Inna (1) 294 views 0 favorites Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu (Romanian pronunciation: ; born October 16, 1986 near Mangalia, Romania), known mononymously only as Inna, is a Romanian dance-pop singer, dancer and occasional songwriter. On November 12, 2008, she released her debut single "Hot", which was produced by the Romanian Dance music trio and producers Play & Win. The single performed strongly on the Romanian Top 100, peaking at number five in December 2008. It also became an airplay success worldwide. A second single, titled "Love", was released in March, 2009 and peaked at number four on the Romanian Hot 100 in April 2009. The song "Déjà Vu" became yet another top ten hit on the Romanian Top 100, peaking at number seven in July 2009. It also was a major hit in Russia; as well in Hungary and other countries in the Western world.
In August 2009 Inna released her fourth single titled "Amazing". It became her most successful song in Romania, topping the Romanian Top 100 for four consecutive weeks. In order to promote the release of her debut album Hot in Romania, "10 Minutes" was announced and released as the fifth single in January 2010.
Her sixth single "Sun Is Up" became a number-one hit in Bulgaria and a top three in Turkey, France, Romania, Russia, and Switzerland. It was the first single from Inna's second album, titled I Am The Club Rocker, which was released in September 2011. Four more singles were spawned by the album: the title song "Club Rocker" featuring American rapper Flo Rida, "Un Momento" featuring Spanish DJ Juan Magan, "Endless" and "WOW". The last two gave Inna her sixth and seventh top ten single on the Romanian Top 100, reaching number five respectively number ten.
In May 2012 Inna released her self-composed single "Caliente" but it performed poorly on the Romanian Top 100, only reaching number eighty-four. She fared better with the Romanian language song "Tu şi Eu", which was released shortly after "Caliente" and reached number five on the chart. A collaboration with her producers Play & Win titled "INNdiA" was released in July 2012 and debuted on the Romanian Top 100 at number ninety-three, becoming Inna's thirteenth entry on the chart. It also is her ninth top ten single in her native, reaching number ten on the Romanian Top 100. On January, 18, 2013, Inna released "More Than Friends", the first single from her 2013 album Party Never Ends. The single is co-written and co-produced by Danish writer and producer, Thomas Troelsen.
Inna started her European concert tour "INNA en Concert" in June 2011. The tour reached North America in fall 2011, when Inna performed in Mexico. It concluded with a performance at Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in November 2011. Inna embarked in her second world tour, the I Am the Club Rocker Tour on January 13, 2012. The tour is to reach the United States in the first half of 2012.
Inna received numerous awards and nominations, including ones at NRJ Music Awards or at the MTV Europe Music Awards. In 2011 Inna won an European Border Breakers Award for her international success.
As of December 2011 Inna sold over 100,000 albums and over 600,000 singles in the United Kingdom alone. By the end of 2011 it was reported that Inna's fortune is estimated at round €8 million from which Inna accomplished €800,000 in 2011 solely, becoming the richest artist in Romania and in Eastern Europe.
As of February 2012 Inna is the first European female singer to surpass one billion hits on YouTube. and has more than 7 million fans on Facebook.
She is a fluent speaker of Romanian, Spanish and English.
Infusion (1) 256 views 0 favorites Infusion were an Australian electronica band, originally from Wollongong which formed in 1998. Founding members, Jamie Stevens and Manuel Sharrad, met in 1988 at a local high school. Frank Xavier also hails from Wollongong, although he did not meet the other two until they had relocated to Sydney. Sharrad is Infusion's vocalist. They provide energetic live performances and have a long résumé of remixes. The band signed with Thunk Records, an underground electronic label.
The trio's music evolved from the rave and club scene, widening in scope to include traditional pop song structures. By 2004 the group had relocated to Melbourne, after signing with BMG in the previous October. Their 2004 single, "Girls Can Be Cruel", received airplay on Australia's alternative music radio station, Triple J. Infusion have also released singles on Audio Therapy and Marine Parade. They have played at international music festivals including the Glastonbury Festival, Roskilde Festival, the Meco Festival in Portugal, the Tshitraka Festival in Germany and Splendour in the Grass (all in 2004), the Big Day Out (in 2005 and 2009) and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Creamfields Argentina (both in 2006). In December 2008, they played Homebake, alongside Crowded House, PNAU, The Vines and Sneaky Sound System. In 2009, they were part of the Australian contingent at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
Infusion have won two ARIA Music Awards for best dance release: in 2004 for the single "Girls Can Be Cruel" and in 2005 for their first album for Sony BMG, Six Feet Above Yesterday. Their album All Night Sun Light was released on 7 July 2009 on their own independent label Futuresque. The song, "Dogtown", has been posted on their Myspace profile and is featured as a remix on the Ministry of Sound's Clubber's Guide 2009.
Adam Freeland's remix of the track "Better World" appears on the 2005 video game Burnout Revenge. Infusion are no longer active, performing their last show with Leftfield at the Enmore Theatre in 2013.
