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2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
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Filmed at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony honors inductees: Tina Turner, Carole King, The Go-Go's, JAY-Z, Foo Fighters, and Todd Rundgren; along with Kraftwerk, Charley Patton and Gil Scott-Heron; LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads; Clarence Avant for the Ahmet Ertegun Award. The special music event also features a host of all-star presenters, performers, and special guests, including Angela Bassett, Christina Aguilera, Mickey Guyton, H.E.R., Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, Drew Barrymore, Paul McCartney, Lionel Richie, and many others.
11-20-2021
3h 16m
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Joel Gallen
Production:
HBO
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Dave Grohl
David Eric "Dave" Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for the Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; the drummer for Them Crooked Vultures; and wrote all the music for his short-lived side projects Late! and Probot. He has also been involved with Queens of the Stone Age, and has performed session work for a variety of musicians, including Killing Joke, Tenacious D, Nine Inch Nails, The Prodigy, Slash and Juliette Lewis. Dave Grohl has performed in over 30 bands since becoming a musician.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Dave Grohl, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by the stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He is best known as a rhythm guitarist for the rock band Foo Fighters, with whom he has recorded six studio albums. Smear was a founding member of punk band the Germs and was the touring guitarist for grunge band Nirvana from 1993 to 1994. After Nirvana disbanded following the suicide of its frontman Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl went on to become the frontman of rock band Foo Fighters, with Smear soon joining on guitar. He left Foo Fighters in 1997, before rejoining as a touring guitarist in 2005, and has been a full-time member since 2010.
Jane Wiedlin (born May 20, 1958) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and actress. She is best known as the rhythm guitarist of the all-female New Wave band The Go-Go's.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Jane Wiedlin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur.
He is the founder and chairman of entertainment company Roc Nation, and was the president and chief executive officer of Def Jam Recordings from 2004 to 2007. One of the world's best-selling music artists with over 140 million records sold, Jay-Z has won 24 Grammy Awards, jointly with Kanye West the most Grammy awards of any rapper. Jay-Z was the first rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the first solo living rapper inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2013, Time included him on its list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World".
Carole King Klein is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958 and is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of all time.
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive entertainment. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s.
A native of Philadelphia, Rundgren began his professional career in the mid 1960s, forming the psychedelic band Nazz in 1967. Two years later, he left Nazz to pursue a solo career and immediately scored his first US top 40 hit with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" (1970). His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" from Something/Anything? (1972), which get frequent air time on classic rock radio stations, and the 1983 single "Bang the Drum All Day", which is featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers. Although lesser known, "Couldn't I Just Tell You" (1972) was influential to many artists in the power pop genre. His 1973 album A Wizard, a True Star remains an influence on later generations of bedroom musicians.
Rundgren is considered a pioneer in the fields of electronic music, progressive rock, music videos, computer software, and Internet music delivery. He organized the first interactive television concert in 1978, designed the first color graphics tablet in 1980, and created the first interactive album, No World Order, in 1994.[1][5] Additionally, he was one of the first acts to be prominent as both an artist and producer. His notable production credits include Badfinger's Straight Up (1971), Grand Funk Railroad's We're an American Band (1973), the New York Dolls' New York Dolls (1973), Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell (1977) and XTC's Skylarking (1986).
Tina Turner (November 26, 1939 - May 24, 2023) was an American singer and actress whose career spanned more than 50 years. Known for her energetic stage presence, powerful vocals, career longevity, and widespread appeal, Turner has been called the most successful female rock artist, “The Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and was named "one of the greatest singers of all time" by Rolling Stone. Her combined album and single sales total approximately 180 million copies worldwide, and over the course of her career she sold more concert tickets than any other solo music performer in history. Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Success followed with a string of hits including "River Deep, Mountain High" and the 1971 hit "Proud Mary". With the publication of her autobiography I, Tina (1986), Turner revealed severe instances of spousal abuse against her by Ike Turner prior to their 1976 split and subsequent 1978 divorce. After virtually disappearing from the music scene for several years following her divorce from Ike Turner, she rebuilt her career, launching a string of hits beginning in 1983 with the single "Let's Stay Together" and the 1984 release of her fifth solo album Private Dancer. In addition to her musical career, she occasionally ventured into film, beginning with a prominent role as The Acid Queen in the 1975 film Tommy, and an appearance in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. She starred opposite Mel Gibson as Aunty Entity in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome for which she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, and her version of the film's theme, "We Don't Need Another Hero", was a hit single.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bryan Guy Adams is a Canadian singer, guitarist, songwriter, photographer, and activist. One of the world's best-selling artists of all time, Adams has sold 100 million records and singles worldwide. Adams rose to fame in North America with his 1983 album Cuts Like a Knife and turned into a global star with his 1984 album Reckless which produced some of his best known songs including "Run to You" and "Summer of '69". In 1991, he released "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You", one of the best-selling singles of all time. Adams also spawned the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Heaven", "All for Love" and "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?".
Christina María Aguilera, born on 18th December 1980, is an American pop singer and songwriter. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. Aguilera signed to RCA Records after recording "Reflection" for the film Mulan. In 1999, Aguilera came to prominence following her debut album Christina Aguilera, which was a commercial success spawning three number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)". A Latin pop album, Mi Reflejo (2001), and several collaborations followed which garnered Aguilera worldwide success, though she was displeased with her lack of input in her music and image. After parting from her management, Aguilera took creative control over her second studio album, Stripped (2002, The album's second single, "Beautiful", was a commercial success and helped the album's commercial performance. Aguilera's third studio album, Back to Basics (2006), included elements of soul, jazz, and blues music, and was released to positive critical reception. Aguilera's fourth studio album Bionic was released in June 2010. Aside from being known for her vocal ability, music videos and image, musically, she includes themes of dealing with public scrutiny, her childhood, and female empowerment in her music. Apart from her work in music, she has also dedicated much of her time as a philanthropist for charities, human rights and world issues. Aguilera's work has earned her numerous awards, including four Grammy Awards and a Latin Grammy Award, amongst fifteen and three nominations respectively. Rolling Stone ranked her number fifty-three on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, ranking as the youngest and only artist on the list under the age of thirty. She has become one of the most successful recording artists of the decade, selling more than 42 million albums worldwide.
Billie Joe Armstrong (born February 17, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor. Armstrong serves as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and lead guitarist of the punk rock band Green Day, co-founded with Mike Dirnt. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Pinhead Gunpowder, and provides lead vocals for Green Day's side projects Foxboro Hot Tubs, The Network, The Longshot and The Coverups.
Raised in Rodeo, California, Armstrong developed an interest in music at a young age, and recorded his first song at the age of five. He met Mike Dirnt while attending elementary school, and the two instantly bonded over their mutual interest in music, forming the band Sweet Children when the two were 14 years old. The band changed its name to Green Day, and would later achieve commercial success. Armstrong has also pursued musical projects outside of Green Day's work, including numerous collaborations with other musicians.
In 1997, to coincide with the release of Nimrod, Armstrong founded Adeline Records in Oakland to help support other bands releasing music, and signed bands such as The Frustrators, AFI and Dillinger Four. The record company later came under the management of Pat Magnarella and finally shut down in August 2017.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Billie Joe Armstrong, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Legendary behind-the-scenes music figure. Founded Sussex Records in 1969 with artists on their roster that included Bill Withers, Dennis Coffey, Gallery, and Rodriguez before folding in 1975.
Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, businesswoman, and talk show host who is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as five Emmy Award nominations and a BAFTA nomination. She is a member of the Barrymore family of actors and the granddaughter of John Barrymore.
Barrymore achieved fame as a child actress with her role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Following a highly publicized childhood marked by drug and alcohol abuse, she released an autobiography Little Girl Lost. She starred in a string of successful films during the 1990s and 2000s, including Charlie's Angels, Never Been Kissed, Poison Ivy, Boys on the Side, Mad Love, Batman Forever, Scream and Ever After. Barrymore starred with Adam Sandler in several films, including The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates and Blended.
Her other films include Firestarter, Donnie Darko, Riding in Cars with Boys, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Fever Pitch, Music and Lyrics, Going the Distance, Big Miracle and Miss You Already. She also starred in her directorial debut film Whip It. She won a SAG Award and a Golden Globe for her role in Grey Gardens. She starred in the Netflix series Santa Clarita Diet and currently hosts her syndicated talk show The Drew Barrymore Show.
Barrymore is the founder of the production company Flower Films. It produced several projects in which she has starred. She launched a range of cosmetics under the Flower banner in 2013, which has grown to include lines in make-up, perfume and eyewear. Her other business ventures include a range of wines and a clothing line. E. P. Dutton published a collection of Barrymore's autobiographical essays in a book titled Wildflower in 2015. Barrymore received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.
Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an American actress. Known for her work in film and television since the late 1980s, she has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and seven Primetime Emmy Awards.
