slessor's poem "Five Visions of Captain Cook" was the "most dramatic break-through" in Australian poetry of the 20th century according to poet Douglas Stewart.
The Australian slang phrase "Have a Captain Cook" means to have a look or conduct a brief inspection.
Controversy
The period 2018 to 2021 marked the 250th anniversary of Cook's first voyage of exploration. A number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand, arranged official events to commemorate the voyage leading to widespread public debate about Cook's legacy. In the leadup to the commemorations, various memorials to Cook in Australia and New Zealand were vandalised and there were public calls for their removal or modification due to their alleged promotion of colonialist narratives. On 1 July 2021, a statue of James Cook in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was torn down following an earlier peaceful protest about the deaths of Indigenous residential school children in Canada. There were also campaigns for the return of Indigenous artefacts taken during Cook's voyages (see Gweagal shield). Alice Proctor argues that the controversies over public representations of Cook and the display of Indigenous artefacts from his voyages are part of a broader debate over the decolonisation of museums and public spaces and resistance to colonialist narratives. While a number of commentators argue that Cook was an enabler of British colonialism in the Pacific, Geoffrey Blainey, among others, notes that it was Banks who promoted Botany Bay as a site for colonisation after Cook's death. Robert Tombs defended Cook, associating him with the values of the Enlightenment and positing him as "The leading figure in an age of scientific exploration".
See also
New Zealand places named by James Cook
Australian places named by James Cook
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
Exploration of the Pacific
List of places named after Captain James Cook
List of sea captains
Death of Cook (paintings)
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
, Volume I, Volume II–III.
Richardson, Brian. (2005) Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World (University of British Columbia Press.) .
Sydney Daily Telegraph (1970) Captain Cook: His Artists – His Voyages The Sydney Daily Telegraph Portfolio of Original Works by Artists who sailed with Captain Cook. Australian Consolidated Press, Sydney
Thomas, Nicholas The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. Walker & Co., New York. (2003)
Uglow, Jenny, "Island Hopping" (review of Captain James Cook: The Journals, selected and edited by Philip Edwards, London, Folio Society, three volumes and a chart of the voyages, 1,309 pp.; and William Frame with Laura Walker, James Cook: The Voyages, McGill-Queen University Press, 224 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 2 (7 February 2019), pp. 18–20.
Withey, Lynne. Voyages of discovery: Captain Cook and the exploration of the Pacific'' (Univ of California Press, 1989).
External links
Captain Cook Society
Captain Cook historic plaque, Halifax
Biographical dictionaries
Journals
The Endeavour journal (1) and The Endeavour journal (2), as kept by James Cook – digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
The South Seas Project: maps and online editions of the Journals of James Cook's First Pacific Voyage, 1768–1771. Includes full text of journals kept by Cook, Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson, as well as the complete text of John Hawkesworth's 1773 Account of Cook's first voyage.
Digitised copies of log books from James Cook's voyages at the British Atmospheric Data Centre
Log book of Cook's second voyage: high-resolution digitised version in Cambridge Digital Library
Digitised Tapa cloth catalogue held at Auckland Libraries
Collections and museums
The Library of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia specialises in collecting works on Captain James Cook, his voyages and HMS Endeavour
Cook's Pacific Encounters: Cook-Forster Collection online Images and descriptions of more than 300 artefacts collected during the three Pacific voyages of James Cook.
Images and descriptions of items associated with James Cook at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum Marton
Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby
Cook's manuscript maps of the south-east coast of Australia, held at the American Geographical Society Library at UW Milwaukee.
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Sea captains | true | [
"Quite Interesting Limited is a British research company, most notable for providing the research for the British television panel game QI (itself an abbreviation of Quite Interesting) and the Swedish version Intresseklubben, as well as other QI–related programmes and products. The company founder and chairman is John Lloyd, the creator and producer of QI, and host of the radio panel game The Museum of Curiosity, which also uses Quite Interesting Limited for its research. John Mitchinson is the company's director and also works as head of research for QI.\n\nAbout\nLloyd founded Quite Interesting Limited in 1999. It is claimed that the idea of founding the company came on Christmas Eve 1993. According to his profile on QI.com, \"he came to the sudden and alarming realisation that he didn't really know anything. Changing gear again, he started reading books for the first time since he was 17. To his horror, he discovered that he hadn't been paying attention and, with painful slowness, unearthed the closely guarded secret that the universe is astoundingly quite interesting.\"\n\nThe philosophy of the company is that it claims that there are four primal drives: food, sex, shelter and curiosity. Out of these, curiosity is supposedly the most important because, \"unlike the other three drives, it is what makes us uniquely human.\" The company claims that, \"Whatever is interesting we are interested in. Whatever is not interesting, we are even more interested in. Everything is interesting if looked at in the right way.\"\n\nThose who carry out research are known as the \"QI Elves\". Notable elves include Justin Pollard and Vitali Vitaliev. They are also responsible for helping to write the questions used on QI. People wishing to become elves are recommended to start by commenting on the forums of the QI website.\n\nProducts\n\nDVDs\n\nBooks\n\nReferences\n\nQI\nCompanies based in Oxford\nBritish companies established in 1999\nPrivately held companies of the United Kingdom",
"\"Anything\" is a song by rapper Jay-Z that is found on the Vinyl 12\" \"Anything (The Berlin Remixes)\" 1999 with a Remix of DJ Tomekk from Def Jam Germany and later on Beanie Sigel's 2000 album The Truth. It is produced by Sam Sneed and P. Skam, who sample Lionel Bart's \"I'll Do Anything\" for the track's beat and chorus. The sample from Oliver! heavily popularized \"Anything\", as did the Annie sample on \"Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)\", \"Anything\" was also a bonus track on Jay-Z's album Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter (UK/Europe edition) as is \"Anything (Mr. Drunk Mix)\" on the Japanese version of the album.\n\nJay-Z admitted to Angie Martinez in a 2009 interview on the BET program Food for Thought that he hoped the song would be a success like \"Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)\" due to their similarities but was surprised when it wasn't, even saying \"I dropped the record and then nothing\". The song did, however, achieve moderate success in the UK reaching #18 on the singles chart. A music video for the song was also released, which was directed by Chris Robinson.\n\n\"Anything (The Berlin Remixes)\"\n\nFormats and track listings\n\nVinyl 12\"\n\nA-side\n \"Anything (GBZ Remix)\"\t\t\n \"Anything (GBZ Remix Instrumental)\"\n\nB-side\n \"Anything (DJ Tomekk Remix)\"\t\n \"Anything (Original Version)\"\t\n \"Anything (Original Version Instrumental)\"\n\nFormats and track listings\n\nCD\n \"Anything (Radio Edit)\"\n \"So Ghetto\"\n \"There's Been a Murder\"\n \"Anything (Video)\"\n\nVinyl\n\nA-side\n \"Anything (Radio Edit) (3:47)\"\n \"Anything (LP Version) (4:47)\"\n \"Anything (Instrumental) (4:48)\"\n\nB-side\n \"Big Pimpin' (Radio Edit) (3:56)\"\n \"Big Pimpin' (LP Version) (4:44)\"\n \"Big Pimpin' (Instrumental) (4:59)\"\n\nCharts\n\nSee also\nList of songs recorded by Jay-Z\n\nReferences\n\n2000 singles\nJay-Z songs\nMusic videos directed by Chris Robinson (director)\nSongs written by Jay-Z\nSongs written by Lionel Bart\nRoc-A-Fella Records singles\n2000 songs"
] |
[
"James Cook",
"Newfoundland",
"What did he do in Newfoundland?",
"His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific,",
"Who sent him to Newfoundland?",
"1760s, aboard HMS Grenville.",
"Did he find anything interesting there?",
"the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery."
] | C_45fa6db2110848ccb0f8e088f5106087_1 | What else did he find? | 4 | What else did James Cook do in Newfoundland besides being involved with the Admirality and Royal Society? | James Cook | During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel HMS Pembroke. With others in Pembroke's crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography, and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard HMS Grenville. He surveyed the north-west stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair". His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would be used into the 20th century--copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years. Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, it was at this time that Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go". CANNOTANSWER | attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would | James Cook (7 November 172814 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HMS Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In these voyages, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers. He surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook was attacked and killed in 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap the ruling chief of the island of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, to reclaim a cutter taken from one of his ships after his crew took wood from a burial ground. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.
Early life and family
James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 (NS) in the village of Marton in the North Riding of Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November (N.S.) in the parish church of St Cuthbert, where his name can be seen in the church register. He was the second of eight children of James Cook (1693–1779), a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, and his locally born wife, Grace Pace (1702–1765), from Thornaby-on-Tees. In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years' schooling, he began work for his father, who had been promoted to farm manager. Despite not being formally educated he became capable in mathematics, astronomy and charting by the time of his Endeavour voyage. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks' Cottage, his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, Australia, having been moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick, in 1934.
In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved to the fishing village of Staithes, to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.
After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to Sanderson's friends John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels, plying coal along the English coast. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy—all skills he would need one day to command his own ship.
His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea. After passing his examinations in 1752, he soon progressed through the merchant navy ranks, starting with his promotion in that year to mate aboard the collier brig Friendship. In 1755, within a month of being offered command of this vessel, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, when Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years' War. Despite the need to start back at the bottom of the naval hierarchy, Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service and entered the Navy at Wapping on 17 June 1755.
Cook married Elizabeth Batts, the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of the Bell Inn in Wapping and one of his mentors, on 21 December 1762 at St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex. The couple had six children: James (1763–1794), Nathaniel (1764–1780, lost aboard which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–1771), Joseph (1768–1768), George (1772–1772) and Hugh (1776–1793, who died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge). When not at sea, Cook lived in the East End of London. He attended St Paul's Church, Shadwell, where his son James was baptised. Cook has no direct descendants—all of his children died before having children of their own.
Start of Royal Navy career
Cook's first posting was with , serving as able seaman and master's mate under Captain Joseph Hamar for his first year aboard, and Captain Hugh Palliser thereafter. In October and November 1755, he took part in Eagle'''s capture of one French warship and the sinking of another, following which he was promoted to boatswain in addition to his other duties. His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he was briefly master of Cruizer, a small cutter attached to Eagle while on patrol.
In June 1757 Cook formally passed his master's examinations at Trinity House, Deptford, qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet. He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig.
Newfoundland
During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel . With others in Pembrokes crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard . He surveyed the northwest stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time, Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair".
While in Newfoundland, Cook also conducted astronomical observations, in particular of the eclipse of the sun on 5 August 1766. By obtaining an accurate estimate of the time of the start and finish of the eclipse, and comparing these with the timings at a known position in England it was possible to calculate the longitude of the observation site in Newfoundland. This result was communicated to the Royal Society in 1767.
His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's maps were used into the 20th century, with copies being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years.
Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go".
First voyage (1768–1771)
On 25 May 1768, the Admiralty commissioned Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun which, when combined with observations from other places, would help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Cook, at age 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command. For its part, the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay.
The expedition sailed aboard , departing England on 26 August 1768. Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis.
Cook then sailed to New Zealand where he mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. With the aid of Tupaia, a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the Māori. He then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.
On 23 April, he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point, noting in his journal: "... and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the C[l]othes they might have on I know not." On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula. Cook originally named the area "Stingray Bay", but later he crossed this out and named it "Botany Bay" after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. It is here that Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the Gweagal.
After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards. He stopped at Bustard Bay (now known as Seventeen Seventy) on 23 May 1770. On 24 May, Cook and Banks and others went ashore. Continuing north, on 11 June a mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770". The ship was badly damaged, and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach (near the docks of modern Cooktown, Queensland, at the mouth of the Endeavour River). The voyage then continued and at about midday on 22 August 1770, they reached the northernmost tip of the coast and, without leaving the ship, Cook named it York Cape (now Cape York). Leaving the east coast, Cook turned west and nursed his battered ship through the dangerously shallow waters of Torres Strait. Searching for a vantage point, Cook saw a steep hill on a nearby island from the top of which he hoped to see "a passage into the Indian Seas". Cook named the island Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia), where many in his crew succumbed to malaria, and then the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at the island of Saint Helena on 30 April 1771. The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in The Downs, with Cook going to Deal.
Interlude
Cook's journals were published upon his return, and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a greater hero. Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage but removed himself from the voyage before it began, and Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster were taken on as scientists for the voyage. Cook's son George was born five days before he left for his second voyage.
Second voyage (1772–1775)
Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771 to the rank of commander. In 1772, he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for the hypothetical Terra Australis. On his first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south. Although he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia, showing it to be continental in size, the Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Despite this evidence to the contrary, Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that a massive southern continent should exist.
Cook commanded on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, . Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773. In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774.
Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then resumed his southward course in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent. On this leg of the voyage, he brought a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage. On his return voyage to New Zealand in 1774, Cook landed at the Friendly Islands, Easter Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
Before returning to England, Cook made a final sweep across the South Atlantic from Cape Horn and surveyed, mapped, and took possession for Britain of South Georgia, which had been explored by the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Cook also discovered and named Clerke Rocks and the South Sandwich Islands ("Sandwich Land"). He then turned north to South Africa and from there continued back to England. His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.
Cook's second voyage marked a successful employment of Larcum Kendall's K1 copy of John Harrison's H4 marine chronometer, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for this time-piece which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.
Upon his return, Cook was promoted to the rank of post-captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, with a posting as an officer of the Greenwich Hospital. He reluctantly accepted, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if an opportunity for active duty should arise. His fame extended beyond the Admiralty; he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal for completing his second voyage without losing a man to scurvy. Nathaniel Dance-Holland painted his portrait; he dined with James Boswell; he was described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe". But he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned, and Cook volunteered to find the Northwest Passage. He travelled to the Pacific and hoped to travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage travelled the opposite route.
Third voyage (1776–1779)
Hawaii
On his last voyage, Cook again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded . The voyage was ostensibly planned to return the Pacific Islander Omai to Tahiti, or so the public was led to believe. The trip's principal goal was to locate a Northwest Passage around the American continent. After dropping Omai at Tahiti, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to begin formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands. After his initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.
North America
From the Sandwich Islands, Cook sailed north and then northeast to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California. He sighted the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming Cape Foulweather, after the bad weather which forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward. He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot. Cook's two ships remained in Nootka Sound from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove, at the south end of Bligh Island. Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial but sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had been acceptable in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but the lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items which the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. During the stay, the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels; the natives usually visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove.
After leaving Nootka Sound in search of the Northwest Passage, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. In a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska, and closed the gaps in Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of the northern limits of the Pacific.
By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea. He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north. Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then southeast down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait. By early September 1778 he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they had pronounced inedible.
Return to Hawaii
Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island, largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Cook's arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Coincidentally the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship. Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around the island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued (most extensively by Marshall Sahlins) that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono. Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, the idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it, were challenged in 1992.
Death
After a month's stay, Cook attempted to resume his exploration of the northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, however, Resolutions foremast broke, so the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.
Tensions rose, and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay, including the theft of wood from a burial ground under Cook's orders. An unknown group of Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. The evening when the cutter was taken, the people had become "insolent" even with threats to fire upon them. Cook attempted to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu.
The following day, 14 February 1779, Cook marched through the village to retrieve the king. Cook took the king (aliʻi nui) by his own hand and led him away. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favourite wives, Kanekapolei, and two chiefs approached the group as they were heading to the boats. They pleaded with the king not to go. An old kahuna (priest), chanting rapidly while holding out a coconut, attempted to distract Cook and his men as a large crowd began to form at the shore. At this point, the king began to understand that Cook was his enemy. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf. He was first struck on the head with a club by a chief named Kalaimanokahoʻowaha or Kanaʻina (namesake of Charles Kana'ina) and then stabbed by one of the king's attendants, Nuaa. The Hawaiians carried his body away towards the back of the town, still visible to the ship through their spyglass. Four marines, Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett and Private John Allen, were also killed and two others were wounded in the confrontation.
Aftermath
The esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, thus preserved, were eventually returned to his crew for a formal burial at sea.
Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait. He died of tuberculosis on 22 August 1779 and John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, took command of Resolution and of the expedition. James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery. The expedition returned home, reaching England in October 1780. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage.
Legacy
Ethnographic collections
The Australian Museum acquired its "Cook Collection" in 1894 from the Government of New South Wales. At that time the collection consisted of 115 artefacts collected on Cook's three voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period 1768–80, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artefacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of the documents and memorabilia were transferred to the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South Wales. The provenance of the collection shows that the objects remained in the hands of Cook's widow Elizabeth Cook, and her descendants, until 1886. In this year John Mackrell, the great-nephew of Isaac Smith, Elizabeth Cook's cousin, organised the display of this collection at the request of the NSW Government at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. In 1887 the London-based Agent-General for the New South Wales Government, Saul Samuel, bought John Mackrell's items and also acquired items belonging to the other relatives Reverend Canon Frederick Bennett, Mrs Thomas Langton, H.M.C. Alexander, and William Adams. The collection remained with the Colonial Secretary of NSW until 1894, when it was transferred to the Australian Museum.
Navigation and science
Cook's 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to Europeans' knowledge of the area. Several islands, such as the Hawaiian group, were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement. To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude must be accurately determined. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. The Earth turns a full 360 degrees relative to the sun each day. Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage from his navigational skills, with the help of astronomer Charles Green, and by using the newly published Nautical Almanac tables, via the lunar distance method – measuring the angular distance from the moon to either the sun during daytime or one of eight bright stars during night-time to determine the time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and comparing that to his local time determined via the altitude of the sun, moon, or stars.
On his second voyage, Cook used the K1 chronometer made by Larcum Kendall, which was the shape of a large pocket watch, in diameter. It was a copy of the H4 clock made by John Harrison, which proved to be the first to keep accurate time at sea when used on the ship Deptfords journey to Jamaica in 1761–62. He succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time. He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food. For presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776. Cook became the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. He correctly postulated a link among all the Pacific peoples, despite their being separated by great ocean stretches (see Malayo-Polynesian languages). Cook theorised that Polynesians originated from Asia, which scientist Bryan Sykes later verified. In New Zealand the coming of Cook is often used to signify the onset of the colonisation
which officially started more than 70 years after his crew became the second group of Europeans to visit that archipelago.
Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made significant observations and discoveries. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and the Swede Daniel Solander, sailed on the first voyage. The two collected over 3,000 plant species. Banks subsequently strongly promoted British settlement of Australia, leading to the establishment of New South Wales as a penal settlement in 1788. Artists also sailed on Cook's first voyage. Sydney Parkinson was heavily involved in documenting the botanists' findings, completing 264 drawings before his death near the end of the voyage. They were of immense scientific value to British botanists. Cook's second expedition included William Hodges, who produced notable landscape paintings of Tahiti, Easter Island, and other locations. Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit. Bligh became known for the mutiny of his crew, which resulted in his being set adrift in 1789. He later became Governor of New South Wales, where he was the subject of another mutiny—the 1808 Rum Rebellion. George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794. In honour of Vancouver's former commander, his ship was named . George Dixon, who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded his own. Henry Roberts, a lieutenant under Cook, spent many years after that voyage preparing the detailed charts that went into Cook's posthumous atlas, published around 1784.
Cook's contributions to knowledge gained international recognition during his lifetime. In 1779, while the American colonies were fighting Britain for their independence, Benjamin Franklin wrote to captains of colonial warships at sea, recommending that if they came into contact with Cook's vessel, they were to "not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or to America; but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness ... as common friends to mankind."
Memorials
A U.S. coin, the 1928 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half-dollar, carries Cook's image. Minted for the 150th anniversary of his discovery of the islands, its low mintage (10,008) has made this example of an early United States commemorative coin both scarce and expensive. The site where he was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk set on of chained-off beach. This land, although in Hawaii, was deeded to the United Kingdom by Princess Likelike and her husband, Archibald Scott Cleghorn, to the British Consul to Hawaii, James Hay Wodehouse, in 1877. A nearby town is named Captain Cook, Hawaii; several Hawaiian businesses also carry his name. The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, , as was the . In addition, the first Crew Dragon capsule flown by SpaceX was named for Endeavour. Another shuttle, Discovery, was named after Cook's .
The first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia, was named after him, with James Cook University opening in Townsville in 1970. Numerous institutions, landmarks and place names reflect the importance of Cook's contributions, including the Cook Islands, Cook Strait, Cook Inlet and the Cook crater on the Moon. Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest summit in New Zealand, is named for him. Another Mount Cook is on the border between the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon territory, and is designated Boundary Peak 182 as one of the official Boundary Peaks of the Hay–Herbert Treaty. A life-size statue of Cook upon a column stands in Hyde Park located in the centre of Sydney. A large aquatic monument is planned for Cook's landing place at Botany Bay, Sydney.
One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache, erected in 1780 by Admiral Hugh Palliser, a contemporary of Cook and one-time owner of the estate. A large obelisk was built in 1827 as a monument to Cook on Easby Moor overlooking his boyhood village of Great Ayton, along with a smaller monument at the former location of Cook's cottage. There is also a monument to Cook in the church of St Andrew the Great, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, where his sons Hugh, a student at Christ's College, and James were buried. Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep. The 250th anniversary of Cook's birth was marked at the site of his birthplace in Marton by the opening of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, located within Stewart Park (1978). A granite vase just to the south of the museum marks the approximate spot where he was born. Tributes also abound in post-industrial Middlesbrough, including a primary school, shopping square and the Bottle 'O Notes, a public artwork by Claes Oldenburg, that was erected in the town's Central Gardens in 1993. Also named after Cook is James Cook University Hospital, a major teaching hospital which opened in 2003 with a railway station serving it called James Cook opening in 2014.
The Royal Research Ship RRS James Cook was built in 2006 to replace the RRS Charles Darwin in the UK's Royal Research Fleet, and Stepney Historical Trust placed a plaque on Free Trade Wharf in the Highway, Shadwell to commemorate his life in the East End of London. A statue erected in his honour can be viewed near Admiralty Arch on the south side of The Mall in London. In 2002, Cook was placed at number 12 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
In 1959, the Cooktown Re-enactment Association first performed a re-enactment of Cook's 1770 landing at the site of modern Cooktown, Australia, and have continued the tradition each year, with the support and participation of many of the local Guugu Yimithirr people.
Cultural references
Cook was a subject in many literary creations; one of the earliest was "Captain Cook" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.). In 1931, Kenneth Slessor's poem "Five Visions of Captain Cook" was the "most dramatic break-through" in Australian poetry of the 20th century according to poet Douglas Stewart.
The Australian slang phrase "Have a Captain Cook" means to have a look or conduct a brief inspection.
Controversy
The period 2018 to 2021 marked the 250th anniversary of Cook's first voyage of exploration. A number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand, arranged official events to commemorate the voyage leading to widespread public debate about Cook's legacy. In the leadup to the commemorations, various memorials to Cook in Australia and New Zealand were vandalised and there were public calls for their removal or modification due to their alleged promotion of colonialist narratives. On 1 July 2021, a statue of James Cook in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was torn down following an earlier peaceful protest about the deaths of Indigenous residential school children in Canada. There were also campaigns for the return of Indigenous artefacts taken during Cook's voyages (see Gweagal shield). Alice Proctor argues that the controversies over public representations of Cook and the display of Indigenous artefacts from his voyages are part of a broader debate over the decolonisation of museums and public spaces and resistance to colonialist narratives. While a number of commentators argue that Cook was an enabler of British colonialism in the Pacific, Geoffrey Blainey, among others, notes that it was Banks who promoted Botany Bay as a site for colonisation after Cook's death. Robert Tombs defended Cook, associating him with the values of the Enlightenment and positing him as "The leading figure in an age of scientific exploration".
See also
New Zealand places named by James Cook
Australian places named by James Cook
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
Exploration of the Pacific
List of places named after Captain James Cook
List of sea captains
Death of Cook (paintings)
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
, Volume I, Volume II–III.
Richardson, Brian. (2005) Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World (University of British Columbia Press.) .
Sydney Daily Telegraph (1970) Captain Cook: His Artists – His Voyages The Sydney Daily Telegraph Portfolio of Original Works by Artists who sailed with Captain Cook. Australian Consolidated Press, Sydney
Thomas, Nicholas The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. Walker & Co., New York. (2003)
Uglow, Jenny, "Island Hopping" (review of Captain James Cook: The Journals, selected and edited by Philip Edwards, London, Folio Society, three volumes and a chart of the voyages, 1,309 pp.; and William Frame with Laura Walker, James Cook: The Voyages, McGill-Queen University Press, 224 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 2 (7 February 2019), pp. 18–20.
Withey, Lynne. Voyages of discovery: Captain Cook and the exploration of the Pacific'' (Univ of California Press, 1989).
External links
Captain Cook Society
Captain Cook historic plaque, Halifax
Biographical dictionaries
Journals
The Endeavour journal (1) and The Endeavour journal (2), as kept by James Cook – digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
The South Seas Project: maps and online editions of the Journals of James Cook's First Pacific Voyage, 1768–1771. Includes full text of journals kept by Cook, Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson, as well as the complete text of John Hawkesworth's 1773 Account of Cook's first voyage.
Digitised copies of log books from James Cook's voyages at the British Atmospheric Data Centre
Log book of Cook's second voyage: high-resolution digitised version in Cambridge Digital Library
Digitised Tapa cloth catalogue held at Auckland Libraries
Collections and museums
The Library of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia specialises in collecting works on Captain James Cook, his voyages and HMS Endeavour
Cook's Pacific Encounters: Cook-Forster Collection online Images and descriptions of more than 300 artefacts collected during the three Pacific voyages of James Cook.
Images and descriptions of items associated with James Cook at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum Marton
Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby
Cook's manuscript maps of the south-east coast of Australia, held at the American Geographical Society Library at UW Milwaukee.
1728 births
1779 deaths
18th-century English people
18th-century explorers
Death in Hawaii
English explorers of the Pacific
British military personnel of the French and Indian War
British navigators
British people executed abroad
Circumnavigators of the globe
English cartographers
English explorers of North America
English hydrographers
English people of Scottish descent
English sailors
Explorers of Alaska
Explorers of Antarctica
Explorers of Australia
Explorers of British Columbia
Explorers of New Zealand
Explorers of Oregon
Explorers of Washington (state)
Fellows of the Royal Society
Hydrographers
Maritime writers
People from Middlesbrough
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Recipients of the Copley Medal
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Q150 Icons
Sea captains | false | [
"A Cassette Tape Culture (Phase One) is the second recording by American industrial band ATelecine, released in 2010 through Pendu Sound Recordings in a limited edition of 500 copies.\n\nTrack listing\nSide Y\n \"Find Nothing Else\"\n \"Chroeg Xen\"\n \"It's All Write\"\n \"She Is Beautiful\"\n \"Kitchen Light\"\n \"A Cassette Played\"\nSide Z\n \"Auon\" (live ver)\n \"Some What Daft\"\n \"Elijah's New Sun\"\n \"I Came I Sat I Departed\"\n \"RH\"\n \"Never Was a Dreamer\"\n\nReferences\n\n2010 albums\nATelecine albums",
"Land of the Living (2003) is a psychological thriller novel by Nicci French, the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife team of English suspense writers, Nicci Gerrard and Sean French.\n\nSynopsis\nOne day, Abbie Deveraux wakes up in the dark to find she has been kidnapped and tied to a chair. She can't remember how she got there, all she knows is her loved ones may be looking for her and she wants to escape this prison. She manages to escape. Going back to her friends and boyfriend she realises that her last few days with them had been strange. Ending her relationship with her boyfriend and quitting her job, she couldn't remember any of this, not even the fact that she had been seeing someone else. As well as this her friends don't believe her kidnapping and being tied up. In a fear that he knows everything about her, where she lives, where she goes, she wants to trace back her steps of what she had done the days before she had disappeared. In an attempt for him not to find her, she changes her image and style. But the mysterious incident continues to haunt her, she can't think of anything else other than getting the man who had tormented her and to find the other girls that he mentioned he had killed.\n\nReferences\n\n2003 British novels\nThriller novels\nNovels by Nicci French\nPsychological thriller novels\nMichael Joseph books"
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[
"James Cook",
"Newfoundland",
"What did he do in Newfoundland?",
"His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific,",
"Who sent him to Newfoundland?",
"1760s, aboard HMS Grenville.",
"Did he find anything interesting there?",
"the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery.",
"What else did he find?",
"attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would"
] | C_45fa6db2110848ccb0f8e088f5106087_1 | Do we still use his maps? | 5 | Do we still use James Cook's maps? | James Cook | During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel HMS Pembroke. With others in Pembroke's crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography, and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard HMS Grenville. He surveyed the north-west stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair". His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would be used into the 20th century--copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years. Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, it was at this time that Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go". CANNOTANSWER | discovery. Cook's map would be used into the 20th century--copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years. | James Cook (7 November 172814 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HMS Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In these voyages, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers. He surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook was attacked and killed in 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap the ruling chief of the island of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, to reclaim a cutter taken from one of his ships after his crew took wood from a burial ground. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.
Early life and family
James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 (NS) in the village of Marton in the North Riding of Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November (N.S.) in the parish church of St Cuthbert, where his name can be seen in the church register. He was the second of eight children of James Cook (1693–1779), a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, and his locally born wife, Grace Pace (1702–1765), from Thornaby-on-Tees. In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years' schooling, he began work for his father, who had been promoted to farm manager. Despite not being formally educated he became capable in mathematics, astronomy and charting by the time of his Endeavour voyage. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks' Cottage, his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, Australia, having been moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick, in 1934.
In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved to the fishing village of Staithes, to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.
After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to Sanderson's friends John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels, plying coal along the English coast. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy—all skills he would need one day to command his own ship.
His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea. After passing his examinations in 1752, he soon progressed through the merchant navy ranks, starting with his promotion in that year to mate aboard the collier brig Friendship. In 1755, within a month of being offered command of this vessel, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, when Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years' War. Despite the need to start back at the bottom of the naval hierarchy, Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service and entered the Navy at Wapping on 17 June 1755.
Cook married Elizabeth Batts, the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of the Bell Inn in Wapping and one of his mentors, on 21 December 1762 at St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex. The couple had six children: James (1763–1794), Nathaniel (1764–1780, lost aboard which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–1771), Joseph (1768–1768), George (1772–1772) and Hugh (1776–1793, who died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge). When not at sea, Cook lived in the East End of London. He attended St Paul's Church, Shadwell, where his son James was baptised. Cook has no direct descendants—all of his children died before having children of their own.