Xavier produces records under the pseudonym Francis Xavier on Australian label Motorik!, and is a member of their rotating deejay collective, The Motorik Vibe Council, alongside members of The Lost Valentinos, The Bang Gang Deejays and Dreems, in addition to production credits on a plethora of tracks including Flight Facilities' debut "Crave You".
Jamie Stevens has released solo under his own name on a large variety of record labels.
Incubus (3) 463 views 0 favorites There are multiple artists using this name:
Incubus is a five-man alternative rock band formed in 1991, based in Calabasas, California. Members include Brandon Boyd (vocals and percussion), Mike Einziger (guitar), Ben Kenney (bass), Jose Pasillas II (drums) and DJ Chris Kilmore (turntables). Former members of the band include Gavin Koppel (a.k.a. DJ Lyfe) (turntables) and Alex Katunich (a.k.a. Dirk Lance) (bass). The band's name may seem a peculiar choice to fans, as an incubus is a type of demon that, in mythological lore, comes in the night and has sex with women while they are sleeping; it seduces them in their dreams The story behind the name is that the band needed to think of a name hours before their first show and, after a few failed choices, Mike looked in a dictionary and chose "Incubus" almost at random. Mike says that the name was chosen because it sounded silly; Brandon holds that it was chosen because they were teenagers and the definition had the word "sex" in it. "We really didn't want to rape women in their sleep. But, we were fifteen and it seemed harmless to us then, and we never changed it," says the band.
Incubus has received both critical acclaim and commercial success, reaching multi-platinum sales, as well as releasing several successful singles. The band earned mainstream recognition with the release of their 1999 album Make Yourself. In 2001, Incubus became even more successful with the single "Drive" and their follow-up album Morning View. Their sixth studio album, Light Grenades, debuted at No. 1 in 2006 and has received Gold certification in the U.S. Incubus released their first greatest hits album Monuments and Melodies in June 2009, accompanied by a tour of the United States, Japan and Canada. The band's most recent album, If Not Now, When?, was released on July 12, 2011.
2. A death/thrash metal band from Metairie, Louisiana. The band was made up of Francis Howard (guitar/vocals), Moyses Howard (drums), Andre Luiz (bass), and Luiz Carlos (guitar). The two Howard brothers are actually from Brazil, and immigrated to Louisiana. This Incubus has released one demo, and two albums, with one album being remastered and re-released with a different track listing. This band has changed their name to Opprobrium.
3. A death/thrash metal band from Georgia who released one demo in 1987. The drummer, Mike Browning, went on to Morbid Angel and later Nocturnus fame.
4. A thrash metal band from São Paulo, Brazil that released 2 demos in 1986 and 1988.
5. A thrash metal band from João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil.
6. A New Wave of British Heavy Metal band that released a full-length album "To the Devil a Daughter" in 1984. Still a favorite among NWOBHM fans.
7. A death/thrash metal band from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Released a demo "Sinful Dreams" in 1987. Changed their name to Spectral Birth in 1988.
8. A Techno/Rave combo.
Inaya Day (1) 257 views 0 favorites Inaya Day began singing in church as a young child, where she got her first experience in performing. She attended the high school of Music and the Performing Arts in her native city, New York and went on to major in musical theater at The University of Bridgeport,Connecticut. Inaya has an incredible vocal ability, rivaling those of legendary female vocalists. Her sound is unique, her music is "next level", and she is more than at home on stage. Watching her perform is an electrifying experience rarely found in today's music industry. Inaya Day entered the house music scene in 1996 when she was asked to do a little demo. She met German producers Boris Dlugosch and Mousse T who produced a dance single "Keep Pushin" which hit #2 on the Billboard dance charts. She then recorded Mousse T's track "Horny", which later gained popularity when additional vocals from the duo Hot 'N' Juicy was added to the song. "Horny" reached #1 on the Billboard dance charts and was a worldwide dance and pop track. The follow up song "Hold Your Head Up High", with Booom!, reached #6 on the Billboard dance charts. Inaya Day has sung on a variety of dance hits since 1996. These include: "Can't Stop Dancin" by Cruz and Bugz hit #1 on the Billboard dance chart; "Movin Up (Take My Problems to the Dance Floor)" by Mike Cruz featuring Inaya Day hit #2 on the Billboard dance charts; "Feel It" with DJ Dome; "I'm Touched" by DJ Dove featuring Inaya Day; "Shout It Out" by Inaya Day meets Louis Benedetti; "Just Can't Get Enough" by Harry "Choo Choo" Romero Presents Inaya Day; and "I Will" by Mongobonix featuring Inaya Day - produced by Harry "Choo Choo" Romero. "Hold Your Head Up High" by Boris Dlugosch Presents Booom!. "I Am Tha 1" by Mr Timothy featuring Inaya Day "Stand By Me" by Mr Timothy featuring Inaya Day "Nasty Girl" produced by Mousse T. and So Phat! (cover of the Vanity 6 song) "The Glamorous Life" by T-Funk featuring Inaya Day In 2004, she sang on a track by Australian dance producer mrTimothy called "I Am Tha 1". The track credited to Mr Timothy featuring Inaya Day went to the top of dance charts in Australia and reached the top 30 of the pop charts there. She also sang on his next single "Stand By Me" later that year. "Nasty Girl" was first released in Australia, reaching the top 20, and it was then released in the UK in July 2005, and reached #9 there. Later that year, she also guest featured on "The Glamorous Life", a single by T-Funk, an alternate alias of mrTimothy. Current Singles include: RAPID FIRE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca2_nICJNaU CHASE ME http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAj18pGUiX4 HIGHER PLACE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IvZUAJH7wI LOSE MY WORRIES http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyanAcEXJlA www.INAYADAY.com