She had her breakthrough portraying singer Tina Turner in the biopic What's Love Got to Do with It (1993), which won her a Golden Globe Award and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. This led to starring roles as Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X (1992), as the mother of The Notorious B.I.G. in Notorious (2009), and as Amanda Waller in Green Lantern (2011).
Her other notable film roles were in Boyz n the Hood (1991), Waiting to Exhale (1995), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998), Music of the Heart (1999), Olympus Has Fallen (2013) and London Has Fallen (2016). She has also played Queen Ramonda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). For the latter, she won a Golden Globe Award and has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
On television, she has starred as Katherine Jackson in the miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992). Her portrayal of Rosa Parks in the television film The Rosa Parks Story (2002) gained her a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress. Her performances in two seasons of the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story, earned her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 2014 and 2015. In 2018, she began producing and starring as an LAPD patrol sergeant in the Fox drama series 9-1-1.
Halle Maria Berry (/ˈhæli/ HAL-ee; born Maria Halle Berry; August 14, 1966) is an American actress. She began her career as a model and entered several beauty contests, finishing as the first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant and coming in sixth in the Miss World 1986. Her breakthrough film role was in the romantic comedy Boomerang (1992), alongside Eddie Murphy, which led to roles in The Flintstones (1994) and Bulworth (1998), as well as the television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Berry established herself as one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s. For her performance of a struggling widow in the romantic drama Monster's Ball (2001), Berry became the only African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress and the first woman of color. Berry took on high-profile roles such as Storm in four installments of the X-Men film series (2000–2014), the henchwoman of a robber in the thriller Swordfish (2001), Bond girl Jinx in Die Another Day (2002), and the title role in the much-derided Catwoman (2004).
A varying critical and commercial reception followed in subsequent years, with Perfect Stranger (2007), Cloud Atlas (2012), and The Call (2013) being among her notable film releases in that period. Berry launched a production company, 606 Films, in 2014 and has been involved in the production of a number of projects in which she performed, such as the CBS science fiction series Extant (2014–2015). She appeared in the action films Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) and John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum (2019) and made her directorial debut with the Netflix drama Bruised (2020).
Berry has been a Revlon spokesmodel since 1996. She was formerly married to baseball player David Justice, singer-songwriter Eric Benét, and actor Olivier Martinez. She has two children, one with Martinez and another with model Gabriel Aubry.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Halle Berry, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter (born September 4, 1981), often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American R&B and pop recording artist and actress.
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child. Knowles rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. During the hiatus of Destiny's Child, Knowles released her debut solo album Dangerously in Love (2003), which spawned the number one hits "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy" and became one of the most successful albums of that year, earning her a then record-tying five Grammy Awards.
Following the group's disbandment in 2005, Knowles released B'Day in 2006. It debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and included the hits "Déjà Vu", "Irreplaceable" and "Beautiful Liar". Her third solo album I Am... Sasha Fierce, released in November 2008, included the anthemic "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". The album and its singles earned her six Grammy Awards, breaking the record for most Grammy Awards won by a female artist in one night. Knowles is one of the most honored artists by the Grammys with 16 awards—13 as a solo artist and three as a member of Destiny's Child.
Knowles began her acting career in 2001, appearing in the musical film Carmen: A Hip Hopera. In 2006, she starred in the lead role in the film adaptation of the 1981 Broadway musical Dreamgirls, for which she earned two Golden Globe nominations. Knowles launched her family's fashion line, House of Deréon, in 2004, and has endorsed such brands as Pepsi, Tommy Hilfiger, Armani and L'Oréal.
In 2010, Forbes ranked Knowles at number two on its list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential Celebrities in the world; she was also listed as the most powerful and influential musician in the world. Time also included Knowles on its list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World". Knowles has attained five Hot 100 number one singles as a solo performer and four with Destiny's Child, and as a solo artist, has sold over 35 million albums and singles in the U.S.; according to Sony, her total record sales, when combined with the group, have surpassed 100 million. On December 11, 2009, Billboard listed Knowles as the most successful female artist of the 2000s decade and the top Radio Artist of the decade. In February 2010, the RIAA listed her as the top certified artist of the decade.
Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and songwriter. Black is known for his roles in the films High Fidelity (2000), Shallow Hal (2001), Orange County (2002), School of Rock (2003), Envy (2004), Gulliver's Travels (2010), Bernie (2011) and The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018), in addition to his role in the Jumanji franchise. He also voices the giant panda named Po from DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda films. He gained Golden Globe nominations for his work in School of Rock and Bernie, and he was given a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 2018.\n\nBlack is also the lead vocalist of the Grammy Award–winning comedy rock duo Tenacious D, which he formed in 1994 with long time friend, Kyle Gass. They have released multiple studio albums including their self titled debut Tenacious D, The Pick of Destiny, Rize of the Fenix, and Post-Apocalypto, in addition to their television series Tenacious D (1997–2000) and film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006). Since 2018, Black has maintained a YouTube channel called Jablinski Games.
From Wikipedia, Free Online Encyclopedia:
Mary Jane Blige (/blaɪʒ/; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and philanthropist. She started her career as a backing singer on Uptown Records in 1989. She has released 13 studio albums, eight of which have achieved multi-platinum worldwide sales. Blige has sold over 80 million records, has won nine Grammy Awards, four American Music Awards, twelve Billboard Music Awards and has also received three Golden Globe Award nominations, including one for her supporting role in the film Mudbound (2017) and another for its second original song "Mighty River" for Mudbound; she also received a nomination for the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song, becoming the first person nominated for acting and songwriting in the same year.
In 1992, Blige released her first album, What's the 411?. Her 1994 album My Life is among Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,[4] and Time magazine's All-Time 100 Albums. She received a Legends Award at the World Music Awards in 2006, and the Voice of Music Award from ASCAP in 2007. As of 2018, Blige has sold 80 million records worldwide. Billboard ranked Blige as the most successful female R&B/Hip-Hop artist of the past 25 years. In 2017, Billboard magazine named her 2006 song "Be Without You" as the most successful R&B/Hip-Hop song of all time, as it spent an unparalleled 15 weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and over 75 weeks on the chart. In 2011, VH1 ranked Blige as the 80th greatest artist of all time. ln 2012, VH1 ranked Blige at number 9 in "The 100 Greatest Women in Music" list.
David Robert Jones, known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter and actor. He was a figure in popular music for over five decades, regarded by critics and musicians as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million worldwide, made him one of the world's best-selling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded nine platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, releasing eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and seven gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Born and raised in South London, Bowie developed an interest in music as a child, eventually studying art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. “Space Oddity” became his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of his single “Starman” and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread popularity. In 1975, Bowie's style shifted radically towards a sound he characterized as “plastic soul,” initially alienating many of his UK devotees but garnering him his first major US crossover success with the number-one single “Fame” and the album Young Americans. In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth and released Station to Station. The following year, he further confounded musical expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low (1977), the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that would come to be known as the Berlin Trilogy. Heroes (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise. After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single “Ashes to Ashes,” its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and “Under Pressure,” a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, with its title track topping both UK and US charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. Bowie also continued acting; his roles included Major Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), the Goblin King Jareth in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped concert touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006. In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with the release of The Next Day. He remained musically active until he died of liver cancer two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).
Carrie Rachel Brownstein (born September 27, 1974) is an American musician, writer, actress, director, and comedian from Seattle, Washington. She is known for being the guitarist and vocalist of punk rock bands Excuse 17 and Sleater-Kinney, as well as for her television and film endeavors. In 2009 she created the sketch comedy series Portlandia with Fred Armisen, which the two starred in. The series ran for 8 seasons from 2011 to 2018. Brownstein has also acted in various films such as Carol (2015) and Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018).
David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelle was born on August 24, 1973 in Washington, D.C. He is a comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer and actor. Chappelle began his film career in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993 and continued to star in minor roles in the films The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His first lead role in a film was in Half Baked in 1998. In 2003, he became widely known for his popular sketch comedy television series, Chappelle's Show, which ran until 2006. Comedy Central ranked him forty-third in its list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians
Cher (born Cheryl Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Goddess of Pop", she is known for her androgynous contralto voice, multifaceted career, bold visual presentation and continuous reinvention of her image and sound. Her adaptability has fueled multiple comebacks, cementing her status as a cultural icon over a career spanning seven decades. Cher gained fame in 1965 as part of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher, while also achieving solo success with top-ten singles including "All I Really Want to Do" and "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)". In the 1970s, she divorced from Sonny Bono and topped the US Billboard Hot 100 with "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed" and "Dark Lady", becoming the female solo artist with the most number-one singles in US history at the time.