Start of Royal Navy career
Cook's first posting was with , serving as able seaman and master's mate under Captain Joseph Hamar for his first year aboard, and Captain Hugh Palliser thereafter. In October and November 1755, he took part in Eagle'''s capture of one French warship and the sinking of another, following which he was promoted to boatswain in addition to his other duties. His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he was briefly master of Cruizer, a small cutter attached to Eagle while on patrol.
In June 1757 Cook formally passed his master's examinations at Trinity House, Deptford, qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet. He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig.
Newfoundland
During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel . With others in Pembrokes crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard . He surveyed the northwest stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time, Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair".
While in Newfoundland, Cook also conducted astronomical observations, in particular of the eclipse of the sun on 5 August 1766. By obtaining an accurate estimate of the time of the start and finish of the eclipse, and comparing these with the timings at a known position in England it was possible to calculate the longitude of the observation site in Newfoundland. This result was communicated to the Royal Society in 1767.
His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's maps were used into the 20th century, with copies being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years.
Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go".
First voyage (1768–1771)
On 25 May 1768, the Admiralty commissioned Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun which, when combined with observations from other places, would help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Cook, at age 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command. For its part, the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay.
The expedition sailed aboard , departing England on 26 August 1768. Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis.
Cook then sailed to New Zealand where he mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. With the aid of Tupaia, a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the Māori. He then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.
On 23 April, he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point, noting in his journal: "... and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the C[l]othes they might have on I know not." On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula. Cook originally named the area "Stingray Bay", but later he crossed this out and named it "Botany Bay" after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. It is here that Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the Gweagal.
After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards. He stopped at Bustard Bay (now known as Seventeen Seventy) on 23 May 1770. On 24 May, Cook and Banks and others went ashore. Continuing north, on 11 June a mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770". The ship was badly damaged, and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach (near the docks of modern Cooktown, Queensland, at the mouth of the Endeavour River). The voyage then continued and at about midday on 22 August 1770, they reached the northernmost tip of the coast and, without leaving the ship, Cook named it York Cape (now Cape York). Leaving the east coast, Cook turned west and nursed his battered ship through the dangerously shallow waters of Torres Strait. Searching for a vantage point, Cook saw a steep hill on a nearby island from the top of which he hoped to see "a passage into the Indian Seas". Cook named the island Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia), where many in his crew succumbed to malaria, and then the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at the island of Saint Helena on 30 April 1771. The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in The Downs, with Cook going to Deal.
Interlude
Cook's journals were published upon his return, and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a greater hero. Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage but removed himself from the voyage before it began, and Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster were taken on as scientists for the voyage. Cook's son George was born five days before he left for his second voyage.
Second voyage (1772–1775)
Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771 to the rank of commander. In 1772, he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for the hypothetical Terra Australis. On his first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south. Although he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia, showing it to be continental in size, the Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Despite this evidence to the contrary, Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that a massive southern continent should exist.
Cook commanded on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, . Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773. In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774.
Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then resumed his southward course in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent. On this leg of the voyage, he brought a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage. On his return voyage to New Zealand in 1774, Cook landed at the Friendly Islands, Easter Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
Before returning to England, Cook made a final sweep across the South Atlantic from Cape Horn and surveyed, mapped, and took possession for Britain of South Georgia, which had been explored by the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Cook also discovered and named Clerke Rocks and the South Sandwich Islands ("Sandwich Land"). He then turned north to South Africa and from there continued back to England. His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.
Cook's second voyage marked a successful employment of Larcum Kendall's K1 copy of John Harrison's H4 marine chronometer, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for this time-piece which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.
Upon his return, Cook was promoted to the rank of post-captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, with a posting as an officer of the Greenwich Hospital. He reluctantly accepted, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if an opportunity for active duty should arise. His fame extended beyond the Admiralty; he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal for completing his second voyage without losing a man to scurvy. Nathaniel Dance-Holland painted his portrait; he dined with James Boswell; he was described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe". But he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned, and Cook volunteered to find the Northwest Passage. He travelled to the Pacific and hoped to travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage travelled the opposite route.
Third voyage (1776–1779)
Hawaii
On his last voyage, Cook again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded . The voyage was ostensibly planned to return the Pacific Islander Omai to Tahiti, or so the public was led to believe. The trip's principal goal was to locate a Northwest Passage around the American continent. After dropping Omai at Tahiti, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to begin formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands. After his initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.
North America
From the Sandwich Islands, Cook sailed north and then northeast to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California. He sighted the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming Cape Foulweather, after the bad weather which forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward. He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot. Cook's two ships remained in Nootka Sound from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove, at the south end of Bligh Island. Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial but sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had been acceptable in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but the lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items which the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. During the stay, the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels; the natives usually visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove.
After leaving Nootka Sound in search of the Northwest Passage, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. In a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska, and closed the gaps in Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of the northern limits of the Pacific.
By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea. He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north. Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then southeast down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait. By early September 1778 he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they had pronounced inedible.
Return to Hawaii
Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island, largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Cook's arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Coincidentally the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship. Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around the island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued (most extensively by Marshall Sahlins) that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono. Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, the idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it, were challenged in 1992.
Death
After a month's stay, Cook attempted to resume his exploration of the northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, however, Resolutions foremast broke, so the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.
Tensions rose, and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay, including the theft of wood from a burial ground under Cook's orders. An unknown group of Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. The evening when the cutter was taken, the people had become "insolent" even with threats to fire upon them. Cook attempted to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu.
The following day, 14 February 1779, Cook marched through the village to retrieve the king. Cook took the king (aliʻi nui) by his own hand and led him away. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favourite wives, Kanekapolei, and two chiefs approached the group as they were heading to the boats. They pleaded with the king not to go. An old kahuna (priest), chanting rapidly while holding out a coconut, attempted to distract Cook and his men as a large crowd began to form at the shore. At this point, the king began to understand that Cook was his enemy. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf. He was first struck on the head with a club by a chief named Kalaimanokahoʻowaha or Kanaʻina (namesake of Charles Kana'ina) and then stabbed by one of the king's attendants, Nuaa. The Hawaiians carried his body away towards the back of the town, still visible to the ship through their spyglass. Four marines, Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett and Private John Allen, were also killed and two others were wounded in the confrontation.
Aftermath
The esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, thus preserved, were eventually returned to his crew for a formal burial at sea.
Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait. He died of tuberculosis on 22 August 1779 and John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, took command of Resolution and of the expedition. James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery. The expedition returned home, reaching England in October 1780. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage.
Legacy
Ethnographic collections
The Australian Museum acquired its "Cook Collection" in 1894 from the Government of New South Wales. At that time the collection consisted of 115 artefacts collected on Cook's three voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period 1768–80, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artefacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of the documents and memorabilia were transferred to the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South Wales. The provenance of the collection shows that the objects remained in the hands of Cook's widow Elizabeth Cook, and her descendants, until 1886. In this year John Mackrell, the great-nephew of Isaac Smith, Elizabeth Cook's cousin, organised the display of this collection at the request of the NSW Government at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. In 1887 the London-based Agent-General for the New South Wales Government, Saul Samuel, bought John Mackrell's items and also acquired items belonging to the other relatives Reverend Canon Frederick Bennett, Mrs Thomas Langton, H.M.C. Alexander, and William Adams. The collection remained with the Colonial Secretary of NSW until 1894, when it was transferred to the Australian Museum.
Navigation and science
Cook's 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to Europeans' knowledge of the area. Several islands, such as the Hawaiian group, were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement. To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude must be accurately determined. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. The Earth turns a full 360 degrees relative to the sun each day. Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage from his navigational skills, with the help of astronomer Charles Green, and by using the newly published Nautical Almanac tables, via the lunar distance method – measuring the angular distance from the moon to either the sun during daytime or one of eight bright stars during night-time to determine the time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and comparing that to his local time determined via the altitude of the sun, moon, or stars.
On his second voyage, Cook used the K1 chronometer made by Larcum Kendall, which was the shape of a large pocket watch, in diameter. It was a copy of the H4 clock made by John Harrison, which proved to be the first to keep accurate time at sea when used on the ship Deptfords journey to Jamaica in 1761–62. He succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time. He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food. For presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776. Cook became the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. He correctly postulated a link among all the Pacific peoples, despite their being separated by great ocean stretches (see Malayo-Polynesian languages). Cook theorised that Polynesians originated from Asia, which scientist Bryan Sykes later verified. In New Zealand the coming of Cook is often used to signify the onset of the colonisation
which officially started more than 70 years after his crew became the second group of Europeans to visit that archipelago.
Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made significant observations and discoveries. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and the Swede Daniel Solander, sailed on the first voyage. The two collected over 3,000 plant species. Banks subsequently strongly promoted British settlement of Australia, leading to the establishment of New South Wales as a penal settlement in 1788. Artists also sailed on Cook's first voyage. Sydney Parkinson was heavily involved in documenting the botanists' findings, completing 264 drawings before his death near the end of the voyage. They were of immense scientific value to British botanists. Cook's second expedition included William Hodges, who produced notable landscape paintings of Tahiti, Easter Island, and other locations. Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit. Bligh became known for the mutiny of his crew, which resulted in his being set adrift in 1789. He later became Governor of New South Wales, where he was the subject of another mutiny—the 1808 Rum Rebellion. George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794. In honour of Vancouver's former commander, his ship was named . George Dixon, who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded his own. Henry Roberts, a lieutenant under Cook, spent many years after that voyage preparing the detailed charts that went into Cook's posthumous atlas, published around 1784.
Cook's contributions to knowledge gained international recognition during his lifetime. In 1779, while the American colonies were fighting Britain for their independence, Benjamin Franklin wrote to captains of colonial warships at sea, recommending that if they came into contact with Cook's vessel, they were to "not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or to America; but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness ... as common friends to mankind."
Memorials
A U.S. coin, the 1928 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half-dollar, carries Cook's image. Minted for the 150th anniversary of his discovery of the islands, its low mintage (10,008) has made this example of an early United States commemorative coin both scarce and expensive. The site where he was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk set on of chained-off beach. This land, although in Hawaii, was deeded to the United Kingdom by Princess Likelike and her husband, Archibald Scott Cleghorn, to the British Consul to Hawaii, James Hay Wodehouse, in 1877. A nearby town is named Captain Cook, Hawaii; several Hawaiian businesses also carry his name. The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, , as was the . In addition, the first Crew Dragon capsule flown by SpaceX was named for Endeavour. Another shuttle, Discovery, was named after Cook's .
The first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia, was named after him, with James Cook University opening in Townsville in 1970. Numerous institutions, landmarks and place names reflect the importance of Cook's contributions, including the Cook Islands, Cook Strait, Cook Inlet and the Cook crater on the Moon. Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest summit in New Zealand, is named for him. Another Mount Cook is on the border between the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon territory, and is designated Boundary Peak 182 as one of the official Boundary Peaks of the Hay–Herbert Treaty. A life-size statue of Cook upon a column stands in Hyde Park located in the centre of Sydney. A large aquatic monument is planned for Cook's landing place at Botany Bay, Sydney.
One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache, erected in 1780 by Admiral Hugh Palliser, a contemporary of Cook and one-time owner of the estate. A large obelisk was built in 1827 as a monument to Cook on Easby Moor overlooking his boyhood village of Great Ayton, along with a smaller monument at the former location of Cook's cottage. There is also a monument to Cook in the church of St Andrew the Great, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, where his sons Hugh, a student at Christ's College, and James were buried. Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep. The 250th anniversary of Cook's birth was marked at the site of his birthplace in Marton by the opening of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, located within Stewart Park (1978). A granite vase just to the south of the museum marks the approximate spot where he was born. Tributes also abound in post-industrial Middlesbrough, including a primary school, shopping square and the Bottle 'O Notes, a public artwork by Claes Oldenburg, that was erected in the town's Central Gardens in 1993. Also named after Cook is James Cook University Hospital, a major teaching hospital which opened in 2003 with a railway station serving it called James Cook opening in 2014.
The Royal Research Ship RRS James Cook was built in 2006 to replace the RRS Charles Darwin in the UK's Royal Research Fleet, and Stepney Historical Trust placed a plaque on Free Trade Wharf in the Highway, Shadwell to commemorate his life in the East End of London. A statue erected in his honour can be viewed near Admiralty Arch on the south side of The Mall in London. In 2002, Cook was placed at number 12 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
In 1959, the Cooktown Re-enactment Association first performed a re-enactment of Cook's 1770 landing at the site of modern Cooktown, Australia, and have continued the tradition each year, with the support and participation of many of the local Guugu Yimithirr people.
Cultural references
Cook was a subject in many literary creations; one of the earliest was "Captain Cook" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.). In 1931, Kenneth Slessor's poem "Five Visions of Captain Cook" was the "most dramatic break-through" in Australian poetry of the 20th century according to poet Douglas Stewart.
The Australian slang phrase "Have a Captain Cook" means to have a look or conduct a brief inspection.
Controversy
The period 2018 to 2021 marked the 250th anniversary of Cook's first voyage of exploration. A number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand, arranged official events to commemorate the voyage leading to widespread public debate about Cook's legacy. In the leadup to the commemorations, various memorials to Cook in Australia and New Zealand were vandalised and there were public calls for their removal or modification due to their alleged promotion of colonialist narratives. On 1 July 2021, a statue of James Cook in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was torn down following an earlier peaceful protest about the deaths of Indigenous residential school children in Canada. There were also campaigns for the return of Indigenous artefacts taken during Cook's voyages (see Gweagal shield). Alice Proctor argues that the controversies over public representations of Cook and the display of Indigenous artefacts from his voyages are part of a broader debate over the decolonisation of museums and public spaces and resistance to colonialist narratives. While a number of commentators argue that Cook was an enabler of British colonialism in the Pacific, Geoffrey Blainey, among others, notes that it was Banks who promoted Botany Bay as a site for colonisation after Cook's death. Robert Tombs defended Cook, associating him with the values of the Enlightenment and positing him as "The leading figure in an age of scientific exploration".
See also
New Zealand places named by James Cook
Australian places named by James Cook
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
Exploration of the Pacific
List of places named after Captain James Cook
List of sea captains
Death of Cook (paintings)
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
, Volume I, Volume II–III.
Richardson, Brian. (2005) Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World (University of British Columbia Press.) .
Sydney Daily Telegraph (1970) Captain Cook: His Artists – His Voyages The Sydney Daily Telegraph Portfolio of Original Works by Artists who sailed with Captain Cook. Australian Consolidated Press, Sydney
Thomas, Nicholas The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. Walker & Co., New York. (2003)
Uglow, Jenny, "Island Hopping" (review of Captain James Cook: The Journals, selected and edited by Philip Edwards, London, Folio Society, three volumes and a chart of the voyages, 1,309 pp.; and William Frame with Laura Walker, James Cook: The Voyages, McGill-Queen University Press, 224 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 2 (7 February 2019), pp. 18–20.
Withey, Lynne. Voyages of discovery: Captain Cook and the exploration of the Pacific'' (Univ of California Press, 1989).
External links
Captain Cook Society
Captain Cook historic plaque, Halifax
Biographical dictionaries
Journals
The Endeavour journal (1) and The Endeavour journal (2), as kept by James Cook – digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
The South Seas Project: maps and online editions of the Journals of James Cook's First Pacific Voyage, 1768–1771. Includes full text of journals kept by Cook, Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson, as well as the complete text of John Hawkesworth's 1773 Account of Cook's first voyage.
Digitised copies of log books from James Cook's voyages at the British Atmospheric Data Centre
Log book of Cook's second voyage: high-resolution digitised version in Cambridge Digital Library
Digitised Tapa cloth catalogue held at Auckland Libraries
Collections and museums
The Library of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia specialises in collecting works on Captain James Cook, his voyages and HMS Endeavour
Cook's Pacific Encounters: Cook-Forster Collection online Images and descriptions of more than 300 artefacts collected during the three Pacific voyages of James Cook.
Images and descriptions of items associated with James Cook at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum Marton
Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby
Cook's manuscript maps of the south-east coast of Australia, held at the American Geographical Society Library at UW Milwaukee.
1728 births
1779 deaths
18th-century English people
18th-century explorers
Death in Hawaii
English explorers of the Pacific
British military personnel of the French and Indian War
British navigators
British people executed abroad
Circumnavigators of the globe
English cartographers
English explorers of North America
English hydrographers
English people of Scottish descent
English sailors
Explorers of Alaska
Explorers of Antarctica
Explorers of Australia
Explorers of British Columbia
Explorers of New Zealand
Explorers of Oregon
Explorers of Washington (state)
Fellows of the Royal Society
Hydrographers
Maritime writers
People from Middlesbrough
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Recipients of the Copley Medal
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Q150 Icons
Sea captains | false | [
"In mathematics, there are two natural interpretations of the place-permutation action of symmetric groups, in which the group elements act on positions or places. Each may be regarded as either a left or a right action, depending on the order in which one chooses to compose permutations. There are just two interpretations of the meaning of \"acting by a permutation \" but these lead to four variations, depending whether maps are written on the left or right of their arguments. The presence of so many variations often leads to confusion. When regarding the group algebra of a symmetric group as a diagram algebra it is natural to write maps on the right so as to compute compositions of diagrams from left to right.\n\nMaps written on the left \n\nFirst we assume that maps are written on the left of their arguments, so that compositions take place from right to left. Let be the symmetric group on letters, with compositions computed from right to left.\n\nImagine a situation in which elements of act on the “places” (i.e., positions) of something. The places could be vertices of a regular polygon of sides, the tensor positions of a simple tensor, or even the inputs of a polynomial of variables. So we have places, numbered in order from 1 to , occupied by objects that we can number . In short, we can regard our items as a word of length in which the position of each element is significant. Now what does it mean to act by “place-permutation” on ? There are two possible answers:\n\n an element can move the item in the th place to the th place, or\n it can do the opposite, moving an item from the th place to the th place.\n\nEach of these interpretations of the meaning of an “action” by (on the places) is equally natural, and both are widely used by mathematicians. Thus, when encountering an instance of a \"place-permutation\" action one must take care to determine from the context which interpretation is intended, if the author does not give specific formulas.\n\nConsider the first interpretation. The following descriptions are all equivalent ways to describe the rule for the first interpretation of the action:\n\n For each , move the item in the th place to the th place.\n For each , move the item in the th place to the th place.\n For each , replace the item in the th position by the one that was in the th place.\n\nThis action may be written as the rule .\n\nNow if we act on this by another permutation then we need to first relabel the items by writing . Then takes this to This proves that the action is a left action: .\n\nNow we consider the second interpretation of the action of , which is the opposite of the first. The following descriptions of the second interpretation are all equivalent:\n\n For each , move the item in the th place to the th place.\n For each , move the item in the th place to the th place.\n For each , replace the item in the th position by the one that was in the th place.\n\nThis action may be written as the rule .\n\nIn order to act on this by another permutation , again we first relabel the items by writing . Then the action of takes this to This proves that our second interpretation of the action is a right action: \n.\n\nExample \n\nIf is the 3-cycle and is the transposition , then since we write maps on the left of their arguments we have Using the first interpretation we have , the result of which agrees with the action of on . So .\n\nOn the other hand, if we use the second interpretation, we have , the result of which agrees with the action of on . So .\n\nMaps written on the right \n\nSometimes people like to write maps on the right of their arguments. This is a convenient convention to adopt when working with symmetric groups as diagram algebras, for instance, since then one may read compositions from left to right instead of from right to left. The question is: how does this affect the two interpretations of the place-permutation action of a symmetric group?\n\nThe answer is simple. By writing maps on the right instead of on the left we are reversing the order of composition, so in effect we replace by its opposite group . This is the same group, but the order of compositions is reversed.\n\nReversing the order of compositions evidently changes left actions into right ones, and vice versa, changes right actions into left ones. This means that our first interpretation becomes a right action while the second becomes a left one.\n\nIn symbols, this means that the action is now a right action, while the action is now a left action.\n\nExample \n\nWe let be the 3-cycle and the transposition , as before. Since we now write maps on the right of their arguments we have Using the first interpretation we have , the result of which agrees with the action of on . So .\n\nOn the other hand, if we use the second interpretation, we have , the result of which agrees with the action of on . So .\n\nSummary \n\nIn conclusion, we summarize the four possibilities considered in this article. Here are the four variations:\n\nAlthough there are four variations, there are still only two different ways of acting; the four variations arise from the choice of writing maps on the left or right, a choice which is purely a matter of convention.\n\nNotes\n\nReferences\n\n Tom Halverson and Arun Ram, \"Partition algebras\", European J. Combin. 26 (2005), no. 6, 869–921. \n Thomas Hungerford, Algebra. Springer Lecture Notes 73, Springer-Verlag 1974.\n Gordon D. James, The Representation Theory of the Symmetric Groups. Lecture Notes in Math. 682 (1978), Springer.\n Hermann Weyl, The Classical Groups: Their Invariants and Representations. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1939.\n\nPermutations",
"The Ferraris map or map of the Austrian Netherlands is a historical map created between 1770 and 1778 by the count Joseph de Ferraris in response to a request by Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine. It is the first systematic, large scale mapping in Belgium and Western Europe.\n\nThere are three original versions of the map. The Royal Library of Belgium, the Austrian National Library and National Library of the Netherlands each have one.\n\nHistory\nThe topographic survey was performed on a territory corresponding to today's Belgium and Luxembourg as well as some territories now belonging to Germany and the Netherlands.\n\nThe map was published at the original scale of 1/11.520 and includes 275 sheets.\n\nImportance\n\nNapoleon Bonaparte consulted the maps and subsequently used his topographical knowledge in his military campaigns. \n\nThe Ferraris maps reflect the detailed state of the Southern Netherlands just before the start of the Industrial Revolution and the end of the Ancien Régime, when the landscape was still similar to that of the Middle Ages. Looking at the maps today, it is obvious how much the areas have changed over time as people began to have a bigger impact on the environment. Environmental organisations like to use the maps to point out the original state of an area. \n\nThe maps can also help identify archaeological finds. This works both ways: archaeologists regularly use the maps to search for remains of buildings. Engineers can consult the maps to check for soil stability, since the maps feature mining pits that no longer exist but can still pose a danger.\n\nExternal links \n\n \n \n\nMaps of the Netherlands"
] |
[
"James Cook",
"Newfoundland",
"What did he do in Newfoundland?",
"His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific,",
"Who sent him to Newfoundland?",
"1760s, aboard HMS Grenville.",
"Did he find anything interesting there?",
"the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery.",
"What else did he find?",
"attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would",
"Do we still use his maps?",
"discovery. Cook's map would be used into the 20th century--copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years."
] | C_45fa6db2110848ccb0f8e088f5106087_1 | Did he learn any other interesting things? | 6 | Did James Cook learn any interesting things besides mapping Newfoundland? | James Cook | During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel HMS Pembroke. With others in Pembroke's crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography, and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham. Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard HMS Grenville. He surveyed the north-west stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair". His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's map would be used into the 20th century--copies of it being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years. Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, it was at this time that Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go". CANNOTANSWER | only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go". | James Cook (7 November 172814 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and to Australia in particular. He made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Cook joined the British merchant navy as a teenager and joined the Royal Navy in 1755. He saw action in the Seven Years' War and subsequently surveyed and mapped much of the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the siege of Quebec, which brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and the Royal Society. This acclaim came at a crucial moment for the direction of British overseas exploration, and it led to his commission in 1766 as commander of HMS Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.
In these voyages, Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe. He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers. He surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time. He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage, and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook was attacked and killed in 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap the ruling chief of the island of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, to reclaim a cutter taken from one of his ships after his crew took wood from a burial ground. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge that influenced his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.
Early life and family
James Cook was born on 7 November 1728 (NS) in the village of Marton in the North Riding of Yorkshire and baptised on 14 November (N.S.) in the parish church of St Cuthbert, where his name can be seen in the church register. He was the second of eight children of James Cook (1693–1779), a Scottish farm labourer from Ednam in Roxburghshire, and his locally born wife, Grace Pace (1702–1765), from Thornaby-on-Tees. In 1736, his family moved to Airey Holme farm at Great Ayton, where his father's employer, Thomas Skottowe, paid for him to attend the local school. In 1741, after five years' schooling, he began work for his father, who had been promoted to farm manager. Despite not being formally educated he became capable in mathematics, astronomy and charting by the time of his Endeavour voyage. For leisure, he would climb a nearby hill, Roseberry Topping, enjoying the opportunity for solitude. Cooks' Cottage, his parents' last home, which he is likely to have visited, is now in Melbourne, Australia, having been moved from England and reassembled, brick by brick, in 1934.
In 1745, when he was 16, Cook moved to the fishing village of Staithes, to be apprenticed as a shop boy to grocer and haberdasher William Sanderson. Historians have speculated that this is where Cook first felt the lure of the sea while gazing out of the shop window.
After 18 months, not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby to be introduced to Sanderson's friends John and Henry Walker. The Walkers, who were Quakers, were prominent local ship-owners in the coal trade. Their house is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels, plying coal along the English coast. His first assignment was aboard the collier Freelove, and he spent several years on this and various other coasters, sailing between the Tyne and London. As part of his apprenticeship, Cook applied himself to the study of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, navigation and astronomy—all skills he would need one day to command his own ship.
His three-year apprenticeship completed, Cook began working on trading ships in the Baltic Sea. After passing his examinations in 1752, he soon progressed through the merchant navy ranks, starting with his promotion in that year to mate aboard the collier brig Friendship. In 1755, within a month of being offered command of this vessel, he volunteered for service in the Royal Navy, when Britain was re-arming for what was to become the Seven Years' War. Despite the need to start back at the bottom of the naval hierarchy, Cook realised his career would advance more quickly in military service and entered the Navy at Wapping on 17 June 1755.
Cook married Elizabeth Batts, the daughter of Samuel Batts, keeper of the Bell Inn in Wapping and one of his mentors, on 21 December 1762 at St Margaret's Church, Barking, Essex. The couple had six children: James (1763–1794), Nathaniel (1764–1780, lost aboard which foundered with all hands in a hurricane in the West Indies), Elizabeth (1767–1771), Joseph (1768–1768), George (1772–1772) and Hugh (1776–1793, who died of scarlet fever while a student at Christ's College, Cambridge). When not at sea, Cook lived in the East End of London. He attended St Paul's Church, Shadwell, where his son James was baptised. Cook has no direct descendants—all of his children died before having children of their own.
Start of Royal Navy career
Cook's first posting was with , serving as able seaman and master's mate under Captain Joseph Hamar for his first year aboard, and Captain Hugh Palliser thereafter. In October and November 1755, he took part in Eagle'''s capture of one French warship and the sinking of another, following which he was promoted to boatswain in addition to his other duties. His first temporary command was in March 1756 when he was briefly master of Cruizer, a small cutter attached to Eagle while on patrol.
In June 1757 Cook formally passed his master's examinations at Trinity House, Deptford, qualifying him to navigate and handle a ship of the King's fleet. He then joined the frigate HMS Solebay as master under Captain Robert Craig.
Newfoundland
During the Seven Years' War, Cook served in North America as master aboard the fourth-rate Navy vessel . With others in Pembrokes crew, he took part in the major amphibious assault that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg from the French in 1758, and in the siege of Quebec City in 1759. Throughout his service he demonstrated a talent for surveying and cartography and was responsible for mapping much of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River during the siege, thus allowing General Wolfe to make his famous stealth attack during the 1759 Battle of the Plains of Abraham.
Cook's surveying ability was also put to use in mapping the jagged coast of Newfoundland in the 1760s, aboard . He surveyed the northwest stretch in 1763 and 1764, the south coast between the Burin Peninsula and Cape Ray in 1765 and 1766, and the west coast in 1767. At this time, Cook employed local pilots to point out the "rocks and hidden dangers" along the south and west coasts. During the 1765 season, four pilots were engaged at a daily pay of 4 shillings each: John Beck for the coast west of "Great St Lawrence", Morgan Snook for Fortune Bay, John Dawson for Connaigre and Hermitage Bay, and John Peck for the "Bay of Despair".
While in Newfoundland, Cook also conducted astronomical observations, in particular of the eclipse of the sun on 5 August 1766. By obtaining an accurate estimate of the time of the start and finish of the eclipse, and comparing these with the timings at a known position in England it was possible to calculate the longitude of the observation site in Newfoundland. This result was communicated to the Royal Society in 1767.
His five seasons in Newfoundland produced the first large-scale and accurate maps of the island's coasts and were the first scientific, large scale, hydrographic surveys to use precise triangulation to establish land outlines. They also gave Cook his mastery of practical surveying, achieved under often adverse conditions, and brought him to the attention of the Admiralty and Royal Society at a crucial moment both in his career and in the direction of British overseas discovery. Cook's maps were used into the 20th century, with copies being referenced by those sailing Newfoundland's waters for 200 years.
Following on from his exertions in Newfoundland, Cook wrote that he intended to go not only "farther than any man has been before me, but as far as I think it is possible for a man to go".
First voyage (1768–1771)
On 25 May 1768, the Admiralty commissioned Cook to command a scientific voyage to the Pacific Ocean. The purpose of the voyage was to observe and record the 1769 transit of Venus across the Sun which, when combined with observations from other places, would help to determine the distance of the Earth from the Sun. Cook, at age 39, was promoted to lieutenant to grant him sufficient status to take the command. For its part, the Royal Society agreed that Cook would receive a one hundred guinea gratuity in addition to his Naval pay.
The expedition sailed aboard , departing England on 26 August 1768. Cook and his crew rounded Cape Horn and continued westward across the Pacific, arriving at Tahiti on 13 April 1769, where the observations of the transit were made. However, the result of the observations was not as conclusive or accurate as had been hoped. Once the observations were completed, Cook opened the sealed orders, which were additional instructions from the Admiralty for the second part of his voyage: to search the south Pacific for signs of the postulated rich southern continent of Terra Australis.
Cook then sailed to New Zealand where he mapped the complete coastline, making only some minor errors. With the aid of Tupaia, a Tahitian priest who had joined the expedition, Cook was the first European to communicate with the Māori. He then voyaged west, reaching the southeastern coast of Australia on 19 April 1770, and in doing so his expedition became the first recorded Europeans to have encountered its eastern coastline.
On 23 April, he made his first recorded direct observation of indigenous Australians at Brush Island near Bawley Point, noting in his journal: "... and were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach they appear'd to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the C[l]othes they might have on I know not." On 29 April, Cook and crew made their first landfall on the mainland of the continent at a place now known as the Kurnell Peninsula. Cook originally named the area "Stingray Bay", but later he crossed this out and named it "Botany Bay" after the unique specimens retrieved by the botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander. It is here that Cook made first contact with an aboriginal tribe known as the Gweagal.