ILS (4) 623 views 0 favorites Breakbeat and musicality aren't always easy bedfellows. Some noisecore terrorists shun the sounds of any real instruments, but the productions of Ils have always managed to combine melody and harmony with astute dancefloor savvy. Whether it be some of the jazzy drum + bass tracks he released on LTJ Bukem's label in the mid-90s or the amazing 'Next Level' - one of the biggest breakbeat tracks ever - Ils has quite a pedigree of tracks. His third artist album, 'Bohemia', carries on his tradition of exploring assorted flavours in breakbeat science. Spiritual, rocky, decadent and moving - the byword throughout is quality. Ils has already started the process of having some of the tracks remixed for singles, but as a body of work the album stands up as something a bit special. "The working title for 'Bohemia' was 'Masterpiece'," Ils explains, "which I obviously wasn't going to call it in the end, but I had that name written on post-it notes all around the studio. It kind of raises the bar in terms of quality, it's just a way of psychologically upping your own standards. The working title of my last album 'Soul Trader' was 'Green Fields', just because I had my studio out in the countryside and I wanted it to be less of an urban thing and more just good music that would work out in open greenery - as well as in a club environment." Ils initially did a dummy run of this album with just one singer - Val from London indie band the Bee Stings. He then brought in other vocalists - Bulgarian duo Desi and Roni, growling grime/garage MC Wonder (on the Prodigy-esque 'Feel My Addiction'), Plavka who sang on Jam + Spoon's hit 'Right In The Night' a decade ago, R+B singer Rhalia - to weave his production magic around and flesh out the meat on the bones. One track even includes snatches of his late friend Stevie Hyper D, the junglist MC who passed away a few years back. The resulting kick-ass breaks track 'The World Is Yours' is a fitting tribute to the drum + bass hero. There's a tale behind all the vocalists and the elements they bring to the melting pot, but the story of the Bulgarian singers is perhaps the most, err, bohemian. Deeply into spiritualism, the two spend a lot of time looking after a renowned 98-year-old shamanistic woman who lives up a mountain. "These two are deeply into spiritualism and I wanted that kind of influence brought in to give the album an extra dimension," Ils outlines. "I've been DJing in eastern Europe quite a lot in the past couple of years, in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and Rumania. One of these women singers helps arrange a lot of the club-nights, or parties on the beach. I've used their voices like another instrument on a few tracks." As well as the ethereal Bulgarian voices, war is another thread that runs throughout 'Bohemia'. "I was really upset by the Iraq war and the media images around it," says Ils. "There was tens of thousands of innocent deaths - I was shocked and horrified. The whole album was being recorded during that time, so it was a big influence. That's why I had to put a track like 'Life Is Precious' on there. And 'Storm From The East', which I was originally going to entitle 'A Mother's Pain' because it has a certain emotion...""It's not in-yer-face, though - I like art to be open to interpretation. I didn't want to do a political album, there should be question marks after every track. That's why I thought it was really funny when Ann Summers got back to me..." The lingerie firm have already picked up 'Angels' to use in one of their films, apparently (see track by track rundown, below). It might surprise some breakbeat fans to hear that Ils has used guitars on every track. Once upon a time guitars were a dirty word in dance music, but now the boundaries are increasingly blurred. "I started out as a drum + bass programmer, and d+b was the antithesis of that whole thing, but what I found from my first album is that every track's got a guitar on it," Ils says. "I started off playing a guitar before I could use a sampler. Mixed in the background it's not obvious, I've always hired guitars in to my tracks. Now I just turn 'em up a bit more. They've always been there. "I feel less restrained as a producer now,'" he continues. "I listen to Xfm all day long, so why shouldn't that be reflected in my music. Ils hasn't had much luck with record labels over the years. He delivered the finished 'Bohemia' album to Adam Freeland's Marine Parade imprint in August 2004, only to experience the label temporarily fold with the collapse of distribution company 3MV a week later. If Marine Parade was to continue, Freeland had to cut back. "There was 10,000 Evil Nine albums sat in a warehouse somewhere, so for Adam the actual thought of taking on another album project as well was maybe a bit much," Ils says now. Let's hear the story from the breakbeat freak in his own words. "The olive branch Adam extended was 'Let's release the best singles off this, do singles and remixes', but to me that's like a painter having painted a portrait and someone coming up and saying 'I really love the ears'. Getting a pair of scissors out and cutting the ears off. It's a body of work, all the tracks were designed to work together, so just pulling the best three tracks off would've made it impossible for me to do anything with the album after that. We both knew that." "As soon as that happened I immediately thought of Distinctive. I'd done one of their Y4K mix series, got to know them and thought they were all really switched on. They've got such a good reputation, too, and it seems they've helped introduce a lot of people to breaks all around the world."The Y4K had rolled off after the success of 'Next Level', 'Music' and 'No Soul' which all did really well. And for 'Bohemia' it's all worked out