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T. E. Lawrence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Thomas Edward Lawrence
August 16, 1888(1888-08-16) - May 19, 1935


Nickname Lawrence of Arabia
Place of birth Tremadog, Caernarfonshire, North Wales
Place of death Bovington Camp, Dorset, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Air Force
Years of service 1914-1918
Rank Lieutenant colonel
Awards Companion in the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Légion d'Honneur

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence, CB, DSO (August 16, 1888 [1] - May 19, 1935), known professionally as T. E. Lawrence, was a British soldier renowned especially for his liaison role during the Arab Revolt of 1916-18, but whose vivid personality and writings, along with the extraordinary breadth and variety of his activities and associations, have made him the object of fascination throughout the world as "Lawrence of Arabia".

Lawrence's public image was due in part to U.S. traveller and journalist Lowell Thomas' sensationalised reportage of the Revolt, as well as to Lawrence's autobiographical account, Seven Pillars of Wisdom.





Early years

Lawrence was born in 1888 in Tremadog, Caernarfonshire, North Wales. His Anglo-Irish father, Sir Thomas Robert Tighe Chapman, seventh Baronet of Westmeath in Ireland, had abandoned his wife, Edith, for his daughters' governess, Sarah Junner. The couple did not marry. Sir Thomas and Sarah had five illegitimate sons, of whom Thomas Edward was the second-eldest. The family later lived at 2 Polstead Road (now marked with a blue plaque) in Oxford, under the names of Mr and Mrs Lawrence. Thomas Edward (known in the family as "Ned") attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys, where one of the four houses is now named "Lawrence" in his honour. In about 1905, Lawrence ran away from home and served for a few weeks as a boy soldier with the Royal Garrison Artillery at St Mawes Castle in Cornwall; he was bought out.

From 1907 Lawrence was educated at Jesus College, Oxford. During the summers of 1907 and 1908, he toured France by bicycle, collecting photographs, drawings and measurements of castles dating from the crusader period. Subsequently, in the summer of 1909, he set out alone on a three-month walking tour of crusader castles in Syria, during which he travelled 1,000 miles on foot. Lawrence graduated with First Class Honours after submitting a thesis on The influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture - to the end of the 12th century; the thesis was based on his own field research in France and the Middle East.

On completing his degree (1910), he commenced postgraduate research in medieval pottery with a Senior Demy at Magdalen College, Oxford, which he abandoned after he was offered the opportunity to become a practicing archaeologist in the Middle East. In December 1910 he sailed for Beirut, and on arrival went to Jbail (Byblos), where he studied Arabic. He then went to work on the excavations at Carchemish, near Jerablus in northern Syria, where he worked under D.G. Hogarth and R. Campbell-Thompson of the British Museum. He would later state that everything that he had accomplished, he owed to Hogarth.[2] While excavating ancient Mesopotamian sites, Lawrence met Gertrude Bell, who was to influence him for much of his time in the Middle East.

In late summer 1911, Lawrence returned to England for a brief sojourn. By November he was en route to Beirut for a second season at Carchemish, where he was to work with Leonard Woolley. Prior to resuming work there, however, he briefly worked with William Flinders Petrie at Kafr Ammar in Egypt.

Lawrence continued making trips to the Middle East as a field archaeologist until the outbreak of World War I. In January 1914, Woolley and Lawrence were co-opted by the British military as an archaeological smokescreen for a British military survey of the Negev Desert. They were funded by the Palestine Exploration Fund to search for an area referred to in the Bible as the "Wilderness of Zin"; along the way, they undertook an archaeological survey of the Negev Desert. The Negev was of strategic importance, as it would have to be crossed by any Turkish army attacking Egypt in the event of war. Woolley and Lawrence subsequently published a report of the expedition's archaeological findings,[3] but a more important result was an updated mapping of the area, with special attention to features of military relevance such as water sources. At this time, Lawrence visited Aqaba and Petra.

From March to May, Lawrence worked again at Carchemish. Following the outbreak of hostilities in August 1914, on the advice of S.F. Newcombe, Lawrence did not immediately enlist in the British Army but held back until October.



Arab Revolt


At the outbreak of World War I Lawrence was a British University post-graduate researcher who with, by, and under his own passport and visas had for years entered and traveled extensively within the Turkish Empire provinces of the Levant (Trans-Jordan & Palestine) and Mesopotamia (Syria & Iraq) under his own name. As such he became known to the Turkish Interior Ministry authorities and their European (German) "friends" and technical advisors who he came into contact with in order to pass into and then from one province within the Empire to another. As a fellow European Lawrence came into contact with the Turk's German technical advisors as a European himself living, working and operating in a "non-white" country; traveling over the German designed, built and financed railways during the course of his travels and researches.

Thus on the eve of World War I the Turks would have already regarded Lawrence as a relatively well known English foreigner who, was also known to have detailed knowledge of Turkish frontier territories bordering on the British sphere of influence at Suez and in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Once the Turkish Empire joined the war as a co-belligerent with Germany, the Turkish Interior Ministry would have regarded Lawrence and men like him as presumptively suspect enemy aliens who very likely would be spies working for their Governments. The Turks on their own or under the tutelage of their German advisors would have been on the lookout for all such persons, who might attempt reenter their Empire and reestablish contacts with their friends and or dissidents that they had met during their travels before the war.

Even if Lawrence had not volunteered, the British would probably have drafted him as a reserve officer for his detailed first-hand knowledge of the Levant, Syria and Mesopotamia. His posting to Cairo on the Intelligence Staff of the GOC Middle East was therefore inevitable. It is against this backdrop that Lawrence's actions should be viewed.

Contrary to later myth, it was not Lawrence or the Army that conceptualized a campaign of internal insurgency against the Turks in the Middle East, it was the Arab Bureau of Britain's Foreign Office. The Arab Bureau had long appraised as high the likelihood that a campaign instigated and financed by outside powers, supporting the break-away-minded tribes and regional challengers to the Turks' centralized rule of their empire, would pay great dividends in the diversion of effort that would be needed to meet such a challenge. The Arab Bureau was the first to recognize what is today called the "asymmetry" of such conflict. The Turks would have to devote a hundred or a thousand times the resources to contain the threat of such an internal rebellion, as would be the Allies' cost of sponsoring it.

At that point in the British Foreign Office's thinking they were not considering the region as candidate territories for formal incorporation and addition to the British Empire, but only as an extension of the range of British Imperial influence. And the weakening and destruction of a German ally, the Turkish Empire.

During the war, he fought with Arab irregular troops under the command of Emir Faisal, a son of Sherif Hussein of Mecca, in extended guerrilla operations against the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence's major contribution to World War I was convincing Arab leaders to co-ordinate their revolt to aid British interests.[citation needed] He persuaded the Arabs not to drive the Ottomans out of Medina, thus forcing the Turks to tie up troops in the city garrison. The Arabs were then able to direct most of their attention to the Hejaz railway that supplied the garrison. This tied up more Ottoman troops, who were forced to protect the railway and repair the constant damage.

In 1917 Lawrence arranged a joint action with the Arab irregulars and forces under Auda Abu Tayi (until then in the employ of the Ottomans) against the strategically located port city of Aqaba. He was promoted to major in the same year. On July 6, after an overland attack, Aqaba fell to Arab forces. Some 12 months later, Lawrence was involved in the capture of Damascus in the final weeks of the war and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1918.