After his departure from Botany Bay, he continued northwards. He stopped at Bustard Bay (now known as Seventeen Seventy) on 23 May 1770. On 24 May, Cook and Banks and others went ashore. Continuing north, on 11 June a mishap occurred when Endeavour ran aground on a shoal of the Great Barrier Reef, and then "nursed into a river mouth on 18 June 1770". The ship was badly damaged, and his voyage was delayed almost seven weeks while repairs were carried out on the beach (near the docks of modern Cooktown, Queensland, at the mouth of the Endeavour River). The voyage then continued and at about midday on 22 August 1770, they reached the northernmost tip of the coast and, without leaving the ship, Cook named it York Cape (now Cape York). Leaving the east coast, Cook turned west and nursed his battered ship through the dangerously shallow waters of Torres Strait. Searching for a vantage point, Cook saw a steep hill on a nearby island from the top of which he hoped to see "a passage into the Indian Seas". Cook named the island Possession Island, where he claimed the entire coastline that he had just explored as British territory. He returned to England via Batavia (modern Jakarta, Indonesia), where many in his crew succumbed to malaria, and then the Cape of Good Hope, arriving at the island of Saint Helena on 30 April 1771. The ship finally returned to England on 12 July 1771, anchoring in The Downs, with Cook going to Deal.
Interlude
Cook's journals were published upon his return, and he became something of a hero among the scientific community. Among the general public, however, the aristocratic botanist Joseph Banks was a greater hero. Banks even attempted to take command of Cook's second voyage but removed himself from the voyage before it began, and Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster were taken on as scientists for the voyage. Cook's son George was born five days before he left for his second voyage.
Second voyage (1772–1775)
Shortly after his return from the first voyage, Cook was promoted in August 1771 to the rank of commander. In 1772, he was commissioned to lead another scientific expedition on behalf of the Royal Society, to search for the hypothetical Terra Australis. On his first voyage, Cook had demonstrated by circumnavigating New Zealand that it was not attached to a larger landmass to the south. Although he charted almost the entire eastern coastline of Australia, showing it to be continental in size, the Terra Australis was believed to lie further south. Despite this evidence to the contrary, Alexander Dalrymple and others of the Royal Society still believed that a massive southern continent should exist.
Cook commanded on this voyage, while Tobias Furneaux commanded its companion ship, . Cook's expedition circumnavigated the globe at an extreme southern latitude, becoming one of the first to cross the Antarctic Circle on 17 January 1773. In the Antarctic fog, Resolution and Adventure became separated. Furneaux made his way to New Zealand, where he lost some of his men during an encounter with Māori, and eventually sailed back to Britain, while Cook continued to explore the Antarctic, reaching 71°10'S on 31 January 1774.
Cook almost encountered the mainland of Antarctica but turned towards Tahiti to resupply his ship. He then resumed his southward course in a second fruitless attempt to find the supposed continent. On this leg of the voyage, he brought a young Tahitian named Omai, who proved to be somewhat less knowledgeable about the Pacific than Tupaia had been on the first voyage. On his return voyage to New Zealand in 1774, Cook landed at the Friendly Islands, Easter Island, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
Before returning to England, Cook made a final sweep across the South Atlantic from Cape Horn and surveyed, mapped, and took possession for Britain of South Georgia, which had been explored by the English merchant Anthony de la Roché in 1675. Cook also discovered and named Clerke Rocks and the South Sandwich Islands ("Sandwich Land"). He then turned north to South Africa and from there continued back to England. His reports upon his return home put to rest the popular myth of Terra Australis.
Cook's second voyage marked a successful employment of Larcum Kendall's K1 copy of John Harrison's H4 marine chronometer, which enabled Cook to calculate his longitudinal position with much greater accuracy. Cook's log was full of praise for this time-piece which he used to make charts of the southern Pacific Ocean that were so remarkably accurate that copies of them were still in use in the mid-20th century.
Upon his return, Cook was promoted to the rank of post-captain and given an honorary retirement from the Royal Navy, with a posting as an officer of the Greenwich Hospital. He reluctantly accepted, insisting that he be allowed to quit the post if an opportunity for active duty should arise. His fame extended beyond the Admiralty; he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded the Copley Gold Medal for completing his second voyage without losing a man to scurvy. Nathaniel Dance-Holland painted his portrait; he dined with James Boswell; he was described in the House of Lords as "the first navigator in Europe". But he could not be kept away from the sea. A third voyage was planned, and Cook volunteered to find the Northwest Passage. He travelled to the Pacific and hoped to travel east to the Atlantic, while a simultaneous voyage travelled the opposite route.
Third voyage (1776–1779)
Hawaii
On his last voyage, Cook again commanded HMS Resolution, while Captain Charles Clerke commanded . The voyage was ostensibly planned to return the Pacific Islander Omai to Tahiti, or so the public was led to believe. The trip's principal goal was to locate a Northwest Passage around the American continent. After dropping Omai at Tahiti, Cook travelled north and in 1778 became the first European to begin formal contact with the Hawaiian Islands. After his initial landfall in January 1778 at Waimea harbour, Kauai, Cook named the archipelago the "Sandwich Islands" after the fourth Earl of Sandwich—the acting First Lord of the Admiralty.
North America
From the Sandwich Islands, Cook sailed north and then northeast to explore the west coast of North America north of the Spanish settlements in Alta California. He sighted the Oregon coast at approximately 44°30′ north latitude, naming Cape Foulweather, after the bad weather which forced his ships south to about 43° north before they could begin their exploration of the coast northward. He unknowingly sailed past the Strait of Juan de Fuca and soon after entered Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. He anchored near the First Nations village of Yuquot. Cook's two ships remained in Nootka Sound from 29 March to 26 April 1778, in what Cook called Ship Cove, now Resolution Cove, at the south end of Bligh Island. Relations between Cook's crew and the people of Yuquot were cordial but sometimes strained. In trading, the people of Yuquot demanded much more valuable items than the usual trinkets that had been acceptable in Hawaii. Metal objects were much desired, but the lead, pewter, and tin traded at first soon fell into disrepute. The most valuable items which the British received in trade were sea otter pelts. During the stay, the Yuquot "hosts" essentially controlled the trade with the British vessels; the natives usually visited the British vessels at Resolution Cove instead of the British visiting the village of Yuquot at Friendly Cove.
After leaving Nootka Sound in search of the Northwest Passage, Cook explored and mapped the coast all the way to the Bering Strait, on the way identifying what came to be known as Cook Inlet in Alaska. In a single visit, Cook charted the majority of the North American northwest coastline on world maps for the first time, determined the extent of Alaska, and closed the gaps in Russian (from the west) and Spanish (from the south) exploratory probes of the northern limits of the Pacific.
By the second week of August 1778, Cook was through the Bering Strait, sailing into the Chukchi Sea. He headed northeast up the coast of Alaska until he was blocked by sea ice at a latitude of 70°44′ north. Cook then sailed west to the Siberian coast, and then southeast down the Siberian coast back to the Bering Strait. By early September 1778 he was back in the Bering Sea to begin the trip to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. He became increasingly frustrated on this voyage and perhaps began to suffer from a stomach ailment; it has been speculated that this led to irrational behaviour towards his crew, such as forcing them to eat walrus meat, which they had pronounced inedible.
Return to Hawaii
Cook returned to Hawaii in 1779. After sailing around the archipelago for some eight weeks, he made landfall at Kealakekua Bay on Hawai'i Island, largest island in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Cook's arrival coincided with the Makahiki, a Hawaiian harvest festival of worship for the Polynesian god Lono. Coincidentally the form of Cook's ship, HMS Resolution, or more particularly the mast formation, sails and rigging, resembled certain significant artefacts that formed part of the season of worship. Similarly, Cook's clockwise route around the island of Hawaii before making landfall resembled the processions that took place in a clockwise direction around the island during the Lono festivals. It has been argued (most extensively by Marshall Sahlins) that such coincidences were the reasons for Cook's (and to a limited extent, his crew's) initial deification by some Hawaiians who treated Cook as an incarnation of Lono. Though this view was first suggested by members of Cook's expedition, the idea that any Hawaiians understood Cook to be Lono, and the evidence presented in support of it, were challenged in 1992.
Death
After a month's stay, Cook attempted to resume his exploration of the northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaii Island, however, Resolutions foremast broke, so the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.
Tensions rose, and a number of quarrels broke out between the Europeans and Hawaiians at Kealakekua Bay, including the theft of wood from a burial ground under Cook's orders. An unknown group of Hawaiians took one of Cook's small boats. The evening when the cutter was taken, the people had become "insolent" even with threats to fire upon them. Cook attempted to kidnap and ransom the King of Hawaiʻi, Kalaniʻōpuʻu.
The following day, 14 February 1779, Cook marched through the village to retrieve the king. Cook took the king (aliʻi nui) by his own hand and led him away. One of Kalaniʻōpuʻu's favourite wives, Kanekapolei, and two chiefs approached the group as they were heading to the boats. They pleaded with the king not to go. An old kahuna (priest), chanting rapidly while holding out a coconut, attempted to distract Cook and his men as a large crowd began to form at the shore. At this point, the king began to understand that Cook was his enemy. As Cook turned his back to help launch the boats, he was struck on the head by the villagers and then stabbed to death as he fell on his face in the surf. He was first struck on the head with a club by a chief named Kalaimanokahoʻowaha or Kanaʻina (namesake of Charles Kana'ina) and then stabbed by one of the king's attendants, Nuaa. The Hawaiians carried his body away towards the back of the town, still visible to the ship through their spyglass. Four marines, Corporal James Thomas, Private Theophilus Hinks, Private Thomas Fatchett and Private John Allen, were also killed and two others were wounded in the confrontation.
Aftermath
The esteem which the islanders nevertheless held for Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled and baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of the treatment of European saints in the Middle Ages. Some of Cook's remains, thus preserved, were eventually returned to his crew for a formal burial at sea.
Clerke assumed leadership of the expedition and made a final attempt to pass through the Bering Strait. He died of tuberculosis on 22 August 1779 and John Gore, a veteran of Cook's first voyage, took command of Resolution and of the expedition. James King replaced Gore in command of Discovery. The expedition returned home, reaching England in October 1780. After their arrival in England, King completed Cook's account of the voyage.
Legacy
Ethnographic collections
The Australian Museum acquired its "Cook Collection" in 1894 from the Government of New South Wales. At that time the collection consisted of 115 artefacts collected on Cook's three voyages throughout the Pacific Ocean, during the period 1768–80, along with documents and memorabilia related to these voyages. Many of the ethnographic artefacts were collected at a time of first contact between Pacific Peoples and Europeans. In 1935 most of the documents and memorabilia were transferred to the Mitchell Library in the State Library of New South Wales. The provenance of the collection shows that the objects remained in the hands of Cook's widow Elizabeth Cook, and her descendants, until 1886. In this year John Mackrell, the great-nephew of Isaac Smith, Elizabeth Cook's cousin, organised the display of this collection at the request of the NSW Government at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. In 1887 the London-based Agent-General for the New South Wales Government, Saul Samuel, bought John Mackrell's items and also acquired items belonging to the other relatives Reverend Canon Frederick Bennett, Mrs Thomas Langton, H.M.C. Alexander, and William Adams. The collection remained with the Colonial Secretary of NSW until 1894, when it was transferred to the Australian Museum.
Navigation and science
Cook's 12 years sailing around the Pacific Ocean contributed much to Europeans' knowledge of the area. Several islands, such as the Hawaiian group, were encountered for the first time by Europeans, and his more accurate navigational charting of large areas of the Pacific was a major achievement. To create accurate maps, latitude and longitude must be accurately determined. Navigators had been able to work out latitude accurately for centuries by measuring the angle of the sun or a star above the horizon with an instrument such as a backstaff or quadrant. Longitude was more difficult to measure accurately because it requires precise knowledge of the time difference between points on the surface of the earth. The Earth turns a full 360 degrees relative to the sun each day. Thus longitude corresponds to time: 15 degrees every hour, or 1 degree every 4 minutes. Cook gathered accurate longitude measurements during his first voyage from his navigational skills, with the help of astronomer Charles Green, and by using the newly published Nautical Almanac tables, via the lunar distance method – measuring the angular distance from the moon to either the sun during daytime or one of eight bright stars during night-time to determine the time at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and comparing that to his local time determined via the altitude of the sun, moon, or stars.
On his second voyage, Cook used the K1 chronometer made by Larcum Kendall, which was the shape of a large pocket watch, in diameter. It was a copy of the H4 clock made by John Harrison, which proved to be the first to keep accurate time at sea when used on the ship Deptfords journey to Jamaica in 1761–62. He succeeded in circumnavigating the world on his first voyage without losing a single man to scurvy, an unusual accomplishment at the time. He tested several preventive measures, most importantly the frequent replenishment of fresh food. For presenting a paper on this aspect of the voyage to the Royal Society he was presented with the Copley Medal in 1776. Cook became the first European to have extensive contact with various people of the Pacific. He correctly postulated a link among all the Pacific peoples, despite their being separated by great ocean stretches (see Malayo-Polynesian languages). Cook theorised that Polynesians originated from Asia, which scientist Bryan Sykes later verified. In New Zealand the coming of Cook is often used to signify the onset of the colonisation
which officially started more than 70 years after his crew became the second group of Europeans to visit that archipelago.
Cook carried several scientists on his voyages; they made significant observations and discoveries. Two botanists, Joseph Banks and the Swede Daniel Solander, sailed on the first voyage. The two collected over 3,000 plant species. Banks subsequently strongly promoted British settlement of Australia, leading to the establishment of New South Wales as a penal settlement in 1788. Artists also sailed on Cook's first voyage. Sydney Parkinson was heavily involved in documenting the botanists' findings, completing 264 drawings before his death near the end of the voyage. They were of immense scientific value to British botanists. Cook's second expedition included William Hodges, who produced notable landscape paintings of Tahiti, Easter Island, and other locations. Several officers who served under Cook went on to distinctive accomplishments. William Bligh, Cook's sailing master, was given command of in 1787 to sail to Tahiti and return with breadfruit. Bligh became known for the mutiny of his crew, which resulted in his being set adrift in 1789. He later became Governor of New South Wales, where he was the subject of another mutiny—the 1808 Rum Rebellion. George Vancouver, one of Cook's midshipmen, led a voyage of exploration to the Pacific Coast of North America from 1791 to 1794. In honour of Vancouver's former commander, his ship was named . George Dixon, who sailed under Cook on his third expedition, later commanded his own. Henry Roberts, a lieutenant under Cook, spent many years after that voyage preparing the detailed charts that went into Cook's posthumous atlas, published around 1784.
Cook's contributions to knowledge gained international recognition during his lifetime. In 1779, while the American colonies were fighting Britain for their independence, Benjamin Franklin wrote to captains of colonial warships at sea, recommending that if they came into contact with Cook's vessel, they were to "not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or to America; but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness ... as common friends to mankind."
Memorials
A U.S. coin, the 1928 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half-dollar, carries Cook's image. Minted for the 150th anniversary of his discovery of the islands, its low mintage (10,008) has made this example of an early United States commemorative coin both scarce and expensive. The site where he was killed in Hawaii was marked in 1874 by a white obelisk set on of chained-off beach. This land, although in Hawaii, was deeded to the United Kingdom by Princess Likelike and her husband, Archibald Scott Cleghorn, to the British Consul to Hawaii, James Hay Wodehouse, in 1877. A nearby town is named Captain Cook, Hawaii; several Hawaiian businesses also carry his name. The Apollo 15 Command/Service Module Endeavour was named after Cook's ship, , as was the . In addition, the first Crew Dragon capsule flown by SpaceX was named for Endeavour. Another shuttle, Discovery, was named after Cook's .
The first institution of higher education in North Queensland, Australia, was named after him, with James Cook University opening in Townsville in 1970. Numerous institutions, landmarks and place names reflect the importance of Cook's contributions, including the Cook Islands, Cook Strait, Cook Inlet and the Cook crater on the Moon. Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest summit in New Zealand, is named for him. Another Mount Cook is on the border between the U.S. state of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon territory, and is designated Boundary Peak 182 as one of the official Boundary Peaks of the Hay–Herbert Treaty. A life-size statue of Cook upon a column stands in Hyde Park located in the centre of Sydney. A large aquatic monument is planned for Cook's landing place at Botany Bay, Sydney.
One of the earliest monuments to Cook in the United Kingdom is located at The Vache, erected in 1780 by Admiral Hugh Palliser, a contemporary of Cook and one-time owner of the estate. A large obelisk was built in 1827 as a monument to Cook on Easby Moor overlooking his boyhood village of Great Ayton, along with a smaller monument at the former location of Cook's cottage. There is also a monument to Cook in the church of St Andrew the Great, St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, where his sons Hugh, a student at Christ's College, and James were buried. Cook's widow Elizabeth was also buried in the church and in her will left money for the memorial's upkeep. The 250th anniversary of Cook's birth was marked at the site of his birthplace in Marton by the opening of the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, located within Stewart Park (1978). A granite vase just to the south of the museum marks the approximate spot where he was born. Tributes also abound in post-industrial Middlesbrough, including a primary school, shopping square and the Bottle 'O Notes, a public artwork by Claes Oldenburg, that was erected in the town's Central Gardens in 1993. Also named after Cook is James Cook University Hospital, a major teaching hospital which opened in 2003 with a railway station serving it called James Cook opening in 2014.
The Royal Research Ship RRS James Cook was built in 2006 to replace the RRS Charles Darwin in the UK's Royal Research Fleet, and Stepney Historical Trust placed a plaque on Free Trade Wharf in the Highway, Shadwell to commemorate his life in the East End of London. A statue erected in his honour can be viewed near Admiralty Arch on the south side of The Mall in London. In 2002, Cook was placed at number 12 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.
In 1959, the Cooktown Re-enactment Association first performed a re-enactment of Cook's 1770 landing at the site of modern Cooktown, Australia, and have continued the tradition each year, with the support and participation of many of the local Guugu Yimithirr people.
Cultural references
Cook was a subject in many literary creations; one of the earliest was "Captain Cook" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L.). In 1931, Kenneth Slessor's poem "Five Visions of Captain Cook" was the "most dramatic break-through" in Australian poetry of the 20th century according to poet Douglas Stewart.
The Australian slang phrase "Have a Captain Cook" means to have a look or conduct a brief inspection.
Controversy
The period 2018 to 2021 marked the 250th anniversary of Cook's first voyage of exploration. A number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand, arranged official events to commemorate the voyage leading to widespread public debate about Cook's legacy. In the leadup to the commemorations, various memorials to Cook in Australia and New Zealand were vandalised and there were public calls for their removal or modification due to their alleged promotion of colonialist narratives. On 1 July 2021, a statue of James Cook in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, was torn down following an earlier peaceful protest about the deaths of Indigenous residential school children in Canada. There were also campaigns for the return of Indigenous artefacts taken during Cook's voyages (see Gweagal shield). Alice Proctor argues that the controversies over public representations of Cook and the display of Indigenous artefacts from his voyages are part of a broader debate over the decolonisation of museums and public spaces and resistance to colonialist narratives. While a number of commentators argue that Cook was an enabler of British colonialism in the Pacific, Geoffrey Blainey, among others, notes that it was Banks who promoted Botany Bay as a site for colonisation after Cook's death. Robert Tombs defended Cook, associating him with the values of the Enlightenment and positing him as "The leading figure in an age of scientific exploration".
See also
New Zealand places named by James Cook
Australian places named by James Cook
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
Exploration of the Pacific
List of places named after Captain James Cook
List of sea captains
Death of Cook (paintings)
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Further reading
, Volume I, Volume II–III.
Richardson, Brian. (2005) Longitude and Empire: How Captain Cook's Voyages Changed the World (University of British Columbia Press.) .
Sydney Daily Telegraph (1970) Captain Cook: His Artists – His Voyages The Sydney Daily Telegraph Portfolio of Original Works by Artists who sailed with Captain Cook. Australian Consolidated Press, Sydney
Thomas, Nicholas The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook. Walker & Co., New York. (2003)
Uglow, Jenny, "Island Hopping" (review of Captain James Cook: The Journals, selected and edited by Philip Edwards, London, Folio Society, three volumes and a chart of the voyages, 1,309 pp.; and William Frame with Laura Walker, James Cook: The Voyages, McGill-Queen University Press, 224 pp.), The New York Review of Books, vol. LXVI, no. 2 (7 February 2019), pp. 18–20.
Withey, Lynne. Voyages of discovery: Captain Cook and the exploration of the Pacific'' (Univ of California Press, 1989).
External links
Captain Cook Society
Captain Cook historic plaque, Halifax
Biographical dictionaries
Journals
The Endeavour journal (1) and The Endeavour journal (2), as kept by James Cook – digitised and held by the National Library of Australia
The South Seas Project: maps and online editions of the Journals of James Cook's First Pacific Voyage, 1768–1771. Includes full text of journals kept by Cook, Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson, as well as the complete text of John Hawkesworth's 1773 Account of Cook's first voyage.
Digitised copies of log books from James Cook's voyages at the British Atmospheric Data Centre
Log book of Cook's second voyage: high-resolution digitised version in Cambridge Digital Library
Digitised Tapa cloth catalogue held at Auckland Libraries
Collections and museums
The Library of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia specialises in collecting works on Captain James Cook, his voyages and HMS Endeavour
Cook's Pacific Encounters: Cook-Forster Collection online Images and descriptions of more than 300 artefacts collected during the three Pacific voyages of James Cook.
Images and descriptions of items associated with James Cook at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum Marton
Captain Cook Memorial Museum Whitby
Cook's manuscript maps of the south-east coast of Australia, held at the American Geographical Society Library at UW Milwaukee.
1728 births
1779 deaths
18th-century English people
18th-century explorers
Death in Hawaii
English explorers of the Pacific
British military personnel of the French and Indian War
British navigators
British people executed abroad
Circumnavigators of the globe
English cartographers
English explorers of North America
English hydrographers
English people of Scottish descent
English sailors
Explorers of Alaska
Explorers of Antarctica
Explorers of Australia
Explorers of British Columbia
Explorers of New Zealand
Explorers of Oregon
Explorers of Washington (state)
Fellows of the Royal Society
Hydrographers
Maritime writers
People from Middlesbrough
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Recipients of the Copley Medal
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Q150 Icons
Sea captains | true | [
"23 Things, originally called Learning 2.0, is an education and learning project created by Helene Blowers in August 2006. Blowers, who was then employed as the technology director for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, created the project as a way to encourage librarians to learn and adapt to Web 2.0 and other new technologies. The program was loosely based on an article by Stephen Abram, \"43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year\".\n\nHistory\nThe original format of 23 Things required participants to take part in an eight-and-a-half-week course where they kept up with coursework via a series of weekly blog posts that described Web 2.0. During this time participants were given 23 assignments (23 things) and were encouraged to work with other learners. As the project was non-mandatory, participants took part in the coursework by posting their own blog entries for each week's coursework. The project was so successful that Blower held a 23 Things summit in 2009.\n\nSince its inception 23 Things has had over 500 iterations and the concept has broadened over time to include learning programs for other professionals and students, and has also expanded to include more than 23 topics. 23 Things has also expanded beyond the United States and is currently used in multiple countries including Australia and New Zealand. Currently, \"23 Things\" is the name for this Web immersion experience for participants primarily supported by the participants themselves, where they are actively involved in a network of peers and colleagues, using digital communication tools, and using a blog to post reflections as they learn.\n\nResearch\nIn 2012 San Jose State University assistant professor Michael Stephens performed a research study of 23 Things programs in Australia. He found that even if people did not successfully complete the program, that the program still had the potential to positively impact library staff as the participants would still be likely to use what they did learn and/or to return to the program at a later date. Stephens also noted that a strong majority of those who completed said they felt confident exploring and using new technologies: confidence and curiosity were identified as particularly notable outcomes.\n\nSee also\n43 Things\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\nExternal links \n The original 23 Things \n Helene Blowers blog \n The Nature of 23 Things\n List of 500+ programs replicated from the original 23 Things (Helene Blowers' Delicious bookmarks)\n\nLibrary science education\nEducational projects",
"Bed is the third solo album by American singer-songwriter Juliana Hatfield, released in 1998 by Zoë Records.\n\nRecording\nBed was written in a few weeks, and recorded and mixed from March 9 to March 15, 1998 at Sound Station Seven in Providence, Rhode Island. Hatfield chose to record the album with a stripped-down sound and did not favor any digital processing effects. According to her, \"I had just been listening to things that were very raw and dry, the kind of things where you can really hear all the instruments very close to your ear when you have headphones on. I guess I was feeling raw, and I didn't want to pretty it up or put anything on top of it.\"\n\nReception\n\nWriting for CMJ New Music Monthly, reviewer Brett Milano praised the album, stating that its songs have more depth than Hatfield's earlier MTV hits. Although he admitted that some tracks sounded a bit rushed, he felt that the album has enough gems to keep it interesting.\n\nTrack listing\n\nPersonnel\nMusicians\nJuliana Hatfield – guitar, keyboards, vocals\nTodd Philips – percussion, drums\nMikey Welsh – bass\n\nTechnical\nProducer: Juliana Hatfield\nEngineer: Jon Williams\nPackage design: Tom Bonauro, Jim Goldberg\nDesign assistant: Richard Turtletaub\nPhotography: Jim Goldberg\n\nReferences\n\n1998 albums\nJuliana Hatfield albums\nZoë Records albums"
] |
[
"Tab Hunter",
"Warner Bros."
] | C_f74cae9f02fb4ceda8d83308562908eb_1 | When did Tab sign on with warner bros? | 1 | When did Tab Hunter sign on with warner bros? | Tab Hunter | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1955). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. In September 1955 the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only did this have no negative effect on Hunter's career, a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros. Warners decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two back-to-back films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences and Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood. Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warner's attempt to make Tab and Natalie the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. CANNOTANSWER | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), | Arthur Andrew Gelien (né Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018), known professionally as Tab Hunter, was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s and 1960s appearing on the covers of hundreds of film magazines. Hunter's film credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a number one hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
Early life
Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude () and Charles Kelm. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. He had an older brother, Walter. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien; the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother.
Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially; Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
Career
1950s
Dick Clayton introduced Gelien to agent Henry Willson, who specialized in representing beefcake male stars such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson. It was Willson who named him "Tab Hunter".
Hunter's first film role was a minor part in a film noir, The Lawless (1950). Hunter was a friend of character actor Paul Guilfoyle, who suggested him to director Stuart Heisler; Heisler was looking for an unknown to play the lead in Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. The film, essentially a two-hander between Hunter and Darnell, was a hit.
Hunter supported George Montgomery in Gun Belt (1953), a Western produced by Edward Small. Small used him again for a war film, The Steel Lady (1953), supporting Rod Cameron, and as the lead in an adventure tale, Return to Treasure Island (1954). He began acting on stage, appearing in a production of Our Town. Hunter was then offered, and accepted, a contract at Warner Bros.
One of Hunter's first films for Warner Bros. was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William A. Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1954). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice.
His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, which was the year's third most financially successful film. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros.' largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads.
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported that Hunter had been arrested for disorderly conduct in 1950. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing to the public the sexual orientation of his more prominent client, Rock Hudson. The report had no negative effect on Hunter's career. A few months later, he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and Natalie Wood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract at Warner Bros. Warner decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences. Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood but Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warners' attempt to make Hunter and Wood the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955 until 1959.
Hunter received strong critical acclaim for a television performance he gave in the debut episode of Playhouse 90 ("Forbidden Area", 1956) written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Hunter's acting career was at its peak. William Wellman used him again in a war film, Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Columbia Pictures borrowed him for a Western, Gunman's Walk (1958). Hunter claimed, "When Gunman's Walk premiered the following summer, it was one of the proudest moments of my career." Hunter starred in the musical film Damn Yankees (1958), in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington, D.C.'s American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway musical, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the best-selling 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was interested only in recreating the stage version word for word. He also starred in They Came to Cordura (1959) (with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth) and That Kind of Woman (1959) (with Sophia Loren).
Music career
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart), and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
1960s
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and lasted for one season (1960–61) of 32 episodes. It was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it ranked as one of the most watched situation comedies of the year. Hunter's costars in the series included Richard Erdman, Jerome Cowan, and Reta Shaw.
Hunter had a starring role as Debbie Reynolds' love interest in The Pleasure of His Company (1961). He played the lead in a swashbuckler shot in Egypt, The Golden Arrow (1962) and was in a war movie for American International Pictures, Operation Bikini (1963).
In 1964, he starred on Broadway opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Ride the Wild Surf (1964) was a surf film for Columbia, followed by a movie in Britain, Troubled Waters (1964). He stayed in England to make another picture for AIP, War Gods of the Deep (1965). Back in Hollywood he had a supporting role in The Loved One (1965) and Birds Do It (1966). He made a film with Richard Rush, The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967).
For a short time in the late 1960s, after several seasons of starring in summer stock and dinner theater in shows such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Tender Trap, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and West Side Story with some of the New York cast, Hunter settled in the south of France and acted in many Italian films including Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968), The Last Chance (1968), and Bridge over the Elbe (1969).
1970s
Hunter had the lead role in Sweet Kill (1973), the first movie from director Curtis Hanson. He won a co-starring role in the successful film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman. He had small roles in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). In 1977 he played George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman (played by Louise Lasser) on Forever Fernwood, a spinoff of the soap-like sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
1980s
Hunter's career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He played Mr. Stuart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 (1982), who sang "Reproduction". Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet.
Later career
Hunter's last film role came in the horse-themed family film Dark Horse (1992). Hunter, a longstanding and avid horse owner, wrote the original story and co-produced the film with his life partner, Allan Glaser.
Hunter's autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005), co-written with Eddie Muller, became a New York Times bestseller, as did the paperback edition in 2007. In his memoir, Hunter officially came out as gay, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book was nominated for several awards. It entered the New York Times bestseller list for a third time on June 28, 2015, upon the release of Tab Hunter Confidential, an award-winning documentary based upon the memoir. The documentary was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Allan Glaser. As of June 2018, a feature film about Hunter to be produced by Glaser, J. J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto was in development at Paramount Pictures. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright is attached to create the screenplay.
Hunter has a star for his contributions to the music industry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd. In 2007, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.