smoothly. Distinctive just sent a bike down two days after Adam gave me the bad news, and suddenly I'm on Distinctive in time for Christmas. It was a pretty flawless transition." "Adam's written me a really nice email since, saying he hopes there's no bad feelings. That was really cool of him, because in the past when I've left previous labels there's been some sort of bad feeling..." Ils was born Ilian Walker, his mum making up the name while she was pregnant with him and reading Homer's epic book The Iliad. "I've always been called Ils from school days," the DJ/producer recalls. "It was handy only having three letters when the first Atari came out, cos for the highest score for Space Invaders you could only have three initials." He grew up in a hippy commune, and the first music he was exposed to was Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side Of The Moon' - an album left to him as a present by a departing squatter. The other record that was a big influence on the young Ils was 'Never Mind The Bollocks' by the Sex Pistols. "I remember that was being blasted from the house all day long," Ils smirks. "Then the first thing I ever bought, when I was 11 or 12, was Grandmaster Flash + the Furious Five 'The Message'. Everyone in my street was into electro and breakdancing and I saved up for that for about three months." Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones inspired the young Ils to pick up a guitar, after Ils heard that the punk rocker learned to play the instrument in two weeks with just one finger. The fact that Jones also lived in the neighbourhood, on Shepherd's Bush Road, brought it home to him that he too could be involved in music. Ils got into bands in his teens - big time. He joined school bands, swapped instruments around a bit, got put onto funk bass duties. "When I was 18 we used to club together and book into a West End studio," he recalls. "That's where I first saw the Atari and sampler at work. I was always pissed off at how shoddy our school demos were. When I saw beats coming out of a sampler I had a vision of finished records, as opposed to messy demos. I was getting annoyed with people not turning up, and started coming to the conclusion that I could probably rely on myself more than the super-flaky people I was hanging around with at the time." Disenchanted with unreliable band-mates, Ils got his own sampler and did some business training courses, going through the Prince's Trust start-up system. He did a business plan, got a grant, set a studio up and began advertising in Loot as a full studio. By this time Ils had got involved with drum + bass pirate stations ("it was like having those old funk breaks sped up, your own youth culture as it were"), and knew that to make drum + bass all you needed was a sampler and an Atari. "I knew there was loads of young DJs who wanted to do dubplates for their pirate stations,' says Ils. "Most were booking into these big expensive studios with engineers who were good at live mics and guitars and stuff, but not good at Cubase or samples. I spent a year learning how to use my equipment, and soon would get people's dub plates finished in four hours. That whole DiY concept of music I liked, and I slipped straight into that subculture." The first Ils release was on Rugged Vinyl, though he soon gravitated up to LTJ Bukem's Good Looking imprint. "He was a DJ who knew what his sound was, he was out on a limb at the time," believes Ils. "Working for him for as many years as I did possibly alienated me from the rest of drum + bass. When I came out of Good Looking it was like 'Where do I go from here?" After mid-90s success and critical acclaim, Bukem told the artists on his label one day about his financial difficulties. "He pulled us in for a meeting, said he had a forty thousand pound tax bill and that none of the artists would get paid for two years," Ils remembers. "It was annoying going into clubs and having your track played, or it's tune of the month or something, and you weren't getting paid for it. I had to bunk tube fares to get to a club to hear my own stuff getting played. I had six singles out on Good Looking and I was having difficulty retrieving any payment." Luckily his studio engineering work kept paying the bills - just. Ils did a couple of drum + bass tunes that Goldie liked, but his close association with Bukem for three years boxed off most other opportunities. He soon drifted into working with James Lavelle's hip trip-hop label Mo'Wax. "We ended up getting passed most of the advert work that was coming into Mo'Wax, cos we weren't MCPS and PRS registered at the time," he explains. "We were like the backroom boys of that company, not name producers as such, and that's exactly what the advertising boys who were phoning up Mo'Wax wanted. He worked on a number of big ad campaigns and TV synchs, often working under intense pressure to meet tight deadlines. "I think it permanently changed my brain chemistry with regards to my approach to making music," Ils reckons. "Through this advertising work I learned to write music differently. It was a constant learning curve - less about jamming and having fun, more learning how to make tracks in high-pressure situations. It gave me grey hair and chest pains, but it was a good experience. Maybe spiritually and creatively it wasn't that fulfilling, but the money was good." But with all this advert work and no record releases, Ils feared he was going to fall off the musical map. Still engineering for other artists, one of his clients was Dave Tipper. Tipper was doing something called breakbeat with some crazy guys from Fuel Records. "It was a new type of people," he believes. "With drum + bass by 1999 there was a thick rule book about what you can and can't do in d+b production. Dave Tipper was coming in buzzing, he'd started his DJ thing, he was getting a lot of work. It was the time of Wall Of Sound, Derek Dahlarge - I was engineering for him as well. My clientele expanded to working with these guys at 125bpm, and I found it more