Following a hiatus to focus on acting, Cher returned to music with the rock-inflected albums Cher (1987), Heart of Stone (1989) and Love Hurts (1991), earning international number-one singles with "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)". She reached a commercial peak with the dance-pop album Believe (1998), which introduced the "Cher effect", an extreme, stylistic use of Auto-Tune to distort vocals. The title track became 1999's number-one song in the US and the UK's best-selling single by a female artist. 21st-century releases include Closer to the Truth (2013) and Dancing Queen (2018), both debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 and becoming her highest-charting solo albums in the US.
Cher rose to television stardom in the 1970s with her CBS shows The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, attracting over 30 million weekly viewers, and the namesake Cher. She made her Broadway debut in 1982 with Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and starred in its film adaptation. She earned critical acclaim for roles in Silkwood (1983), Mask (1985) and Moonstruck (1987), winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for the latter. Cher went on to star in Mermaids (1990), If These Walls Could Talk (1996), where she made her directorial debut, Tea with Mussolini (1999), Burlesque (2010) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018). Her life and career inspired the 2018 jukebox musical The Cher Show.
With 100 million records sold, Cher is among the world's best-selling music artists. Her accolades include an Academy Award, an Emmy, a Grammy, three Golden Globes, the Billboard Icon Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, honors from the Kennedy Center and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cher is the only solo artist with a number-one single on a Billboard chart in seven consecutive decades, from the 1960s to the 2020s. Her 2002–2005 Living Proof: The Farewell Tour was the highest-grossing concert tour by a female artist at the time, earning US$250 million (about $390 million in 2023). Cher is also known for her fashion, political views, social media presence, philanthropy and activism, including LGBTQ rights and HIV/AIDS prevention.
Gary Lee Clark Jr. is an American musician from Austin, Texas. He is known for his fusion of blues, rock and soul music with elements of hip hop. In 2011, Clark signed with Warner Bros Records and released The Bright Lights EP. It was followed by the albums Blak and Blu and The Story of Sonny Boy Slim.
Sean Love Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding his own record label, Bad Boy Records in 1993. Combs has produced and cultivated artists such as the Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, and Usher.
Combs' debut album, No Way Out (1997), has been certified seven times platinum. The album was followed by Forever (1999), The Saga Continues... (2001), and Press Play (2006), all of which were commercially successful. In 2009, Combs created and produced the musical group Diddy – Dirty Money; they released their successful debut album Last Train to Paris in 2010.
Combs has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards and is the producer of MTV's Making the Band. In 2022, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$1 billion. In 1998, he launched his own clothing line Sean John. He was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2000 and won in 2004.
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Lonnie Rashid Lynn (born March 13, 1972), known by his stage name Common (formerly Common Sense), is an American rapper and actor. He has received three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
He debuted in 1992 with the album Can I Borrow a Dollar?, and gained critical acclaim with his 1994 album Resurrection. He maintained an underground following into the late 1990s. He achieved mainstream success through his work with the Soulquarians.
His first major-label album Like Water for Chocolate (2000), received commercial success. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for the Erykah Badu single "Love of My Life". His 2005 album Be was also a commercial success and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Common received his second Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Southside" (featuring Kanye West), from his 2007 album Finding Forever. His best-of album, Thisisme Then: The Best of Common, was released in late 2007. In 2011, Common launched Think Common Entertainment, his own record label imprint, having previously released music under various other labels including Relativity, Geffen, and GOOD Music.
Common won the 2015 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Academy Award for Best Original Song, for his song, co-written and performed with John Legend, "Glory" from the 2014 film Selma, in which he co-starred as Civil Rights Movement leader James Bevel. Common's acting career also includes roles in the films Smokin' Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Date Night, Just Wright, Happy Feet Two, New Year's Eve, Run All Night, Being Charlie, Rex, John Wick: Chapter 2, Smallfoot and Hunter Killer. He also narrated the documentary Bouncing Cats, about one man's efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda through hip-hop/b-boy culture. He starred as Elam Ferguson on the AMC western television series Hell on Wheels.
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Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the band The Police. During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtracks. Copeland was ranked by Rolling Stone magazine's reader poll as the fifth greatest drummer of all time.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Stewart Copeland, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Andre Romelle Young, known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American rapper, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics.
Idris Elba (born September 6, 1972) is a British television, theatre, and film actor who has starred in both British and American productions. One of his first acting roles was in the soap opera Family Affairs. Since then he has worked in a variety of TV and movie projects including Ultraviolet, The Wire, No Good Deed and Zootopia.
American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Elliott embarked on her music career with all-female R&B group Sista in the early 1990s and later became part of the Swing Mob collective along with childhood friend and producer Timbaland with whom she worked on projects for Aaliyah, 702, Total, and SWV. Following several guest appearances, in 1997 she launched her solo career with the release of her debut album Supa Dupa Fly, which spawned the hit single "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" and "Sock It 2 Me". The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, the highest-charting debut for a female rapper at the time. Her following album Da Real World (1999) produced the singles "She's a Bitch", "All N My Grill", and the top five hit "Hot Boyz". With the release of Miss E... So Addictive (2001), Under Construction (2002), and This Is Not a Test! (2003) Elliott established an international career and followed with the hits "Get Ur Freak On", "One Minute Man", "4 My People", "Gossip Folks", and "Work It", the latter of which won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rap Solo Performance, eventually winning five Grammy Awards and selling over 30 million records in the United States. Elliott is also known for a series of hits and diverse music videos, including "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Hot Boyz", "Get Ur Freak On", "Work It", and the Grammy award-winning video for "Lose Control."
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), better known by his stage name Eminem and by his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. He attracted attention when he developed Slim Shady, a sadistic, violent alter ego. The character allowed him to express his anger with lyrics about drugs, rape and murder. Eminem's global success and acclaimed works are widely regarded as having broken racial barriers for the acceptance of white rappers in popular music. While much of his transgressive work during the late 1990s and early 2000s made him a controversial figure, he came to be a representation of popular angst of the American underclass and has been cited as an influence by and upon many artists working in various genres.
The guy from fortnite
Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, singer, and comedian. He gained his career breakthrough as a featured player in the sketch comedy show In Living Colour until the show's end in 1994. Following this success, he was given his own sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show, in which he starred, co-created, and produced from 1996 to 2001.
Foxx received acclaim for his portrayal of Ray Charles in the film Ray (2004), winning the Academy Award, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. That same year, he was nominated for the Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role in the crime film Collateral. He gained prominence for his film roles in Booty Call (1997), Ali (2001), Jarhead (2005), Dreamgirls (2006), Miami Vice (2006), Horrible Bosses (2011), Django Unchained (2012), Annie (2014), Baby Driver (2017), and Soul (2020). He played the supervillain Electro in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). For playing Walter McMillian in Just Mercy (2019), he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.
Foxx also embarked on a successful career as an R&B singer in the 2000s. He earned two number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100, with his features on the singles "Slow Jamz" by Twista alongside Kanye West and "Gold Digger" by the former. His single "Blame It" won him the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. Four of his five studio albums have charted in the top ten of the U.S. Billboard 200: Unpredictable (2005), which topped the chart; Intuition (2008); Best Night of My Life (2010); and Hollywood: A Story of a Dozen Roses (2015). Since 2017, Foxx has served as the host and executive producer of the Fox game show Beat Shazam. In 2021, he wrote his autobiography Act Like You Got Some Sense.
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Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is an American retired record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and its subsidiaries, which was the highest-earning African-American business for decades.
As a songwriter, Gordy composed or co-composed a number of hits including "Lonely Teardrops" and "That's Why" (Jackie Wilson), "Shop Around" (the Miracles), and "Do You Love Me" (the Contours), all of which topped the US R&B charts, as well as the international hit "Reet Petite" (Jackie Wilson). As part of the Corporation, he wrote many hit songs for the Jackson 5, including "I Want You Back" and "ABC". As a record producer, he launched the Miracles and signed acts like the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and Stevie Wonder. He was known for carefully directing the public image, dress, manners, and choreography of his acts.
Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama in 2016, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021. In 2022, he was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.
Berry Gordy III (also known as Berry Gordy Jr.) was the seventh of eight children (Fuller, Esther, Anna, Loucye, George, Gwen, Berry and Robert), born on November 28, 1929, in Detroit, to middle-class parents, Berry Gordy II (also known as Berry Gordy Sr.) and Bertha Fuller Gordy, who had relocated to Detroit from Oconee, Washington County, Georgia, in 1922.
His grandfather, named Berry Gordy I, was the son of James Gordy, a white plantation owner in Georgia, and one of his slaves. Berry I's half-brother, James (son of the elder James and his legal wife), was the grandfather of President Jimmy Carter. Berry Gordy II was led to Detroit both by the job opportunities offered by the booming automotive businesses, and also by worries over the atmosphere in the American South where black men were lynched "with chilling regularity by the Ku Klux Klan"; in the first twenty years of the twentieth century, 1,502 lynchings were reported, most in Southern states. Gordy's father opened a grocery store, owned a plastering and carpentry business, and a printing shop. While his brothers Fuller and George were happy to work at jobs their father assigned to them in construction and printing, Berry and Robert, the younger boys, were less inclined to follow that path. Both Robert and Berry liked dancing and music, but Berry's greatest interest was in boxing.