Personal life
Hunter came out publicly as a gay man in his 2005 memoir. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about Hunter's alleged romances with close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood during his young adult years had strictly been the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized but fictitious romance, insiders had developed their own headline for the item: "Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't". Regarding Hollywood's studio era, Hunter said, "[life] was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasized that the word gay' ... wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor said, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys, and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins after having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Their relationship spanned two to four years, and Hunter has said that they only broke up because of Perkins's movie studio, Paramount, and the studio system. However, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction." He also had a relationship with champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down and marrying his partner/spouse of more than 35 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Hunter was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Except for a period in his youth, Hunter was a practicing Catholic for the rest of his life. When asked about his Jewish identity, due to his father and partner/spouse being Jewish, Hunter stated that he did not identify as Jewish. Hunter was an avid horse owner.
Hunter's brother Walter Gelien, who was killed in Vietnam on October 28, 1965, was survived by his wife and seven children.
Death
On July 8, 2018, three days before his 87th birthday, Hunter died after suffering cardiac arrest that arose from complications related to deep vein thrombosis. According to his husband, Allan Glaser, Hunter's death was "sudden and unexpected".
Filmography
Television
Discography
Notes
References
External links
Half-Hour TV Interview via Vimeo.com
Tab Hunter at Find a Grave
1931 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American people of German descent
American people of Jewish descent
Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
California Republicans
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Deaths from thrombosis
Dot Records artists
American gay actors
American gay musicians
American gay writers
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT Roman Catholics
LGBT singers from the United States
Male actors from New York City
New York (state) Republicans
Warner Bros. contract players
Warner Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people | false | [
"Qwest Records is the American record label started by Quincy Jones in 1980 as a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records, and owned by Warner Music Group, although Jones was still under contract with A&M Records through 1981. George Benson's 1980 Give Me the Night LP was the first release on Qwest, although it was shared with Warner Bros. Records, where Benson was under contract. One of the first artists to sign with Qwest was Jones's goddaughter, Patti Austin. Qwest released Every Home Should Have One in 1981.\n\nAlthough it focused on the R&B market, its signings included Frank Sinatra (whom Jones produced in the 1960s), Tevin Campbell, Radiance, and British alternative dance group New Order (as well as the backlog of their earlier post-punk incarnation, Joy Division). \n\nQuincy Jones - NME - May 1990\n\nThe label also ventured into hip hop music during the 1990s. Qwest also discovered R&B artist Tamia, who enjoyed a long career. The gospel group the Winans signed with the label in 1985. Táta Vega was also signed and released Now I See through Qwest. Robert Stewart, who performed on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wynton Marsalis recording Blood on the Fields, was signed to the label in 1994. His two albums for Qwest, In the Gutta and The Force, received critical acclaim. \n\nQwest was shut down in 2000, with Warner Bros. Records acquiring the remainder. The roster was either absorbed by Warner Bros., dropped, or left in limbo. In 2006, select titles by Jones were licensed to Universal Music for distribution and re-pressed, but everything else remained at Warner Bros., including deleted titles.\n\nReferences\n\nSee also\n List of record labels\n\nRecord labels established in 1980\nAmerican record labels\nVanity record labels\nHip hop record labels\nContemporary R&B record labels\nSoul music record labels\nWarner Records\nQuincy Jones\nJazz record labels",
"The Burning Hills is a 1956 Warner Bros. CinemaScope Western starring Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood, based on a 1956 novel by Louis L'Amour.\n\nPlot\nWhen Trace Jordan's brother is murdered and several of their horses stolen, Trace sees by the tracks that three men are involved. One man wears Mexican spurs, one walks with a limp, and one smokes cheroots. Upon arriving in the town of Esperanza, Trace sees a destroyed sheriff's office and discovers the only law in Esperanza is Joe Sutton. He also discovers that the stolen horses have been rebranded with the Sutton brand, and their riders who match the description of their tracks work for Sutton. Trace enters Joe Sutton's (Ray Teal) ranch and wounds him in a shooting.\n\nThe enraged Sutton sends his son Jack (Skip Homeier), his foreman Ben (Claude Akins) and ten ranch hands to track down Trace before he goes to an Army fort to bring law to Esperanza. Wounded in his escape, Trace is helped by courageous half Mexican woman named Maria Colton (Natalie Wood). Unable to locate the hidden Trace, Joe Sutton enlists a half Indian tracker Jacob Lantz (Eduard Franz).\n\nProduction\nLouis L'Amour said he wrote the novel for Gary Cooper and Katy Jurado. Jurado tried to buy film rights to the novel.\n\nL'Amour's short story \"The Gift of Cochise\" had been successfully filmed with John Wayne in 1953 as Hondo and there was interest in The Burning Hills. Warner Bros purchased the screen rights in May 1955 and assigned it to Richard Whorf to produce. Irving Wallace wrote the script and John Wayne was announced as a possible star. In December 1955 Tab Hunter was assigned to the lead.\n\nThe book ended up selling over a million copies.\n\nNotes\n\nExternal links\n\n1956 films\nAmerican films\nEnglish-language films\nWarner Bros. films\n1956 Western (genre) films\nFilms directed by Stuart Heisler\nFilms based on American novels\nFilms based on Western (genre) novels\nAmerican Western (genre) films\nFilms based on works by Louis L'Amour\nFilms scored by David Buttolph"
] |
[
"Tab Hunter",
"Warner Bros.",
"When did Tab sign on with warner bros?",
"One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955),"
] | C_f74cae9f02fb4ceda8d83308562908eb_1 | did the film do well? | 2 | did the film, The Sea Chase, do well? | Tab Hunter | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1955). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. In September 1955 the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only did this have no negative effect on Hunter's career, a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros. Warners decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two back-to-back films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences and Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood. Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warner's attempt to make Tab and Natalie the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. CANNOTANSWER | It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. | Arthur Andrew Gelien (né Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018), known professionally as Tab Hunter, was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s and 1960s appearing on the covers of hundreds of film magazines. Hunter's film credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a number one hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
Early life
Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude () and Charles Kelm. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. He had an older brother, Walter. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien; the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother.
Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially; Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
Career
1950s
Dick Clayton introduced Gelien to agent Henry Willson, who specialized in representing beefcake male stars such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson. It was Willson who named him "Tab Hunter".
Hunter's first film role was a minor part in a film noir, The Lawless (1950). Hunter was a friend of character actor Paul Guilfoyle, who suggested him to director Stuart Heisler; Heisler was looking for an unknown to play the lead in Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. The film, essentially a two-hander between Hunter and Darnell, was a hit.
Hunter supported George Montgomery in Gun Belt (1953), a Western produced by Edward Small. Small used him again for a war film, The Steel Lady (1953), supporting Rod Cameron, and as the lead in an adventure tale, Return to Treasure Island (1954). He began acting on stage, appearing in a production of Our Town. Hunter was then offered, and accepted, a contract at Warner Bros.
One of Hunter's first films for Warner Bros. was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William A. Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1954). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice.
His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, which was the year's third most financially successful film. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros.' largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads.
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported that Hunter had been arrested for disorderly conduct in 1950. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing to the public the sexual orientation of his more prominent client, Rock Hudson. The report had no negative effect on Hunter's career. A few months later, he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and Natalie Wood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract at Warner Bros. Warner decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences. Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood but Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warners' attempt to make Hunter and Wood the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955 until 1959.
Hunter received strong critical acclaim for a television performance he gave in the debut episode of Playhouse 90 ("Forbidden Area", 1956) written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Hunter's acting career was at its peak. William Wellman used him again in a war film, Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Columbia Pictures borrowed him for a Western, Gunman's Walk (1958). Hunter claimed, "When Gunman's Walk premiered the following summer, it was one of the proudest moments of my career." Hunter starred in the musical film Damn Yankees (1958), in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington, D.C.'s American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway musical, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the best-selling 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was interested only in recreating the stage version word for word. He also starred in They Came to Cordura (1959) (with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth) and That Kind of Woman (1959) (with Sophia Loren).
Music career
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart), and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
1960s
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and lasted for one season (1960–61) of 32 episodes. It was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it ranked as one of the most watched situation comedies of the year. Hunter's costars in the series included Richard Erdman, Jerome Cowan, and Reta Shaw.
Hunter had a starring role as Debbie Reynolds' love interest in The Pleasure of His Company (1961). He played the lead in a swashbuckler shot in Egypt, The Golden Arrow (1962) and was in a war movie for American International Pictures, Operation Bikini (1963).
In 1964, he starred on Broadway opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Ride the Wild Surf (1964) was a surf film for Columbia, followed by a movie in Britain, Troubled Waters (1964). He stayed in England to make another picture for AIP, War Gods of the Deep (1965). Back in Hollywood he had a supporting role in The Loved One (1965) and Birds Do It (1966). He made a film with Richard Rush, The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967).
For a short time in the late 1960s, after several seasons of starring in summer stock and dinner theater in shows such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Tender Trap, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and West Side Story with some of the New York cast, Hunter settled in the south of France and acted in many Italian films including Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968), The Last Chance (1968), and Bridge over the Elbe (1969).
1970s
Hunter had the lead role in Sweet Kill (1973), the first movie from director Curtis Hanson. He won a co-starring role in the successful film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman. He had small roles in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). In 1977 he played George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman (played by Louise Lasser) on Forever Fernwood, a spinoff of the soap-like sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
1980s
Hunter's career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He played Mr. Stuart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 (1982), who sang "Reproduction". Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet.
Later career
Hunter's last film role came in the horse-themed family film Dark Horse (1992). Hunter, a longstanding and avid horse owner, wrote the original story and co-produced the film with his life partner, Allan Glaser.
Hunter's autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005), co-written with Eddie Muller, became a New York Times bestseller, as did the paperback edition in 2007. In his memoir, Hunter officially came out as gay, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book was nominated for several awards. It entered the New York Times bestseller list for a third time on June 28, 2015, upon the release of Tab Hunter Confidential, an award-winning documentary based upon the memoir. The documentary was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Allan Glaser. As of June 2018, a feature film about Hunter to be produced by Glaser, J. J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto was in development at Paramount Pictures. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright is attached to create the screenplay.
Hunter has a star for his contributions to the music industry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd. In 2007, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.
Personal life
Hunter came out publicly as a gay man in his 2005 memoir. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about Hunter's alleged romances with close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood during his young adult years had strictly been the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized but fictitious romance, insiders had developed their own headline for the item: "Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't". Regarding Hollywood's studio era, Hunter said, "[life] was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasized that the word gay' ... wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor said, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys, and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins after having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Their relationship spanned two to four years, and Hunter has said that they only broke up because of Perkins's movie studio, Paramount, and the studio system. However, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction." He also had a relationship with champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down and marrying his partner/spouse of more than 35 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Hunter was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Except for a period in his youth, Hunter was a practicing Catholic for the rest of his life. When asked about his Jewish identity, due to his father and partner/spouse being Jewish, Hunter stated that he did not identify as Jewish. Hunter was an avid horse owner.
Hunter's brother Walter Gelien, who was killed in Vietnam on October 28, 1965, was survived by his wife and seven children.
Death
On July 8, 2018, three days before his 87th birthday, Hunter died after suffering cardiac arrest that arose from complications related to deep vein thrombosis. According to his husband, Allan Glaser, Hunter's death was "sudden and unexpected".
Filmography
Television
Discography
Notes
References
External links
Half-Hour TV Interview via Vimeo.com
Tab Hunter at Find a Grave
1931 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American people of German descent
American people of Jewish descent
Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
California Republicans
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Deaths from thrombosis
Dot Records artists
American gay actors
American gay musicians
American gay writers
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT Roman Catholics
LGBT singers from the United States
Male actors from New York City
New York (state) Republicans
Warner Bros. contract players
Warner Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people | true | [
"A Ne'er-do-well is a good-for-nothing person.\n\nNe'er-do-well may also refer to:\n The Ne'er-do-Weel, an 1878 play by W. S. Gilbert, revived soon afterwards as The Vagabond\n The Ne'er-Do-Well, a 1911 novel by Rex Beach, adapted for film several times in the silent era\n The Ne'er-Do-Well (1916 film), a 1916 American silent adventure crime drama film\n\n The Ne'er-Do-Well, a 1923 silent film directed by Alfred E. Green\n\n Ne'er-Do-Well, a 1956 novel by Dornford Yates\n\n Ne'er Do Wells, a rock band",
"A list of films produced by the Bollywood film industry based in Mumbai in 1937:\n\n1937\nSome of the notable films of 1937:\n\nVidyapati was a biopic directed by Nitin Bose for New Theatres. It starred Pahari Sanyal as the Maithili poet and Vaishnava saint Vidyapati. The bold songs of the film ensured crowds at the theatres making it a big success of 1937.\n\nDuniya Na Mane (Marathi:Kunku) was a social film from Prabhat Film Company directed by V. Shantaram. It dealt with the issue of arranged marriage. The film did well in the theatres and according to Baburao Patel of Filmindia it \"recorded better returns... than any other picture before\".\n\nPresident was produced by New Theatres and directed by Nitin Bose. A love triangle with a social content it highlighted the plight of mill workers. The music was popular with a classic from Saigal, Ik Bangla Bane Nyaara.\n\nKisan Kanya made by Ardeshir Irani of Alam Ara (1931) fame was the first colour film to be processed in India. The film however did not do well at the box office due to \"a weak story\".\n\nJeevan Prabhat was a successful social film from Bombay Talkies directed by Franz Osten. It starred Kishore Sahu in his debut film with Devika Rani and Mumtaz Ali.\n\nA-B\n\nC-D\n\nF-I\n\nJ-K\n\nL-M\n\nN-P\n\nQ-S\n\nT-Z\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n Bollywood films of 1937 at the IMDb\n\n1937\nBollywood\nFilms, Bollywood"
] |
[
"Tab Hunter",
"Warner Bros.",
"When did Tab sign on with warner bros?",
"One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955),",
"did the film do well?",
"It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small."
] | C_f74cae9f02fb4ceda8d83308562908eb_1 | did he do any other films? | 3 | did Tab Hunter do any other films besides The Sea Chase? | Tab Hunter | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1955). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. In September 1955 the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only did this have no negative effect on Hunter's career, a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros. Warners decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two back-to-back films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences and Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood. Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warner's attempt to make Tab and Natalie the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. CANNOTANSWER | Track of the Cat (1955). | Arthur Andrew Gelien (né Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018), known professionally as Tab Hunter, was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s and 1960s appearing on the covers of hundreds of film magazines. Hunter's film credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a number one hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
Early life
Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude () and Charles Kelm. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. He had an older brother, Walter. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien; the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother.
Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially; Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
Career
1950s
Dick Clayton introduced Gelien to agent Henry Willson, who specialized in representing beefcake male stars such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson. It was Willson who named him "Tab Hunter".
Hunter's first film role was a minor part in a film noir, The Lawless (1950). Hunter was a friend of character actor Paul Guilfoyle, who suggested him to director Stuart Heisler; Heisler was looking for an unknown to play the lead in Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. The film, essentially a two-hander between Hunter and Darnell, was a hit.
Hunter supported George Montgomery in Gun Belt (1953), a Western produced by Edward Small. Small used him again for a war film, The Steel Lady (1953), supporting Rod Cameron, and as the lead in an adventure tale, Return to Treasure Island (1954). He began acting on stage, appearing in a production of Our Town. Hunter was then offered, and accepted, a contract at Warner Bros.
One of Hunter's first films for Warner Bros. was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William A. Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1954). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice.
His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, which was the year's third most financially successful film. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros.' largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads.
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported that Hunter had been arrested for disorderly conduct in 1950. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing to the public the sexual orientation of his more prominent client, Rock Hudson. The report had no negative effect on Hunter's career. A few months later, he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and Natalie Wood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract at Warner Bros. Warner decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences. Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood but Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warners' attempt to make Hunter and Wood the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955 until 1959.
Hunter received strong critical acclaim for a television performance he gave in the debut episode of Playhouse 90 ("Forbidden Area", 1956) written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Hunter's acting career was at its peak. William Wellman used him again in a war film, Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Columbia Pictures borrowed him for a Western, Gunman's Walk (1958). Hunter claimed, "When Gunman's Walk premiered the following summer, it was one of the proudest moments of my career." Hunter starred in the musical film Damn Yankees (1958), in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington, D.C.'s American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway musical, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the best-selling 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was interested only in recreating the stage version word for word. He also starred in They Came to Cordura (1959) (with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth) and That Kind of Woman (1959) (with Sophia Loren).
Music career
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart), and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
1960s
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and lasted for one season (1960–61) of 32 episodes. It was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it ranked as one of the most watched situation comedies of the year. Hunter's costars in the series included Richard Erdman, Jerome Cowan, and Reta Shaw.
Hunter had a starring role as Debbie Reynolds' love interest in The Pleasure of His Company (1961). He played the lead in a swashbuckler shot in Egypt, The Golden Arrow (1962) and was in a war movie for American International Pictures, Operation Bikini (1963).
In 1964, he starred on Broadway opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Ride the Wild Surf (1964) was a surf film for Columbia, followed by a movie in Britain, Troubled Waters (1964). He stayed in England to make another picture for AIP, War Gods of the Deep (1965). Back in Hollywood he had a supporting role in The Loved One (1965) and Birds Do It (1966). He made a film with Richard Rush, The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967).
For a short time in the late 1960s, after several seasons of starring in summer stock and dinner theater in shows such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Tender Trap, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and West Side Story with some of the New York cast, Hunter settled in the south of France and acted in many Italian films including Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968), The Last Chance (1968), and Bridge over the Elbe (1969).
1970s
Hunter had the lead role in Sweet Kill (1973), the first movie from director Curtis Hanson. He won a co-starring role in the successful film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman. He had small roles in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). In 1977 he played George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman (played by Louise Lasser) on Forever Fernwood, a spinoff of the soap-like sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
1980s
Hunter's career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He played Mr. Stuart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 (1982), who sang "Reproduction". Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet.
Later career
Hunter's last film role came in the horse-themed family film Dark Horse (1992). Hunter, a longstanding and avid horse owner, wrote the original story and co-produced the film with his life partner, Allan Glaser.
Hunter's autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005), co-written with Eddie Muller, became a New York Times bestseller, as did the paperback edition in 2007. In his memoir, Hunter officially came out as gay, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book was nominated for several awards. It entered the New York Times bestseller list for a third time on June 28, 2015, upon the release of Tab Hunter Confidential, an award-winning documentary based upon the memoir. The documentary was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Allan Glaser. As of June 2018, a feature film about Hunter to be produced by Glaser, J. J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto was in development at Paramount Pictures. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright is attached to create the screenplay.
Hunter has a star for his contributions to the music industry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd. In 2007, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.
Personal life
Hunter came out publicly as a gay man in his 2005 memoir. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about Hunter's alleged romances with close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood during his young adult years had strictly been the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized but fictitious romance, insiders had developed their own headline for the item: "Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't". Regarding Hollywood's studio era, Hunter said, "[life] was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasized that the word gay' ... wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor said, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys, and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins after having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Their relationship spanned two to four years, and Hunter has said that they only broke up because of Perkins's movie studio, Paramount, and the studio system. However, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction." He also had a relationship with champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down and marrying his partner/spouse of more than 35 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Hunter was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Except for a period in his youth, Hunter was a practicing Catholic for the rest of his life. When asked about his Jewish identity, due to his father and partner/spouse being Jewish, Hunter stated that he did not identify as Jewish. Hunter was an avid horse owner.
Hunter's brother Walter Gelien, who was killed in Vietnam on October 28, 1965, was survived by his wife and seven children.
Death
On July 8, 2018, three days before his 87th birthday, Hunter died after suffering cardiac arrest that arose from complications related to deep vein thrombosis. According to his husband, Allan Glaser, Hunter's death was "sudden and unexpected".
Filmography
Television
Discography
Notes
References
External links
Half-Hour TV Interview via Vimeo.com
Tab Hunter at Find a Grave
1931 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American people of German descent
American people of Jewish descent
Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
California Republicans
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Deaths from thrombosis
Dot Records artists
American gay actors
American gay musicians
American gay writers
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT Roman Catholics
LGBT singers from the United States
Male actors from New York City
New York (state) Republicans
Warner Bros. contract players
Warner Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people | false | [
"La vendetta di Lady Morgan () is a 1965 Italian horror film directed by Massimo Pupillo and written by Gianni Grimaldi.\n\nCast\nGordon Mitchell as Roger\nErika Blanc as Lillian\nBarbara Nelli as Lady Susan Morgan\nPaul Muller as Sir Harold Morgan \nMichel Forain as Pierre Brissac\nCarlo Kechler as Sir Neville Blackhouse\n\nRelease\nLa vendetta di Lady Morgan was distributed in Italy by I.N.D.I.E.F. when it was released on December 16, 1965. It grossed a total of 61 million Italian lire. Unlike Pupillo's other horror films, La vendetta di Lady Morgan only received a theatrical release domestically in West Germany in 1967.\n\nThe film was the last horror film Pupillo directed due to his lack of interest in making any more films in the genre; he turned down propositions to make other horror films. Pupillo spoke on the topic, explaining that \"I started in the horror genre because I wanted to get out of documentaries, I wanted to enter the commercial market. In Italy, when you do a certain type of film, you become labelled and you can't do anything else. I remember one day, a producer called me to do a film only because the other producers told him he had to get either Mario Bava or me. When I understood this, I felt dead.\"\n\nReception\nFrom retrospective reviews, Roberto Curti, author of Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969 stated that the film was \"by no means the best, but perhaps most peculiar\" of the three horror films Pupillo directed. Louis Paul noted in his book Italian Horror Film Directors, that the film was made in a \"more careful and studied manner that any of Pupillo's other films as a director\" and that the film was \"a successful attempt at emulating the better Gothic horror films of earlier years, but by 1966, audiences were tuned into and expecting more from the colorful and violence-soaked horror films other filmmakers were churning out.\"\n\nSee also\nList of horror films of 1965\nList of Italian films of 1965\n\nReferences\n\nFootnotes\n\nSources\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1965 films\n1965 horror films\nFilms scored by Piero Umiliani\nItalian films\nItalian horror films\n1960s Italian-language films\nGothic horror films",
"For this list of abandoned and unfinished films, an unfinished film is defined as one in which production began but did not finish. An abandoned film is defined as one in which production was cancelled during pre-production before any footage was shot, though a script exists and film crew including performers, directors and other positions have been hired.\n\nFilms may not be completed for several reasons, with some being shelved during different stages of the production. Some films have been shut down days into production. Other unfinished films have been shot in their entirety but have not completed post-production where the film is edited and sound and score added. This is different from unreleased films which are finished but have not yet been released and shown in theatres or released on DVD. In some instances these films cannot be shown due to legal reasons. Withdrawn films are similar except they did have brief showings but cannot be shown again, also usually for legal reasons.\n\nAccording to the Film Yearbook, \"history has shown that the unfinished film is with few exceptions designed to remain that way.\" Exceptions do exist: these include Gulliver's Travels and The Jigsaw Man, both of which shut down when they ran out of funds but after a year or more found new financing and were able to finish shooting.\n\nUnfinished films\n\nAbandoned film projects: a partial list of more notable projects\n\nSee also\n List of lost films\n List of incomplete or partially lost films\n List of rediscovered films\n\nReferences\n\nBibliography"
] |
[
"Tab Hunter",
"Warner Bros.",
"When did Tab sign on with warner bros?",
"One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955),",
"did the film do well?",
"It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small.",
"did he do any other films?",
"Track of the Cat (1955)."
] | C_f74cae9f02fb4ceda8d83308562908eb_1 | did he have a bigger role in this film? | 4 | did Art Donovan have a bigger role in Track of the Cat than The Sea Chase? | Tab Hunter | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1955). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. In September 1955 the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only did this have no negative effect on Hunter's career, a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros. Warners decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two back-to-back films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences and Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood. Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warner's attempt to make Tab and Natalie the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. CANNOTANSWER | His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. | Arthur Andrew Gelien (né Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018), known professionally as Tab Hunter, was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s and 1960s appearing on the covers of hundreds of film magazines. Hunter's film credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a number one hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
Early life
Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude () and Charles Kelm. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. He had an older brother, Walter. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien; the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother.
Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially; Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
Career
1950s
Dick Clayton introduced Gelien to agent Henry Willson, who specialized in representing beefcake male stars such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson. It was Willson who named him "Tab Hunter".
Hunter's first film role was a minor part in a film noir, The Lawless (1950). Hunter was a friend of character actor Paul Guilfoyle, who suggested him to director Stuart Heisler; Heisler was looking for an unknown to play the lead in Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. The film, essentially a two-hander between Hunter and Darnell, was a hit.
Hunter supported George Montgomery in Gun Belt (1953), a Western produced by Edward Small. Small used him again for a war film, The Steel Lady (1953), supporting Rod Cameron, and as the lead in an adventure tale, Return to Treasure Island (1954). He began acting on stage, appearing in a production of Our Town. Hunter was then offered, and accepted, a contract at Warner Bros.
One of Hunter's first films for Warner Bros. was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William A. Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1954). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice.
His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, which was the year's third most financially successful film. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros.' largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads.
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported that Hunter had been arrested for disorderly conduct in 1950. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing to the public the sexual orientation of his more prominent client, Rock Hudson. The report had no negative effect on Hunter's career. A few months later, he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and Natalie Wood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract at Warner Bros. Warner decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences. Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood but Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warners' attempt to make Hunter and Wood the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955 until 1959.
Hunter received strong critical acclaim for a television performance he gave in the debut episode of Playhouse 90 ("Forbidden Area", 1956) written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Hunter's acting career was at its peak. William Wellman used him again in a war film, Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Columbia Pictures borrowed him for a Western, Gunman's Walk (1958). Hunter claimed, "When Gunman's Walk premiered the following summer, it was one of the proudest moments of my career." Hunter starred in the musical film Damn Yankees (1958), in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington, D.C.'s American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway musical, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the best-selling 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was interested only in recreating the stage version word for word. He also starred in They Came to Cordura (1959) (with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth) and That Kind of Woman (1959) (with Sophia Loren).
Music career
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart), and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
1960s
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and lasted for one season (1960–61) of 32 episodes. It was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it ranked as one of the most watched situation comedies of the year. Hunter's costars in the series included Richard Erdman, Jerome Cowan, and Reta Shaw.
Hunter had a starring role as Debbie Reynolds' love interest in The Pleasure of His Company (1961). He played the lead in a swashbuckler shot in Egypt, The Golden Arrow (1962) and was in a war movie for American International Pictures, Operation Bikini (1963).
In 1964, he starred on Broadway opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Ride the Wild Surf (1964) was a surf film for Columbia, followed by a movie in Britain, Troubled Waters (1964). He stayed in England to make another picture for AIP, War Gods of the Deep (1965). Back in Hollywood he had a supporting role in The Loved One (1965) and Birds Do It (1966). He made a film with Richard Rush, The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967).
For a short time in the late 1960s, after several seasons of starring in summer stock and dinner theater in shows such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Tender Trap, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and West Side Story with some of the New York cast, Hunter settled in the south of France and acted in many Italian films including Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968), The Last Chance (1968), and Bridge over the Elbe (1969).
1970s
Hunter had the lead role in Sweet Kill (1973), the first movie from director Curtis Hanson. He won a co-starring role in the successful film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman. He had small roles in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). In 1977 he played George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman (played by Louise Lasser) on Forever Fernwood, a spinoff of the soap-like sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
1980s
Hunter's career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He played Mr. Stuart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 (1982), who sang "Reproduction". Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet.
Later career
Hunter's last film role came in the horse-themed family film Dark Horse (1992). Hunter, a longstanding and avid horse owner, wrote the original story and co-produced the film with his life partner, Allan Glaser.
Hunter's autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005), co-written with Eddie Muller, became a New York Times bestseller, as did the paperback edition in 2007. In his memoir, Hunter officially came out as gay, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book was nominated for several awards. It entered the New York Times bestseller list for a third time on June 28, 2015, upon the release of Tab Hunter Confidential, an award-winning documentary based upon the memoir. The documentary was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Allan Glaser. As of June 2018, a feature film about Hunter to be produced by Glaser, J. J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto was in development at Paramount Pictures. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright is attached to create the screenplay.
Hunter has a star for his contributions to the music industry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd. In 2007, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.
Personal life
Hunter came out publicly as a gay man in his 2005 memoir. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about Hunter's alleged romances with close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood during his young adult years had strictly been the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized but fictitious romance, insiders had developed their own headline for the item: "Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't". Regarding Hollywood's studio era, Hunter said, "[life] was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasized that the word gay' ... wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor said, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys, and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins after having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Their relationship spanned two to four years, and Hunter has said that they only broke up because of Perkins's movie studio, Paramount, and the studio system. However, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction." He also had a relationship with champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down and marrying his partner/spouse of more than 35 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Hunter was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Except for a period in his youth, Hunter was a practicing Catholic for the rest of his life. When asked about his Jewish identity, due to his father and partner/spouse being Jewish, Hunter stated that he did not identify as Jewish. Hunter was an avid horse owner.
Hunter's brother Walter Gelien, who was killed in Vietnam on October 28, 1965, was survived by his wife and seven children.
Death
On July 8, 2018, three days before his 87th birthday, Hunter died after suffering cardiac arrest that arose from complications related to deep vein thrombosis. According to his husband, Allan Glaser, Hunter's death was "sudden and unexpected".