enjoyable with these different bunch of characters - it was exciting and fun. Ils was inspired by the vision of Fuel's Richard Warren, "which was putting bass speakers in the back seats of old American Starsky + Hutch cars and driving around listening to Tipper's or my music. At 100mph in the darkness on motorways." Inspired by this dream, Ils made the dark, atmospheric breakbeat album 'Idiots Behind The Wheel' for Fuel in three weeks.Unfortunately Fuel went down a week before Ils' album was released. The ten thousand stock was seized by the distributors, and he never saw a penny. Ils approached the first DJ he could think of who played his records. This was a guy called Adam Freeland, who'd done a stint on Fuel and was playing at this nu skool breaks night at London's Bar Rumba with Rennie Pilgrem and Tayo. Ils asked Freeland if he had a label and Adam mapped out his vision for Marine Parade and how he wanted to sign Ils as his first artist. Ils told him that if he signed him for an album, he'd guarantee him at least two good singles out of it. Ils then moved his studio to France for the album, near to the Le Mans race track. "It was basically a house 18 kilometres away from the nearest village, and all you could see on the 360 was green fields. Hence the working title," he says.'Next Level', the most successful single from the album, sprang from the organic vibe Ils was on at the time. "I wanted to do something that was the representation of maybe sitting in a field at sunrise," he outlines, " a thing of beauty. The track was first written as a string interlude, it was originally called 'Psychedelia' and was my 1960s psychedelia track. It got mutated so many times."The burbling b-line in 'Next Level' had an almost UK garage feel, but Ils had no desire to sign up for that lifestyle. He was just happy that the three big singles from the 'Soul Trader' album - 'Next Level', 'Music' and the bluesy 'No Soul' - did really well and were licensed for TV for added exposure."That kept me loyal to Marine Parade," he says. "After the success of 'Soul Trader' I thought they'd commission me for another album. But Adam's album had to come out, then Evil Nine's album, so i just had to wait." Now safely ensconced on Distinctive, Ils is looking forward to the coming year immensely. But why has he called the album 'Bohemia'? "Because of Desi and Roni and then Plavka, the album was having quite an eastern European feel to it. The thread through the whole album was spiritualism, so I just thought 'Bohemia'... hopefully you can just sit on a sunny beach and listen to it on a walkman; it's hedonistic, but with a spiritual element. "Bohemia itself was a triangle linking Austria and Czechoslovakia, a very small segment of territory that predominantly produced beer. People in that region were probably called Bohemian cos they were pissed out of their minds 24 hours a day. It was a part of Europe that if you hailed from it you were probably a little bit off the wall, you probably didn't conform to normal social norms. Maybe you were an artist, or drank a hell of a lot, or both - which was quite fashionable in those days.
Ikon (1) 293 views 0 favorites iKon (Hangul: 아이콘), stylized as iKON, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2015 by YG Entertainment. The group was first introduced in the reality survival program WIN: Who is Next as "Team B". After that, Team B went on to appear in the 2014 reality survival program Mix & Match, which determined the final seven-member lineup of iKon: B.I, Bobby, Jinhwan, Ju-ne, Yunhyeong, Donghyuk and Chanwoo.
The group released their debut studio album Welcome Back (2015), which debuted atop the South Korean Gaon Album Chart and produced the number-one singles "My Type", "Apology" and "Dumb & Dumber" and three top-ten singles "Rhythm Ta", "Airplane" and "Anthem", the album was commercially a success, selling 260,000 copies in Asia, and the songs sold 4.8 million copies, which lead the group to win several best new artist awards on major Asia awards, including Mnet Asian Music Awards, Japan Record Award and QQ Music Awards. The following two years, the group released two singles "#WYD" and "New Kids: Begin", and they focused on touring with their first Asia tour, and several Japanese tours. The group's second studio album Return was released on January 25, 2018.
Iio (1) 294 views 0 favorites iiO (pronounced "eye-oh") was a New York City-based dance music act composed of singer-songwriter Nadia Ali and producer Markus Moser. The group gained prominence for its 2001 single "Rapture", which reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. Following the success of "Rapture", iiO released several singles and the studio album Poetica in 2005. The album reached number 17 on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums Chart.
The same year, Ali left iiO to pursue a solo career. Meanwhile, Moser continued to release material featuring her on vocals, which included the 2006 single Is It Love? that reached number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart. In 2011, he released the studio album Exit 110, which again featured Ali on vocals and was announced as the final project of the act.
Iggy Pop (2) 274 views 0 favorites Iggy Pop (born James Newell "Jim" Osterberg, Jr.; April 21, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues. Pop became known as 'Iggy' in high school, during which time he served as drummer for local blues band The Iguanas. He is vocalist of influential protopunk band The Stooges (Pop and the other surviving members of the group reunited in 2003), having become known, since the late 1960s, for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics.
Though the singer's popularity has waned and waxed throughout his career, Pop has recorded a number of well-known songs, including "Lust for Life", "Real Wild Child", "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "Candy" (a duet with Kate Pierson of The B-52's), "China Girl", "Nightclubbing", "Search and Destroy", and "The Passenger".