As was his habit when travelling before the war, Lawrence adopted many local customs and traditions (many photographs show him in the desert wearing white Arab garb and riding camels), and he soon became a confidant of Prince Faisal.

During the closing years of the war he sought to convince his superiors in the British government that Arab independence was in their interests, with mixed success.

In 1918 he co-operated with war correspondent Lowell Thomas for a short period. During this time Thomas and his cameraman Harry Chase shot much film and many photographs, which Thomas used in a highly lucrative film that toured the world after the war.

Lawrence was made a Companion in the Order of the Bath and awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the French Légion d'Honneur, though in October 1918 he refused to be made a Knight Commander of the British Empire.


Post-war years

Immediately after the war, Lawrence worked for the Foreign Office, attending the Paris Peace Conference between January and May as a member of Faisal's delegation.

Lowell Thomas's film was seen by four million people in the post-war years, giving Lawrence great publicity.[citation needed] Until then, Lawrence had little influence, but soon newspapers began to report his opinions. Consequently he served for much of 1921 as an advisor to Winston Churchill at the Colonial Office.

Lawrence was ambivalent about Thomas's publicity, calling him a "vulgar man," though he saw Thomas's show several times.[citation needed] Starting in 1922, Lawrence attempted to join the Royal Air Force as an airman under the name John Hume Ross. He was soon exposed and subsequently forced out of the RAF. He changed his name to T.E. Shaw and joined the Royal Tank Corps in 1923. He was unhappy there and repeatedly petitioned to rejoin the RAF, which finally admitted him in August 1925. A fresh burst of publicity after the publication of Revolt in the Desert (see below) resulted in his assignment to a remote base in British India in late 1926, where he remained until the end of 1928. At that time he was forced to return to the UK after rumours began to circulate that he was involved in espionage activities.

He purchased several small plots of land in Chingford, built a hut and swimming pool there, and visited frequently. This was demolished in 1930 when the Corporation of London acquired the land.

He continued serving in the RAF, specialising in high-speed boats and professing happiness, and it was with considerable regret that he left the service at the end of his enlistment in March 1935.

Lawrence was a keen motorcyclist, and, at different times, had owned seven Brough Superior motorcycles.[4]


Death

A few weeks after leaving the service, aged 46, he was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident in Dorset, close to his cottage, Clouds Hill, near Wareham (now run by the National Trust and open to the public). The accident occurred because of a dip in the road that obstructed his view of two boys on their bicycles; he swerved to avoid them, lost control, and was thrown over the handlebars of his motorcycle. He died six days later.[5]

Some sources mistakenly claim that Lawrence was buried in St Paul's Cathedral; in reality, only a bust of him was placed in the crypt. His actual final resting place is the Dorset village of Moreton. Moreton Estate, which borders Bovington Camp, was owned by family cousins, the Frampton family. Lawrence had rented and subsequently purchased Clouds Hill from the Framptons. He had been a frequent visitor to their home, Okers Wood House, and had for many years corresponded with Louisa Frampton.

On Lawrence's death, his mother wrote to the Framptons; due to time constraints, she asked whether there was space for him in their family plot at Moreton Church. At his subsequent funeral there, attendees included Winston and Clementine Churchill and Lawrence's youngest brother, Arnold (who demonstrated the Lawrencian dry humour in speaking with reporters), and T.E. Lawrence's coffin was transported on the Frampton estate bier.


Writings

Throughout his life, Lawrence was a prolific writer. A large proportion of his output was epistolary; he often sent several letters a day. Several collections of his letters have been published. He corresponded with many notable figures, including George Bernard Shaw, Edward Elgar, Winston Churchill, Robert Graves and E.M. Forster. He met Joseph Conrad and commented perceptively on his works. The many letters that he sent to Shaw's wife, Charlotte, offer a revealing side of his character.[6]

In his lifetime, Lawrence published four major texts. Two were translations: Homer's Odyssey, and The Forest Giant - the latter an otherwise forgotten work of French fiction. He received a flat fee for the second translation, and negotiated a generous fee plus royalties for the first.


Seven Pillars

Lawrence's major work is Seven Pillars of Wisdom, an account of his war experiences. In 1919 he had been elected to a seven-year research fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford, providing him with support while he worked on the book. In addition to being a memoir of his experiences during the war, certain parts also serve as essays on military strategy, Arabian culture and geography, and other topics. Lawrence re-wrote Seven Pillars of Wisdom three times; once "blind" after he lost the manuscript while changing trains in Reading.

The accusation that Lawrence repeatedly exaggerated his feats has been a persistent theme among commentators.[citation needed] The list of his alleged "embellishments" in Seven Pillars is long, though many such allegations have been disproved with time, most definitively in Jeremy Wilson's authorised biography.

Lawrence acknowledged having been helped in the editing of the book by George Bernard Shaw. In the preface to Seven Pillars, Lawrence offered his "thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Shaw for countless suggestions of great value and diversity: and for all the present semicolons."

The first edition was to be published in 1926 as a high priced private subscription edition. Lawrence was afraid that the public would think that he would make a substantial income from the book, and he stated that it was written as a result of his war service. He vowed not to take any money from it, and indeed he did not, as the sale price was one third of the production costs.[citation needed] This left Lawrence in substantial debt.


Revolt

Revolt in the Desert was an abridged version of Seven Pillars, also published in 1926. He undertook a needed but reluctant publicity exercise, which resulted in a best seller. Again, he vowed not to take any fees from the publication, partly to appease the subscribers to Seven Pillars who had paid dearly for their editions. By the fourth reprint in 1927, the debt from Seven Pillars was paid off. As Lawrence left for military service in India at the end of 1926, he set up the "Seven Pillars Trust" with his friend DG Hogarth as a trustee, in which he made over the copyright and any surplus income of Revolt in the Desert. He later told Hogarth that he had "made the Trust final, to save myself the temptation of reviewing it, if Revolt turned out a best seller."

The resultant trust paid off the debt, and Lawrence then invoked a clause in his publishing contract to halt publication of the abridgement in the UK. However, he allowed both American editions and translations which resulted in a substantial flow of income. The trust paid income either into an educational fund for children of RAF officers who lost their lives or were invalided as a result of service, or more substantially into the RAF Benevolent Fund set up by Air-Marshal Trenchard, founder of the RAF, in 1919.


Posthumous

He also authored The Mint, a memoir of his experiences as an enlisted man in the Royal Air Force. Lawrence worked from a notebook that he kept while enlisted, writing of the daily lives of enlisted men and his desire to be a part of something larger than himself: the Royal Air Force. The book is stylistically very different from Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It was published posthumously, edited by his brother, Prof. A.W. Lawrence.

After Lawrence's death, his brother inherited all Lawrence's estate and his copyrights as the sole beneficiary. To pay the inheritance tax, he sold the U.S. copyright of Seven Pillars of Wisdom (subscribers' text) outright to Doubleday Doran in 1935. Doubleday still controls publication rights of this version of the text of Seven Pillars of Wisdom in the USA. He then in 1936 split the remaining assets of the estate, giving "Clouds Hill" and many copies of less substantial or historical letters to the nation via the National Trust, and then set up two trusts to control interests in Lawrence's residual copyrights. To the original Seven Pillars Trust he assigned the copyright in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as a result of which it was given its first general publication. To the Letters and Symposium Trust, he assigned the copyright in The Mint and all Lawrence's letters, which were subsequently edited and published in the book T. E. Lawrence by his Friends (edited by A.W. Lawrence, London, Jonathan Cape, 1937).