Filmography
Television
Discography
Notes
References
External links
Half-Hour TV Interview via Vimeo.com
Tab Hunter at Find a Grave
1931 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American people of German descent
American people of Jewish descent
Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
California Republicans
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Deaths from thrombosis
Dot Records artists
American gay actors
American gay musicians
American gay writers
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT Roman Catholics
LGBT singers from the United States
Male actors from New York City
New York (state) Republicans
Warner Bros. contract players
Warner Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people | false | [
"Bigger Thomas is a fictional character in the novel Native Son (1940) by American author Richard Wright.\n\nIn the original 1951 film, Bigger is played by Wright himself, while he is portrayed by Victor Love and Ashton Sanders in the 1986 film and 2019 film, respectively.\n\nDarryl Lorenzo Washington wrote in The Crisis that the character's name suggests both Uncle Tom and the racial slur \"nigger\".\n\nOriginal novel\nVincent Canby of The New York Times stated that Wright was aware \"that he was taking a terrible chance with\" the character.\n\nThe Bigger in the original novel comes from a low socioeconomic background. Troy Patterson of The New Yorker argued that the character in the novel is a \"thoughtless lunk\" and \"social problem\".\n\nIn the novel, Bigger murders his girlfriend Bessie. Jerrold Freeman, director of the 1986 film, stated that \"The scene is pivotal in the novel because it underscores the disintegration of Bigger Thomas, a victim of racism and segregation in Chicago of the 1930's who in turn becomes a victimizer.\"\n\nEarlier drafts of the novel show that Mary sexually arouses Bigger, but these lines were removed from the final version. Louis Menand wrote in The New Yorker that in the final version, as a result of the cuts, \"Bigger's sexuality has always been a puzzle. He hates Mary, and is afraid of her, but she is attractive and is negligent about sexual decorum, and the combination ought to provoke some sort of sexual reaction; yet in the familiar edition it does not.\"\n\nUniversity of California at Los Angeles associate English professor Richard Yarborough stated that \"Wright didn't want him to be sympathetic, so he made him very brutal. Wright didn't want tears. He felt that pity would be an evasion.\" Yarborough added, \"You can forgive Bigger for the accidental killing but not for the killing of Bessie.\" Soraya Nadia McDonald, in an article for The Undefeated, stated, \"Needless to say, this is not a character who inspires sympathy.\"\n\nWright later wrote an essay called \"How 'Bigger' Was Born\", which was included as an introduction in reprints of the novel.\n\nFilm versions\nVictor Love, who portrayed Bigger in the 1986 film, stated that his appearance and voice not being \"street\" meant that he did not feel he was initially seriously considered for the role. He was auditioning for Othello, which he did not get, when he was called to perform as Bigger. Love felt that Wright did not really mean for Bigger Thomas to be played unsympathetically and that instead he was afraid to ask people to care for Bigger. According to Love the filmmakers initially refused him the role, but later offered it to him. The 1986 Native Son film omits the murder of Bessie, and Yarborough described this version of Bigger as \"much more a sympathetic victim\". Canby wrote that this Bigger was acted \"in such a passive way that Bigger Thomas never appears capable of taking charge of his own destiny, which is at the heart of Wright's terrifying fable.\"\n\nThe 2019 film version of Bigger lives in a middle class household. He has, as described by Patterson, \"goth black\" nail polish and \"toxic green\" dyed hair. He also enjoys reading Ralph Ellison books and is able to teach himself material. Anna Shechtman of The New Yorker wrote that the 2019 Bigger has a \"confident style\" stemming from Ellison and that this Bigger \"has an assuredness that Wright, Love, and even the character that Wright originally wrote seemed to lack.\" In regards to the 2019 film, Patterson stated that this Bigger is \"a bit adrift\", \"serious and cerebral\", and \"a late adolescent at loose ends\". In the film, Bessie describes Bigger as \"a fixer upper\", reflecting that he has issues to work on. In this version, Bigger begins trying to choke Bessie but ultimately does not do it. Filmmaker Rashid Johnson explained that he removed Bessie's death from the film because having her survive would \"give Bigger an opportunity to be both complicated and (empathetic) simultaneously, and that was just a step off of a cliff that didn't allow us to tell the story in a (contemporary) way that we thought would facilitate conversation.\"\n\nReception\nShechtman wrote that the character \"was a disgrace\" to middle class African-Americans, adding that liberal white Americans saw Bigger more positively as \"a black antihero, claiming their interest and testing their sympathy\". Canby concurred that middle class African-Americans saw the character negatively, adding that white people who held prejudice against blacks had their beliefs that black men were sexual threats confirmed by the character. Shechtman stated that, overall, the character \"had quickly become lodged in the country's popular imagination.\"\n\nEllison wrote that \"Bigger Thomas had none of the finer qualities of Richard Wright, none of the imagination, none of the sense of poetry, none of the gaiety. And I preferred Richard Wright to Bigger Thomas.\"\n\nThe initial release of the 1950 film was heavily edited. An African-American newspaper review described the edited film as \"leaving the audience with no choice but to condemn\" Bigger, due to omission of key characteristics.\n\nAnalysis\nDavid Bradley wrote in The New York Times that, while he strongly disliked the novel upon first reading, \"It wasn't that Bigger failed as a character, exactly\", as Bradley knew of the author's intentions to make Bigger unlikable; rather, Bradley felt the author did not succeed in making Bigger symbolize ordinary black men. However, upon reading an edition of the book with an introduction, Bradley stated that \"Suddenly I realized that many readers of Native Son had seen Bigger Thomas as a symbol\". Upon researching other writings from the author, Bradley interpreted Bigger as Wright's autobiographical view of himself and subsequently began to see Native Son as a tragedy, despite this not being Wright's initial intention.\n\nOwen Glieberman of Variety wrote that the character, \"a badass before his time\", \"embodied a drive, a violence, that made him the link between Stagger Lee and Sweetback\", and that this was the \"power\" of the original work.\n\nReferences\n\nFurther reading\n\nExternal links\n \n\nFictional African-American people\nFictional criminals\nMale characters in literature",
"Native Son is a 1986 American drama film directed by Jerrold Freeman, and starring Carroll Baker, Victor Love, Matt Dillon, and Oprah Winfrey. The film is based on the 1940 novel Native Son, written by Richard Wright.\n\nPlot\nSet in Chicago in the 1930s, Bigger Thomas, an African American who lives in an impoverished neighborhood, is employed by a prosperous white family who live in the suburbs of a major city. The money Bigger makes at his new job will be used to supplement his mother's income. As a chauffeur, he is directed by the father of the family to take Mary, the daughter, to the university. Instead, Mary decides to pick up her Socialist boyfriend, Jan, and to spend the time drinking and partying.\n\nJan and Mary portray a young liberal couple who venture into a black neighborhood with Bigger for the sole purpose of being entertained at Ernie's, a black nightclub. On the way home, Mary becomes inebriated and Bigger must get her to her bedroom without being detected. Mary's mother, who is blind, enters the room and Bigger panics at the thought of being caught with a white woman. He accidentally kills Mary by placing a pillow over her head to keep her quiet. Still frightened, Bigger disposes of the body in the furnace, possibly because he feels he would not get a fair trial for the accidental death of a white woman. Meanwhile, Jan is wanted by the police for Mary's murder and Bigger plays a role in the accusations against him.\n\nCast\n Victor Love as Bigger Thomas\n Elizabeth McGovern as Mary Dalton\n Matt Dillon as Jan Erlone\n Geraldine Page as Peggy\n Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Thomas\n Akosua Busia as Bessie\n Carroll Baker as Mrs. Dalton\n John McMartin as Mr. Dalton\n Art Evans as Doc\n John Karlen as Max\n Willard E. Pugh as Gus\n Ving Rhames as Jack\n\nVincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that this Bigger was acted \"in such a passive way that Bigger Thomas never appears capable of taking charge of his own destiny, which is at the heart of Wright's terrifying fable.\"\n\nAnna Shechtman of The New Yorker wrote that \"The character of Bessie barely registers in the movie at all.\" Aljean Harmetz of The New York Times concurs, stating that \"the character [...] has been almost completely trimmed out.\"\n\nCanby stated that he preferred the \"skin-deep\" characters in the minor roles with this Mary being \"excellent\", and with the performances of Bessie, Mary's parents, and the maid, and the prosecutor as \"Equally effective, and equally one-dimensional\". However he felt this Jan \"looks too young and too picturesque to fit easily into Wright's world.\"\n\nDevelopment\nRichard Wesley wrote script.\n\nVictor Love stated that his appearance and voice not being \"street\" meant that he did not feel he was initially seriously considered for the role. He was auditioning for Othello, which he did not get, when he was called to perform as Bigger. Love felt that Wright did not really mean for Bigger Thomas to be played unsympathetically and that instead he was afraid to ask people to care for Bigger. According to Love the filmmakers initially refused him the role, but later offered it to him.\n\nThe film producers removed the murder of Bessie to make the protagonist more sympathetic to audiences. Freeman opposed this and argued that this interfered with how the character becomes increasingly damaged in the source work. Freeman stated \"The scene is pivotal in the novel because it underscores the disintegration of Bigger Thomas, a victim of racism and segregation in Chicago of the 1930's who in turn becomes a victimizer.\" Producer Diane Silver argued in favor of the change, stating \"The angst that worked in the book was impossible to put on the screen.\" American Playhouse producer Lindsay Law also supported the change arguing that an audience would disengage from the character if he kills Bessie and that \"The book had more layers than you could explore in a two-hour film.\"\n\nReception\nOn Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 56% based on reviews from 9 critics, with an average rating of 6/10.\n\nCanby wrote that the story from the original work had \"been so softened that it almost seems upbeat, which would have infuriated Wright.\"\n\nRita Kempley of the Washington Post criticized the \"melodrama and speechy, preachy dialogue\" and concluded that it \"is as worthy as it is self-righteous.\" Kempley praised the performances of Love and Winfrey.\n\nPatrick Reardon of the Chicago Tribune praised the film, arguing that its message was still valuable in the 1980s.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1986 drama films\n1986 films\nAmerican films\nFilms about racism\nFilms based on American novels\nFilms set in Chicago\nFilms set in the 1930s\nAfrican-American drama films\nAmerican Playhouse\nFilms directed by Jerrold Freedman"
] |
[
"Tab Hunter",
"Warner Bros.",
"When did Tab sign on with warner bros?",
"One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955),",
"did the film do well?",
"It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small.",
"did he do any other films?",
"Track of the Cat (1955).",
"did he have a bigger role in this film?",
"His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry."
] | C_f74cae9f02fb4ceda8d83308562908eb_1 | did that movie do well? | 5 | did Track of the Cat do well? | Tab Hunter | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1955). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. In September 1955 the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only did this have no negative effect on Hunter's career, a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros. Warners decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two back-to-back films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences and Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood. Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warner's attempt to make Tab and Natalie the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. CANNOTANSWER | became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, | Arthur Andrew Gelien (né Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018), known professionally as Tab Hunter, was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s and 1960s appearing on the covers of hundreds of film magazines. Hunter's film credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a number one hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
Early life
Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude () and Charles Kelm. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. He had an older brother, Walter. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien; the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother.
Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially; Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
Career
1950s
Dick Clayton introduced Gelien to agent Henry Willson, who specialized in representing beefcake male stars such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson. It was Willson who named him "Tab Hunter".
Hunter's first film role was a minor part in a film noir, The Lawless (1950). Hunter was a friend of character actor Paul Guilfoyle, who suggested him to director Stuart Heisler; Heisler was looking for an unknown to play the lead in Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. The film, essentially a two-hander between Hunter and Darnell, was a hit.
Hunter supported George Montgomery in Gun Belt (1953), a Western produced by Edward Small. Small used him again for a war film, The Steel Lady (1953), supporting Rod Cameron, and as the lead in an adventure tale, Return to Treasure Island (1954). He began acting on stage, appearing in a production of Our Town. Hunter was then offered, and accepted, a contract at Warner Bros.
One of Hunter's first films for Warner Bros. was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William A. Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1954). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice.
His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, which was the year's third most financially successful film. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros.' largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads.
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported that Hunter had been arrested for disorderly conduct in 1950. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing to the public the sexual orientation of his more prominent client, Rock Hudson. The report had no negative effect on Hunter's career. A few months later, he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and Natalie Wood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract at Warner Bros. Warner decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences. Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood but Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warners' attempt to make Hunter and Wood the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955 until 1959.
Hunter received strong critical acclaim for a television performance he gave in the debut episode of Playhouse 90 ("Forbidden Area", 1956) written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Hunter's acting career was at its peak. William Wellman used him again in a war film, Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Columbia Pictures borrowed him for a Western, Gunman's Walk (1958). Hunter claimed, "When Gunman's Walk premiered the following summer, it was one of the proudest moments of my career." Hunter starred in the musical film Damn Yankees (1958), in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington, D.C.'s American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway musical, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the best-selling 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was interested only in recreating the stage version word for word. He also starred in They Came to Cordura (1959) (with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth) and That Kind of Woman (1959) (with Sophia Loren).
Music career
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart), and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
1960s
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and lasted for one season (1960–61) of 32 episodes. It was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it ranked as one of the most watched situation comedies of the year. Hunter's costars in the series included Richard Erdman, Jerome Cowan, and Reta Shaw.
Hunter had a starring role as Debbie Reynolds' love interest in The Pleasure of His Company (1961). He played the lead in a swashbuckler shot in Egypt, The Golden Arrow (1962) and was in a war movie for American International Pictures, Operation Bikini (1963).
In 1964, he starred on Broadway opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Ride the Wild Surf (1964) was a surf film for Columbia, followed by a movie in Britain, Troubled Waters (1964). He stayed in England to make another picture for AIP, War Gods of the Deep (1965). Back in Hollywood he had a supporting role in The Loved One (1965) and Birds Do It (1966). He made a film with Richard Rush, The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967).
For a short time in the late 1960s, after several seasons of starring in summer stock and dinner theater in shows such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Tender Trap, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and West Side Story with some of the New York cast, Hunter settled in the south of France and acted in many Italian films including Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968), The Last Chance (1968), and Bridge over the Elbe (1969).
1970s
Hunter had the lead role in Sweet Kill (1973), the first movie from director Curtis Hanson. He won a co-starring role in the successful film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman. He had small roles in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). In 1977 he played George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman (played by Louise Lasser) on Forever Fernwood, a spinoff of the soap-like sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
1980s
Hunter's career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He played Mr. Stuart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 (1982), who sang "Reproduction". Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet.
Later career
Hunter's last film role came in the horse-themed family film Dark Horse (1992). Hunter, a longstanding and avid horse owner, wrote the original story and co-produced the film with his life partner, Allan Glaser.
Hunter's autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005), co-written with Eddie Muller, became a New York Times bestseller, as did the paperback edition in 2007. In his memoir, Hunter officially came out as gay, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book was nominated for several awards. It entered the New York Times bestseller list for a third time on June 28, 2015, upon the release of Tab Hunter Confidential, an award-winning documentary based upon the memoir. The documentary was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Allan Glaser. As of June 2018, a feature film about Hunter to be produced by Glaser, J. J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto was in development at Paramount Pictures. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright is attached to create the screenplay.
Hunter has a star for his contributions to the music industry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd. In 2007, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.
Personal life
Hunter came out publicly as a gay man in his 2005 memoir. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about Hunter's alleged romances with close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood during his young adult years had strictly been the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized but fictitious romance, insiders had developed their own headline for the item: "Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't". Regarding Hollywood's studio era, Hunter said, "[life] was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasized that the word gay' ... wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor said, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys, and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins after having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Their relationship spanned two to four years, and Hunter has said that they only broke up because of Perkins's movie studio, Paramount, and the studio system. However, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction." He also had a relationship with champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down and marrying his partner/spouse of more than 35 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Hunter was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Except for a period in his youth, Hunter was a practicing Catholic for the rest of his life. When asked about his Jewish identity, due to his father and partner/spouse being Jewish, Hunter stated that he did not identify as Jewish. Hunter was an avid horse owner.
Hunter's brother Walter Gelien, who was killed in Vietnam on October 28, 1965, was survived by his wife and seven children.
Death
On July 8, 2018, three days before his 87th birthday, Hunter died after suffering cardiac arrest that arose from complications related to deep vein thrombosis. According to his husband, Allan Glaser, Hunter's death was "sudden and unexpected".
Filmography
Television
Discography
Notes
References
External links
Half-Hour TV Interview via Vimeo.com
Tab Hunter at Find a Grave
1931 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American people of German descent
American people of Jewish descent
Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
California Republicans
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Deaths from thrombosis
Dot Records artists
American gay actors
American gay musicians
American gay writers
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT Roman Catholics
LGBT singers from the United States
Male actors from New York City
New York (state) Republicans
Warner Bros. contract players
Warner Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people | false | [
"Shahara () is a Bangladeshi film actress. She made her debut through the film Rukhe Daraw in 2004 with Shakib Khan. Her career lasted from 2003 to 2013, the year her last movie was released. She did not sign any movie contract after that and is thought to have retired after getting married in 2015.\n\nCareer\n\nShahara started her career in 2004 with the film Rukhe Darao. Shahara was a superb addition to Bangladeshi film industry during the days action films in the middle part of last decade. Her start in the film industry was not a smooth ride. \"Rukhe Darao\", her first movie, did not do well in the box office as she was deemed to be too conservative for films. She was under pressure to change this tag and appeared in a bolder role in her next movie \"Varate Khuni\". She then signed several new action films, the most coveted genre of that era. One of them named \"Bishakto Chokh\", a big budget movie starring super star Rubel and Reaz. She landed several roles as a glamour girl.\n\nIn 2008, she starred in blockbuster \"Priya Amar Priya\".\n\nFilmography\n\nSee also\n Symon Sadik\n Mahiya Mahi\n Bappy Chowdhury\n\nReferences\n\nLiving people\nBangladeshi film actresses\nPeople from Dhaka\nYear of birth missing (living people)",
"Naga Kiran, from Somarpet, Kodagu, is an Indian actor in Kannada films. He has also acted in Telugu and Tamil movies.\n\nNagakiran started with modelling under ace model trainer Prasad Bidapa. After moving on to acting, he started taking roles in Telugu movies. His first movie was Something Special, opposite Sherlyn Chopra and Sunaina.\n\nThe movie did not do well at the box office. His next roles were in Kannada movies such as Marujanma, based on reincarnation, Vasanthakala, Pallavi Illada Charana, Anu opposite Pooja Ghandhi,\nMast Maja Madi, Male Barali Manju Irali, Ijjodu, Parie, and Lahari. He received critical acclaim for his role in Ijjodu, which was directed by Padma Shri and awarded MS Sathyu. Movies such as Mast Maja Madi and Male Barali Manju Irali did well at the box office. Tamil movies he has played in include Yarinda Devathai and Thallapulla, directed by Mustan.\n\nFilmography\n\nTelevision\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\nSulekha Movies - Hollywood, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi Movie News, Reviews & Trailers\nArchive News\nMale Barali Manju Irali is a must watch\n\nLiving people\nMale actors in Kannada cinema\nIndian male film actors\nPeople from Kodagu district\n1983 births"
] |
[
"Tab Hunter",
"Warner Bros.",
"When did Tab sign on with warner bros?",
"One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955),",
"did the film do well?",
"It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small.",
"did he do any other films?",
"Track of the Cat (1955).",
"did he have a bigger role in this film?",
"His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry.",
"did that movie do well?",
"became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year,"
] | C_f74cae9f02fb4ceda8d83308562908eb_1 | was he in anything other than movies? | 6 | was Tab Hunter in anything other than movies? | Tab Hunter | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1955). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. In September 1955 the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only did this have no negative effect on Hunter's career, a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros. Warners decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two back-to-back films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences and Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood. Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warner's attempt to make Tab and Natalie the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. CANNOTANSWER | The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. | Arthur Andrew Gelien (né Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018), known professionally as Tab Hunter, was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s and 1960s appearing on the covers of hundreds of film magazines. Hunter's film credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a number one hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
Early life
Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude () and Charles Kelm. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. He had an older brother, Walter. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien; the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother.
Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially; Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
Career
1950s
Dick Clayton introduced Gelien to agent Henry Willson, who specialized in representing beefcake male stars such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson. It was Willson who named him "Tab Hunter".
Hunter's first film role was a minor part in a film noir, The Lawless (1950). Hunter was a friend of character actor Paul Guilfoyle, who suggested him to director Stuart Heisler; Heisler was looking for an unknown to play the lead in Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. The film, essentially a two-hander between Hunter and Darnell, was a hit.
Hunter supported George Montgomery in Gun Belt (1953), a Western produced by Edward Small. Small used him again for a war film, The Steel Lady (1953), supporting Rod Cameron, and as the lead in an adventure tale, Return to Treasure Island (1954). He began acting on stage, appearing in a production of Our Town. Hunter was then offered, and accepted, a contract at Warner Bros.
One of Hunter's first films for Warner Bros. was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William A. Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1954). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice.
His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, which was the year's third most financially successful film. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros.' largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads.
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported that Hunter had been arrested for disorderly conduct in 1950. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing to the public the sexual orientation of his more prominent client, Rock Hudson. The report had no negative effect on Hunter's career. A few months later, he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and Natalie Wood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract at Warner Bros. Warner decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences. Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood but Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warners' attempt to make Hunter and Wood the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955 until 1959.
Hunter received strong critical acclaim for a television performance he gave in the debut episode of Playhouse 90 ("Forbidden Area", 1956) written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Hunter's acting career was at its peak. William Wellman used him again in a war film, Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Columbia Pictures borrowed him for a Western, Gunman's Walk (1958). Hunter claimed, "When Gunman's Walk premiered the following summer, it was one of the proudest moments of my career." Hunter starred in the musical film Damn Yankees (1958), in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington, D.C.'s American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway musical, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the best-selling 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was interested only in recreating the stage version word for word. He also starred in They Came to Cordura (1959) (with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth) and That Kind of Woman (1959) (with Sophia Loren).
Music career
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart), and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
1960s
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and lasted for one season (1960–61) of 32 episodes. It was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it ranked as one of the most watched situation comedies of the year. Hunter's costars in the series included Richard Erdman, Jerome Cowan, and Reta Shaw.
Hunter had a starring role as Debbie Reynolds' love interest in The Pleasure of His Company (1961). He played the lead in a swashbuckler shot in Egypt, The Golden Arrow (1962) and was in a war movie for American International Pictures, Operation Bikini (1963).
In 1964, he starred on Broadway opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Ride the Wild Surf (1964) was a surf film for Columbia, followed by a movie in Britain, Troubled Waters (1964). He stayed in England to make another picture for AIP, War Gods of the Deep (1965). Back in Hollywood he had a supporting role in The Loved One (1965) and Birds Do It (1966). He made a film with Richard Rush, The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967).
For a short time in the late 1960s, after several seasons of starring in summer stock and dinner theater in shows such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Tender Trap, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and West Side Story with some of the New York cast, Hunter settled in the south of France and acted in many Italian films including Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968), The Last Chance (1968), and Bridge over the Elbe (1969).
1970s
Hunter had the lead role in Sweet Kill (1973), the first movie from director Curtis Hanson. He won a co-starring role in the successful film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman. He had small roles in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). In 1977 he played George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman (played by Louise Lasser) on Forever Fernwood, a spinoff of the soap-like sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
1980s
Hunter's career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He played Mr. Stuart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 (1982), who sang "Reproduction". Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet.
Later career
Hunter's last film role came in the horse-themed family film Dark Horse (1992). Hunter, a longstanding and avid horse owner, wrote the original story and co-produced the film with his life partner, Allan Glaser.
Hunter's autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005), co-written with Eddie Muller, became a New York Times bestseller, as did the paperback edition in 2007. In his memoir, Hunter officially came out as gay, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book was nominated for several awards. It entered the New York Times bestseller list for a third time on June 28, 2015, upon the release of Tab Hunter Confidential, an award-winning documentary based upon the memoir. The documentary was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Allan Glaser. As of June 2018, a feature film about Hunter to be produced by Glaser, J. J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto was in development at Paramount Pictures. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright is attached to create the screenplay.
Hunter has a star for his contributions to the music industry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd. In 2007, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.
Personal life
Hunter came out publicly as a gay man in his 2005 memoir. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about Hunter's alleged romances with close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood during his young adult years had strictly been the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized but fictitious romance, insiders had developed their own headline for the item: "Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't". Regarding Hollywood's studio era, Hunter said, "[life] was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasized that the word gay' ... wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor said, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys, and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins after having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Their relationship spanned two to four years, and Hunter has said that they only broke up because of Perkins's movie studio, Paramount, and the studio system. However, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction." He also had a relationship with champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down and marrying his partner/spouse of more than 35 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Hunter was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Except for a period in his youth, Hunter was a practicing Catholic for the rest of his life. When asked about his Jewish identity, due to his father and partner/spouse being Jewish, Hunter stated that he did not identify as Jewish. Hunter was an avid horse owner.
Hunter's brother Walter Gelien, who was killed in Vietnam on October 28, 1965, was survived by his wife and seven children.
Death
On July 8, 2018, three days before his 87th birthday, Hunter died after suffering cardiac arrest that arose from complications related to deep vein thrombosis. According to his husband, Allan Glaser, Hunter's death was "sudden and unexpected".
Filmography
Television
Discography
Notes
References
External links
Half-Hour TV Interview via Vimeo.com
Tab Hunter at Find a Grave
1931 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American people of German descent
American people of Jewish descent
Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
California Republicans
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Deaths from thrombosis
Dot Records artists
American gay actors
American gay musicians
American gay writers
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT Roman Catholics
LGBT singers from the United States
Male actors from New York City
New York (state) Republicans
Warner Bros. contract players
Warner Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people | true | [
"More Than Movies (styled as more>movies) was a satellite television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland, available on Sky and as a free-to-air service on Freesat. It launched on 4 October 2010 as Men&Movies, and was the first Freesat exclusive TV channel until it joined the Sky EPG on 4 April 2011. Between November 2011 and January 2012, Men&Movies was also available on Freeview in Manchester.\n\nThe channel was aimed at the middle to old aged male viewer, with its programming orientated around war documentaries, classic TV series and the war film genre. More Than Movies joined its sister channel, Movies4Men which transmits other cinematic genres.\n\nOn 2 April 2012, Men&Movies +1 was launched.\n\nOn 10 January 2013, Men&Movies was rebranded as More Than Movies, with a shift towards airing films and programmes from Sony's back catalogue. On 17 January 2013, Movie Mix began to simulcast the full More Than Movies schedule on Freeview but retained its own Movie Mix branding. After the channel closed, Movie Mix began to broadcast its own programming again.\n\nProgrammes\n Baywatch\n Cops\n The Guardian\n Storm Warning\n Providence\n\nReferences\n\nMovie channels in the United Kingdom\nTelevision channels and stations established in 2010\nTelevision channels and stations disestablished in 2016\nSony Pictures Television",
"Lamberto Maggiorani (28 August 1909 – 22 April 1983) was an Italian actor remembered for his portrayal of Antonio Ricci in the 1948 Vittorio De Sica film Bicycle Thieves.\n\nHe was a factory worker (he worked as a turner) and non-professional actor at the time he was cast in this film. He earned 600,000 lire ($1,000 US) for his performance, enabling him to buy new furniture and treat his family to a vacation; but when he returned to the factory he was laid off because business was slackening and management felt it would be fairer to terminate him instead of other impoverished co-workers since he was perceived to have \"made millions\" as a movie star. He found occasional work as a bricklayer, but continued to try to get roles in movies, with little success; even de Sica was reluctant to employ him as anything other than an extra. Pier Paolo Pasolini gave him a bit part in the film Mamma Roma (1962) due to his iconic status in Italian cinema. Cesare Zavattini, the screenwriter for Bicycle Thieves, aware of Maggiorani's predicament, wrote a screenplay about him titled \"Tu, Maggiorani\", in an attempt to demonstrate the limits of neorealist film's capacity to change the world.\n\nMaggiorani died in Rome in 1983 at the San Giovanni hospital without ever regaining his first success as a film actor.\n\nFilmography\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n .\n\n1909 births\n1983 deaths\nItalian male film actors\n20th-century Italian male actors\nMale actors from Rome\nPeople of Lazian descent"
] |
[
"Tab Hunter",
"Warner Bros.",
"When did Tab sign on with warner bros?",
"One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955),",
"did the film do well?",
"It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small.",
"did he do any other films?",
"Track of the Cat (1955).",
"did he have a bigger role in this film?",
"His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry.",
"did that movie do well?",
"became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year,",
"was he in anything other than movies?",
"The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy."
] | C_f74cae9f02fb4ceda8d83308562908eb_1 | did he act in any TV shows? | 7 | did Tab Hunter act in any TV shows? | Tab Hunter | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1955). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. In September 1955 the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only did this have no negative effect on Hunter's career, a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros. Warners decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two back-to-back films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences and Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood. Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warner's attempt to make Tab and Natalie the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Arthur Andrew Gelien (né Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018), known professionally as Tab Hunter, was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s and 1960s appearing on the covers of hundreds of film magazines. Hunter's film credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a number one hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
Early life
Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude () and Charles Kelm. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. He had an older brother, Walter. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien; the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother.
Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially; Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
Career
1950s
Dick Clayton introduced Gelien to agent Henry Willson, who specialized in representing beefcake male stars such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson. It was Willson who named him "Tab Hunter".
Hunter's first film role was a minor part in a film noir, The Lawless (1950). Hunter was a friend of character actor Paul Guilfoyle, who suggested him to director Stuart Heisler; Heisler was looking for an unknown to play the lead in Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. The film, essentially a two-hander between Hunter and Darnell, was a hit.
Hunter supported George Montgomery in Gun Belt (1953), a Western produced by Edward Small. Small used him again for a war film, The Steel Lady (1953), supporting Rod Cameron, and as the lead in an adventure tale, Return to Treasure Island (1954). He began acting on stage, appearing in a production of Our Town. Hunter was then offered, and accepted, a contract at Warner Bros.
One of Hunter's first films for Warner Bros. was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William A. Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1954). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice.
His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, which was the year's third most financially successful film. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros.' largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads.
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported that Hunter had been arrested for disorderly conduct in 1950. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing to the public the sexual orientation of his more prominent client, Rock Hudson. The report had no negative effect on Hunter's career. A few months later, he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and Natalie Wood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract at Warner Bros. Warner decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences. Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood but Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warners' attempt to make Hunter and Wood the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955 until 1959.
Hunter received strong critical acclaim for a television performance he gave in the debut episode of Playhouse 90 ("Forbidden Area", 1956) written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Hunter's acting career was at its peak. William Wellman used him again in a war film, Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Columbia Pictures borrowed him for a Western, Gunman's Walk (1958). Hunter claimed, "When Gunman's Walk premiered the following summer, it was one of the proudest moments of my career." Hunter starred in the musical film Damn Yankees (1958), in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington, D.C.'s American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway musical, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the best-selling 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was interested only in recreating the stage version word for word. He also starred in They Came to Cordura (1959) (with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth) and That Kind of Woman (1959) (with Sophia Loren).
Music career
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart), and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
1960s
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and lasted for one season (1960–61) of 32 episodes. It was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it ranked as one of the most watched situation comedies of the year. Hunter's costars in the series included Richard Erdman, Jerome Cowan, and Reta Shaw.
Hunter had a starring role as Debbie Reynolds' love interest in The Pleasure of His Company (1961). He played the lead in a swashbuckler shot in Egypt, The Golden Arrow (1962) and was in a war movie for American International Pictures, Operation Bikini (1963).
In 1964, he starred on Broadway opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Ride the Wild Surf (1964) was a surf film for Columbia, followed by a movie in Britain, Troubled Waters (1964). He stayed in England to make another picture for AIP, War Gods of the Deep (1965). Back in Hollywood he had a supporting role in The Loved One (1965) and Birds Do It (1966). He made a film with Richard Rush, The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967).