The Stooges were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
Iggy Pop (AKA Iggy Stooge) was born in Muskegon, Michigan, the son of Louella (née Christensen) and James Newell Osterberg, Sr., a former high school English teacher and baseball coach at Fordson High School in Dearborn, Michigan. Osterberg was raised in a trailer park in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He is of Irish and English descent on his father's side, and of Norwegian and Danish ancestry on his mother's. His father was adopted by a Swedish American family and took on their surname (Österberg).
Osterberg began his music career as a drummer in different high school bands in Ann Arbor, Michigan. One band was the Iguanas, from the name of which he adopted his future moniker Iggy. After exploring local blues-style bands such as the Prime Movers (with brothers Dan and Michael Erlewine), he eventually dropped out of the University of Michigan and moved to Chicago to learn more about blues. While in Chicago, he played drums in blues clubs, helped by Sam Lay (formerly of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) who shared his connections with Iggy. Inspired by Chicago blues as well as bands like The Sonics and The MC5, he formed the Psychedelic Stooges and began calling himself Iggy. The band was composed of Iggy on vocals, Ron Asheton on guitar, Asheton's brother Scott on drums, and Dave Alexander on bass.
Iggy Azalea (2) 546 views 0 favorites Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born June, 7, 1990), better known by her stage name Iggy Azalea, is an Australian recording artist and model from Mullumbimby, New South Wales. She relocated to the United States at the age of 16, first staying in Miami, Florida and then other parts of the South, including Houston, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. She first gained recognition after the respective music videos for her controversial songs "Pussy" and "Two Times," went viral on YouTube. On September, 27, 2011, Azalea released her first full-length project, a mixtape entitled Ignorant Art, saying she made it "with the intent to make people question and redefine old ideals". In 2012, she announced her signing to Mercury Records and the following year to Island Def Jam. Azalea became the first female, non-American rapper to be featured on XXL magazine's annual "Top 10 Freshman" cover issue. On July, 30, 2012, she released Glory, her debut extended play (EP), which was executive produced by Grand Hustle label-boss and American rapper T.I.. On October, 11, 2012, she released her second mixtape TrapGold, which was produced entirely by high-profile producer Diplo and 1st Down of production team FKi. The mixtape is significant for foreshadowing Azalea's new approach to music and her later work, which heavily includes electronic elements.
Idina Menzel (1) 273 views 0 favorites Idina Kim Menzel (pronounced /ɪˈdiːnə mɛnˈzɛl/; née Mentzel; born May 30, 1971) is an American actress, singer and songwriter. She is widely known for originating the roles of Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked. Idina was born on Long Island, New York, to a Jewish family. Her mother, Helene, is a therapist, and her father, Stuart Mentzel, worked as a pajama salesman. She was raised in Syosset, New York, with her younger sister Cara, and later changed the spelling of her last name (Mentzel) because of constant mispronunciation. When Menzel was 15 years old, her parents divorced and she began working as a wedding and bar mitzvah singer. A job she continued throughout her time at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She earned a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Drama at NYU. In 1995, Menzel auditioned for Rent, which became her first professional theater job and her Broadway debut. Rent opened off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop on January 26, 1996. it moved to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre due to its popularity. For her performance as Maureen Johnson in the original cast, Menzel received a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical. Her final performance in the musical was on July 1, 1997. Following the success of Rent, Menzel released her first solo album entitled "Still I Can't Be Still" on "HollyWood Records", Menzel also originated the role of Dorothy in Summer of '42 at Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut, starred as Sheila in the New York City Center Encores! production of Hair and appeared on Broadway as Amneris in Aida. Menzel earned a Drama Desk Award nomination for her performance as Kate in the Manhattan Theatre Club's 2000 off-Broadway production of Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party. Her other off-Broadway credits include the pre-Broadway run of Rent and The Vagina Monologues. In 2003, Menzel starred with actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth on Broadway in Wicked, a musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman loosely based upon the popular 1995 Gregory Maguire novel. Menzel received the 2004 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. On her third-to-last performance of Wicked on January 8, 2005, she fell through a trap door and cracked a lower rib. The injury prevented her from performing in the January 9 show. Menzel did, however, make a special out-of-costume appearance at that performance, performed her final song, and received a 5 minute long standing ovation. Menzel was replaced by Elphaba standby Shoshana Bean. Following Wicked, Menzel appeared off-Broadway in the Public Theater's production of See What I Wanna See, a Michael John LaChiusa-penned musical whose run ended in December 2005, for which she received Drama Desk Award and Drama League Award nominations. She reprised her Tony Award-winning role as Elphaba in the West End production of Wicked when it opened at London's Apollo Victoria Theater on September 7, 2006. During the run, she joined the ranks of highest paid female performer in the West End at $30,000 per week. Menzel finished her West End run on December 30, 2006. She