A substantial amount of income went directly to the RAF Benevolent Fund or for archaeological, environmental, or academic projects. The two trusts were amalgamated in 1986, and, on the death of Prof. A.W. Lawrence, also acquired all the remaining rights to Lawrence's works that it had not owned, plus rights to all of Prof. Lawrence's works.


Sexuality

As was common for his class and generation, Lawrence did not discuss his sexual orientation or sexual practices, and his actual orientation and experiences are debated. Writers working to elucidate the history of same-sex erotic relationships identify a strong homoerotic element in Lawrence's life, while scholars, including his official biographer, have been accused of "attempt[ing] to defend Lawrence against 'charges' of homosexuality."[7]


There is one clearly homoerotic passage in the Introduction, Chapter 2, of Seven Pillars of Wisdom: "quivering together in the yielding sand, with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace." However, this passage merely discusses Bedouin practices of homosexuality, not his own involvement in them.

The book is dedicated to "S.A." with a poem that begins:

"I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands
and wrote my will across the sky in stars
To gain you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house,
that your eyes might be shining for me
When I came."[8]
It is unclear whether "S.A." identifies a man, a woman, a nation, or some combination of the above. Lawrence himself maintained that "S.A." was a composite character.[citation needed] On the subject of the war, Lawrence once said: "I liked a particular Arab, and thought that freedom for the race would be an acceptable present."[9]

If "S.A." does refer to a particular person, a likely possibility is Selim Ahmed, nicknamed "Dahoum" ("Dark One"), a 14-year-old Arab with whom Lawrence is known to have been close. The two met while working at a pre-war archaeological dig at Carchemish. Lawrence allowed the boy to move in with him, carved a nude sculpture of him which he placed on the roof of the house in Greco-Roman style (Lawrence being a scholar of classical literature), and brought Ahmed on holiday to England.

The two parted in 1914, never to see each other again, as Dahoum died of typhus in 1918. Boston University Professor Matthew Parfitt (who never met Lawrence) maintains that "in Seven Pillars, and more explicitly in his correspondence, Lawrence suggests that his distaste for the entire exploit in its last triumphant days was largely owing to news of his friend's death."

In Seven Pillars, Lawrence claims that, while reconnoitering Deraa in Arab disguise, he was captured, tortured and possibly gang-raped.[10] Due to misconceptions about male sexual assault, some critics have used this as evidence to suggest that Lawrence was homosexual.[citation needed] For supporting evidence there are letters and reports that Lawrence bore scars of whippings, but the actual facts of the event are lost. Lawrence's own statements and actions concerning the incident contributed to the confusion. He removed the page from his war diary which would have covered the November 1917 week in question. As a result, the veracity of the Deraa events is a subject of debate.

It is true that Lawrence hired a man to beat him, making it clear he had unconventional tastes, notably masochism.[11] Also, years after the Deraa incident, Lawrence embarked on a rigid programme of physical rehabilitation, including diet, exercise, and swimming in the North Sea. During this time he recruited men from the service and told them a story about a fictitious uncle who, because Lawrence had stolen money from him, demanded that he enlist in the service and that he be beaten. Lawrence wrote letters purporting to be from the uncle ("R." or "The Old Man") instructing the men in how he was to be beaten, yet also asking them to persuade him to stop this. This treatment continued until his death.[12] The authenticity of some of these claims and reports is disputed, but others are verified.

Those who attest that T.E. Lawrence was homosexual are primarily biographers and researchers writing after his death. Most of the discussion about Lawrence's sexuality seems to have originated from Richard Aldington's scathingly critical Lawrence of Arabia: A Biographical Inquiry (1955). Richard Meinertzhagen wrote in his Middle East Diary that upon meeting Lawrence, he asked himself, "Boy or girl?" - though historians widely consider this to have been added after the fact. The play Ross (1960) by Terrence Rattigan, as well as the famous film Lawrence of Arabia, helped introduce the idea into popular culture.

In a letter to a homosexual, Lawrence wrote that he did not find homosexuality morally wrong, yet he did find it distasteful.[13] In the book T.E. Lawrence by His Friends, many of Lawrence's friends are adamant that he was not homosexual but simply had little interest in the topic of sex. Not one of them suspected him of homosexual inclinations. Like many men of the time, T.E. Lawrence had little pressure to pursue women, and most of his time was devoted to other activities. E.H.R. Altounyan, a close friend of Lawrence, wrote the following in T.E. Lawrence by His Friends:

"Women were to him persons, and as such to be appraised on their own merits. Preoccupation with sex is (except in the defective) due either to a sense of personal insufficiency and its resultant groping for fulfilment, or to a real sympathy with its biological purpose. Neither could hold much weight with him. He was justifiably self sufficient, and up to the time of his death no woman had convinced him of the necessity to secure his own succession. He was never married because he never happened to meet the right person; and nothing short of that would do: a bald statement of fact which cannot hope to convince the perverse intricacy of the public mind."

Vision of Middle East

A map of the Middle East that belonged to Lawrence has been put on exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in London. It was drafted by him and presented to Britain's War Cabinet in November 1918.

The map provides an alternative to present-day borders in the region, based on the sensibilities of the local populations. It includes a separate state for the Armenians and groups the people of present-day Syria, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia in another state, based on tribal patterns and commercial routes.




Military

According to Lawrence's RAF enlistment medical file of March 12, 1923, he was 5 ft 5.5 in (1.66 m) tall, weighed 130 lb (59 kg), had "scars on his buttocks", "three superficial scars on lower part of his back" and "four superficial scars left side." He was also circumcised.
One of his favourite weapons was a Colt Peacemaker revolver. As recounted in Thomas's With Lawrence In Arabia, Lawrence, while on a pre-war archaeological trip to Mesopotamia, was attacked by an Arab bandit intent on stealing his gun. However, the Arab did not understand the revolver's firing mechanism, and was forced to leave Lawrence unconscious but alive. After this incident, Lawrence's weapon of choice was the Peacemaker, and he almost always carried one for good luck. Lawrence was also known to carry a Broomhandle Mauser, and later, a Colt M1911 semi-automatic.
His SMLE Mk III rifle, given to him by Emir Feisal, is on display in the Imperial War Museum, London.

Film

Lawrence was portrayed twice on film, by Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and by Ralph Fiennes in the made-for-TV movie, A Dangerous Man: Lawrence after Arabia (1990). Both actors are much taller than the real Lawrence: O'Toole stands 6' 3" (1.90 metres) and Fiennes, 6' 1" (1.85 m). Alec Guinness was considered for the title role in the first film, but was passed over as too old; he did, however, play Emir Faisal.
Lawrence was portrayed a third time in the 1992 TV series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, by actors Joseph Bennett and Douglas Henshall.
He was portrayed by Judson Scott in the 1982 TV series, Voyagers!.