Gordy dropped out of Northeastern High School in the eleventh grade to become a professional boxer in hopes of becoming rich quickly; he boxed professionally until 1950, when he was drafted by the United States Army in 1951 for service in the Korean War. Arriving in Korea in May 1952, Gordy was first assigned to the 58th Field Artillery Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division, near Panmunjom. He later became a chaplain's assistant, driving a jeep and playing the organ at religious services at the front. His tour in the Korean War was completed in April 1953. He obtained a GED, which is equivalent to a high school diploma. ...
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Martin Lee Gore (born 23 July 1961) is an English songwriter, lyricist, singer, guitarist, keyboardist, remixer and DJ. He is a founding member of Depeche Mode and has written the vast majority of their songs. His work now spans over three decades, but he is probably best known as the composer of hits such as "Personal Jesus", "Enjoy the Silence" and "I Feel You".
In addition to composing music and writing lyrics of the Depeche Mode songs, he has also sung some of them as the lead vocalist, and usually solo, (for example, "Somebody", "A Question of Lust", "One Caress", "Home", "The Things You Said", "Jezebel" and "Sweetest Perfection"), as evidenced by most of the Depeche Mode concerts, and has been a backing vocalist on many of the others.
In 1999 Gore received the Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for "International Achievement".
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Mickey Guyton (born Candace Mycale Guyton; June 17, 1983) is an American country music artist. Her material incorporates elements of contemporary country and country pop. Raised in Texas, Guyton was exposed to various types of music at a young age, notably country. Moving to Nashville, Tennessee, she would later sign a recording contract with Capitol Records Nashville. In 2015, the label released Guyton's debut extended play, Unbreakable.
Gabriella Wilson, better known professionally as H.E.R. (pronounced "her", a backronym for Having Everything Revealed), is an American singer and songwriter.
Kirk Lee Hammett is an American musician who has been the lead guitarist and a contributing songwriter for heavy metal band Metallica since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.
Kathleen Hanna is an American musician, artist, feminist activist, and punk zine writer. In the early-to mid-1990s she was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, before fronting Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 1998, Hanna released a lo-fi solo album under the name Julie Ruin and since 2010, has been working on a project called The Julie Ruin.
Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Hart began his career by winning several amateur comedy competitions at clubs throughout New England, culminating in his first real break in 2001 when he was cast by Judd Apatow for a recurring role on the TV series Undeclared. The series lasted only one season, but he soon landed other roles in films such as Paper Soldiers (2002), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Soul Plane (2004), In the Mix (2005), and Little Fockers (2010).
Hart's comedic reputation continued to grow with the release of his first stand-up album, I'm a Grown Little Man (2008), and performances in the films Think Like a Man (2012), Grudge Match (2013), Ride Along (2014) and its sequel Ride Along 2 (2016), About Last Night (2014), Get Hard (2015), Central Intelligence (2016), The Secret Life of Pets (2016), Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), and Night School (2018).
He also released four more comedy albums, Seriously Funny in 2010, Laugh at My Pain in 2011, Let Me Explain in 2013, and What Now? in 2016. In 2015, Time Magazine named Hart one of the 100 most influential people in the world on the annual Time 100 list. He starred as himself in the lead role of Real Husbands of Hollywood.
In 2017, Hart launched the Laugh Out Loud Network, a subscription video streaming service in partnership with Lionsgate.
Susanna Hoffs (born January 17, 1959) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter and actress. She is best known as a co-founder of the pop-rock band The Bangles.
Adam Keefe Horovitz (born October 31, 1966), popularly known as Ad-Rock, is an American rapper, guitarist and actor. He is best known as a member of the pioneering hip hop group Beastie Boys.
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Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Hudson rose to fame in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of American Idol, placing seventh. She made her film debut as Effie White in the musical Dreamgirls (2006), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the youngest African-American to win in a competitive acting category. After signing to Arista Records, Hudson released her self-titled debut studio album in 2008, which was certified Gold in the US and the UK, and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.
Hudson's subsequent studio albums, I Remember Me (2011) and JHUD (2014), both charted within the top ten of the Billboard 200, with the former also being certified Gold in the US. Meanwhile, her other acting roles include the films Sex and the City (2008), The Secret Life of Bees (2008), Winnie Mandela (2011), Black Nativity (2013), Sing (2016), Cats (2019) and Respect (2021), the television shows Smash (2012), Empire (2015) and Confirmation (2016), and her Broadway debut with the musical The Color Purple. Hudson also contributed as a coach on the UK and the US version of The Voice from 2017 up to 2019, becoming the first female coach to win the former.
Samuel Leroy Jackson (born December 21, 1948) is an American actor and producer. One of the most widely recognized actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him the second highest-grossing actor of all time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave him an Academy Honorary Award in 2022 as "A cultural icon whose dynamic work has resonated across genres and generations and audiences worldwide".
Jackson started his career on stage making his professional theatre debut in Mother Courage and her Children in 1980 at The Public Theatre. From 1981 to 1983 he originated the role of Private Louis Henderson in A Soldier's Play Off-Broadway. He also originated the role of Boy Willie in August Wilson's The Piano Lesson in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. He returned to the play in the 2022 Broadway revival playing Doaker Charles. Jackson early film roles include Coming to America (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Juice (1992), True Romance (1993), and Jurassic Park (1993), Menace II Society (1993), and Fresh (1994). His collaborations with Spike Lee led to greater prominence with films such as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Oldboy (2013), and Chi-Raq (2015).
Jackson's breakout role was in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) which earned him a BAFTA Award win and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He further collaborated with Tarantino, acting in Jackie Brown (1997), Django Unchained (2012), and The Hateful Eight (2015). He's known for having appeared in a number of big-budget films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), The Negotiator (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000) and its reboot (2019), XXX (2002), S.W.A.T. (2003), Coach Carter (2005), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), and Glass (2019).
He also gained widespread recognition as the Jedi Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–2005), later voicing the role in the animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) and the video game Lego Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2011). With his permission, his likeness was used for the Ultimate version of the Marvel Comics character Nick Fury; he subsequently played Fury in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with a cameo appearance in Iron Man (2008), as well as guest-starring in the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He will reprise this role in the upcoming Disney+ series Secret Invasion, which is set to premiere on June 21, 2023. Jackson has provided his voice for several animated films, documentaries, television series, and video games, including Lucius Best / Frozone in the Pixar films The Incredibles (2004) and Incredibles 2 (2018).
LeBron Raymone James Sr. (born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His accomplishments include four NBA championships, four NBA Most Valuable Player Awards, four NBA Finals MVP Awards, and two Olympic gold medals. James has appeared in fifteen NBA All-Star Games and been named NBA All-Star MVP three times. He won the 2008 NBA scoring title, is the all-time NBA playoffs scoring leader, and is fourth in all-time career points scored. He has been voted onto the All-NBA First Team twelve times and the All-Defensive First Team five times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
James played basketball for St. Vincent–St. Mary High School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, where he was heavily touted by the national media as a future NBA superstar. A prep-to-pro, he joined the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 as the first overall draft pick. Named the 2003–04 NBA Rookie of the Year, he soon established himself as one of the league's premier players; he won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2009 and 2010. After failing to win a championship with Cleveland, James left in 2010 to sign as a free agent with the Miami Heat. This move was announced in an ESPN special titled The Decision, and is one of the most controversial free agent decisions in American sports history.
James won his first two NBA championships while playing for the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013. He was named league MVP and NBA Finals MVP in both championship years. After his fourth season with the Heat in 2014, James opted out of his contract to re-sign with the Cavaliers. In 2016, he led the Cavaliers to victory over the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals, delivering the team's first championship and ending Cleveland's 52-year professional sports title drought. His teams appeared in the NBA Finals in eight consecutive seasons (from 2011 to 2018). In 2018, James opted out of his contract with the Cavaliers to sign with the Lakers.
Off the court, James has accumulated additional wealth and fame from numerous endorsement contracts. His public life has been the subject of much scrutiny, and he has been ranked as one of America's most influential and popular athletes. He has been featured in books, documentaries, and television commercials. He has also hosted the ESPY Awards and Saturday Night Live, and appeared in the 2015 film Trainwreck.
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Regina Rene King (born January 15, 1971) is an American actress and director. She is the recipient of several awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four acting Primetime Emmy Awards, the most for an African-American performer. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.