was succeeded by Elphaba standby Kerry Ellis. Menzel played the role of Florence in the 21st Anniversary concert of Chess at the Royal Albert Hall, London from May 12-13, 2008. Alongside Kerry Ellis, Adam Pascal and Josh Groban. In 2008, Menzel headlined the Powerhouse Theatre's reading of Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's musical Nero from July 11-1. She performed the role of Nero's mistress Poppea. Menzel's film roles include appearances in Just a Kiss, Kissing Jessica Stein, Tollbooth, Water, Ask the Dust, Enchanted, and Rent, in which she and five other original cast members reprised their stage roles. As a singer Menzel is known for her wide vocal range, and her use of the 'belt' technique. Menzel performed at the 1998 Lilith Fair summer concert festival and continues to write and perform original music. She has toured extensively and frequently performs in various venues throughout New York City. She produced and released her debut album, Still I Can't Be Still, for Hollywood Records in 1998. One single from the album, "Minuet," made the Radio & Records CHR/Pop Tracks chart at #48 in October 1998. Her second album, Here, was released independently by Zel Records in 2004. Menzel has contributed to soundtracks, including those for the film The Other Sister and the ABC television dramedy Desperate Housewives. In 2007, she appeared on the Beowulf soundtrack singing the end credits song, "A Hero Comes Home". Also in 2007, Menzel's powerful singing voice lead her to be asked to accompany the baritone British X-Factor runner-up Rhydian Roberts on his debut album, duetting on the song "What if". Her third solo album, I Stand, was released on January 29, 2008. The CD includes many new songs, including the lead single, "Brave," the title track "I Stand," and a song released on EP, "Gorgeous". The album debuted at #58 in the Billboard 200 making it the first solo album by Menzel to make the charts. There are five versions of this album: the original version, the special limited edition, the iTunes version, the Barnes & Noble edition, and the Borders edition. On April 1, 2008, Menzel kicked off her "I Stand" tour in support of her new album. On November 11, 2008, Menzel released a new single in conjunction with Major League Baseball. The single is entitled "Hope" and all proceeds go to Stand Up 2 Cancer. On November 27, 2008, Menzel performed "I Stand" on the M&M Candies float as part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. When asked about 'Defying Gravity' being sung on Glee, Idina was asked about her musical future. She said that the movie version of 'Wicked' would probably not be around until a dip in its Broadway Box Office. Idina also said that she had met with Andrew Lloyd Webber about taking the role of Betty Schaefer in his much delayed Sunset Boulevard film adaptation. As of February 2010, it is widely believed that Idina is no longer part of Sunset Boulevard as Idina wanted the role enlarged to the refusal of Lloyd-Webber. On December 10, 2009, it was confirmed that Menzel is currently in negotiations to have a recurring role on Glee. In Spring 2010, Menzel began playing the role of Shelby Corcoran, the coach of the opposing Glee club, Vocal Adrenaline. She was also revealed as Rachel Berry's biological mother. Menzel married actor Taye Diggs, her co-star from the original Broadway production of Rent, on January 11, 2003 after 7 years of dating. They have a Yorkshire Terrier named Sammy Davis Jr. and two cats named Ella and Coltrane, whom they call their "Jazz Cats" because they were named after famous jazz performers. On December 6, 2004, it was reported by the New York Post that Menzel and Diggs were threatened with harm in a series of letters because of their interracial marriage. Their son, Walker Nathaniel Diggs, was born on September 2, 2009. Menzel was an Honorary Chair of the Imperial Court of New York's Annual Charity Coronation Ball, Night of A Thousand Gowns on March 21, 2009. Other Honorary Chairs for the evening's charity event included Sir Elton John CBE, Patti LuPone, John Cameron Mitchell, Joan Rivers and Dame Robin Strasser.
Icona Pop (2) 484 views 0 favorites Icona Pop is a Swedish DJ and synthpop duo with electro house music, punk and indie pop influences. The female duo, established in 2010, is made up of Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt.
Aino Jawo was born on 7 July 1986 and Caroline Elizabeth Hjelt on 8 November 1987. For some time, the duo was based in London, where they attracted international attention, including the debut single "Manners" on French Kitsuné Music, and "Nights Like This" on British Mercury Records. Other songs included "Lovers to Friends", "Sun Goes Down" and "I Love It".
iCarly (1) 356 views 0 favorites iCarly is an American teen sitcom that ran on Nickelodeon from September 8, 2007 until November 23, 2012. The series was created by Dan Schneider. It focuses on teenager Carly Shay, who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam Puckett and Freddie Benson. The show stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan Kress as Freddie, Jerry Trainor as Spencer, and Noah Munck as Gibby. It was taped at Nickelodeon on Sunset (season 1–5) and KTLA Studios (Season 6–7) in Hollywood, California. It was originally rated TV-Y7, and later changed to TV-G. The series finale, "iGoodbye", aired on November 23, 2012.
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Huey Lewis And The News (1) 368 views 0 favorites Huey Lewis and the News is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually scoring a total of 19 top-ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Mainstream Rock charts. Their greatest success was in the 1980s with the number-one album, Sports, coupled with a series of highly successful MTV videos. Their worldwide fame expanded when the song "The Power of Love" was featured as a key track in the film Back to the Future, became a number-one hit, and nominated for an Academy Award. The News combined a rock (and sometimes, a "blues-rock") backing with soul and doo-wop-influenced harmony vocals and Lewis' voice.