Theatre

Lawrence was also the subject of Terrence Rattigan's controversial play Ross, which explored Lawrence's alleged homosexuality. Ross ran in 1960-61, starring Alec Guinness, an admirer of Lawrence's. The play had originally been written as a screenplay, but the planned film was never made.
Alan Bennett's Forty Years On (1968) includes a satire on Lawrence; known as "Tee Hee Lawrence" because of his high-pitched, girlish giggle. "Clad in the magnificent white silk robes of an Arab prince ... he hoped to pass unnoticed through London. Alas he was mistaken." The section concludes with the headmaster confusing him with D.H. Lawrence.
The character of Private Napoleon Meek in George Bernard Shaw's 1931 play Too True to Be Good was inspired by Lawrence. Meek is depicted as thoroughly conversant with the language and lifestyle of tribals. He repeatedly enlists with the army, quitting whenever offered a promotion.
T.E. Lawrence's first year back at Oxford after the Great War to write his Seven Pillars of Wisdom was portrayed by Tom Rooney in a play, The Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion, written by Canadian playwright Stephen Massicotte (premiered Toronto 2006). The play explores Lawrence's political, physical and psychological reactions to war, and his friendship with poet Robert Graves.
Lawrence's final years are portayed in a one-man show by Raymond Sargent, "The Warrior and the Poet."[14]

Travel

Jordanian attempts to promote the Hejaz railway as a tourist attraction with a Lawrence Special running from Aqaba to Wadi Rum were derailed in September 2006 when a freight train ran off the track close to one of Lawrence's detonation points, causing similar damage to the permanent way.
A road in the Mount Batten area of Plymouth, where Lawrence was stationed, has been named Lawrence Road in his honour.

Other

Oxford legend holds that, while an undergraduate at Jesus College, Lawrence crept into the deer park of Magdalen at night and stole a deer; by the morning, he had managed to transfer the deer to the front quad of All Souls, the college which is normally off limits for undergraduates.
At the time Lawrence was going under the name Shaw, and signing himself, for example in the guest book at Philip Sassoon's Port Lympne estate, as "338171 A/C Shaw". Noel Coward in a letter to him asked "May I call you 338?"[15]
An evergreen practical joke of London newspapers is to place a notice in the Lost and Found column: "FOUND IN PADDINGTON STATION: manuscript of Arabian adventures. Will the author please call &c. &c.".[citation needed]

Al Hibbler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Albert George Hibbler (August 16, 1915-April 24, 2001) was a singer. He was born in Tyro, Mississippi. From birth he was blind.


Life and career

He attended a school for the blind in Little Rock, Arkansas where he joined the school choir. He won an amateur talent contest in Memphis, Tennessee and at first worked with local bands, as well as starting a band of his own. In 1942 he joined a band led by Jay McShann, and the next year he joined Duke Ellington's band, replacing Herb Jeffries. He worked eight years with Ellington before becoming a soloist. Some of his singing is classified as rhythm and blues, but he is really best classified as a bridge between R&B and traditional pop music.

His biggest hit was "Unchained Melody" in 1955. Other hits were "He", "11th Hour Melody", "Never Turn Back", and "After the Lights Go Low" (all in 1956). "After the Lights Go Low", sung with a put-on British accent, was his last charted hit.

In the late 1950s and 1960s, Hibbler became a civil rights activist, marching with protestors and getting arrested in 1959 in New Jersey and in 1963 in Alabama. The notoriety of this activism discouraged major record labels from carrying his work, but Frank Sinatra supported him and signed him to a contract with his label, Reprise Records.

However, Hibbler made very few recordings after that, occasionally doing live appearances through the 1990s. He died in April, 2001 in Chicago.

Fess Parker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fess Elisha Parker Jr. (born August 16, 1924) is an American film and television actor best known for his 1950s portrayals of Davy Crockett for Walt Disney, as well as a wine maker and resort owner-operator.




Early years

Parker was born in Fort Worth, Texas. Parker is best known for his role playing frontiersmen Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone as well as starting a fad of wearing coonskin caps. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps at the end of World War II. He enlisted to become a pilot but was rejected as an aviator for being too tall (six feet, five inches).

After being discharged, he was stabbed in the neck by a drunken driver during a post-collision argument. Parker required many months of rehabilitation, but he was unable afterwards to participate in collegiate sports as much as he wanted.

At the University of Texas he was initiated into the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity in 1948. Parker graduated from the University in 1950 with a history degree and moved to California, where he studied drama at the University of Southern California.

He married Marcella Belle Rinehart January 19, 1960. They have two children.

Fess Elisha Parker III
Ashley Allen Rinehart Parker

Acting career

He began his show business career in the play, Mister Roberts, in 1951 and was subsequently hired by the Walt Disney Studios in 1954 to play historic figure Crockett. He also made guest appearances on television programs, and composed and sang music.

From 1964-1970 he starred in the NBC series Daniel Boone. Parker retired from the film industry in the 1970s, after the short-lived 1974 sitcom The Fess Parker Show.

Parker has also appeared as on-screen narrator on at least one jury-duty orientation film.


Current work

Parker currently owns and operates a family winery, Fess Parker Winery and Vineyard, near Santa Barbara, California along with two hotels, the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort which he designed and developed (part-owner and jointly manages with Hilton Hotels) in Santa Barbara, and the Fess Parker's Wine Country Inn and Spa in nearby Los Olivos, California which he owns and manages.

Ann Blyth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Ann Marie Blyth
Born August 16, 1928 (1928-08-16)
Mount Kisco, New York USA
Spouse(s) Dr. James McNulty (1953-2007)

Ann Marie Blyth (born August 16, 1928) is an Oscar-nominated American actress and singer, most often cast in Hollywood musicals, but who also succeeded in the dramatic roles she was given.





Early life

Blyth was born in Mount Kisco, New York to parents who divorced shortly after her birth. She was raised a devout churchgoing Roman Catholic by her mother.


Career

Blyth began her acting career initially as "Anne Blyth", changing the spelling of her name back to the original (Ann) at the beginning of her film career. Her first acting role was on Broadway in Watch on the Rhine (from 1941 until 1942). She was signed to a contract with Universal Studios, and made her film debut in Chip Off the Old Block (1944). In musical films such as Babes on Swing Street and Bowery to Broadway (both 1944), she played the part of the sweet, and demure teenager. Her next film, on loan to Warner Brothers cast her against type, as Veda Pierce, the scheming, ungrateful daughter of Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945). Her dramatic portrayal won her outstanding reviews, and she received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Blyth injured her back after this film, and was not able to capitalize on its success completely although she was still able to make a few films. She played the part of Regina Hubbard in Another Part of the Forest (a 1948 prequel to The Little Foxes), and achieved success playing a mermaid in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948). Her other films include : Our Very Own (with Farley Granger, 1950), The Great Caruso (1951), One Minute to Zero (with Robert Mitchum, 1952), Rose Marie (1954), The Student Prince (1954), Kismet (1955), The Buster Keaton Story (1957) and The Helen Morgan Story.

Blyth raised eyebrows in 1954 at the Academy Awards show when she sang Doris Day's song Secret Love from Calamity Jane while seven months pregnant.

From the 1960s she worked in musical theater, summer stock and television. She also became the spokesperson for Hostess Cupcakes. Her most recent television appearances have been in episodes of Quincy (1983) and Murder, She Wrote (1985).

Blyth has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to motion pictures, at 6733 Hollywood Boulevard. She was featured in a comic book story with Superman in Action Comics No. 130, March 1949: "Superman and the Mermaid!".