King first gained attention for her role as Brenda Jenkins in the television series 227 from 1985 to 1990. Notable roles followed in the films Friday (1995) and Jerry Maguire (1996), and the crime television series Southland (2009–2013). From 2015 to 2017, King starred in the ABC anthology series American Crime, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards, and in 2018, she starred in the Netflix miniseries Seven Seconds, for which she won her third Emmy Award. Her role as a troubled mother in the 2018 film If Beale Street Could Talk won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. King won her fourth Emmy Award for starring in the 2019 superhero television series Watchmen.
King has also played supporting roles in the films Boyz n the Hood (1991), Poetic Justice (1993), Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003), Ray (2004), and Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005). Her other television roles include the drama series The Leftovers from 2015 to 2017 and the sitcom The Big Bang Theory from 2013 to 2019.
King has directed episodes for several television shows, including Scandal in 2015 and 2016 and This Is Us in 2017. She has also directed the music video for the 2010 song "Finding My Way Back" by Jaheim. Her feature film directorial debut came with the drama One Night in Miami... (2020), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director at the 78th Golden Globe Awards. She became the second black woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director.
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Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter. A classically-trained pianist, Keys was composing songs by age 12. She was signed at 15 years old by Columbia Records, and then, after disputes with the label, by Arista Records. Her debut album, Songs in A Minor, was released with J Records in 2001. Praised for Keys' musical talents and creative control, Songs in A Minor was critically and commercially successful, producing her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "Fallin'" and selling over 12 million copies worldwide. Songs in A Minor earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002. Her second album, The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003), was also a critical and commercial success, spawning successful singles "You Don't Know My Name", "If I Ain't Got You" and "Diary", and selling eight million copies worldwide. The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards. Her duet song "My Boo" with Usher became her second number-one single in 2004. Keys released her first live album, Unplugged (2005), and became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album debut at number one.
Her third album, As I Am (2007), produced the Hot 100 number-one single "No One", selling 5 million copies worldwide and earning an additional three Grammy Awards. In 2007, Keys made her film debut in the action-thriller film Smokin' Aces. Her fourth album,The Element of Freedom (2009), became her first chart-topping album in the UK, and sold 4 million copies worldwide. In 2009, Keys also collaborated with Jay Z on "Empire State of Mind", which became her fourth number-one single, and won the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2010. Girl on Fire (2012) was her fifth Billboard 200 topping album, spawning the successful title track, and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album. In 2013, VH1 Storytellers was released as her second live album. Her sixth studio album, Here (2016), became her seventh US R&B/Hip-Hop chart topping album.
Keys has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including 15 competitive Grammy Awards, 17 NAACP Image Awards, 12 ASCAP Awards, and awards from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and National Music Publishers Association. She has sold over 35 million albums and 30 million singles worldwide. Considered a musical icon, Keys was named by Billboard the top R&B artist of the 2000s decade and placed number 10 on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years. VH1 also included her on their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and 100 Greatest Women in Music lists, while Time have named her in their 100 list of most influential people in 2005 and 2017. Keys is also known for her humanitarian work, philanthropy and activism, and has received accolades for such work. Keys co-founded and is the Global Ambassador of the nonprofit HIV/AIDS-fighting organization Keep a Child Alive.
In 2016, Khalid Robinson was voted Most Likely to Go Platinum by his high school class. About a year later, he proved them right. A military kid, Robinson split his childhood between Georgia, Kentucky, upstate New York and Heidelberg, Germany, eventually settling in El Paso, Texas—a pattern of dislocation that often made him feel like an outsider. Self-described as “an awkward teen,” he picked up songwriting primarily to stave off loneliness, sharing music through SoundCloud and quickly catching the ears of both his peers and the industry. (His breakout single, 2016’s “Location”, was recorded during spring break of his senior year; a few weeks after it came out, he won Prom King; within a couple of years, the song had sold more than five million copies in the U.S. alone.) In 2017, he released American Teen, a celebratory but bittersweet mix of synth-pop and neon-lit R&B that garnered five Grammy nominations—proof that you’re rarely an outsider alone. In between, Robinson featured on high-profile collaborations with Logic (“1-800-273-8255”), Calvin Harris (“Rollin”) and Normani (“Love Lies”), among others. An EP, Suncity, arrived in late 2018, opening with audio of Khalid being given keys to the city of El Paso—not bad for a kid who’d moved there only a few years before. Reflecting on his evolution from spectator to artist for Apple Music’s Up Next series, Robinson said, “I would sit in this apartment, I would look at the mountain behind me, I would watch all the lightning and I would listen to music. I was like, ‘You know what? I need something to help me a little bit more.’” So he took it on himself and started to write.
Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor.
Kravitz released his debut album Let Love Rule in 1989. This marked the beginning of a music career characterized by a blend of rock, funk, reggae, hard rock, soul, and R&B. Kravitz has had hit singles, including "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" (1991) and "Again" (2000), each of which reached the top 10 on the Billboard Top 100 chart; other hits include "Let Love Rule" (1989), "Always on the Run" (1991), "Are You Gonna Go My Way" (1993), "Fly Away" (1998), and "American Woman" (1999), each of which reached the top 10 on the Alternative Airplay chart.
Kravitz has won several awards, including the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, which he received four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category, and setting the record for most consecutive wins in one category by a male performer. Kravitz has sold over 40 million albums worldwide and was ranked 93 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
Aside from his music career, Kravitz has acted in films including Precious (2009) and the first two installments of The Hunger Games film series (2012–13). He also set up Kravitz Design Inc. He was previously married to Lisa Bonet, with whom he has a daughter, Zoë Kravitz.
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Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer. He is regarded by many critics and contemporaries as one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generation, and often cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Aside from his solo career, Lamar is also known as a member of the hip hop supergroup Black Hippy, alongside his TDE label-mates Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, and Schoolboy Q.
John Legend is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, and producer. He was born John Roger Stephens on December 28, 1978 in Springfield, Ohio. As of 2017, he has won ten Grammy Awards, one Golden Globe Award, and one Academy Award. He is married to model Chrissy Teigen, and they have a daughter - Luna Simone Stephens - born in 2016. The couple's second child is due in 2018.
David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American former television talk show host, comedian, writer, and producer. He hosted a late night television talk show for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC, and ending with the May 20, 2015, broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS. In total, Letterman hosted 6,028 episodes of Late Night and Late Show.
Melissa Viviane Jefferson (born April 27, 1988), known professionally as Lizzo, is an American singer, rapper, and songwriter. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she later moved to Houston, Texas, where she began performing before moving to Minneapolis, where she began her recording career in hip hop music. Prior to signing with Nice Life Recording Company and Atlantic Records, Lizzo released two studio albums—Lizzobangers (2013) and Big Grrrl Small World (2015). Lizzo's first major-label EP, Coconut Oil, was released in 2016.
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (née Lopez; born July 24, 1969), known professionally as Jennifer Lopez, and also by her nickname J.Lo, is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, fashion designer, and television producer.
She began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller Money Train. Her first leading role was in the biographical film Selena (1997), in which she earned an ALMA Award for Outstanding Actress. She earned her second ALMA Award for her performance in Out of Sight (1998). She has since starred in various films including The Cell (2000), The Wedding Planner (2001), Enough (2002), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Shall We Dance? (2004), Monster-in-Law (2005), El Cantante (2006), The Back-up Plan (2010), What to Expect When You're Expecting (2012), Lila & Eve (2015), Second Act (2018), Hustlers (2019), Marry Me (2022), Shotgun Wedding (2022), The Mother (2023), and Atlas (2024). She also starred on the TV series Shades of Blue and was a celebrity judge on the reality competition show World of Dance.
She came to prominence within the music industry following the release of her debut studio album On the 6 (1999), which spawned the number one hit single "If You Had My Love". Her second studio album J.Lo (2001) was a commercial success, selling eight million copies worldwide. J to tha L-O!: The Remixes (2002) became her second consecutive album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, while her third and fourth studio albums – This Is Me... Then (2002) and Rebirth (2005) – peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. In 2007, she released two albums including her first full Spanish-language album Como Ama una Mujer and her fifth English studio album, Brave. With a new record label, she released Love? on April 19, 2011. In 2012, she released her greatest hits album, Dance Again... the Hits. A.K.A. followed in 2014. Her contributions to the music industry have garnered her numerous achievements including two Grammy Award nominations; two Latin Grammy Award nominations; three American Music Awards, amongst six nominations; and the estimated sale of over 55 million records worldwide. Billboard ranked her as the 27th Artist of the 2000s decade.
Lending her musical knowledge to others, she was a member of the judging panel of American reality television competition American Idol. She led People en Español's list of "100 Most Influential Hispanics" in February 2007. She has parlayed her media fame into a fashion line and various perfumes with her celebrity endorsement.
Outside of her work in the entertainment industry, she advocates human rights, vaccinations and is a supporter of Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. After forming his own label, Disturbing tha Peace, in the late 1990s, he later signed with Def Jam South and would go on to become one of the first Dirty South rappers to achieve mainstream success with his subsequent releases. For his music, Ludacris has won an MTV Video Music Award and three Grammy Awards.