For a short time in the late 1960s, after several seasons of starring in summer stock and dinner theater in shows such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Tender Trap, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and West Side Story with some of the New York cast, Hunter settled in the south of France and acted in many Italian films including Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968), The Last Chance (1968), and Bridge over the Elbe (1969).
1970s
Hunter had the lead role in Sweet Kill (1973), the first movie from director Curtis Hanson. He won a co-starring role in the successful film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman. He had small roles in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). In 1977 he played George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman (played by Louise Lasser) on Forever Fernwood, a spinoff of the soap-like sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
1980s
Hunter's career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He played Mr. Stuart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 (1982), who sang "Reproduction". Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet.
Later career
Hunter's last film role came in the horse-themed family film Dark Horse (1992). Hunter, a longstanding and avid horse owner, wrote the original story and co-produced the film with his life partner, Allan Glaser.
Hunter's autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005), co-written with Eddie Muller, became a New York Times bestseller, as did the paperback edition in 2007. In his memoir, Hunter officially came out as gay, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book was nominated for several awards. It entered the New York Times bestseller list for a third time on June 28, 2015, upon the release of Tab Hunter Confidential, an award-winning documentary based upon the memoir. The documentary was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Allan Glaser. As of June 2018, a feature film about Hunter to be produced by Glaser, J. J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto was in development at Paramount Pictures. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright is attached to create the screenplay.
Hunter has a star for his contributions to the music industry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd. In 2007, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.
Personal life
Hunter came out publicly as a gay man in his 2005 memoir. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about Hunter's alleged romances with close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood during his young adult years had strictly been the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized but fictitious romance, insiders had developed their own headline for the item: "Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't". Regarding Hollywood's studio era, Hunter said, "[life] was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasized that the word gay' ... wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor said, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys, and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins after having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Their relationship spanned two to four years, and Hunter has said that they only broke up because of Perkins's movie studio, Paramount, and the studio system. However, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction." He also had a relationship with champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down and marrying his partner/spouse of more than 35 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Hunter was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Except for a period in his youth, Hunter was a practicing Catholic for the rest of his life. When asked about his Jewish identity, due to his father and partner/spouse being Jewish, Hunter stated that he did not identify as Jewish. Hunter was an avid horse owner.
Hunter's brother Walter Gelien, who was killed in Vietnam on October 28, 1965, was survived by his wife and seven children.
Death
On July 8, 2018, three days before his 87th birthday, Hunter died after suffering cardiac arrest that arose from complications related to deep vein thrombosis. According to his husband, Allan Glaser, Hunter's death was "sudden and unexpected".
Filmography
Television
Discography
Notes
References
External links
Half-Hour TV Interview via Vimeo.com
Tab Hunter at Find a Grave
1931 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American people of German descent
American people of Jewish descent
Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
California Republicans
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Deaths from thrombosis
Dot Records artists
American gay actors
American gay musicians
American gay writers
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT Roman Catholics
LGBT singers from the United States
Male actors from New York City
New York (state) Republicans
Warner Bros. contract players
Warner Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people | false | [
"Armenia TV (), is one of the leading TV channels in Armenia. In 2012, Armenia TV became the first TV channel in Armenia to launch Full HD broadcasting. By the first half of 2020, Armenia TV was the highest rated among news, fiction movies, TV series, comedy, and music shows.\n\nHistory \nArmenia TV was founded in 1997. Founders were Gerard Cafesjian and Bagrat Sargsyan. Broadcasting was launched on 13 January 1998 in 24-hour regime.\n\nIn 2012, followed by technical modernization, broadcasting was tested and was officially launched in 2013.\n\nIn 2016, Armenia TV released the first Armenian 4K TV show – \"Ancient Kings\".\n \nIn 2019, the owner of 100% shares is Artur Janibekyan – founder and general producer of Comedy Club Production and general manager of Gazprom Media Entertainment TV. In November 2019, Armenia TV announced technical modernization and plans to launch 4K format.\n\nBy 2020, Armenia TV's program list included TV shows, TV series, situation comedy shows, news shows, Armenian and international movies.\n\nStaff \nIncomplete list of Armenia TV team members, involved in various TV shows, programs and movies:\n\nInternational Projects \nArmenia TV is the rights owner of broadcasting Champions League, UEFA League of Nations, Euro 2020 and World Football Tournament Qualification games in Armenia. In June 2019, Armenia announced purchase of license for Euro 2020.\nInternational partners of Armenia TV include Walt Disney Company, Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Sony, Talpa, Endemol, TV Globo, etc. Armenia TV implemented the following international formats – \"The Voice of Armenia\", \"The Brainiest\", \"What? Where? When?\", \"Deal or no Deal\", \"Fort Boyard\", etc.\n\nArmenia Premium \nOn 14 September 2015, Armenia TV in cooperation with Ucom, launched 6 new cable channels, available to Ucom users. The channels did not include advertisements, TV shows were broadcast one day earlier, as well as some shows were released never included in original Armenia TV.\n\nProgramming\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\nTelevision stations in Armenia\nTelevision channels and stations established in 1997",
"Mike Walling (8 July 1950 – 2 July 2020) was an English comic actor and screenwriter.\n\nCareer\nWalling began his career as an English teacher at Holland Park School in London. In the mid-1970s, while still a teacher, he won a British TV talent contest, New Faces, with a comedy double act called \"Mr Carline & Mr Walling.\" He immediately left teaching and embarked on launching his new career in comedy. When the comedy duo ended their partnership, Walling moved into situation comedy, appearing in several series—\"Just Liz\", \"Bootle Saddles\" and then the highly successful \"Brush Strokes\". He began starting to get more work as a screenwriter when he teamed up with Tony Millan. The two of them wrote screenplays for a number of different shows, as well as their own series.\n\nIn the early 1980s Walling teamed up with session bass player Mo Foster for various comedy music projects, with Walling writing the lyrics and Foster writing the music and producing the resulting songs. \n\nOne of their songs, \"The Papadum Song\", a novelty song revolving around two men visiting an Indian restaurant (one of them for the first time) was repeatedly played on BBC Radio 1 and featured them live on several TV shows (including the BBC's Blue Peter) and was very popular at the time, but fate and industrial action decreed that it would not sell. A three-week strike at the distributors (Phonogram Records) meant that the records never actually got to the shops. The song was eventually re-released in 2006 as part of a collection of comedy/parody songs called Make Tea, Not War by the imaginary, but ill-fated and tragic, R.J. Wagsmith Band. Another song from the same album, \"Chalk Dust\", which was written for Roger Kitter who released it under the pseudonym \"The Brat\", did hit the top ten all over Europe. Walling has appeared in shows such as \"The Smoking Room\", \"Coronation Street\" and My Family.\n\nWalling died on 2 July 2020, the cause of death was not released.\n\nFilmography\nMike Walling appeared in the following TV shows and films:\n\n Just Liz, TV (1980)\n The Disappearance of Harry, TV (1982)\n Badger by Owl-Light, TV (1982)\n The Pirates of Penzance, TV (1983)\n Bootle Saddles, TV (1983)\n Scandalous, film (1984)\n Brush Strokes, TV (1986)\n Alfonso Bonzo, TV (1990)\n Billy Webb's Amazing Stories, TV (1991)\n Harry's Mad, TV (1993)\n Last of the Summer Wine, TV (2001)\n Ep. – The Missing Bus of Mrs Avery\n Chaos and Cadavers, film (2003)\n The Smoking Room, TV (2004)\n Ep. – \"Last Night a Graphic Designer Saved My Life\"\n Ep. – \"Quitters\"\n Ep. – \"1987\"\n Ep. – \"Happy Birthday\"\n Ep. – \"Feeding Time\"\n Coronation Street, TV (2006)\n My Family, TV (2007)\n Ep. – \"Abi Ever After\"\n Ep. – \"Once More with Feeling\"\n Ep. – \"Four Affairs and a Funeral\"\n Ep. – \"The Heart of Christmas\"\n Made in Romania, film (2008)\n Not Going Out, TV (2013)\n Ep. - \"Rabbit\"\n\nScriptwriter\nHe wrote or co-wrote scripts for the following comedy shows:\n\n Me and My Girl, TV, 1984\n Relative Strangers, TV, 1985\n A Small Problem, TV, 1987\n ChuckleVision, 1987\n Ep. - \"Breakfast Telly\"\n Valentine Park, TV, 1987\n Birds of a Feather, TV, 1989\n Ep. – \"In at the Deep End\"\n Ep. – \"First-Time Caller\"\n Ep. – \"Suspicious Minds\"\n Not with a Bang, TV, 1990\n Ep. – No.1.3\n Ep. – No.1.4\n Ep. – No.1.5\n Ep. – No.1.6\n Ep. – No.1.7\n The Brittas Empire, TV, 1991\n Ep. – \"The Disappearing Act\"\n Ep. – \"Reviewing the Situation\"\n Ep. – \"Surviving Christmas\"\n Ep. – \"A Walk on the Wildside\"\n Ep. – \"Body Language\"\n Trouble in Mind, TV, 1991\n , A Prince Among Men'', TV, 1997\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n BBC Comedy guide\n \n TV.com profile\n RJ Wagsmith Band\n RJ Wagsmith Band @ MySpace\n\n1950 births\n2020 deaths\nEnglish male television actors\nEnglish male voice actors\nEnglish television writers\nBritish television writers\nEnglish male film actors\nBritish male television writers\n20th-century English male actors\n21st-century English male actors\nMale actors from Salford"
] |
[
"Tab Hunter",
"Warner Bros.",
"When did Tab sign on with warner bros?",
"One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955),",
"did the film do well?",
"It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small.",
"did he do any other films?",
"Track of the Cat (1955).",
"did he have a bigger role in this film?",
"His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry.",
"did that movie do well?",
"became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year,",
"was he in anything other than movies?",
"The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy.",
"did he act in any TV shows?",
"I don't know."
] | C_f74cae9f02fb4ceda8d83308562908eb_1 | Did he ever win any awards? | 8 | Did Tab Hunter ever win any awards? | Tab Hunter | One of Hunter's first films for Warners was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1955). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice. His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. In September 1955 the tabloid magazine Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson's sexual orientation to the public. Not only did this have no negative effect on Hunter's career, a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros. Warners decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two back-to-back films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences and Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood. Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warner's attempt to make Tab and Natalie the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. CANNOTANSWER | 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955-1959. | Arthur Andrew Gelien (né Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018), known professionally as Tab Hunter, was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s and 1960s appearing on the covers of hundreds of film magazines. Hunter's film credits include Battle Cry (1955), The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Gunman's Walk (1958), and Damn Yankees (1958). Hunter also had a music career in the late 1950s; in 1957, he released a number one hit single "Young Love". Hunter's 2005 autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was a New York Times bestseller.
Early life
Arthur Andrew Kelm was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Gertrude () and Charles Kelm. Kelm's father was Jewish, and his mother was a Catholic German immigrant from Hamburg. He had an older brother, Walter. Kelm's father was reportedly abusive, and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced. He was raised in California, living with his mother, his brother, and his maternal grandparents, John Henry and Ida (née Sonnenfleth) Gelien; the family resided in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. His mother re-assumed her maiden surname, Gelien, and changed her sons' surnames as well. As a teenager, Arthur Gelien (as he was then known) was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs. Gelien was sent to Catholic school by his religious mother.
Gelien joined the United States Coast Guard at age fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty. When his superiors discovered his true age, they discharged him. Gelien met actor Dick Clayton socially; Clayton suggested that he become an actor.
Career
1950s
Dick Clayton introduced Gelien to agent Henry Willson, who specialized in representing beefcake male stars such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson. It was Willson who named him "Tab Hunter".
Hunter's first film role was a minor part in a film noir, The Lawless (1950). Hunter was a friend of character actor Paul Guilfoyle, who suggested him to director Stuart Heisler; Heisler was looking for an unknown to play the lead in Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. The film, essentially a two-hander between Hunter and Darnell, was a hit.
Hunter supported George Montgomery in Gun Belt (1953), a Western produced by Edward Small. Small used him again for a war film, The Steel Lady (1953), supporting Rod Cameron, and as the lead in an adventure tale, Return to Treasure Island (1954). He began acting on stage, appearing in a production of Our Town. Hunter was then offered, and accepted, a contract at Warner Bros.
One of Hunter's first films for Warner Bros. was The Sea Chase (1955), supporting John Wayne and Lana Turner. It was a big hit, but Hunter's part was relatively small. Rushes were seen by William A. Wellman, who cast Hunter to play the younger brother of Robert Mitchum in Track of the Cat (1954). It was a solid hit and Hunter began to get more notice.
His breakthrough role came when he was cast as the young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, which was the year's third most financially successful film. His character has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door. It was based on a bestseller by Leon Uris and became Warner Bros.' largest grossing film of that year, cementing Hunter's position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads.
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential reported that Hunter had been arrested for disorderly conduct in 1950. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing to the public the sexual orientation of his more prominent client, Rock Hudson. The report had no negative effect on Hunter's career. A few months later, he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. In 1956, he received 62,000 valentines. Hunter, James Dean, and Natalie Wood were the last actors to be placed under an exclusive studio contract at Warner Bros. Warner decided to promote him to star status, teaming him with Natalie Wood in two films, a Western, The Burning Hills (1956), directed by Heisler, and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), a service comedy. These films also proved to be hits with audiences. Warners planned a third teaming of Hunter and Wood but Hunter rejected the third picture, thus ending Warners' attempt to make Hunter and Wood the William Powell and Myrna Loy of the 1950s. Hunter was Warner Bros.' most popular male star from 1955 until 1959.
Hunter received strong critical acclaim for a television performance he gave in the debut episode of Playhouse 90 ("Forbidden Area", 1956) written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer.
Hunter's acting career was at its peak. William Wellman used him again in a war film, Lafayette Escadrille (1958). Columbia Pictures borrowed him for a Western, Gunman's Walk (1958). Hunter claimed, "When Gunman's Walk premiered the following summer, it was one of the proudest moments of my career." Hunter starred in the musical film Damn Yankees (1958), in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington, D.C.'s American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway musical, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the best-selling 1954 book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop. Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was interested only in recreating the stage version word for word. He also starred in They Came to Cordura (1959) (with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth) and That Kind of Woman (1959) (with Sophia Loren).
Music career
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song "Young Love," which was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks (seven weeks on the UK Chart), and became one of the larger hits of the Rock 'n' Roll era. It sold more than two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
Hunter had another hit single, "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at No. 11 in the United States and No. 5 in the United Kingdom. His success prompted Jack L. Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records, the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
1960s
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (1961) prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television sitcom. The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and lasted for one season (1960–61) of 32 episodes. It was a hit in the United Kingdom, where it ranked as one of the most watched situation comedies of the year. Hunter's costars in the series included Richard Erdman, Jerome Cowan, and Reta Shaw.
Hunter had a starring role as Debbie Reynolds' love interest in The Pleasure of His Company (1961). He played the lead in a swashbuckler shot in Egypt, The Golden Arrow (1962) and was in a war movie for American International Pictures, Operation Bikini (1963).
In 1964, he starred on Broadway opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tennessee Williams' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
Ride the Wild Surf (1964) was a surf film for Columbia, followed by a movie in Britain, Troubled Waters (1964). He stayed in England to make another picture for AIP, War Gods of the Deep (1965). Back in Hollywood he had a supporting role in The Loved One (1965) and Birds Do It (1966). He made a film with Richard Rush, The Fickle Finger of Fate (1967).
For a short time in the late 1960s, after several seasons of starring in summer stock and dinner theater in shows such as Bye Bye Birdie, The Tender Trap, Under the Yum Yum Tree, and West Side Story with some of the New York cast, Hunter settled in the south of France and acted in many Italian films including Vengeance Is My Forgiveness (1968), The Last Chance (1968), and Bridge over the Elbe (1969).
1970s
Hunter had the lead role in Sweet Kill (1973), the first movie from director Curtis Hanson. He won a co-starring role in the successful film The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972) with Paul Newman. He had small roles in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976) and Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). In 1977 he played George Shumway, the father of Mary Hartman (played by Louise Lasser) on Forever Fernwood, a spinoff of the soap-like sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
1980s
Hunter's career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Divine in John Waters' Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985). He played Mr. Stuart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 (1982), who sang "Reproduction". Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film Cameron's Closet.
Later career
Hunter's last film role came in the horse-themed family film Dark Horse (1992). Hunter, a longstanding and avid horse owner, wrote the original story and co-produced the film with his life partner, Allan Glaser.
Hunter's autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005), co-written with Eddie Muller, became a New York Times bestseller, as did the paperback edition in 2007. In his memoir, Hunter officially came out as gay, confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. The book was nominated for several awards. It entered the New York Times bestseller list for a third time on June 28, 2015, upon the release of Tab Hunter Confidential, an award-winning documentary based upon the memoir. The documentary was directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Allan Glaser. As of June 2018, a feature film about Hunter to be produced by Glaser, J. J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto was in development at Paramount Pictures. Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning writer Doug Wright is attached to create the screenplay.
Hunter has a star for his contributions to the music industry on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6320 Hollywood Blvd. In 2007, the Palm Springs Walk of Stars dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.
Personal life
Hunter came out publicly as a gay man in his 2005 memoir. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times, detailed reports about Hunter's alleged romances with close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood during his young adult years had strictly been the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized but fictitious romance, insiders had developed their own headline for the item: "Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't". Regarding Hollywood's studio era, Hunter said, "[life] was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasized that the word gay' ... wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process." "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor said, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys, and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins after having met him at the Chateau Marmont during the filming of Friendly Persuasion in 1956. Their relationship spanned two to four years, and Hunter has said that they only broke up because of Perkins's movie studio, Paramount, and the studio system. However, he remembered Perkins as a "special part of my journey. He wanted to be a movie star more than anything. I wanted that too, but not with the same kind of drive he had. We were such opposites - but then maybe that was the attraction." He also had a relationship with champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down and marrying his partner/spouse of more than 35 years, film producer Allan Glaser.
Hunter was raised in his mother's Catholic faith. Except for a period in his youth, Hunter was a practicing Catholic for the rest of his life. When asked about his Jewish identity, due to his father and partner/spouse being Jewish, Hunter stated that he did not identify as Jewish. Hunter was an avid horse owner.
Hunter's brother Walter Gelien, who was killed in Vietnam on October 28, 1965, was survived by his wife and seven children.
Death
On July 8, 2018, three days before his 87th birthday, Hunter died after suffering cardiac arrest that arose from complications related to deep vein thrombosis. According to his husband, Allan Glaser, Hunter's death was "sudden and unexpected".
Filmography
Television
Discography
Notes
References
External links
Half-Hour TV Interview via Vimeo.com
Tab Hunter at Find a Grave
1931 births
2018 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American singers
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American people of German descent
American people of Jewish descent
Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery
California Republicans
Catholics from California
Catholics from New York (state)
Deaths from thrombosis
Dot Records artists
American gay actors
American gay musicians
American gay writers
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT Roman Catholics
LGBT singers from the United States
Male actors from New York City
New York (state) Republicans
Warner Bros. contract players
Warner Records artists
20th-century American male singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people | false | [
"This is a list of films with performances that have been nominated in all of the Academy Award acting categories.\n\nThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences annually bestows Academy Awards for acting performances in the following four categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress.\n\nFilms \n\nAs of the 93rd Academy Awards (2020), there have been fifteen films containing at least one nominated performance in each of the four Academy Award acting categories. \n\nIn the following list, award winners are listed in bold with gold background; others listed are nominees who did not win. No film has ever won all four awards.\n\nSuperlatives \n\nNo film has won all four awards.\n\nTwo films won three awards: \n\n A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) \n Network (1976)\n\nFour films hold a total of five nominations, each with an additional nomination within one of the four categories:\n\n Mrs. Miniver (1942) – two nominations for Best Supporting Actress\n From Here to Eternity (1953) – two nominations for Best Actor\n Bonnie and Clyde (1968) – two nominations for Best Supporting Actor\n Network (1976) – two nominations for Best Actor\n\nThree of the nominated films failed to win any of the four awards: \n\n My Man Godfrey (1936) – also failed to win any other Academy Awards\n Sunset Boulevard (1950)\n American Hustle (2013) – also failed to win any other Academy Awards\n\nOnly two of the nominated films won Best Picture:\n\n Mrs. Miniver (1942)\n From Here to Eternity (1953)\n\nOnly one of the nominated films was not nominated for Best Picture:\n\n My Man Godfrey (1936)\n\nFive performers were nominated for their work in two different films that received nominations in all acting categories (winners in bold):\n\n William Holden (Sunset Boulevard, Network)\n Warren Beatty (Bonnie and Clyde, Reds)\n Faye Dunaway (Bonnie and Clyde, Network)\n Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle)\n Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle)\n\nOnly one director has directed two films that received nominations in all four categories:\n\n David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle)\n\nThe 40th Academy Awards (1967) was the only ceremony in which multiple films held at least one nomination in all four acting categories:\n\n Bonnie and Clyde\n Guess Who's Coming to Dinner\n\nAll of the films, except My Man Godfrey and For Whom the Bell Tolls, were also nominated for the \"Big Five\" categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted)).\n\nSee also \n\n List of Big Five Academy Award winners and nominees\n List of films with two or more Academy Awards in an acting category\n\nActing nom",
"Win, Again! is a Canadian television film, which was broadcast by CBC Television in 1999. Directed by Eric Till, the film stars Gordon Pinsent as Win Morrissey, a man from Nova Scotia who abandoned his family 16 years earlier to go on the run after being accused of a crime he did not commit, and is now returning home to reconcile with them after finally being exonerated.\n\nThe film also stars Gabrielle Rose as Win's wife Lois, who has moved on with a career in real estate and a new boyfriend; Michael Riley as their son John, a successful urban planner living in Toronto who resents his father's absence from his childhood; Leah Pinsent as John's girlfriend Julie; and Eric Peterson as Win's brother Cliff. Martha Gibson and Lawrence Dane also appear in supporting roles.\n\nThe film was Gordon Pinsent's first time ever acting in a project directly alongside his daughter Leah; although he had made a guest appearance in her sitcom Made in Canada the previous year, they did not have any scenes together at that time.\n\nGordon Pinsent was also the film's writer. It had originally been conceived and written as a six-episode drama series, but after several years of production delays caused by budget cutbacks at the CBC, the network asked Pinsent to condense it into a film.\n\nThe film was broadcast by CBC Television on January 17, 1999.\n\nAwards\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1999 films\n1999 television films\nCanadian films\nCanadian television films\nEnglish-language Canadian films\nEnglish-language films\nCBC Television original films\nFilms set in Nova Scotia\nFilms directed by Eric Till"
] |
[
"Lee Ann Womack",
"Country music stardom: 1997-1999"
] | C_16b1c11efc9144a0b7d487e3b8ea4159_1 | What happened in 1997? | 1 | What happened in 1997 for Lee Ann Womack? | Lee Ann Womack | Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year. In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright. The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after. That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999. CANNOTANSWER | Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, | Lee Ann Womack (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song.
When Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997, her material resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, except for the way Womack's music mixed an old-fashioned style with contemporary elements. Her 2000 album I Hope You Dance had an entirely different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country. It was not until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music. After a hiatus in 2008, Womack returned in 2014 with a new album (The Way I'm Livin') and a new sound which blended country and Americana.
Womack has released a total of nine studio albums and two compilations. Four of her studio albums have received a Gold certification or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. Additionally, she has received five Academy of Country Music Awards, six Country Music Association Awards, and a Grammy Award. She has sold over 6 million albums worldwide. Womack is married to record producer Frank Liddell, and was previously married to songwriter and musician Jason Sellers; her daughter with the latter, Aubrie Sellers, is also a country music artist.
Early life
Womack was born and raised in Jacksonville, Texas. At an early age she was interested in country music. Her father, a disc jockey, often took his daughter to work with him to help choose records to play on the air. Womack was the second of two daughters. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was also a high school principal. As a child, Womack studied the piano and later graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1984. After graduating, Womack attended South Plains Junior College in Levelland, Texas. The college was one of the first in the nation to offer country music degrees, and soon she became a member of the college band, Country Caravan. A year later, she left the college and after an agreement with her parents, Womack enrolled at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied the commercial aspect of the music business. In Nashville, she interned at the A&R department of MCA Records. She studied at the college until 1990, leaving the school a year before graduation.
Womack spent a few years raising her children before reentering the music business in the mid 1990s. In 1995 she began performing her music in songwriting demos and at showcase concerts. At one of these showcase concerts, she was spotted by Tree Publishing, who signed her after listening to one of her original demo recordings. Womack wrote songs with some popular Nashville songwriters, including Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs, who recorded her composition, "I Don't Remember Forgetting" for one of his albums. After divorcing her first husband around that time, Womack decided to pursue a career as a country music artist. She auditioned for MCA chairman, Bruce Hinton, who praised her talents. Shortly afterward, she accepted a contract from MCA's sister record company, Decca Nashville in 1996.
Music career
Country music stardom: 1997–1999
Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year.
In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright.
The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after.
That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999.
Pop crossover success: 2000–2004
Womack released her third studio album in 2000 entitled I Hope You Dance which met with major success. The title track (which was released as the lead single), reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart for five weeks and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a major crossover Pop hit, reaching No. 14. It also peaked at the top spot on the adult contemporary chart and even reached the UK Singles Charts, peaking at No. 40. Both of Womack's daughters appeared in the song's accompanying video. Towards the end of 2000, "I Hope You Dance" won the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year" awards. With the Pop success of "I Hope You Dance," Womack drew the attention of the magazines People and Time, both of which praised the single, calling it "one of her best." The song later won awards in 2001 from the Grammy and Academy of Country music awards. The album of the same name has sold 3 million copies in the United States to date. The album's follow-up single, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Ashes by Now" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Country Chart. The third single, "Why They Call it Falling" was also successful, reaching the country Top 15.
On December 11, 2000, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert.
In 2002, Womack's fourth studio album, Something Worth Leaving Behind was released. The album made a stronger attempt at a pop-flavored style, however it did not react well, leading to poor record sales and only one major hit. Following its release, Womack's career stalled. Later that year, she released a Christmas album, The Season for Romance and also collaborated with Willie Nelson on his single, "Mendocino County Line," which won a Grammy and Country Music award in 2002. In early 2003, she got a small recurring role on the popular CBS drama The District.
Womack sang the theme song for the 2003 series The Berenstain Bears.
In 2004, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the Republican National Convention, in which George W. Bush was nominated for his second term as President of the United States. The other performers that night included Sara Evans and Larry Gatlin. She also collaborated with Red Dirt Music band Cross Canadian Ragweed on their hit "Sick and Tired" in 2004. Also that year, she also released her first Greatest Hits album, which included two new songs; "The Wrong Girl" (the only song from the album released as a single) and "Time for Me to Go."
There's More Where That Came From and hiatus: 2005–2008
In 2005, she released her fifth studio album aimed at traditional country music entitled There's More Where That Came From.
Many people in the music industry called the album, "a return to tradition," featuring songs about drinking and cheating with a distinctive older country twang, mixing strings and steel guitar. The album won the Country Music Association's "Album of the Year" award in 2005.<ref name="book">{{cite book|title=Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America|editor=Alanna Nash and Paul Kingsbury|publisher=DK Publishing, Inc|location=New York, NY|year=2006|page=349|chapter=Ch. 12: Pocketful of Gold}}</ref> Womack took inspiration from the records of the 1960s and 1970s, and according to Allmusic, the album sounded like albums by Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, and Dolly Parton from the 1970s. They also called it one of her best records. The lead single, "I May Hate Myself in the Morning" was a Top 10 hit in 2005, and also won "Single of the Year" by the CMA awards later that year. Two additional singles were released from the album in 2005 that became minor hits, "He Oughta Know That by Now" and "Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago." The album was released on vinyl LP as well as CD.
Womack can be heard on the track "If I Could Only Fly" from Joe Nichols' album Real Things. Womack has also appeared on specials on the CMT network, including their "100 Greatest Duets", which featured Womack singing a duet with Kenny Rogers, "Every Time Two Fools Collide". The song had been originally recorded by Rogers and Dottie West in 1978 and was a No. 1 Country hit that year. Womack took the place of West during that show since West had died in a serious car accident in September 1991. Womack's other honors includes being listed at No. 17 on CMT's 2002 special of their countdown of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.
In 2006, Womack announced plans of a sixth studio album off of Mercury Nashville Records. The lead single, "Finding My Way Back Home" was released in the late summer of that year and debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard Country Chart. The single later peaked at No. 37 and was rescheduled into 2007, because Womack found more songs that she wanted to record, however it was never released and Womack left Mercury.
In 2008, Womack announced plans for a new single for the first time in three years, once again on MCA Nashville. "Last Call" was released on June 30, 2008. It served as the lead-off single to Womack's seventh studio album, Call Me Crazy, which was released on October 21, 2008. The album, released on vinyl and CD, was produced by Tony Brown, has been described as a dark album with plenty of songs about drinking and losing love. It featured a duet with George Strait titled "Everything But Quits," a re-recording of the Strait song "The King of Broken Hearts," which first appeared on the Pure Country soundtrack. One track, "The Bees," features vocals from Keith Urban.
In October 2009, Womack released "There Is a God", as the lead-off single to her upcoming seventh studio album which never surfaced. The song debuted at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 14, 2009, eventually peaking at No. 32 in early 2010. Womack has revealed a few of the tracks that she has recorded for the album, including: "Talking Behind Your Back", as well as "You Do Until You Don't".
In October 2010, Womack contributed the new track "Liars Lie" to the soundtrack for the film Country Strong. Womack also contributed guest vocals to Alan Jackson's cover of the song "Ring of Fire", which was released in December 2010 as a single from his compilation album, 34 Number Ones. His version of the song was a minor hit, charting to number 45 on the Hot Country Songs charts. Though Womack is featured on the song, she was not given credit on the charts.
In August 2012, Womack parted ways with MCA Nashville.
Americana transition, return to music, and subsequent material loss: 2014–present
In April 2014, Womack signed with Sugar Hill Records. Her first album for the label, The Way I'm Livin', was released September 23, 2014. Critics cheered the progressive traditionalist's return. In addition to a four out of four star review in USA Today, Rolling Stone proclaimed Livin' "feels like something Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings would have crafted back in the Seventies," Spin deemed it "the best of her career" and Garden & Gun offered, "Nashville is filled with artists making 'the record they were born to make.' With Livin', Womack is one of the few who actually deliver."