Private life

Blyth married Dr. James McNulty, brother of Dennis Day, in 1953. The couple have five children and remained together until Dr. McNulty's death in 2007.

Robert Culp
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Martin Culp (born August 16, 1930 in Oakland, California), and a 1947 graduate of Berkeley High School, is an American actor, best known for his work on television.

Culp came to national attention with his first role on film as the lead star in the 1957 western television series Trackdown. After that series ended in 1959, he continued to work in television and guest starred on numerous TV shows in the early 1960s including a lead role of "Captain Shark" in the fourth episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Among his more memorable performances were in three episodes of the science fiction anthology series The Outer Limits (1963-1965) including the classic "Demon with a Glass Hand." In 1965, Culp would star in what would become his most famous role in a TV series, as Kelly Robinson on the espionage series I Spy (1965-1968), opposite co-star Bill Cosby as Alexander Scott. During the series run, he wrote scripts for seven episodes and directed one episode.

He played the murderer in three Columbo television movies, portraying several different characters. In 1971, he, Peter Falk, Robert Wagner, and Darren McGavin all stepped in to take turns with Anthony Franciosa's rotation of The Name of the Game after Franciosa was fired, rotating the lead of the lavish 90-minute show about the magazine business with Gene Barry and Robert Stack. His next starring stint on television was as FBI agent Bill Maxwell in The Greatest American Hero (1981). In 1987 he again teamed up with Bill Cosby on The Cosby Show playing Cliff Huxtible's (Bill Cosby) old friend Scott Kelly; the name is a combination of the I Spy character's names (see above) .

When Larry Hagman entered into contract negotiations over his character of J. R. Ewing in Dallas, Culp was ready to step into the role with an explanation that his face had been rebuilt following an accident. One of his most recent roles was a recurring part on Everybody Loves Raymond as Warren Whelan, Ray's father-in-law.

In addition to television, he has also worked as an actor in theatrical films, beginning with PT 109 (1963) and then as Wild Bill Hickok in The Raiders (1963). He went on to star in the film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969); probably the height of his movie career. One of his most memorable film roles was as Thomas Luther Price in Hannie Caulder (1971). He later starred in the films Hickey & Boggs (1972), which reunited him with Cosby for the first time after I Spy, and Turk 182 (1985). Culp also played the U.S. President in Alan J. Pakula's The Pelican Brief (1994). Altogether, Culp has made hundreds of appearances in TV shows and movies between 1957 and 2007.

Culp lent his voice to the digital character Doctor Breen, the prime antagonist in the 2004 computer game Half-Life 2.

Culp has been married five times and has two sons. From 1967 to 1970, he was married to Eurasian actress France Nuyen.

Eydie Gormé
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name Edith Gormezano
Born August 13, 1931 (1931-08-13) (age 76)
Origin Bronx, New York City, USA
Genre(s) Big band, Swing, pop standards
Occupation(s) Singer, Actor
Years active 1955 - Present
Website http://www.steveandeydie.com/

Eydie Gormé (born Edith Gormezano on August 16, 1931) is an American singer credited heavily, along with husband Steve Lawrence, with helping to keep the classic Traditional pop music repertoire alive and well. She still continues to entertain and tour with husband Steve.

Throughout her long career she has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Grammy Award, and an Emmy Award.

The couple's striking union of broad ballads and breezy swing has combined with the endurance of their marriage and their comic facility to make them American institutions---even though neither of the couple, as separate performers or together, has put a single into the American Top 40 since 1963.




Early years

Gormé was born Edith Gormezano in Bronx, New York, and raised by her immigrant Sephardic parents, of Spanish descent. She graduated from William Howard Taft high school in 1946 (legendary film director Stanley Kubrick attended the school at the same time), and worked for the United Nations as a translator, using her fluency in the Spanish language.

She also hired out as a singer, working in the big bands of former Glenn Miller singer Tex Beneke as well as the lesser-known Tommy Tucker, before going on her own in 1952.


Tonight Show start

She caught both her big break and her life partner when she and singer Steve Lawrence were booked to the original The Tonight Show, then hosted by Steve Allen. When they sang together, the legend goes, the industry buzzed about them from the morning after forward; indeed, Steve & Eydie (as they are usually referenced) became two of the only legitimate music stars to break out from 1950s television. (Rick Nelson, who strutted his stuff on his parents' hit situation comedy, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, was the other.)


Marriage

The couple were married in Las Vegas on December 29, 1957. They had two sons, one of whom predeceased them. They became famous on stage for their banter, which usually involved tart yet affectionate and sometimes bawdy references to their married life, which remains a feature of their stage style even now. (A typical exchange: Lawrence---"Baby, you're the only thing I've invested in that's doubled." Gormé---"Now you have to figure out how to make me split.")

In 1995 Gorme and Lawrence were honored for their lifetime contribution to song by the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Solo/duo

Gormé enjoyed a few hit singles on her own, none selling bigger than 1963's "Blame it on the Bossa Nova", which was also her final foray into the Top 40 pop charts. Still, she won a Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance in 1967, for her version of "If He Walked Into My Life", from the stage musical Mame. Like her husband, Gormé has appeared on numerous television shows over the years, including The Carol Burnett Show and The Nanny. She and Lawrence appeared together on Broadway in the unsuccessful musical Golden Rainbow, the gestation of which is covered in very unflattering detail in William Goldman's 1968 book The Season.


Gorme also gained unique crossover success in the Latin Music market through a series of albums she made in Spanish. One album being her bestselling album: Eydie Gorme, Canta en Espanol (Sings in Spanish) with a trio of musicians called Los Panchos. The other album is called Cuatro Vidas (Four Lives).

As a duo with her husband, their show name was "Steve and Eydie". In 1960, Steve and Eydie were awarded the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group for their song "We Got Us." One of their best known duos was the 1979 Israeli song "Hallelujah," winner of the Eurovision song contest. They recorded it under the pseudonym Parker and Penny.

Since the 1970s, the couple has focused strictly on the American pop repertoire, recording several albums themed around individual American pop composers. As the 21st Century arrived, the normally indefatigable couple announced their plans to cut back on their touring, launching a "One More For The Road" tour in 2002.

In 2006 Gormé became a blogger, posting occasional messages on her official Web site.


Parenthood

Gormé and Lawrence had two sons, David, who is a composer, and Michael, who died unexpectedly of ventricular fibrillation resulting from an undiagnosed heart condition in 1986, at the age of 23.[1] Michael was a seeded tennis player at Cal State Northridge the time of his death, and apparently healthy despite a previous diagnosis of slight arrhythmia, which he was expected to grow out of. Gormé and Lawrence were in Atlanta at the time of his death, having performed at the Fox Theater the night before. Upon learning of the tragedy, Frank Sinatra sent his private plane to pick up the couple so that they could fly to New York to meet their other son, David, who was attending school at the time. Following the death of Michael, the couple took a year off before touring again.

Julie Newmar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Birth name Julie Chalene Newmeyer
Born August 16, 1933 (1933-08-16)
Los Angeles, California
Spouse(s) J. Holt Smith (1977-1983)

Julie Newmar (born Julie Chalene Newmeyer on August 16, 1933) is an American actress, dancer and singer. Her most famous role is Catwoman in the Batman television series.