In 1972, singer/harmonica player Huey Lewis and keyboardist Sean Hopper joined the Bay Area jazz-funk band Clover. Clover recorded several albums in the 1970s, and in the middle of the decade transplanted themselves to England to become part of the UK pub rock scene for a time. Without Lewis (but with Hopper), they eventually became the original backing band for Elvis Costello's first album My Aim Is True. Lewis also worked with Irish band Thin Lizzy, contributing harmonica to the song "Baby Drives Me Crazy," recorded onstage for the Live and Dangerous album. Lizzy bassist/vocalist Phil Lynott introduces Lewis by name during the song. The band returned to the Bay Area by the end of the 1970s.
Clover's main competition in the Bay Area jazz-funk scene was a band called Soundhole, whose members included drummer Bill Gibson, saxophonist/guitarist Johnny Colla, and bassist Mario Cipollina (younger brother of John Cipollina). Like Clover, Soundhole had spent time backing a famous singer, Van Morrison. After getting a singles contract from Phonogram Records in 1978, Huey Lewis united his former bandmate and three of his former rivals to form a new group, Huey Lewis & The American Express. In 1979 they recorded and released a single, "Exo-Disco" (a disco version of the theme from the film Exodus), that was largely ignored. The B-side of this record, "Kick Back", was a song that had previously been performed live by Lewis and his former band, Clover. In 1979, the band wooed guitarist Chris Hayes and moved to Chrysalis Records. After the credit card organization American Express complained, in January 1980 they changed their name to Huey Lewis and the News.
Later in 1980, the band issued their first studio album, a self-titled LP, Huey Lewis and the News. It went largely unnoticed. In 1982, the band released their second studio album, the self-produced Picture This. The album turned gold, fueled by the breakout success of the hit single "Do You Believe in Love", written by former Clover producer Mutt Lange. Largely because of the single, the album remained on the Billboard 200 album chart for 35 weeks and peaked at No. 13. The follow-up singles from Picture This, "Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do" and "Workin' for a Livin'", followed with limited success, though the video for "Workin' for a Livin'" received considerable airplay on MTV and HBO's Video Jukebox.
Due to record label delays on the release of their third studio album, Sports, Huey Lewis and the News was back to square one in late 1983, touring small clubs in a bus to promote the record (eventually known as the "Workin' for a Livin'" tour). The new album initially hit No. 6 in the U.S. when first released. However, Sports slowly became a number-one hit in 1984 and multi-platinum success in 1985, thanks to the band's frequent touring and a series of videos that received heavy MTV airplay. Four singles from the album reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100: "Heart and Soul" reached No. 8, while "I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock & Roll," and "If This Is It" all reached No. 6. The album has sold over 10 million copies in the U.S. alone.
Their song "The Power of Love" was a number-one U.S. hit and featured in the 1985 film Back to the Future, for which they also recorded the song, "Back in Time". Lewis has a cameo appearance in the film as a faculty member who rejects Marty McFly's band's audition for the school's "Battle of the Bands" contest. As an inside joke, the piece the band plays is an instrumental heavy metal version of "The Power of Love" (Lewis's response: "Sorry, fellas ... I'm afraid you're just too darn loud"). "The Power of Love" was nominated for an Academy Award.
Following the success of "The Power of Love" and Back to the Future, Huey Lewis and the News released their fourth studio album, Fore! in 1986. Fore! followed the success of Sports and reached number-one on the Billboard 200. The album spawned the number-one singles, "Stuck with You" and "Jacob's Ladder" as well as the mainstream rock hit "Hip to Be Square". In all, the album had five top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified triple platinum.
The band continued to tour throughout 1987, and released Small World in 1988. After two hit, multi-platinum albums, Small World was considered a commercial disappointment, peaking at No. 11 and only going platinum. The album, which was more jazz and less rock than their previous albums, had one top ten single, "Perfect World", which reached No. 3 on the pop chart. The album was voted by Rolling Stone Magazine as the worst album of 1988.
At the end of the Small World tour in 1989, the band took a break from recording and heavy touring and parted ways with Chrysalis Records. In 1991, they released Hard at Play on the EMI label, which went back to the R&B/rock sound of their earlier albums, and released the hit singles, "Couple Days Off" (No. 11) and "It Hit Me Like a Hammer" (No. 21). The album was certified Gold (eventually hitting the one million sales mark) and the band headlined another world tour in support of the release, which would be their last album of new material for a decade.
The band once again changed labels, this time signing with Elektra Records, releasing a cover album in 1994 called Four Chords & Several Years Ago featuring doo-wop and rock songs from the 1950s and 1960s. This was the last album released with bassist Mario Cipollina, who left the band after the Four Chords & Several Years Ago world tour ended. The album charted on the Billboard 200 and had two hits on adult contemporary radio. In early 1997, the band released their first greatest hits album, Time Flies, which focused primarily on the releases from Picture This, Sports, and Fore!, and included four new tracks.