As an actor, he is best known for his role as Tej Parker in the Fast and Furious film franchise. His other notable roles include Crash (2004), Gamer (2009), New Year's Eve (2011), and End of the Road (2023). For his performance in the ensemble of Crash, he was co-awarded a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critic's Choice Award for Best Cast.
His daughter Karma Bridges is an actress.
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin (born on 2 March 1977) is an English singer-songwriter and instrumentalist, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Coldplay. He was married to American actress Gwyneth Paltrow, with whom he has two children.
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles (1960–1970) and Wings (1971–1981), McCartney is the most commercially successful songwriter in the history of popular music, according to Guinness World Records.
McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular songs in the history of rock music. After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles in the UK.
BBC News Online readers named McCartney the "greatest composer of the millennium", and BBC News cites his Beatles song "Yesterday" as the most covered song in the history of recorded music—by over 2,200 artists—and since its 1965 release, has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio according to the BBC. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single. Based on the 93 weeks his compositions have spent at the top spot of the UK chart, and 24 number one singles to his credit, McCartney is the most successful songwriter in UK singles chart history. As a performer or songwriter, McCartney was responsible for 32 number one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and has sold 15.5 million RIAA certified albums in the US alone.
McCartney has composed film scores, classical and electronic music, released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist, and has taken part in projects to help international charities. He is an advocate for animal rights, for vegetarianism, and for music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt. He is a keen football fan, supporting both Everton and Liverpool football clubs. His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs, including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. McCartney is one of the UK's wealthiest people, with an estimated fortune of £475 million in 2010.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (born January 16, 1980) is an American composer, lyricist, playwright, and actor best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights. He was a songwriter for Moana (2016) and Encanto (2021). He also starred in Mary Poppins Returns (2018). Miranda's awards include a Pulitzer Prize, two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and three Tony Awards.
Miranda wrote the music and lyrics for the musical In the Heights, which premiered on Broadway in 2008. For this work, he won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Original Score, the show's cast album won the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and the show won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Miranda was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in the show's lead role. Miranda prepared Spanish translations used in the 2009 Broadway production of West Side Story and was co-composer and lyricist for Bring It On the Musical, which played on Broadway in 2012. His television work includes recurring roles on The Electric Company (2009–2010) and Do No Harm (2013). He hosted Saturday Night Live in 2016. Among other film work, Miranda contributed music and vocals for a scene in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
Miranda also wrote the book, music and lyrics for another Broadway musical, Hamilton. The show earned the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and was nominated for a record-setting 16 Tony Awards, of which it won 11, including Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book. For his performance in the lead role of Alexander Hamilton, Miranda was nominated for another Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. The Hamilton cast recording spent ten weeks atop Billboard's Top Rap Albums chart in 2015, while The Hamilton Mixtape, an album of covers of songs from the musical, developed by and featuring Miranda, reached number one on the Billboard 200 upon release in December 2016.
Tom Morello was born on May 30, 1964 in New York city. He has become an influential guitarist due to his work with Rage Against The Machine in the 1990s. Tom got his Social Studies degree from Harvard and went to L.A to start a band. He briefly played guitarist for a band named Lock Up with fellow Rage member Zack De La Rocha. IMDb Mini Biography.
Trevor Noah is a South African actor, presenter, comedian and radio DJ who began his career with a cameo role on the SABC3 soapie Isidingo, in 2002. After his stint on the show he spent two years years hosting an educational show for SABC2 during which time he started hosting his own radio show on Yfm called Noah's Ark. At Yfm his show was called Trevor Noah and was on between 00h00 and 03h00. He is also very involved in the South African comedy circuit and has performed at various comedy festivals. On television he hosted the SABC1 celebrity gossip show The Real Goboza in 2007 and also hosted SABC's sports show Siyadlala. In 2008 he was the runner-up on SABC2's reality dance competition Strictly Come Dancing 4, losing to actor Emmanuel Castis in the grand finale. His professional dance partner was Hayley Hammond. From May to August 2008 he was the co-host (with Pabi Moloi) of the SABC1 interactive dating game show The Amazing Date. He hosted the 3rd annual SAFTA Awards at the State Theatre in Pretoria on Saturday 7 February, 2009. Trevor was the host (along with Eugene Khoza) of the e.tv reality competition series The AXE Sweet Life from March to May, 2009. He hosted the 15th annual South African Music Awards (SAMAs) at the Sun City Superbowl on 2 May, 2009. He was invited back to host the SAMAs in 2010. Trevor began hosting his own talk show on M-Net in August 2010, entitled Tonight with Trevor Noah, based on international shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with Conan O'Brien and satirical fare like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The show moved to DStv's Mzansi Magic channel for it second season, which premiered on 5 November, 2010
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress and author. She began her career in Hollywood as a production assistant. In 2008, she made her acting debut with the short film East River and subsequently returned to Kenya to star in the television series Shuga (2009–2012). In 2009, she wrote, produced and directed the documentary In My Genes. She then pursued a master's degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama.
She had her first feature film role as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which she received critical acclaim and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She became the first Kenyan and Mexican actress to win an Academy Award. She made her Broadway debut as a teenage orphan in the play Eclipsed (2015), for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She went on to perform a motion capture role as Maz Kanata in the Star Wars sequel trilogy (2015–2019) and a lead voice role as Raksha in The Jungle Book (2016). Her career progressed with her role as Nakia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Black Panther (2018) and her starring role in Jordan Peele's critically acclaimed horror film Us (2019).
In addition to acting, she supports historic preservation. She is vocal about preventing sexual harassment and working for women's and animal rights. In 2014, she was named the most beautiful woman by People. She has also written a children's book named Sulwe (2019), which became a number-one New York Times Best-Seller. Also in 2019, she narrated the Discovery Channel docu-series Serengeti, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Narrator. She was named among Africa's "50 Most Powerful Women" by Forbes in 2020.
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Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the United States.
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John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer-songwriter and occasional actor, whose career has spanned over 40 years. As of December 2010, Osbourne has sold over 100 million albums worldwide.
Osbourne rose to prominence as lead vocalist of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, a band whose radically different, intentionally dark, doom sound spawned the heavy metal genre. In his subsequent solo career Osbourne achieved a multi-platinum status in addition to the one he had earned with Black Sabbath. These things are what led Osbourne to become known as the "Godfather of Heavy Metal". It was during his Sabbath days that, due to their dark style of music, Osbourne became known as the "Prince of Darkness". Osbourne has over 15 tattoos, the most famous of which are the letters O-Z-Z-Y across the knuckles of his left hand. This was his first tattoo, created by himself as a teenager with a sewing needle and pencil lead.
In the early 2000s, Osbourne's career expanded to a new medium when he became a star in his own reality show, The Osbournes, alongside wife/manager Sharon and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack.
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Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry, Jr.; September 13, 1969) is an African-American actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, producer, author, songwriter., and entrepreneur.
Already a successful artist in Southern theater, Perry began to make national celebrity status in 2005 with the release of his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman. He has won critical praise for playing Madea, a mentally strong woman who handles adversity with optimism and happiness; his critically acclaimed portrayal of her in the award-winning "Madea" series has caused him to be one of the most respected black actors in Hollywood.
He has produced multiple TV series as well as films, started a multiple year partnership with OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), and opened his own film studio, Tyler Perry Studios, in Georgia.
Perry was included in Time's list of the 100 most influential people of 2020. In 2022, he was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame.
Alecia Beth Moore (born September 8, 1979), better known by her stage name, Pink (stylized as P!nk), is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She released her first single "There You Go", on her first album, the R&B-oriented Can't Take Me Home, in 2000 via LaFace Records, which garnered commercial success. Her more pop rock-oriented second studio album, Missundaztood, which began a marked shift in the sound of her music, was released in 2001 and was a huge success worldwide.
Pink released her third album, Try This, in November 2003, which although less successful commercially than her previous release, still managed to sell around 3 million copies and earned her a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the single "Trouble". Her fourth album, I'm Not Dead, was released in April 2006. The album generated several hit singles, including "Stupid Girls", "U + Ur Hand" and "Who Knew". Both "U + Ur Hand" and "Who Knew" went to #1 on the pop chart. Her fifth album, Funhouse, was released in late October 2008 and was preceded by her first solo number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "So What". The album notched three other Top 20 hits: "Sober", "Please Don't Leave Me" and "Glitter in the Air". On November 15, 2010, she released her first compilation, Greatest Hits... So Far!!!.