Biography

Youth

Julie Newmar was born in Los Angeles, California, the eldest of three children. She graduated from John Marshall High School. Her mother, Helen Jesmer, was a Ziegfeld Follies dancer, her father, Donald Newmeyer, was a teacher, real estate investor, and former NFL tackle for the road-only Los Angeles Buccaneers (based for one season in Chicago in 1926). Her first appearances, before she changed her name, were as the "dancer-assassin" in Slaves of Babylon (1953) and as "the gilded girl" in Serpent of the Nile (1953) in which she was clad only in gold paint. She also danced in several other films including The Band Wagon and Demetrius and the Gladiators and was a ballerina with the Los Angeles Opera. She also worked as a choreographer and dancer for Universal Studios.


Career

Her first major role, billed as "Julie Newmeyer", was as one of the brides in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954). Her show-stopping 90-second Broadway appearance as "Stupefyin' Jones" in Li'l Abner in 1956 led to a reprise in the 1959 film version.

Newmar also appeared on Broadway in the non-musical 1961 play, The Marriage-Go-Round, which starred Claudette Colbert. Newmar re-developed the stock character role of the sexy Swedish vixen and won a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Newmar starred as the sexy 'Rhoda the Robot' in the short-lived cult TV series My Living Doll. She is best known for her 13-episode recurring role on the 1960s TV series Batman as the "purrfect" villainess, Catwoman (portrayed in the related 1966 feature film by Lee Meriwether and in the series' final season by Eartha Kitt). In 1967, she guest starred as April Conquest in an episode of The Monkees and as a pregnant princess named Eleen in the Star Trek episode "Friday's Child." She appeared on stage with the late Anthony Newley in a national tour of Stop the World - I Want to Get Off, and as "Lola" in Damn Yankees!. She also guest-starred on such iconic 60s TV shows as The Twilight Zone, F-Troop, The Beverly Hillbillies and Get Smart.


In the 1980s and early 1990s, Newmar appeared in several low-budget films. She guest-starred on TV shows including The Love Boat, Hart to Hart, CHiPs, Fantasy Island, and Melrose Place. She also appeared in George Michael's videoclip Too Funky in 1992.

In 1995, she made a cameo appearance at the end of the film : To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, a film that paid homage to her legendary beauty.


Personal life

After a relationship with the novelist Louis L'Amour in the early 1950s, Newmar married J. Holt Smith (born 1942), a lawyer, on August 5, 1977. The marriage was dissolved in 1984. They had one child, John Jewl Smith, who is deaf and has Down Syndrome. According to a 2006 interview the actress gave journalist Jane Wollman Rusoff, Newmar, who was 46 at the time of her pregnancy, "opted against tests to determine whether the baby might be born with Down Syndrome or other disorders." The child was born five weeks premature and with two inoperable holes in his heart.[1]

On November 2, 2004, Julie Newmar was sued by next-door neighbor and TV comedian, James Belushi, for the sum of $4,000,000. Belushi claimed that she had been harassing him and actively trying to force him to move through such acts as destroying his property, blaring loud music directed at his home, and bad-mouthing him to neighbors. Julie Newmar countered that she was the victim of a boorish and arrogant James Belushi. However, as of January 2006, the dispute was settled, and she later appeared on an episode of James Belushi's sitcom, According to Jim in an episode ("The Grumpy Guy") that poked fun at the feud.


Quote

"Tell me I'm beautiful, it's nothing. Tell me I'm intellectual, I know it. Tell me I'm funny and it's the greatest compliment in the world anyone could give me." ?- Julie Newmar, New York Times interview.

Pantyhose Inventor and Real Estate Investor

Newmar invented and marketed her own brand of pantyhose, "Nudemar," in the 1970s & 1980s. She holds three U.S. patents: 3,914,799 and 4,003,094 for "Pantyhose with shaping band for Cheeky derriere relief" and 3,935,865 for "Brassiere." After further education at UCLA in the early 1980s, Newmar began investing in Los Angeles real estate. As an article about the actress has noted, "Newmar is partly responsible for improving the Los Angeles neighborhood at La Brea Avenue and Beverly Boulevard."[2]

Lesley Ann Warren
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born August 16, 1946 (1946-08-16)
New York, New York
Spouse(s) Jon Peters
(13 May 1967 - 1977) (divorced) 1 child
Ronald Taft
(16 January 2000 - present)
[show]Awards
Golden Globe Awards
Best TV Actress - Drama
1977 79 Park Avenue

Lesley Ann Warren (born August 16, 1946), is a Golden Globe Award-winning, Oscar nominated American stage, film and television actress and singer.

Warren was born in New York City to a Jewish family whose surname was originally "Woronoff". The 5-foot-8 inch actress began her career as a ballet dancer, training at the School of American Ballet.

She entered the Actors Studio at the age of seventeen - reputedly the youngest applicant ever to be accepted. Her Broadway debut came in 1963 in the musical, 110 in the Shade. She won the Theatre World Award for her performance in the 1965 flop musical Drat! The Cat!. In 1973 she portrayed Scarlett O'Hara in the Los Angeles production of Scarlett, which was reviewed so scathingly it didn't continue to Broadway as planned.

Having failed to obtain the role of Liesl in the film version of The Sound of Music, her first major television success was in the title role of Rodgers and Hammerstein's television special, Cinderella, in 1965. She later replaced Barbara Bain as the leading female in the Mission: Impossible team during the 1970-1971 television season, though according to The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier by Patrick White, she was considered too inexperienced for the part and left after only one year (she was billed as Lesley Warren on the series).

In 1967, she married producer Jon Peters. They had one son, Christopher Peters (born 1968, now an actor), but were subsequently divorced.






Television

She has also appeared extensively on television, most notably in Mission: Impossible (1970-71). In 1970 she also had the lead role in an unbroadcast pilot based upon the 1965 film Cat Ballou. Most recently, she has had recurring roles on Will & Grace - as Will's father's mistress - and on Desperate Housewives as Susan's mother. She has also played the role of Claudia Casey's mother on the ABC show "Less Than Perfect".


Trivia

She played Lois Lane in the 1975 TV production of the failed 1966 musical, It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman and later auditioned for the role of Lois in the 1978 Superman movie. Footage of Warren's screen-test for the role is included on the film's DVD release. Incidentally, Teri Hatcher, (who Warren would play mother to in Desperate Housewives) played Lois Lane in the 90's Superman series, Lois and Clark.

Angela Bassett
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born August 16, 1958 (1958-08-16)
Harlem, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s) Courtney B. Vance (1997-present)


Angela Evelyn Bassett (born August 16, 1958) is an Emmy and Academy Award-nominated, and Golden Globe winning American actor who is particularly known for biographical film roles portraying women in American culture.





Biography

Born in The Bronx, and then relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, as a child. Angela Bassett and her sister D'nette were raised by their social worker mother, Betty. Bassett spent most of her childhood in housing projects, but even at a young age she was an entertainer. She and her younger sister often put on shows, reading poems or performing popular music, for their mother and aunts. At Boca Ciega High School, Bassett was a member of the debate team, student government, drama club, choir, and was a cheerleader. Bassett attended Yale University and received her B.A. in African-American studies in 1980. In 1983, she earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the Yale School of Drama. At Yale Bassett met her future husband Courtney B. Vance, a 1986 graduate of the drama school. After graduation, Bassett worked as a receptionist for a beauty salon and as a photo researcher.