"Livin'" was the only country album to make Esquire magazine's Top Albums of 2014 list. It was nominated for two 2015 Grammy Awards for Best Country Album and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Womack also received two Americana Music Awards nominations for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year and her first CMA Female Vocalist of the Year nomination in ten years.
On September 26, 2014, Womack collaborated with American R&B singer John Legend for an episode of CMT Crossroads. Ahead of her 2015 tour in support of The Way I'm Livin', Womack appeared at the C2C: Country to Country festival in the UK.
On August 15, 2017, Womack announced her new album The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone due on October 27 on ATO Records.
Lee Ann Womack was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Personal life
At Belmont University, Womack met and married singer-songwriter Jason Sellers in 1990; they divorced in 1996. Together they had a daughter named Aubrie Sellers (b. February 1991). Womack gave birth to her second daughter, Anna Lise Liddell, in January 1999 after marrying record producer Frank Liddell.
Discography
Studio albums
Lee Ann Womack (1997)
Some Things I Know (1998)
I Hope You Dance (2000)
Something Worth Leaving Behind (2002)
The Season for Romance (2002)
There's More Where That Came From (2005)
Call Me Crazy (2008)
The Way I'm Livin' (2014)
The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone'' (2017)
Awards and nominations
To date, Lee Ann Womack has won 6 CMA Awards (from 17 nominations), 5 ACM Awards (from 16 nominations) and 1 Grammy (from 14 nominations).
Television appearances
Filmography
References
External links
1966 births
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women guitarists
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
American country singer-songwriters
American country guitarists
American women country singers
American women guitarists
ATO Records artists
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from Tennessee
Country musicians from Texas
Decca Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Living people
MCA Records artists
Mercury Records artists
People from Jacksonville, Texas
Sugar Hill Records artists
Singers from Nashville, Tennessee
Singer-songwriters from Texas
South Plains College alumni
Tennessee Republicans
Texas Republicans
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee | true | [
"Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, in Spanish Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio (Book of the Examples of Count Lucanor and of Patronio), also commonly known as El Conde Lucanor, Libro de Patronio, or Libro de los ejemplos (original Old Castilian: Libro de los enxiemplos del Conde Lucanor et de Patronio), is one of the earliest works of prose in Castilian Spanish. It was first written in 1335.\n\nThe book is divided into four parts. The first and most well-known part is a series of 51 short stories (some no more than a page or two) drawn from various sources, such as Aesop and other classical writers, and Arabic folktales.\n\nTales of Count Lucanor was first printed in 1575 when it was published at Seville under the auspices of Argote de Molina. It was again printed at Madrid in 1642, after which it lay forgotten for nearly two centuries.\n\nPurpose and structure\n\nA didactic, moralistic purpose, which would color so much of the Spanish literature to follow (see Novela picaresca), is the mark of this book. Count Lucanor engages in conversation with his advisor Patronio, putting to him a problem (\"Some man has made me a proposition...\" or \"I fear that such and such person intends to...\") and asking for advice. Patronio responds always with the greatest humility, claiming not to wish to offer advice to so illustrious a person as the Count, but offering to tell him a story of which the Count's problem reminds him. (Thus, the stories are \"examples\" [ejemplos] of wise action.) At the end he advises the Count to do as the protagonist of his story did.\n\nEach chapter ends in more or less the same way, with slight variations on: \"And this pleased the Count greatly and he did just so, and found it well. And Don Johán (Juan) saw that this example was very good, and had it written in this book, and composed the following verses.\" A rhymed couplet closes, giving the moral of the story.\n\nOrigin of stories and influence on later literature\nMany of the stories written in the book are the first examples written in a modern European language of various stories, which many other writers would use in the proceeding centuries. Many of the stories he included were themselves derived from other stories, coming from western and Arab sources.\n\nShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew has the basic elements of Tale 35, \"What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\".\n\nTale 32, \"What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth\" tells the story that Hans Christian Andersen made popular as The Emperor's New Clothes.\n\nStory 7, \"What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana\", a version of Aesop's The Milkmaid and Her Pail, was claimed by Max Müller to originate in the Hindu cycle Panchatantra.\n\nTale 2, \"What happened to a good Man and his Son, leading a beast to market,\" is the familiar fable The miller, his son and the donkey.\n\nIn 2016, Baroque Decay released a game under the name \"The Count Lucanor\". As well as some protagonists' names, certain events from the books inspired past events in the game.\n\nThe stories\n\nThe book opens with a prologue which introduces the characters of the Count and Patronio. The titles in the following list are those given in Keller and Keating's 1977 translation into English. James York's 1868 translation into English gives a significantly different ordering of the stories and omits the fifty-first.\n\n What Happened to a King and His Favorite \n What Happened to a Good Man and His Son \n How King Richard of England Leapt into the Sea against the Moors\n What a Genoese Said to His Soul When He Was about to Die \n What Happened to a Fox and a Crow Who Had a Piece of Cheese in His Beak\n How the Swallow Warned the Other Birds When She Saw Flax Being Sown \n What Happened to a Woman Named Truhana \n What Happened to a Man Whose Liver Had to Be Washed \n What Happened to Two Horses Which Were Thrown to the Lion \n What Happened to a Man Who on Account of Poverty and Lack of Other Food Was Eating Bitter Lentils \n What Happened to a Dean of Santiago de Compostela and Don Yllán, the Grand Master of Toledo\n What Happened to the Fox and the Rooster \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Hunting Partridges \n The Miracle of Saint Dominick When He Preached against the Usurer \n What Happened to Lorenzo Suárez at the Siege of Seville \n The Reply that count Fernán González Gave to His Relative Núño Laynes \n What Happened to a Very Hungry Man Who Was Half-heartedly Invited to Dinner \n What Happened to Pero Meléndez de Valdés When He Broke His Leg \n What Happened to the Crows and the Owls \n What Happened to a King for Whom a Man Promised to Perform Alchemy \n What Happened to a Young King and a Philosopher to Whom his Father Commended Him \n What Happened to the Lion and the Bull \n How the Ants Provide for Themselves \n What Happened to the King Who Wanted to Test His Three Sons \n What Happened to the Count of Provence and How He Was Freed from Prison by the Advice of Saladin\n What Happened to the Tree of Lies \n What Happened to an Emperor and to Don Alvarfáñez Minaya and Their Wives \n What Happened in Granada to Don Lorenzo Suárez Gallinato When He Beheaded the Renegade Chaplain \n What Happened to a Fox Who Lay down in the Street to Play Dead \n What Happened to King Abenabet of Seville and Ramayquía His Wife \n How a Cardinal Judged between the Canons of Paris and the Friars Minor \n What Happened to the King and the Tricksters Who Made Cloth \n What Happened to Don Juan Manuel's Saker Falcon and an Eagle and a Heron \n What Happened to a Blind Man Who Was Leading Another \n What Happened to a Young Man Who Married a Strong and Ill-tempered Woman\n What Happened to a Merchant When He Found His Son and His Wife Sleeping Together \n What Happened to Count Fernán González with His Men after He Had Won the Battle of Hacinas \n What Happened to a Man Who Was Loaded down with Precious Stones and Drowned in the River \n What Happened to a Man and a Swallow and a Sparrow \n Why the Seneschal of Carcassonne Lost His Soul \n What Happened to a King of Córdova Named Al-Haquem \n What Happened to a Woman of Sham Piety \n What Happened to Good and Evil and the Wise Man and the Madman \n What Happened to Don Pero Núñez the Loyal, to Don Ruy González de Zavallos, and to Don Gutier Roiz de Blaguiello with Don Rodrigo the Generous \n What Happened to a Man Who Became the Devil's Friend and Vassal \n What Happened to a Philosopher who by Accident Went down a Street Where Prostitutes Lived \n What Befell a Moor and His Sister Who Pretended That She Was Timid \n What Happened to a Man Who Tested His Friends \n What Happened to the Man Whom They Cast out Naked on an Island When They Took away from Him the Kingdom He Ruled \n What Happened to Saladin and a Lady, the Wife of a Knight Who Was His Vassal \n What Happened to a Christian King Who Was Very Powerful and Haughty\n\nReferences\n\nNotes\n\nBibliography\n\n Sturm, Harlan\n\n Wacks, David\n\nExternal links\n\nThe Internet Archive provides free access to the 1868 translation by James York.\nJSTOR has the to the 1977 translation by Keller and Keating.\nSelections in English and Spanish (pedagogical edition) with introduction, notes, and bibliography in Open Iberia/América (open access teaching anthology)\n\n14th-century books\nSpanish literature\n1335 books",
"\"What Happened to Us\" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, featuring English recording artist Jay Sean. It was written by Sean, Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim and Israel Cruz. \"What Happened to Us\" was leaked online in October 2010, and was released on 10 March 2011, as the third single from Mauboy's second studio album, Get 'Em Girls (2010). The song received positive reviews from critics.\n\nA remix of \"What Happened to Us\" made by production team OFM, was released on 11 April 2011. A different version of the song which features Stan Walker, was released on 29 May 2011. \"What Happened to Us\" charted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 14 and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). An accompanying music video was directed by Mark Alston, and reminisces on a former relationship between Mauboy and Sean.\n\nProduction and release\n\n\"What Happened to Us\" was written by Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz and Jay Sean. It was produced by Skaller, Cruz, Rohaim and Bobby Bass. The song uses C, D, and B minor chords in the chorus. \"What Happened to Us\" was sent to contemporary hit radio in Australia on 14 February 2011. The cover art for the song was revealed on 22 February on Mauboy's official Facebook page. A CD release was available for purchase via her official website on 10 March, for one week only. It was released digitally the following day.\n\nReception\nMajhid Heath from ABC Online Indigenous called the song a \"Jordin Sparks-esque duet\", and wrote that it \"has a nice innocence to it that rings true to the experience of losing a first love.\" Chris Urankar from Nine to Five wrote that it as a \"mid-tempo duet ballad\" which signifies Mauboy's strength as a global player. On 21 March 2011, \"What Happened to Us\" debuted at number 30 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and peaked at number 14 the following week. The song was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for selling 70,000 copies. \"What Happened to Us\" spent a total of ten weeks in the ARIA top fifty.\n\nMusic video\n\nBackground\nThe music video for the song was shot in the Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney on 26 November 2010. The video was shot during Sean's visit to Australia for the Summerbeatz tour. During an interview with The Daily Telegraph while on the set of the video, Sean said \"the song is sick! ... Jessica's voice is amazing and we're shooting [the video] in this ridiculously beautiful mansion overlooking the harbour.\" The video was directed by Mark Alston, who had previously directed the video for Mauboy's single \"Let Me Be Me\" (2009). It premiered on YouTube on 10 February 2011.\n\nSynopsis and reception\nThe video begins showing Mauboy who appears to be sitting on a yellow antique couch in a mansion, wearing a purple dress. As the video progresses, scenes of memories are displayed of Mauboy and her love interest, played by Sean, spending time there previously. It then cuts to the scenes where Sean appears in the main entrance room of the mansion. The final scene shows Mauboy outdoors in a gold dress, surrounded by green grass and trees. She is later joined by Sean who appears in a black suit and a white shirt, and together they sing the chorus of the song to each other. David Lim of Feed Limmy wrote that the video is \"easily the best thing our R&B princess has committed to film – ever\" and praised the \"mansion and wondrous interior décor\". He also commended Mauboy for choosing Australian talent to direct the video instead of American directors, which she had used for her previous two music videos. Since its release, the video has received over two million views on Vevo.\n\nLive performances\nMauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" live for the first time during her YouTube Live Sessions program on 4 December 2010. She also appeared on Adam Hills in Gordon Street Tonight on 23 February 2011 for an interview and later performed the song. On 15 March 2011, Mauboy performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Sunrise. She also performed the song with Stan Walker during the Australian leg of Chris Brown's F.A.M.E. Tour in April 2011. Mauboy and Walker later performed \"What Happened to Us\" on Dancing with the Stars Australia on 29 May 2011. From November 2013 to February 2014, \"What Happened to Us\" was part of the set list of the To the End of the Earth Tour, Mauboy's second headlining tour of Australia, with Nathaniel Willemse singing Sean's part.\n\nTrack listing\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Just Witness Remix) – 3:45\n\nCD single\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Album Version) – 3:19\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (Sgt Slick Remix) – 6:33\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:39\n\nDigital download – Remix\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Jay Sean (OFM Remix) – 3:38\n\nDigital download\n \"What Happened to Us\" featuring Stan Walker – 3:20\n\nPersonnel\nSongwriting – Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg, Jeremy Skaller, Rob Larow, Khaled Rohaim, Israel Cruz, Jay Sean\nProduction – Jeremy Skaller, Bobby Bass\nAdditional production – Israel Cruz, Khaled Rohaim\nLead vocals – Jessica Mauboy, Jay Sean\nMixing – Phil Tan\nAdditional mixing – Damien Lewis\nMastering – Tom Coyne \nSource:\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly chart\n\nYear-end chart\n\nCertification\n\nRadio dates and release history\n\nReferences\n\n2010 songs\n2011 singles\nJessica Mauboy songs\nJay Sean songs\nSongs written by Billy Steinberg\nSongs written by Jay Sean\nSongs written by Josh Alexander\nSongs written by Israel Cruz\nVocal duets\nSony Music Australia singles\nSongs written by Khaled Rohaim"
] |
[
"Lee Ann Womack",
"Country music stardom: 1997-1999",
"What happened in 1997?",
"Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997,"
] | C_16b1c11efc9144a0b7d487e3b8ea4159_1 | What is the album called? | 2 | What was Lee Ann Womack's 1997 album called? | Lee Ann Womack | Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year. In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright. The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after. That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999. CANNOTANSWER | CANNOTANSWER | Lee Ann Womack (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song.
When Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997, her material resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, except for the way Womack's music mixed an old-fashioned style with contemporary elements. Her 2000 album I Hope You Dance had an entirely different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country. It was not until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music. After a hiatus in 2008, Womack returned in 2014 with a new album (The Way I'm Livin') and a new sound which blended country and Americana.
Womack has released a total of nine studio albums and two compilations. Four of her studio albums have received a Gold certification or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. Additionally, she has received five Academy of Country Music Awards, six Country Music Association Awards, and a Grammy Award. She has sold over 6 million albums worldwide. Womack is married to record producer Frank Liddell, and was previously married to songwriter and musician Jason Sellers; her daughter with the latter, Aubrie Sellers, is also a country music artist.
Early life
Womack was born and raised in Jacksonville, Texas. At an early age she was interested in country music. Her father, a disc jockey, often took his daughter to work with him to help choose records to play on the air. Womack was the second of two daughters. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was also a high school principal. As a child, Womack studied the piano and later graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1984. After graduating, Womack attended South Plains Junior College in Levelland, Texas. The college was one of the first in the nation to offer country music degrees, and soon she became a member of the college band, Country Caravan. A year later, she left the college and after an agreement with her parents, Womack enrolled at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied the commercial aspect of the music business. In Nashville, she interned at the A&R department of MCA Records. She studied at the college until 1990, leaving the school a year before graduation.
Womack spent a few years raising her children before reentering the music business in the mid 1990s. In 1995 she began performing her music in songwriting demos and at showcase concerts. At one of these showcase concerts, she was spotted by Tree Publishing, who signed her after listening to one of her original demo recordings. Womack wrote songs with some popular Nashville songwriters, including Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs, who recorded her composition, "I Don't Remember Forgetting" for one of his albums. After divorcing her first husband around that time, Womack decided to pursue a career as a country music artist. She auditioned for MCA chairman, Bruce Hinton, who praised her talents. Shortly afterward, she accepted a contract from MCA's sister record company, Decca Nashville in 1996.
Music career
Country music stardom: 1997–1999
Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year.
In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright.
The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after.
That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999.
Pop crossover success: 2000–2004
Womack released her third studio album in 2000 entitled I Hope You Dance which met with major success. The title track (which was released as the lead single), reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart for five weeks and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a major crossover Pop hit, reaching No. 14. It also peaked at the top spot on the adult contemporary chart and even reached the UK Singles Charts, peaking at No. 40. Both of Womack's daughters appeared in the song's accompanying video. Towards the end of 2000, "I Hope You Dance" won the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year" awards. With the Pop success of "I Hope You Dance," Womack drew the attention of the magazines People and Time, both of which praised the single, calling it "one of her best." The song later won awards in 2001 from the Grammy and Academy of Country music awards. The album of the same name has sold 3 million copies in the United States to date. The album's follow-up single, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Ashes by Now" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Country Chart. The third single, "Why They Call it Falling" was also successful, reaching the country Top 15.
On December 11, 2000, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert.
In 2002, Womack's fourth studio album, Something Worth Leaving Behind was released. The album made a stronger attempt at a pop-flavored style, however it did not react well, leading to poor record sales and only one major hit. Following its release, Womack's career stalled. Later that year, she released a Christmas album, The Season for Romance and also collaborated with Willie Nelson on his single, "Mendocino County Line," which won a Grammy and Country Music award in 2002. In early 2003, she got a small recurring role on the popular CBS drama The District.
Womack sang the theme song for the 2003 series The Berenstain Bears.
In 2004, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the Republican National Convention, in which George W. Bush was nominated for his second term as President of the United States. The other performers that night included Sara Evans and Larry Gatlin. She also collaborated with Red Dirt Music band Cross Canadian Ragweed on their hit "Sick and Tired" in 2004. Also that year, she also released her first Greatest Hits album, which included two new songs; "The Wrong Girl" (the only song from the album released as a single) and "Time for Me to Go."
There's More Where That Came From and hiatus: 2005–2008
In 2005, she released her fifth studio album aimed at traditional country music entitled There's More Where That Came From.
Many people in the music industry called the album, "a return to tradition," featuring songs about drinking and cheating with a distinctive older country twang, mixing strings and steel guitar. The album won the Country Music Association's "Album of the Year" award in 2005.<ref name="book">{{cite book|title=Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America|editor=Alanna Nash and Paul Kingsbury|publisher=DK Publishing, Inc|location=New York, NY|year=2006|page=349|chapter=Ch. 12: Pocketful of Gold}}</ref> Womack took inspiration from the records of the 1960s and 1970s, and according to Allmusic, the album sounded like albums by Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, and Dolly Parton from the 1970s. They also called it one of her best records. The lead single, "I May Hate Myself in the Morning" was a Top 10 hit in 2005, and also won "Single of the Year" by the CMA awards later that year. Two additional singles were released from the album in 2005 that became minor hits, "He Oughta Know That by Now" and "Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago." The album was released on vinyl LP as well as CD.
Womack can be heard on the track "If I Could Only Fly" from Joe Nichols' album Real Things. Womack has also appeared on specials on the CMT network, including their "100 Greatest Duets", which featured Womack singing a duet with Kenny Rogers, "Every Time Two Fools Collide". The song had been originally recorded by Rogers and Dottie West in 1978 and was a No. 1 Country hit that year. Womack took the place of West during that show since West had died in a serious car accident in September 1991. Womack's other honors includes being listed at No. 17 on CMT's 2002 special of their countdown of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.
In 2006, Womack announced plans of a sixth studio album off of Mercury Nashville Records. The lead single, "Finding My Way Back Home" was released in the late summer of that year and debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard Country Chart. The single later peaked at No. 37 and was rescheduled into 2007, because Womack found more songs that she wanted to record, however it was never released and Womack left Mercury.
In 2008, Womack announced plans for a new single for the first time in three years, once again on MCA Nashville. "Last Call" was released on June 30, 2008. It served as the lead-off single to Womack's seventh studio album, Call Me Crazy, which was released on October 21, 2008. The album, released on vinyl and CD, was produced by Tony Brown, has been described as a dark album with plenty of songs about drinking and losing love. It featured a duet with George Strait titled "Everything But Quits," a re-recording of the Strait song "The King of Broken Hearts," which first appeared on the Pure Country soundtrack. One track, "The Bees," features vocals from Keith Urban.
In October 2009, Womack released "There Is a God", as the lead-off single to her upcoming seventh studio album which never surfaced. The song debuted at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 14, 2009, eventually peaking at No. 32 in early 2010. Womack has revealed a few of the tracks that she has recorded for the album, including: "Talking Behind Your Back", as well as "You Do Until You Don't".
In October 2010, Womack contributed the new track "Liars Lie" to the soundtrack for the film Country Strong. Womack also contributed guest vocals to Alan Jackson's cover of the song "Ring of Fire", which was released in December 2010 as a single from his compilation album, 34 Number Ones. His version of the song was a minor hit, charting to number 45 on the Hot Country Songs charts. Though Womack is featured on the song, she was not given credit on the charts.
In August 2012, Womack parted ways with MCA Nashville.
Americana transition, return to music, and subsequent material loss: 2014–present
In April 2014, Womack signed with Sugar Hill Records. Her first album for the label, The Way I'm Livin', was released September 23, 2014. Critics cheered the progressive traditionalist's return. In addition to a four out of four star review in USA Today, Rolling Stone proclaimed Livin' "feels like something Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings would have crafted back in the Seventies," Spin deemed it "the best of her career" and Garden & Gun offered, "Nashville is filled with artists making 'the record they were born to make.' With Livin', Womack is one of the few who actually deliver."
"Livin'" was the only country album to make Esquire magazine's Top Albums of 2014 list. It was nominated for two 2015 Grammy Awards for Best Country Album and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Womack also received two Americana Music Awards nominations for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year and her first CMA Female Vocalist of the Year nomination in ten years.
On September 26, 2014, Womack collaborated with American R&B singer John Legend for an episode of CMT Crossroads. Ahead of her 2015 tour in support of The Way I'm Livin', Womack appeared at the C2C: Country to Country festival in the UK.
On August 15, 2017, Womack announced her new album The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone due on October 27 on ATO Records.
Lee Ann Womack was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Personal life
At Belmont University, Womack met and married singer-songwriter Jason Sellers in 1990; they divorced in 1996. Together they had a daughter named Aubrie Sellers (b. February 1991). Womack gave birth to her second daughter, Anna Lise Liddell, in January 1999 after marrying record producer Frank Liddell.
Discography
Studio albums
Lee Ann Womack (1997)
Some Things I Know (1998)
I Hope You Dance (2000)
Something Worth Leaving Behind (2002)
The Season for Romance (2002)
There's More Where That Came From (2005)
Call Me Crazy (2008)
The Way I'm Livin' (2014)
The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone'' (2017)
Awards and nominations
To date, Lee Ann Womack has won 6 CMA Awards (from 17 nominations), 5 ACM Awards (from 16 nominations) and 1 Grammy (from 14 nominations).
Television appearances
Filmography
References
External links
1966 births
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women guitarists
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
American country singer-songwriters
American country guitarists
American women country singers
American women guitarists
ATO Records artists
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from Tennessee
Country musicians from Texas
Decca Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Living people
MCA Records artists
Mercury Records artists
People from Jacksonville, Texas
Sugar Hill Records artists
Singers from Nashville, Tennessee
Singer-songwriters from Texas
South Plains College alumni
Tennessee Republicans
Texas Republicans
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee | false | [
"\"What Is This Thing Called Love?\" is a song written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and recorded by American recording artist Alexander O'Neal. It is the second single from the singer's fourth solo album, All True Man (1991). The song's distinctive backing vocals were performed by Lisa Keith. Following the successful chart performances of the All True Man single \"All True Man\", \"What Is This Thing Called Love?\" was released as the album's second single.\n\nRelease\nAlexander O'Neal's 19th hit single and it reached #53 in the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, the single reached #21 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks.\n\nTrack listing\n 12\" Maxi (45 73804) \n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Classic 12\" Mix)\" - 8:20\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Classic Radio Mix)\" - 3:37\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (LP Edit)\" - 3:58\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Red Zone Mix)\" - 5:41\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Instrumental Mix)\" - 5:58\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Reprise)\" - 2:13\n\n 7\" Single (656731 7) / Cassette Single (656731 4)\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love?\" - 4:08\n\"Crying Overtime\" - 4:55\n\n CD Single (656731 2)\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Album Version)\" - 6:04\n\"The Lovers (Extended Version)\" - 7:02\n\"If You Were Here Tonight\" - 6:08\n\n CD Single (656731 9) \n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Classic 12\" Mix)\" - 8:20\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Classic Radio Mix)\" - 3:37\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Red Zone Mix)\" - 5:41\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Reprise)\" - 2:13\n\n Cassette Single (35T 73810) \n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Classic Radio Mix)\" - 3:37\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love? (Dee Instrumental Mix)\" - 5:58\n\nPersonnel\nCredits are adapted from the album's liner notes.\n\n Alexander O'Neal - lead vocals \n Jimmy Jam - acoustic piano, keyboards, synthesizer, drum programming, rhythm & vocal arrangements\n Terry Lewis - rhythm & vocal arrangements, backing vocals\n Lee Blaskey - string arrangements\n Susie Allard - strings\n Mynra Rian - strings\n Joanna Shelton - strings\n Carolyn Daws - strings\n Mary Bahr - strings\n Lea Foli - strings\n Julia Persilz - strings\n Hyacinthe Tlucek - strings\n Maricia Peck - strings\n Jeanne Ekhold - strings\n Luara Sewell - strings\n Rudolph Lekhter - strings\n Lisa Keith - backing vocals\n\nCharts\n\nHistory\n\"What Is This Thing Called Love?\" had its bass-line sampled in the 2018 Kanye West and Lil Pump song, \"I Love It\".\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n \n\n1991 singles\nAlexander O'Neal songs\nSongs written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis\n1991 songs\nSong recordings produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis\nTabu Records singles",
"\"It Is What It Is\" is an idiomatic phrase, indicating the immutable nature of an object or circumstance and may refer to:\n It Is What It Is, a 2001 film by Billy Frolick\n It Is What It Is, a 2007 autobiography by David Coulthard\n It Is What It Is: Conversations About Iraq, a project by Jeremy Deller\n It Is What It Is, a radio show hosted by Sean Baligian\n\nMusic\n B.A.R.S. The Barry Adrian Reese Story or It Is What It Is, a 2007 album by Cassidy\n It Is What It Is (ABN album) (2008)\n It Is What It Is (Johnny Logan album) (2017)\n It Is What It Is (Thundercat album) (2020)\n It Is What It Is, a 1982 album by The Hitmen\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 1988 song by Derrick May from the compilation album Techno! The New Dance Sound of Detroit\n \"It Is What It Is (What It Is)\", a 1992 song by Adam Again from Dig\n\"It Is What It Is\", a 1995 song by The Highwaymen from the album The Road Goes On Forever\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2010 song by Lifehouse from Smoke & Mirrors\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2013 song by Blood Orange from Cupid Deluxe\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2013 song by Kacey Musgraves from Same Trailer Different Park\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2016 song by Lecrae from Church Clothes 3\n \"It Is What It Is\", a 2009 song by Vic Chesnutt from At the Cut\n\nSee also \n Fihi Ma Fihi, a Persian prose work by Rumi\n Tautophrase\n What It Is (disambiguation)"
] |
[
"Lee Ann Womack",
"Country music stardom: 1997-1999",
"What happened in 1997?",
"Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997,",
"What is the album called?",
"I don't know."
] | C_16b1c11efc9144a0b7d487e3b8ea4159_1 | What is a single that was on the album? | 3 | What is a single that was on Lee Ann Womack's self-titled album? | Lee Ann Womack | Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year. In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright. The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after. That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999. CANNOTANSWER | "The Fool" | Lee Ann Womack (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song.
When Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997, her material resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, except for the way Womack's music mixed an old-fashioned style with contemporary elements. Her 2000 album I Hope You Dance had an entirely different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country. It was not until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music. After a hiatus in 2008, Womack returned in 2014 with a new album (The Way I'm Livin') and a new sound which blended country and Americana.
Womack has released a total of nine studio albums and two compilations. Four of her studio albums have received a Gold certification or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. Additionally, she has received five Academy of Country Music Awards, six Country Music Association Awards, and a Grammy Award. She has sold over 6 million albums worldwide. Womack is married to record producer Frank Liddell, and was previously married to songwriter and musician Jason Sellers; her daughter with the latter, Aubrie Sellers, is also a country music artist.
Early life
Womack was born and raised in Jacksonville, Texas. At an early age she was interested in country music. Her father, a disc jockey, often took his daughter to work with him to help choose records to play on the air. Womack was the second of two daughters. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was also a high school principal. As a child, Womack studied the piano and later graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1984. After graduating, Womack attended South Plains Junior College in Levelland, Texas. The college was one of the first in the nation to offer country music degrees, and soon she became a member of the college band, Country Caravan. A year later, she left the college and after an agreement with her parents, Womack enrolled at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied the commercial aspect of the music business. In Nashville, she interned at the A&R department of MCA Records. She studied at the college until 1990, leaving the school a year before graduation.
Womack spent a few years raising her children before reentering the music business in the mid 1990s. In 1995 she began performing her music in songwriting demos and at showcase concerts. At one of these showcase concerts, she was spotted by Tree Publishing, who signed her after listening to one of her original demo recordings. Womack wrote songs with some popular Nashville songwriters, including Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs, who recorded her composition, "I Don't Remember Forgetting" for one of his albums. After divorcing her first husband around that time, Womack decided to pursue a career as a country music artist. She auditioned for MCA chairman, Bruce Hinton, who praised her talents. Shortly afterward, she accepted a contract from MCA's sister record company, Decca Nashville in 1996.
Music career
Country music stardom: 1997–1999
Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year.
In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright.
The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after.
That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999.
Pop crossover success: 2000–2004
Womack released her third studio album in 2000 entitled I Hope You Dance which met with major success. The title track (which was released as the lead single), reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart for five weeks and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a major crossover Pop hit, reaching No. 14. It also peaked at the top spot on the adult contemporary chart and even reached the UK Singles Charts, peaking at No. 40. Both of Womack's daughters appeared in the song's accompanying video. Towards the end of 2000, "I Hope You Dance" won the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year" awards. With the Pop success of "I Hope You Dance," Womack drew the attention of the magazines People and Time, both of which praised the single, calling it "one of her best." The song later won awards in 2001 from the Grammy and Academy of Country music awards. The album of the same name has sold 3 million copies in the United States to date. The album's follow-up single, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Ashes by Now" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Country Chart. The third single, "Why They Call it Falling" was also successful, reaching the country Top 15.
On December 11, 2000, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert.
In 2002, Womack's fourth studio album, Something Worth Leaving Behind was released. The album made a stronger attempt at a pop-flavored style, however it did not react well, leading to poor record sales and only one major hit. Following its release, Womack's career stalled. Later that year, she released a Christmas album, The Season for Romance and also collaborated with Willie Nelson on his single, "Mendocino County Line," which won a Grammy and Country Music award in 2002. In early 2003, she got a small recurring role on the popular CBS drama The District.