According to Billboard, Pink was rated #13 on the list of Artists of the Decade and #1 Pop Song Artist of the Decade (2000–2009). She has also scored ten Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 US hits, including eight as a solo artist, and has won three Grammy Awards, 5 MTV Video Music Awards and 2 Brit Awards. Pink was also voted best recording artist in 2009. The People's Chart, announced through BBC Radio 1, declared Pink as the 11th Most Played Artist on UK Radio of the decade 2000 to 2009. Pink has sold more than 32 million albums worldwide. Forbes Magazine in 2010 named Pink the 27th most powerful celebrity, with $44 million earned between June 2009 and June 2010. She was listed among CEOWORLD magazine's Top Accomplished Women Entertainers.
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Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album All Hail the Queen on November 28, 1989, featuring the hit single "Ladies First". Nature of a Sista' (1991) was her second and final album with Tommy Boy Records.
Latifah starred as Khadijah James on the Fox sitcom Living Single from 1993 to 1998. Her third album, Black Reign (1993), became the first album by a solo female rapper to receive a RIAA certification, and spawned the single "U.N.I.T.Y.", which was influential in raising awareness of violence against women and the objectification of Black female sexuality. The record won a Grammy Award and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. She then starred in the lead role of Set It Off (1996) and released her fourth album, Order in the Court, on June 16, 1998, with Motown Records. Latifah garnered acclaim with her role of Matron "Mama" Morton in the musical film Chicago (2002), receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Latifah released her fifth album The Dana Owens Album in 2004. In 2007 and 2009, she released two more studio albums – Trav'lin' Light and Persona. She created the daytime talk show The Queen Latifah Show, which ran from 1999 to 2001, and again from 2013 to 2015, in syndication. She has appeared in a number of films, such as Bringing Down the House (2003), Taxi (2004), Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2005), Beauty Shop (2005), Last Holiday (2006), Hairspray (2007), Joyful Noise (2012), 22 Jump Street (2014) and Girls Trip (2017) and provided voice work in the Ice Age film series. Latifah received critical acclaim for her portrayal of blues singer Bessie Smith in the HBO film Bessie (2015), which she co-produced, winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. From 2016 to 2019, she starred as Carlotta Brown in the musical drama series Star. In 2020, she portrayed Hattie McDaniel in the miniseries Hollywood.
Queen Latifah has been referred to as the "Queen of Rap" by several media articles, as well as "rap's first feminist". Latifah became the first hip hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (2006). Latifah's work in music, film and television has earned her a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and an Academy Award nomination.
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Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born on January 20, 1971), known professionally as ?uestlove or Questlove (also known as BROther ?uestion, Questo or Brother Question), is an American drummer, DJ, music journalist and record producer. He is best known as the drummer for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots, which is now the in-house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He has produced for artists such as Common, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jay-Z, Nikka Costa and more recently, Al Green, Amy Winehouse and John Legend. He is a member of the production teams the Soulquarians, The Randy Watson Experience, and The Grand Wizzards.
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Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recording the hit singles "Easy", "Sail On", "Three Times a Lady" and "Still", with the group before his departure. In 1980, he wrote and produced the US Billboard Hot 100 number one single "Lady" for Kenny Rogers.
In 1981, Richie wrote and produced the single "Endless Love", which he recorded as a duet with Diana Ross; it remains among the top 20 bestselling singles of all time, and the biggest career hit for both artists. In 1982, he officially launched his solo career with the album Lionel Richie, which sold over four million copies and spawned the singles "You Are", "My Love", and the number one single "Truly".
Richie's second album, Can't Slow Down (1983), reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and sold over 20 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time; and spawned the number one singles "All Night Long (All Night)" and "Hello". He then co-wrote the 1985 charity single "We Are the World" with Michael Jackson, which sold over 20 million copies. His third album, Dancing on the Ceiling (1986), spawned the number one single "Say You, Say Me" (from the 1985 film White Nights) and the No. 2 hit title track. From 1986 to 1996, Richie took a break from recording; he has since then released seven studio albums. He has joined the singing competition American Idol to serve as a judge, starting from its sixteenth season (2018 to present).
During his solo career, Richie became one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s, and has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. He has won four Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year for "We Are the World", and Album of the Year for Can't Slow Down. "Endless Love" was nominated for an Academy Award; while "Say You, Say Me" won both the Academy Award and the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song. In 2016, Richie received the Songwriters Hall of Fame's highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award. In 2022, he received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress; as well as the American Music Awards Icon Award. He was also inducted into Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
Richie was born on June 20, 1949, in Tuskegee, Alabama, the son of Lionel Brockman Richie (1915–1990), a U.S. Army systems analyst, and Alberta R. Foster (1917–2001), a teacher and school principal. His grandmother Adelaide Mary Brown was a pianist who played classical music. On March 4, 2011, he appeared on NBC's Who Do You Think You Are?, which found out that his maternal great-grandfather was the national leader of an early Black American fraternal organization. Notably, J. Louis Brown was: [P]rincipal organizer and Supreme Grand Archon of the Knights of Wise Men, a fraternal organization for black men in the post-Civil War period. Formed in Nashville in 1879, it was a fraternal insurance and burial benefit society, as were so many others during the period. ...
Source: Article "Lionel Richie" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central. He was also voted in the UK as the 9th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in 2007, and again in the updated 2010 list as the 8th greatest stand-up comic.
He is known for his roles in Dogma, Beverly Hills Ninja, Lethal Weapon 4, Nurse Betty, The Longest Yard, Bad Company, and a starring role in Down to Earth. Rock has also increasingly worked behind the camera, as a writer and director (and starring actor) of Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife.
In the fall of 2005, the UPN television network premiered a comedy series called Everybody Hates Chris, based on Rock's school days, of which he is the executive producer and narrator. The show garnered both critical and ratings success. The series was nominated for a 2006 Golden Globe for Best TV Series (Musical or Comedy), a 2006 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy, and two 2006 Emmy Awards for costuming and cinematography.
Following the release of his first documentary, 2009's Good Hair, Rock is working on a documentary about debt called Credit is the Devil. In 2010 he starred alongside Adam Sandler in Grown-ups and with fellow comedian/actor Martin Lawrence in the remake of the British film Death at a Funeral.
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin ( born March 10, 1963) is an American record executive and record producer. He is a co-founder (alongside Russell Simmons) of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
Rubin helped popularize hip-hop by producing records for acts such as the Beastie Boys, Geto Boys, Run-DMC, Public Enemy, and LL Cool J. He has also produced hit records for acts from a variety of other genres, predominantly heavy metal (Danzig, Metallica, and Slayer), alternative rock (the Cult, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Strokes and Weezer), hard rock (Audioslave and Aerosmith), nu-metal (Linkin Park, Rage Against the Machine, System of a Down), and country (Johnny Cash and the Chicks).
In 2007, Rubin was called "the most important producer of the last 20 years" by MTV and was named on Time's list of the "100 Most Influential People in the World". His first book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, was published in January 2023.
Tracee Joy Silberstein (born October 29, 1972), known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the television series Girlfriends (2000–2008) and Black-ish (2014–2022) receiving nominations for five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the latter.
She is the daughter of actress and Motown recording artist Diana Ross and Robert Ellis Silberstein. She began acting in independent films and variety series. She hosted the pop-culture magazine The Dish on Lifetime. From 2000 to 2008 she played the starring role of Joan Clayton in the UPN/CW comedy series Girlfriends, for which she received two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She also has appeared in the films Hanging Up (2000), I-See-You.Com (2006), and Daddy's Little Girls (2007), before returning to television playing Dr. Carla Reed on the BET sitcom Reed Between the Lines (2011), for which she received her third NAACP Image Award.
From 2014 to 2022, Ross starred as Dr. Rainbow Johnson in the ABC comedy series, Black-ish. Her work on it has earned her six NAACP Image Awards and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy. She has also received nominations for two Critics' Choice Television Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. In 2019, she co-created a prequel spin-off of Black-ish titled Mixed-ish. In 2020, she starred in and recorded the soundtrack album for the musical film The High Note.
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Edward Christopher Sheeran, MBE (/ˈʃɪərən/; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actor. He attended the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford as an undergraduate from the age of 18 in 2009. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (pronounced "plus"), was released in September 2011. It topped the UK and Australian charts, reached number five in the US, and has since been certified eight-times platinum in the UK. The album contains the single "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.
His second studio album, x (pronounced "multiply"), was released in June 2014. It peaked at number one in the UK and the US, and was named the second-best-selling album worldwide of 2015. In 2015, x won the Brit Award for Album of the Year, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. His single from x, "Thinking Out Loud", earned him two Grammy Awards at the 2016 ceremony: Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
Sheeran's third album, ÷ (pronounced "divide"), was released in March 2017. The album debuted at number one in the UK, the US and other major markets, and was the best-selling album worldwide of 2017. The first two singles from the album, "Shape of You" and "Castle on the Hill", were released in January 2017 and broke records in a number of countries, including the UK, Australia and Germany, by debuting in the top two positions of the charts. He also became the first artist to have two songs debut in the US top 10 in the same week. By March 2017, Sheeran had accumulated ten top 10 singles from ÷ on the UK Singles Chart, breaking the record for most top 10 UK singles from one album. His fourth single from ÷, "Perfect", reached number one in the US, Australia and the UK, where it became the Christmas number one in 2017. Released in 2019, his fourth studio album, No.6 Collaborations Project, debuted atop the UK and US charts.