She soon looked for acting work in New York theater. One of her first New York performances came in 1985 when she appeared in J.E. Franklin's Black Girl at Second Stage Theatre. She appeared in two August Wilson plays at the Yale Repertory Theatre under the direction of her long-time instructor Lloyd Richards. The Wilson plays featuring Bassett were Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984) and Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1986).


Television and film career

In 1985 she made her first appearance on television as a prostitute in the TV movie Doubletake (1985). However, she made her official film debut as a news reporter in F/X (1986). Bassett has said "I really believe that what I do as an actress is my God-given talent. This is my calling...not my career." Bassett moved to Los Angeles and gained recognition in the films Boyz n the Hood (1991) and Malcolm X (1992). For her portrayal of Betty Shabazz she earned an Image Award.

Later that year, she won the role of Tina Turner in the feature film What's Love Got to Do with It. Bassett went through a lengthy and intense audition and broke her finger during a screen, but was given the role over actors Robin Givens and Halle Berry. To gain Turner's well-sculpted figure, Bassett went on a no-sugar diet and weight-trained four hours a day, six days a week. She had to memorize numerous song lyrics and full dance routines to portray the singing legend during her performances.

The film was released in 1993. Bassett earned a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Turner. She was the first African-American to win the Best Actress Golden Globe for a Musical or Comedy.

Angela Bassett starred in three movies in 1995 that were released with varied reactions from critics; Vampire in Brooklyn, Strange Days, and Waiting to Exhale (where she worked with author Terry McMillan). In Strange Days, Bassett plays Lornette "Mace" Mason who is regarded as the savior/heroine in the film often saving the male main character in gutsy, raw fist fights or fiery car chases. Bassett's Mace is also one of the few black female science-fiction characters in film. Bernadine, Bassett's character in Waiting to Exhale, was betrayed by her husband and in revenge she set fire to his entire wardrobe and vehicle, then she sold what was left for one dollar. Bassett's performance in the film was so popular that her scenes are often referenced in novels, and there are still social groups that gather to watch Waiting to Exhale.

It can be argued that Angela Bassett's first truly leading role, where the film solely depended on her star power and charisma, was in 1998's How Stella Got Her Groove Back where she once again collaborated with McMillan. She played Stella in the film about a 40-year-old professional woman falling in love with a 20-year-old Jamaican man. Bassett appears in nearly every scene in the film, showing off her toned figure in jogging suits or two-piece swim-suits, but more notably displaying her leading lady status. She unsurprisingly received rave reviews:

Bassett made headlines when she stated that she was offered the role in Monster's Ball (for which Halle Berry won a history-making Oscar) but did not accept it because of its representation of African-American females.

Bassett has not had to audition for a film since 1993's What's Love Got to Do with It? although Bassett says that she would not mind auditioning for a director to prove that she can do a role they are not used to seeing her perform.

Angela Bassett is a private person, often choosing not to discuss her personal life with the public. She is also a religious person who is of the Christian faith and attends LA's West Angeles Church of God in Christ along with fellow actor Denzel Washington. Bassett told the Los Angeles Times: "Loving God is like my being black. I just am. [No one says] 'You know what? I'm gonna be blacker today!' It's my culture. It's not something I put on or take off or show more. You just communicate that in the way you live your life."

She has been married to actor Courtney B. Vance since 1997. In the summer of 2005, they starred together in a production of the play His Girl Friday at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The couple's first children, son Slater Josiah and daughter Bronwyn Golden, were born on January 27, 2006. The children were carried by a surrogate mother after Bassett had a seven year battle with infertility.

Bassett is an avid supporter of programs for the Arts, especially for youth. She annually attends events for children with diabetes and in foster homes, and she is an active Ambassador of UNICEF. Bassett is a big supporter of the Royal Theater Boys & Girls Club in her hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. The Club is one of the first all performing arts Boys & Girls Clubs in the country.

Madonna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name Madonna Louise Ciccone
Also known as Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone
Born August 16, 1958 (1958-08-16) (age 49)
Bay City, Michigan, United States
Origin New York City, New York, United States
Genre(s) Dance-pop, synthpop, electronica
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, record producer, film producer, film director, musician, fashion designer, dancer, author, actress
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, percussion
Years active 1982-present
Label(s) Warner Bros., Maverick, Sire, Warner Music Group
Website Madonna.com

Madonna Louise Ciccone (born August 16, 1958), better known as Madonna, is an American dance-pop singer-songwriter, record and film producer, dancer, actress, author and fashion icon. She is noted for her ambitious music videos and stage performances as well as using political, sexual, and religious themes in her work.[1]

The Guinness World Records lists Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time,[2] with estimated worldwide album sales of 175 million[3] and 75 million singles;[3] Madonna is the highest earning female singer of all time according to both the 2007 Guinness Book of Records,[4] and Billboard Magazine. Forbes magazine has estimated her net worth at $325 million.[5] In addition, Madonna holds the record for the top-grossing concert tour by a female artist.[6]




Biography

Early life

Madonna Louise Ciccone was born in Bay City, Michigan. She was the third of eight children (her siblings are Martin, Anthony, Christopher, Paula, Melanie, Mario, and Jennifer)[7] born to Silvio "Tony" Ciccone, an Italian-American Chrysler engineer whose parents originated from Pacentro, and Madonna Louise Fortin, who was of Québécois descent.

She was raised in a Catholic family in the Detroit suburbs of Pontiac and Avon Township (now Rochester Hills). Madonna's mother died of breast cancer at age 30 on December 1, 1963. Her father later married the family housekeeper, Joan Gustafson, and they had two children together.

Madonna convinced her father to allow her to take ballet classes. Her ballet teacher, Christopher Flynn, exposed Madonna to gay discotheques. She attended Rochester Adams High School, where she was a straight-A student and a member of the cheerleading squad.

She left the University of Michigan at the end of her sophomore year in 1978 and moved to New York City to pursue a dance career. Madonna has said:

" "When I came to New York it was the first time I'd ever taken a plane, the first time I'd ever gotten a taxi-cab, the first time for everything. And I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I'd ever done."[8] "

She had little money and for some time lived in squalor, working low-paying jobs including a stint at Dunkin' Donuts. She also worked as a nude model. She studied with Martha Graham and Pearl Lang, and later performed with several modern dance companies, including Alvin Ailey and the Walter Nicks dancers.

While performing as a dancer for the French disco artist Patrick Hernandez on his 1979 world tour,[9] Madonna became involved with the musician Dan Gilroy, with whom she later formed her first rock band, the Breakfast Club. In it, she sang and played drums and guitar before forming the band Emmy in 1980 with drummer and former boyfriend Stephen Bray. She and Bray wrote and produced dance songs that brought her local attention in New York dance clubs. DJ and record producer Mark Kamins was impressed by her demo recordings, so he brought them to the attention of Sire Records founder Seymour Stein.