Womack sang the theme song for the 2003 series The Berenstain Bears.
In 2004, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the Republican National Convention, in which George W. Bush was nominated for his second term as President of the United States. The other performers that night included Sara Evans and Larry Gatlin. She also collaborated with Red Dirt Music band Cross Canadian Ragweed on their hit "Sick and Tired" in 2004. Also that year, she also released her first Greatest Hits album, which included two new songs; "The Wrong Girl" (the only song from the album released as a single) and "Time for Me to Go."
There's More Where That Came From and hiatus: 2005–2008
In 2005, she released her fifth studio album aimed at traditional country music entitled There's More Where That Came From.
Many people in the music industry called the album, "a return to tradition," featuring songs about drinking and cheating with a distinctive older country twang, mixing strings and steel guitar. The album won the Country Music Association's "Album of the Year" award in 2005.<ref name="book">{{cite book|title=Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America|editor=Alanna Nash and Paul Kingsbury|publisher=DK Publishing, Inc|location=New York, NY|year=2006|page=349|chapter=Ch. 12: Pocketful of Gold}}</ref> Womack took inspiration from the records of the 1960s and 1970s, and according to Allmusic, the album sounded like albums by Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, and Dolly Parton from the 1970s. They also called it one of her best records. The lead single, "I May Hate Myself in the Morning" was a Top 10 hit in 2005, and also won "Single of the Year" by the CMA awards later that year. Two additional singles were released from the album in 2005 that became minor hits, "He Oughta Know That by Now" and "Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago." The album was released on vinyl LP as well as CD.
Womack can be heard on the track "If I Could Only Fly" from Joe Nichols' album Real Things. Womack has also appeared on specials on the CMT network, including their "100 Greatest Duets", which featured Womack singing a duet with Kenny Rogers, "Every Time Two Fools Collide". The song had been originally recorded by Rogers and Dottie West in 1978 and was a No. 1 Country hit that year. Womack took the place of West during that show since West had died in a serious car accident in September 1991. Womack's other honors includes being listed at No. 17 on CMT's 2002 special of their countdown of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.
In 2006, Womack announced plans of a sixth studio album off of Mercury Nashville Records. The lead single, "Finding My Way Back Home" was released in the late summer of that year and debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard Country Chart. The single later peaked at No. 37 and was rescheduled into 2007, because Womack found more songs that she wanted to record, however it was never released and Womack left Mercury.
In 2008, Womack announced plans for a new single for the first time in three years, once again on MCA Nashville. "Last Call" was released on June 30, 2008. It served as the lead-off single to Womack's seventh studio album, Call Me Crazy, which was released on October 21, 2008. The album, released on vinyl and CD, was produced by Tony Brown, has been described as a dark album with plenty of songs about drinking and losing love. It featured a duet with George Strait titled "Everything But Quits," a re-recording of the Strait song "The King of Broken Hearts," which first appeared on the Pure Country soundtrack. One track, "The Bees," features vocals from Keith Urban.
In October 2009, Womack released "There Is a God", as the lead-off single to her upcoming seventh studio album which never surfaced. The song debuted at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 14, 2009, eventually peaking at No. 32 in early 2010. Womack has revealed a few of the tracks that she has recorded for the album, including: "Talking Behind Your Back", as well as "You Do Until You Don't".
In October 2010, Womack contributed the new track "Liars Lie" to the soundtrack for the film Country Strong. Womack also contributed guest vocals to Alan Jackson's cover of the song "Ring of Fire", which was released in December 2010 as a single from his compilation album, 34 Number Ones. His version of the song was a minor hit, charting to number 45 on the Hot Country Songs charts. Though Womack is featured on the song, she was not given credit on the charts.
In August 2012, Womack parted ways with MCA Nashville.
Americana transition, return to music, and subsequent material loss: 2014–present
In April 2014, Womack signed with Sugar Hill Records. Her first album for the label, The Way I'm Livin', was released September 23, 2014. Critics cheered the progressive traditionalist's return. In addition to a four out of four star review in USA Today, Rolling Stone proclaimed Livin' "feels like something Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings would have crafted back in the Seventies," Spin deemed it "the best of her career" and Garden & Gun offered, "Nashville is filled with artists making 'the record they were born to make.' With Livin', Womack is one of the few who actually deliver."
"Livin'" was the only country album to make Esquire magazine's Top Albums of 2014 list. It was nominated for two 2015 Grammy Awards for Best Country Album and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Womack also received two Americana Music Awards nominations for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year and her first CMA Female Vocalist of the Year nomination in ten years.
On September 26, 2014, Womack collaborated with American R&B singer John Legend for an episode of CMT Crossroads. Ahead of her 2015 tour in support of The Way I'm Livin', Womack appeared at the C2C: Country to Country festival in the UK.
On August 15, 2017, Womack announced her new album The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone due on October 27 on ATO Records.
Lee Ann Womack was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Personal life
At Belmont University, Womack met and married singer-songwriter Jason Sellers in 1990; they divorced in 1996. Together they had a daughter named Aubrie Sellers (b. February 1991). Womack gave birth to her second daughter, Anna Lise Liddell, in January 1999 after marrying record producer Frank Liddell.
Discography
Studio albums
Lee Ann Womack (1997)
Some Things I Know (1998)
I Hope You Dance (2000)
Something Worth Leaving Behind (2002)
The Season for Romance (2002)
There's More Where That Came From (2005)
Call Me Crazy (2008)
The Way I'm Livin' (2014)
The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone'' (2017)
Awards and nominations
To date, Lee Ann Womack has won 6 CMA Awards (from 17 nominations), 5 ACM Awards (from 16 nominations) and 1 Grammy (from 14 nominations).
Television appearances
Filmography
References
External links
1966 births
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women guitarists
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
American country singer-songwriters
American country guitarists
American women country singers
American women guitarists
ATO Records artists
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from Tennessee
Country musicians from Texas
Decca Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Living people
MCA Records artists
Mercury Records artists
People from Jacksonville, Texas
Sugar Hill Records artists
Singers from Nashville, Tennessee
Singer-songwriters from Texas
South Plains College alumni
Tennessee Republicans
Texas Republicans
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee | true | [
"Feel What U Feel is a children's album by American musician Lisa Loeb. The album was released on October 7, 2016, and the album's first single was \"Feel What U Feel.\" The album won Best Children's Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.\n\nRelease \nThe album was announced on September 8, 2016 with the release of the lead single \"Feel What U Feel,\" featuring Craig Robinson. The album was then released by Furious Rose Productions on October 7, 2016 as an Amazon Music exclusive.\n\nPromotion \nLisa Loeb Embarked a small tour to promote the Children's album in the Fall of 2016 & Winter of 2017. Despite going on a children's tour, Lisa performed many of her \"Adult\" and \"Older\" songs. Lisa also constantly played her songs on \"Kids Place Live Radio\" for nearly 1 year after release.\n\nSingles \n\"Feel What U Feel\" was released as the album's lead single of September 8, 2016. The second single, \"Moon Star Pie (It's Gunna Be Alright)\" was released on October 7, 2016. The third single, \"Wanna Do Day\" ft. Ed Helms was released on January 12, 2017. The fourth and final single of the album, \"The Sky Is Always Blue\" was released on March 13, 2017.\n\nTrack listing\n\nReferences \n\n2016 albums\nChildren's music albums\nLisa Loeb albums",
"Less Is More is the debut studio album by Belgian DJ and record producer Lost Frequencies. It was released on 21 October 2016, by Lost & Cie under exclusive license to Armada Music and Ultra Music. The album was shortlisted by IMPALA (The Independent Music Companies Association) for the Album of the Year Award 2016, which rewards on a yearly basis the best album released on an independent European label.\n\nSingles\n\"Are You with Me\" was released as the first single on 26 January 2015. \"Reality\" (featuring Janieck Devy) was released as the second single on 24 May 2015. \"Beautiful Life\" (featuring Sandro Cavazza) was released as the third single on 3 June 2016. \"What Is Love 2016\" was released as the fourth single on 7 October 2016. \"All or Nothing\" (featuring Axel Ehnström) was released as the fifth single on 17 February 2017. \"Here with You\" was released as the sixth single on 30 June 2017.\n\nTrack listing\n\nCharts\n\nWeekly charts\n\nYear-end charts\n\nReferences\n\n2016 albums\nLost Frequencies albums"
] |
[
"Lee Ann Womack",
"Country music stardom: 1997-1999",
"What happened in 1997?",
"Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997,",
"What is the album called?",
"I don't know.",
"What is a single that was on the album?",
"\"The Fool\""
] | C_16b1c11efc9144a0b7d487e3b8ea4159_1 | Did it receive positive recognition? | 4 | Did the single "The Fool" receive positive recognition? | Lee Ann Womack | Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year. In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright. The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after. That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999. CANNOTANSWER | reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. | Lee Ann Womack (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song.
When Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997, her material resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, except for the way Womack's music mixed an old-fashioned style with contemporary elements. Her 2000 album I Hope You Dance had an entirely different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country. It was not until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music. After a hiatus in 2008, Womack returned in 2014 with a new album (The Way I'm Livin') and a new sound which blended country and Americana.
Womack has released a total of nine studio albums and two compilations. Four of her studio albums have received a Gold certification or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. Additionally, she has received five Academy of Country Music Awards, six Country Music Association Awards, and a Grammy Award. She has sold over 6 million albums worldwide. Womack is married to record producer Frank Liddell, and was previously married to songwriter and musician Jason Sellers; her daughter with the latter, Aubrie Sellers, is also a country music artist.
Early life
Womack was born and raised in Jacksonville, Texas. At an early age she was interested in country music. Her father, a disc jockey, often took his daughter to work with him to help choose records to play on the air. Womack was the second of two daughters. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was also a high school principal. As a child, Womack studied the piano and later graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1984. After graduating, Womack attended South Plains Junior College in Levelland, Texas. The college was one of the first in the nation to offer country music degrees, and soon she became a member of the college band, Country Caravan. A year later, she left the college and after an agreement with her parents, Womack enrolled at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied the commercial aspect of the music business. In Nashville, she interned at the A&R department of MCA Records. She studied at the college until 1990, leaving the school a year before graduation.
Womack spent a few years raising her children before reentering the music business in the mid 1990s. In 1995 she began performing her music in songwriting demos and at showcase concerts. At one of these showcase concerts, she was spotted by Tree Publishing, who signed her after listening to one of her original demo recordings. Womack wrote songs with some popular Nashville songwriters, including Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs, who recorded her composition, "I Don't Remember Forgetting" for one of his albums. After divorcing her first husband around that time, Womack decided to pursue a career as a country music artist. She auditioned for MCA chairman, Bruce Hinton, who praised her talents. Shortly afterward, she accepted a contract from MCA's sister record company, Decca Nashville in 1996.
Music career
Country music stardom: 1997–1999
Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year.
In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright.
The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after.
That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999.
Pop crossover success: 2000–2004
Womack released her third studio album in 2000 entitled I Hope You Dance which met with major success. The title track (which was released as the lead single), reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart for five weeks and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a major crossover Pop hit, reaching No. 14. It also peaked at the top spot on the adult contemporary chart and even reached the UK Singles Charts, peaking at No. 40. Both of Womack's daughters appeared in the song's accompanying video. Towards the end of 2000, "I Hope You Dance" won the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year" awards. With the Pop success of "I Hope You Dance," Womack drew the attention of the magazines People and Time, both of which praised the single, calling it "one of her best." The song later won awards in 2001 from the Grammy and Academy of Country music awards. The album of the same name has sold 3 million copies in the United States to date. The album's follow-up single, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Ashes by Now" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Country Chart. The third single, "Why They Call it Falling" was also successful, reaching the country Top 15.
On December 11, 2000, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert.
In 2002, Womack's fourth studio album, Something Worth Leaving Behind was released. The album made a stronger attempt at a pop-flavored style, however it did not react well, leading to poor record sales and only one major hit. Following its release, Womack's career stalled. Later that year, she released a Christmas album, The Season for Romance and also collaborated with Willie Nelson on his single, "Mendocino County Line," which won a Grammy and Country Music award in 2002. In early 2003, she got a small recurring role on the popular CBS drama The District.
Womack sang the theme song for the 2003 series The Berenstain Bears.
In 2004, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the Republican National Convention, in which George W. Bush was nominated for his second term as President of the United States. The other performers that night included Sara Evans and Larry Gatlin. She also collaborated with Red Dirt Music band Cross Canadian Ragweed on their hit "Sick and Tired" in 2004. Also that year, she also released her first Greatest Hits album, which included two new songs; "The Wrong Girl" (the only song from the album released as a single) and "Time for Me to Go."
There's More Where That Came From and hiatus: 2005–2008
In 2005, she released her fifth studio album aimed at traditional country music entitled There's More Where That Came From.
Many people in the music industry called the album, "a return to tradition," featuring songs about drinking and cheating with a distinctive older country twang, mixing strings and steel guitar. The album won the Country Music Association's "Album of the Year" award in 2005.<ref name="book">{{cite book|title=Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America|editor=Alanna Nash and Paul Kingsbury|publisher=DK Publishing, Inc|location=New York, NY|year=2006|page=349|chapter=Ch. 12: Pocketful of Gold}}</ref> Womack took inspiration from the records of the 1960s and 1970s, and according to Allmusic, the album sounded like albums by Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, and Dolly Parton from the 1970s. They also called it one of her best records. The lead single, "I May Hate Myself in the Morning" was a Top 10 hit in 2005, and also won "Single of the Year" by the CMA awards later that year. Two additional singles were released from the album in 2005 that became minor hits, "He Oughta Know That by Now" and "Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago." The album was released on vinyl LP as well as CD.
Womack can be heard on the track "If I Could Only Fly" from Joe Nichols' album Real Things. Womack has also appeared on specials on the CMT network, including their "100 Greatest Duets", which featured Womack singing a duet with Kenny Rogers, "Every Time Two Fools Collide". The song had been originally recorded by Rogers and Dottie West in 1978 and was a No. 1 Country hit that year. Womack took the place of West during that show since West had died in a serious car accident in September 1991. Womack's other honors includes being listed at No. 17 on CMT's 2002 special of their countdown of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.
In 2006, Womack announced plans of a sixth studio album off of Mercury Nashville Records. The lead single, "Finding My Way Back Home" was released in the late summer of that year and debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard Country Chart. The single later peaked at No. 37 and was rescheduled into 2007, because Womack found more songs that she wanted to record, however it was never released and Womack left Mercury.
In 2008, Womack announced plans for a new single for the first time in three years, once again on MCA Nashville. "Last Call" was released on June 30, 2008. It served as the lead-off single to Womack's seventh studio album, Call Me Crazy, which was released on October 21, 2008. The album, released on vinyl and CD, was produced by Tony Brown, has been described as a dark album with plenty of songs about drinking and losing love. It featured a duet with George Strait titled "Everything But Quits," a re-recording of the Strait song "The King of Broken Hearts," which first appeared on the Pure Country soundtrack. One track, "The Bees," features vocals from Keith Urban.
In October 2009, Womack released "There Is a God", as the lead-off single to her upcoming seventh studio album which never surfaced. The song debuted at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 14, 2009, eventually peaking at No. 32 in early 2010. Womack has revealed a few of the tracks that she has recorded for the album, including: "Talking Behind Your Back", as well as "You Do Until You Don't".
In October 2010, Womack contributed the new track "Liars Lie" to the soundtrack for the film Country Strong. Womack also contributed guest vocals to Alan Jackson's cover of the song "Ring of Fire", which was released in December 2010 as a single from his compilation album, 34 Number Ones. His version of the song was a minor hit, charting to number 45 on the Hot Country Songs charts. Though Womack is featured on the song, she was not given credit on the charts.
In August 2012, Womack parted ways with MCA Nashville.
Americana transition, return to music, and subsequent material loss: 2014–present
In April 2014, Womack signed with Sugar Hill Records. Her first album for the label, The Way I'm Livin', was released September 23, 2014. Critics cheered the progressive traditionalist's return. In addition to a four out of four star review in USA Today, Rolling Stone proclaimed Livin' "feels like something Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings would have crafted back in the Seventies," Spin deemed it "the best of her career" and Garden & Gun offered, "Nashville is filled with artists making 'the record they were born to make.' With Livin', Womack is one of the few who actually deliver."
"Livin'" was the only country album to make Esquire magazine's Top Albums of 2014 list. It was nominated for two 2015 Grammy Awards for Best Country Album and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Womack also received two Americana Music Awards nominations for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year and her first CMA Female Vocalist of the Year nomination in ten years.
On September 26, 2014, Womack collaborated with American R&B singer John Legend for an episode of CMT Crossroads. Ahead of her 2015 tour in support of The Way I'm Livin', Womack appeared at the C2C: Country to Country festival in the UK.
On August 15, 2017, Womack announced her new album The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone due on October 27 on ATO Records.
Lee Ann Womack was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Personal life
At Belmont University, Womack met and married singer-songwriter Jason Sellers in 1990; they divorced in 1996. Together they had a daughter named Aubrie Sellers (b. February 1991). Womack gave birth to her second daughter, Anna Lise Liddell, in January 1999 after marrying record producer Frank Liddell.
Discography
Studio albums
Lee Ann Womack (1997)
Some Things I Know (1998)
I Hope You Dance (2000)
Something Worth Leaving Behind (2002)
The Season for Romance (2002)
There's More Where That Came From (2005)
Call Me Crazy (2008)
The Way I'm Livin' (2014)
The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone'' (2017)
Awards and nominations
To date, Lee Ann Womack has won 6 CMA Awards (from 17 nominations), 5 ACM Awards (from 16 nominations) and 1 Grammy (from 14 nominations).
Television appearances
Filmography
References
External links
1966 births
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women guitarists
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
American country singer-songwriters
American country guitarists
American women country singers
American women guitarists
ATO Records artists
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from Tennessee
Country musicians from Texas
Decca Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Living people
MCA Records artists
Mercury Records artists
People from Jacksonville, Texas
Sugar Hill Records artists
Singers from Nashville, Tennessee
Singer-songwriters from Texas
South Plains College alumni
Tennessee Republicans
Texas Republicans
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee | true | [
"This article lists the diplomatic missions of Transnistria. Transnistria is a state with limited recognition, that broke away from Moldova after the War of Transnistria in 1992. Transnistria did not receive recognition from any UN member states. It has been recognized as an independent state by Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia only. At present, Transnistria has three representative offices abroad.\n\nEurope\n \n Sukhumi (Representative office)\n\n Moscow (Official Diplomatic Bureau)\n \n Tskhinvali (Representative office)\n\nSee also \nForeign relations of Transnistria\nList of diplomatic missions in Transnistria\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic\n\nDiplomatic missions of\nTransnistria\nDiplomatic missions of Transnistria",
"This article lists the diplomatic missions in Transnistria. Transnistria is a state with limited recognition, that broke away from Moldova after the War of Transnistria in 1992. Transnistria did not receive recognition from any UN member states. It has been recognized as independent state by Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh and South Ossetia only. At present, the capital Tiraspol hosts no embassies, but two representative offices and one consulate.\n\nEmbassies \nTiraspol\n none\n\nRepresentative offices \nTiraspol\n\nConsulates \nTiraspol\n\n (Consular office)\n\nSee also \nForeign relations of Transnistria\nList of diplomatic missions of Transnistria\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links \n Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic\n\nDiplomatic missions in\nTransnistria\nDiplomatic missions in Transnistria\nDiplomatic missions"
] |
[
"Lee Ann Womack",
"Country music stardom: 1997-1999",
"What happened in 1997?",
"Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997,",
"What is the album called?",
"I don't know.",
"What is a single that was on the album?",
"\"The Fool\"",
"Did it receive positive recognition?",
"reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year."
] | C_16b1c11efc9144a0b7d487e3b8ea4159_1 | Did it win any awards? | 5 | Did Lee Ann Womack's self-titled album win any awards? | Lee Ann Womack | Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year. In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright. The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after. That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999. CANNOTANSWER | Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, | Lee Ann Womack (; born August 19, 1966) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song.
When Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997, her material resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette, except for the way Womack's music mixed an old-fashioned style with contemporary elements. Her 2000 album I Hope You Dance had an entirely different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country. It was not until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music. After a hiatus in 2008, Womack returned in 2014 with a new album (The Way I'm Livin') and a new sound which blended country and Americana.
Womack has released a total of nine studio albums and two compilations. Four of her studio albums have received a Gold certification or higher by the Recording Industry Association of America. Additionally, she has received five Academy of Country Music Awards, six Country Music Association Awards, and a Grammy Award. She has sold over 6 million albums worldwide. Womack is married to record producer Frank Liddell, and was previously married to songwriter and musician Jason Sellers; her daughter with the latter, Aubrie Sellers, is also a country music artist.
Early life
Womack was born and raised in Jacksonville, Texas. At an early age she was interested in country music. Her father, a disc jockey, often took his daughter to work with him to help choose records to play on the air. Womack was the second of two daughters. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was also a high school principal. As a child, Womack studied the piano and later graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1984. After graduating, Womack attended South Plains Junior College in Levelland, Texas. The college was one of the first in the nation to offer country music degrees, and soon she became a member of the college band, Country Caravan. A year later, she left the college and after an agreement with her parents, Womack enrolled at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied the commercial aspect of the music business. In Nashville, she interned at the A&R department of MCA Records. She studied at the college until 1990, leaving the school a year before graduation.
Womack spent a few years raising her children before reentering the music business in the mid 1990s. In 1995 she began performing her music in songwriting demos and at showcase concerts. At one of these showcase concerts, she was spotted by Tree Publishing, who signed her after listening to one of her original demo recordings. Womack wrote songs with some popular Nashville songwriters, including Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs, who recorded her composition, "I Don't Remember Forgetting" for one of his albums. After divorcing her first husband around that time, Womack decided to pursue a career as a country music artist. She auditioned for MCA chairman, Bruce Hinton, who praised her talents. Shortly afterward, she accepted a contract from MCA's sister record company, Decca Nashville in 1996.
Music career
Country music stardom: 1997–1999
Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White. The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association. Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year.
In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know, which was also produced by Wright.
The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to No. 2 on the Billboard Country Chart. Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after.
That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards. Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999.
Pop crossover success: 2000–2004
Womack released her third studio album in 2000 entitled I Hope You Dance which met with major success. The title track (which was released as the lead single), reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart for five weeks and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a major crossover Pop hit, reaching No. 14. It also peaked at the top spot on the adult contemporary chart and even reached the UK Singles Charts, peaking at No. 40. Both of Womack's daughters appeared in the song's accompanying video. Towards the end of 2000, "I Hope You Dance" won the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year" awards. With the Pop success of "I Hope You Dance," Womack drew the attention of the magazines People and Time, both of which praised the single, calling it "one of her best." The song later won awards in 2001 from the Grammy and Academy of Country music awards. The album of the same name has sold 3 million copies in the United States to date. The album's follow-up single, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Ashes by Now" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Country Chart. The third single, "Why They Call it Falling" was also successful, reaching the country Top 15.
On December 11, 2000, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert.
In 2002, Womack's fourth studio album, Something Worth Leaving Behind was released. The album made a stronger attempt at a pop-flavored style, however it did not react well, leading to poor record sales and only one major hit. Following its release, Womack's career stalled. Later that year, she released a Christmas album, The Season for Romance and also collaborated with Willie Nelson on his single, "Mendocino County Line," which won a Grammy and Country Music award in 2002. In early 2003, she got a small recurring role on the popular CBS drama The District.
Womack sang the theme song for the 2003 series The Berenstain Bears.
In 2004, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the Republican National Convention, in which George W. Bush was nominated for his second term as President of the United States. The other performers that night included Sara Evans and Larry Gatlin. She also collaborated with Red Dirt Music band Cross Canadian Ragweed on their hit "Sick and Tired" in 2004. Also that year, she also released her first Greatest Hits album, which included two new songs; "The Wrong Girl" (the only song from the album released as a single) and "Time for Me to Go."
There's More Where That Came From and hiatus: 2005–2008
In 2005, she released her fifth studio album aimed at traditional country music entitled There's More Where That Came From.
Many people in the music industry called the album, "a return to tradition," featuring songs about drinking and cheating with a distinctive older country twang, mixing strings and steel guitar. The album won the Country Music Association's "Album of the Year" award in 2005.<ref name="book">{{cite book|title=Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America|editor=Alanna Nash and Paul Kingsbury|publisher=DK Publishing, Inc|location=New York, NY|year=2006|page=349|chapter=Ch. 12: Pocketful of Gold}}</ref> Womack took inspiration from the records of the 1960s and 1970s, and according to Allmusic, the album sounded like albums by Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, and Dolly Parton from the 1970s. They also called it one of her best records. The lead single, "I May Hate Myself in the Morning" was a Top 10 hit in 2005, and also won "Single of the Year" by the CMA awards later that year. Two additional singles were released from the album in 2005 that became minor hits, "He Oughta Know That by Now" and "Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago." The album was released on vinyl LP as well as CD.
Womack can be heard on the track "If I Could Only Fly" from Joe Nichols' album Real Things. Womack has also appeared on specials on the CMT network, including their "100 Greatest Duets", which featured Womack singing a duet with Kenny Rogers, "Every Time Two Fools Collide". The song had been originally recorded by Rogers and Dottie West in 1978 and was a No. 1 Country hit that year. Womack took the place of West during that show since West had died in a serious car accident in September 1991. Womack's other honors includes being listed at No. 17 on CMT's 2002 special of their countdown of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.
In 2006, Womack announced plans of a sixth studio album off of Mercury Nashville Records. The lead single, "Finding My Way Back Home" was released in the late summer of that year and debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard Country Chart. The single later peaked at No. 37 and was rescheduled into 2007, because Womack found more songs that she wanted to record, however it was never released and Womack left Mercury.
In 2008, Womack announced plans for a new single for the first time in three years, once again on MCA Nashville. "Last Call" was released on June 30, 2008. It served as the lead-off single to Womack's seventh studio album, Call Me Crazy, which was released on October 21, 2008. The album, released on vinyl and CD, was produced by Tony Brown, has been described as a dark album with plenty of songs about drinking and losing love. It featured a duet with George Strait titled "Everything But Quits," a re-recording of the Strait song "The King of Broken Hearts," which first appeared on the Pure Country soundtrack. One track, "The Bees," features vocals from Keith Urban.
In October 2009, Womack released "There Is a God", as the lead-off single to her upcoming seventh studio album which never surfaced. The song debuted at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 14, 2009, eventually peaking at No. 32 in early 2010. Womack has revealed a few of the tracks that she has recorded for the album, including: "Talking Behind Your Back", as well as "You Do Until You Don't".
In October 2010, Womack contributed the new track "Liars Lie" to the soundtrack for the film Country Strong. Womack also contributed guest vocals to Alan Jackson's cover of the song "Ring of Fire", which was released in December 2010 as a single from his compilation album, 34 Number Ones. His version of the song was a minor hit, charting to number 45 on the Hot Country Songs charts. Though Womack is featured on the song, she was not given credit on the charts.
In August 2012, Womack parted ways with MCA Nashville.
Americana transition, return to music, and subsequent material loss: 2014–present
In April 2014, Womack signed with Sugar Hill Records. Her first album for the label, The Way I'm Livin', was released September 23, 2014. Critics cheered the progressive traditionalist's return. In addition to a four out of four star review in USA Today, Rolling Stone proclaimed Livin' "feels like something Merle Haggard or Waylon Jennings would have crafted back in the Seventies," Spin deemed it "the best of her career" and Garden & Gun offered, "Nashville is filled with artists making 'the record they were born to make.' With Livin', Womack is one of the few who actually deliver."
"Livin'" was the only country album to make Esquire magazine's Top Albums of 2014 list. It was nominated for two 2015 Grammy Awards for Best Country Album and for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Womack also received two Americana Music Awards nominations for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year and her first CMA Female Vocalist of the Year nomination in ten years.
On September 26, 2014, Womack collaborated with American R&B singer John Legend for an episode of CMT Crossroads. Ahead of her 2015 tour in support of The Way I'm Livin', Womack appeared at the C2C: Country to Country festival in the UK.
On August 15, 2017, Womack announced her new album The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone due on October 27 on ATO Records.
Lee Ann Womack was among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Personal life
At Belmont University, Womack met and married singer-songwriter Jason Sellers in 1990; they divorced in 1996. Together they had a daughter named Aubrie Sellers (b. February 1991). Womack gave birth to her second daughter, Anna Lise Liddell, in January 1999 after marrying record producer Frank Liddell.
Discography
Studio albums
Lee Ann Womack (1997)
Some Things I Know (1998)
I Hope You Dance (2000)
Something Worth Leaving Behind (2002)
The Season for Romance (2002)
There's More Where That Came From (2005)
Call Me Crazy (2008)
The Way I'm Livin' (2014)
The Lonely, the Lonesome & the Gone'' (2017)
Awards and nominations
To date, Lee Ann Womack has won 6 CMA Awards (from 17 nominations), 5 ACM Awards (from 16 nominations) and 1 Grammy (from 14 nominations).
Television appearances
Filmography
References
External links
1966 births
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women guitarists
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
American country singer-songwriters
American country guitarists
American women country singers
American women guitarists
ATO Records artists
Belmont University alumni
Country musicians from Tennessee
Country musicians from Texas
Decca Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Living people
MCA Records artists
Mercury Records artists
People from Jacksonville, Texas
Sugar Hill Records artists
Singers from Nashville, Tennessee
Singer-songwriters from Texas
South Plains College alumni
Tennessee Republicans
Texas Republicans
Singer-songwriters from Tennessee | true | [
"Le Cousin is a 1997 French film directed by Alain Corneau.\n\nPlot \nThe film deals with the relationship of the police and an informant in the drug scene.\n\nAwards and nominations\nLe Cousin was nominated for 5 César Awards but did not win in any category.\n\nReferences\n\nExternal links\n\n1997 films\n1997 crime films\nFilms about drugs\nFilms directed by Alain Corneau\nFrench crime films\nFrench films\nFrench-language films",
"The 23rd Fangoria Chainsaw Awards is an award ceremony presented for horror films that were released in 2020. The nominees were announced on January 20, 2021. The film The Invisible Man won five of its five nominations, including Best Wide Release, as well as the write-in poll of Best Kill. Color Out Of Space and Possessor each took two awards. His House did not win any of its seven nominations. The ceremony was exclusively livestreamed for the first time on the SHUDDER horror streaming service.\n\nWinners and nominees\n\nReferences\n\nFangoria Chainsaw Awards"
] |