Sheeran has sold more than 150 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists. Two of his albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history: x at number 20, and ÷ at number 34. Beginning in March 2017, his ÷ Tour became the highest-grossing of all time in August 2019. An alumnus of the National Youth Theatre in London, as an actor Sheeran has portrayed a recurring role on The Bastard Executioner, and in 2019, he appeared in the Richard Curtis/Danny Boyle film Yesterday.
Patricia Lee Smith is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and poet who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses. Called the "punk poet laureate," Smith fused rock and poetry in her work.
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper and actor. His initial fame dates back to 1992 after guest appearing on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, "Deep Cover", and then on Dre's debut album, The Chronic, the same year. Broadus has since sold over 23 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide. His accolades include an American Music Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and 17 nominations at the Grammy Awards.
Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940), better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in August 1962, taking the place of Pete Best. In addition to his contribution as drummer, Starr featured as lead vocals on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular, "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and The Beatles version of "Act Naturally"), as co-writer with the song "What Goes On" and primary writer with "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
As drummer for The Beatles, Starr was musically creative, and his contribution to the band's music has received high praise from notable drummers in more recent times. Starr described himself as "your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills", technically limited by being a left-handed person playing a right-handed kit. Drummer Steve Smith said that Starr's popularity "brought forth a new paradigm" where "we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect" and that Starr "composed unique, stylistic drum parts for The Beatles songs". In 2011, Starr was picked as the fifth-best drummer of all-time by Rolling Stone readers, behind drummers such as John Bonham, Keith Moon and Neil Peart.
Starr is the most documented and critically acclaimed actor-Beatle, playing a central role in several Beatles films, and appearing in numerous other movies, both during and after his career with The Beatles. After The Beatles' break-up in 1970, Starr achieved solo musical success with several singles and albums, and recorded with each of his fellow ex-Beatles as they too developed their post-Beatle musical careers. He has also been featured in a number of TV documentaries, hosted TV shows, and narrated the first two series of the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. He currently tours with the All-Starr Band.
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Recognized for her songwriting, musical versatility, artistic reinventions, and influence on the music industry, she is a prominent cultural figure of the 21st century.
Swift began songwriting professionally at age 14 and signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 to become a country musician. Under Big Machine, she released six studio albums, four of them to country radio, starting with her self-titled album (2006). Her next record, Fearless (2008), explored country pop, and its singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" catapulted her to mainstream fame. Speak Now (2010) incorporated rock influences, and Red (2012) experimented with electronic elements and featured Swift's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one song, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". She abandoned her country image with 1989 (2014), a synth-pop album supported by chart-topping songs "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". Media scrutiny inspired her next album, the hip-hop-flavored Reputation (2017), and its number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do".
After signing a new contract with Republic Records in 2018, Swift released her seventh album, Lover (2019), and autobiographical documentary, Miss Americana (2020). She embraced indie folk and alternative rock on her 2020 albums Folklore and Evermore and explored chill-out styles on Midnights (2022). The albums broke multifarious records, led by the respective number-one singles "Cardigan", "Willow", and "Anti-Hero". After a dispute with Big Machine led Swift to re-record her back catalog, she released two re-recorded albums, Fearless (Taylor's Version) and Red (Taylor's Version), in 2021; the latter's "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" became the longest song to top the Hot 100. Swift has directed music videos and films such as All Too Well: The Short Film (2021) and played supporting roles in others.
Having sold over 200 million records, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians, the most streamed woman on Spotify, and the only act to have five albums open with over one million copies sold in the US. She has been featured in critical lists such as Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, Billboard's Greatest of All Time Artists, the Time 100, and Forbes Celebrity 100. Among her accolades are 12 Grammy Awards, including three Album of the Year wins; a Primetime Emmy Award; 40 American Music Awards; 29 Billboard Music Awards; 12 Country Music Association Awards; three IFPI Global Recording Artist of the Year awards; and 98 Guinness World Records.
Keith Lionel Urban (born October 26, 1967) is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, and charted four singles in Australia before moving to the United States in 1992. Eventually, Urban found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Records and charted two singles on the Billboard country charts.
Still signed to Capitol, he made his solo American debut in 1999 with the album Keith Urban. Certified platinum in the U.S., it also produced his first American Number One in "But for the Grace of God". His breakthrough hit was the Number One "Somebody Like You", from his second Capitol album Golden Road (2002). This album also earned Urban his first Grammy Award win for "You'll Think of Me", its fourth single and the fourth Billboard Number One of his career. 2004's Be Here, his third American album, produced three more Number Ones, and became his highest-selling album, earning 4× Multi-Platinum certification. Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing was released in 2006, producing the record-setting #17 country chart debut of "Once in a Lifetime", as well as Urban's second Grammy for the song "Stupid Boy", while a Greatest Hits package entitled Greatest Hits: 18 Kids followed in late 2007. This album was re-released a year later as Greatest Hits: 19 Kids with one track added: the number one "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he had previously recorded on Golden Road. Additional albums Defying Gravity and Get Closer were released on March 31, 2009 and November 16, 2010, respectively.
Urban has released a total of nine studio albums (one of which was released only in the United Kingdom), as well as one album in The Ranch. He has charted more than fifteen singles on the U.S. country charts, including ten Number Ones. Urban plays acoustic and electric guitar, as well as ganjo, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, sitar, bouzouki and drums.
Lena Waithe is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter, best known for her role as Denise on the 2015 Netflix series Master of None and as the creator of the Showtime original series The Chi.
Kerry Marisa Washington (born January 31, 1977) is an American actress, producer, and director. She gained wide public recognition for starring as crisis management expert Olivia Pope in the ABC drama series Scandal (2012–2018). For her role, she was twice nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series and once for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama. Her portrayal of Anita Hill in the HBO television political thriller film Confirmation (2016), and her role as Mia Warren in the Hulu miniseries Little Fires Everywhere (2020), both earned nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.
In film, Washington is known for her roles as Della Bea Robinson in Ray (2004), as Kay in The Last King of Scotland (2006), as Alicia Masters in the live-action Fantastic Four films of 2005 and 2007, and as Broomhilda von Shaft in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained (2012). She has also starred in the independent films Our Song (2000), The Dead Girl (2006), Mother and Child (2009), Night Catches Us (2010), and American Son (2019).
Time magazine included Washington in its Time 100 list of most influential people in 2014. In 2018, Forbes named her the eighth highest-paid television actress. Washington has won a Primetime Emmy Award and five NAACP Image Awards, including The President's Award.
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Hayley Nichole Williams (born December 27, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and businesswoman who is best known as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and keyboardist of the rock band Paramore.
In 2004, she formed Paramore alongside Josh Farro, Zac Farro, and Jeremy Davis. The band currently consists of Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York. The band has released five studio albums: All We Know Is Falling (2005), Riot! (2007), Brand New Eyes (2009), Paramore (2013), and After Laughter (2017).
Williams recorded the song "Teenagers" for the soundtrack of Jennifer's Body (2009) and has collaborated with artists such as October Fall, The Chariot, Set Your Goals, Zedd and New Found Glory. In 2010, she was featured on the single "Airplanes" by B.o.B. It peaked at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. A sequel to the song, "Airplanes, Part II", features new verses from B.o.B. and a verse from Eminem, while Williams' vocals remain the same. This collaboration led to a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Williams released her debut solo single, "Simmer", on January 22, 2020, and announced on the same day that her debut studio album, Petals for Armor, would be released on May 8, 2020. The album was preceded by two EPs entitled Petals for Armor I and II that make up the first two-thirds of the album. Her second solo record, Flowers for Vases/Descansos, was released less than a year later on February 5, 2021.
Other ventures she has explored include online beauty and music series Kiss-Off on Popular TV launched in 2015 and the hair-dye company Good Dye Young, launched in 2016.
Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (born April 5, 1973) is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer and entrepreneur. With close friend Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo The Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has produced songs for various recording artists. He has won 13 Grammy Awards, including three for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical (one as a member of The Neptunes). He is also a two-time Academy Award nominee: in 2014 for Best Original Song, for "Happy" (from Despicable Me 2); and in 2017 for Best Picture, as a producer of Hidden Figures.
Zakk Wylde (born Jeffrey Phillip Wielandt; January 14, 1967 in Bayonne, New Jersey) is an American musician, songwriter, and occasional actor who is best known as the former guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne and founder of the heavy metal band Black Label Society. He was the lead guitarist and vocalist in Pride & Glory, who released one self-titled album in 1994 before disbanding. As a solo artist he released Book of Shadows in 1996.