Professional career

1980-1985: Rise to fame

In 1982, Madonna signed a singles deal with Sire Records (a new wave label belonging to Warner Bros. Records) in the United States that paid her $5,000 per song.[citation needed] Her first release (April 24, 1982), "Everybody", a self-written song produced by Mark Kamins, became a hit on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Chart but failed to make the Billboard Hot 100.[10] It also gained airplay on U.S. R&B radio stations, leading many to assume that Madonna was a black artist.[11] The double-sided 12" vinyl single featuring "Burning Up" and "Physical Attraction" followed in 1983, and was a success on the U.S. dance charts. These results convinced Sire Records' executives to finance an album.[citation needed]

Her debut album, Madonna, a collection of dance songs, was primarily produced by Reggie Lucas, but in the process both realized they could not work well together.[citation needed] After initial production on the album was completed, Madonna took the record to her then boyfriend, John "Jellybean" Benitez, who remixed and rearranged it. It reached number eight on the U.S. albums chart[10] and contained three successful Hot 100 singles, "Holiday", "Borderline", and "Lucky Star".[citation needed] At the time of its release, Madonna sold three million copies worldwide, one million of those in the U.S. It has since been certified with current sales of 8 million worldwide.[10]

As Madonna rose to fame, several young females became increasingly influenced by and dressed in her fashions portrayed in photographs, live performances and music videos. Defined by lace tops, skirts over Capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the Christian cross, and bleached hair, this distinctive style became an iconic female fashion trend in the 1980s.[12][13]

Her follow up album, Like a Virgin, was an international success, and became her first number one album on the U.S. albums chart.[14] Buoyed by the success of its title track, Like a Virgin, which reached number one in the U.S. (with a six week stay at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart[9] as well as hit singles with "Material Girl" (#2 US, kept out of the number one spot by USA for Africa's "We Are the World" single), "Angel", and "Dress You Up", the album sold twelve million copies at its time of release and currently stands at 19 million copies worldwide[10] and produced four top-five singles in the U.S. and the UK. Her performance of the song at the first MTV Video Music Awards, during which she writhed on the stage (on top of a wedding cake) wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown, lacy stockings, garters, and her then-trademark "Boy Toy" belt,[15] as well as the first of several public displays that boosted Madonna's fan base as much as they incensed some critics, who felt that her provocative style attempted to disguise an absence of talent.[citation needed]

In 1985, Madonna entered mainstream films, beginning with a brief appearance as a club singer in the film Vision Quest. The soundtrack to the film contained her second number one pop hit, the Grammy-nominated ballad "Crazy for You",[citation needed] as well as the UK hit "Gambler". Later that year she appeared in the commercially and critically successful film Desperately Seeking Susan, with her comedic performance winning her positive reviews.[citation needed] The film introduced the dance song "Into the Groove", which was released as a B-side to her single "Angel", peaking at number five in the U.S.[10] and becoming a major hit internationally, and her first number one in the UK.[16]

Madonna embarked on her first concert tour in the U.S. in 1985 titled The Virgin Tour, with opening act The Beastie Boys.

In July 1985, Penthouse and Playboy magazines published a number of black and white nude photos of Madonna taken in the late 1970s. The publications caused a swell of public discussion of Madonna, who at first tried to block them from being published, but later remained unapologetic and defiant.[17] Speaking to a global audience at the outdoor Live Aid charity concert at the height of the controversy, Madonna made a critical reference to the media and stated she would not take her jacket off, despite the heat, because "they might hold it against me ten years from now".[17] Madonna later appeared on the cover of the NY Post newspaper quoted saying about the photographs "I'm NOT ashamed."[citation needed]


1986-1991: Artistic development

Madonna's 1986 album True Blue presented a more musically and thematically mature album than its predecessors, prompting Rolling Stone to declare, "singing better than ever, Madonna stakes her claim as the pop poet of lower-middle-class America."[18] The album included the soulful ballad "Live to Tell", which she wrote for the film At Close Range, starring then-husband Sean Penn. The album was also the first to credit her as producer.[citation needed] She collaborated with composer Patrick Leonard, who would become a long-time collaborator and friend. True Blue reached #1 in various countries and sold over eleven million copies worldwide at its time of release. [19] It spawned five successful singles, which all reached the top five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Live to Tell", "Papa Don't Preach", "Open Your Heart", "True Blue" and "La Isla Bonita".[20]

The music videos for the album displayed Madonna's continued interest in pushing the boundaries of the video medium to a cinematic level, including elaborate art direction, cinematography, and film devices such as character and plot. Though Madonna had already made videos expressing her sexuality, she added religious iconography, gender archetypes, and social issues to her oeuvre, and these concepts would carry through her work for years to come. One notable example was the "Open Your Heart" video, her first collaboration with French photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

In 1987, Madonna starred in the box office failure Who's That Girl, and contributed four songs to its soundtrack, including the film's title track, which became a hit and Madonna's sixth #1 single in the U.S.[citation needed] The albums second single, "Causing a Commotion" also entered the top five.[10]

Madonna embarked on the Who's That Girl World Tour the same year, at the time the highest-grossing tour in music history,[21] beginning her long association with backing vocalists and dancers Donna DeLory and Niki Haris, and moving closer to the more elaborately staged theater-inspired concert tour. It also marked her first run-in with the Vatican, with the Pope urging fans not to attend her performances in Italy.[22]

Later that year, Madonna released a remix album of past hits, You Can Dance, which included one new song, "Spotlight." The album sold over one million copies in the U.S. and 5 million worldwide.[10]

In 1988, city officials in the town of Pacentro, Italy,[23] planned to construct a 13-foot statue of Madonna in a bustier. The statue was intended to commemorate the fact that some of Madonna's ancestors had lived in Pacentro.

Madonna's fourth album, Like a Prayer, released in 1989, presented more personal lyrics, a more mature vocal style, and solidified her standing as a pop artist.[citation needed] The album was co-written and co-produced with Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray[citation needed]. She teamed up with Prince on a duet, and he also played guitar on two songs. Like a Prayer garnered Madonna the strongest reviews of her career and attracted a more mature audience. All Music Guide described the album as "her best and most consistent",[24] while Rolling Stone hailed the album as "..as close to art as pop music gets".[25] Like a Prayer peaked at number one on the US album chart and sold 13 million copies worldwide, with 4 million copies alone sold in the U.S.[10] The album produced five hit singles: the title track, "Express Yourself," "Cherish," "Oh Father," and "Keep It Together." "Like a Prayer" itself hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.[26]


"Like a Prayer" (1989) caused controversy as it was condemned by the Vatican for its 'blasphemous' mixture of Catholic symbolism and eroticism.In early 1989, Madonna signed an endorsement deal with soft drink manufacturer Pepsi, which would debut her new song, "Like a Prayer," in a Pepsi commercial that Madonna would also appear in. Madonna would make a separate music video which Pepsi would have nothing to do with. Although the commercial itself was not controversial, the video for "Like a Prayer" caused an uproar[15].[citation needed] The video premiered on MTV and featured many Catholic symbols, such as stigmata,[15]. The video depicted a black man who comes to the aid of a white woman being murdered by white men and he is falsely arrested for the crime. Madonna, who has witnessed the crime, secures his release. Although the video's intent was to denounce racism, Madonna was criticized for her use of burning crosses and "making out" with Jesus.[citation needed] Pepsi was bombarded with complaints and boycotts.[citation needed] Since the commercial and music video were nearly identical in visual terms, the soft drink manufacturer was unable to convince the public that their commercial actually had nothing that could be deemed inappropriate. Pepsi pulled the commercial but Madonna kept her five million dollar fee, as Pepsi had nullified the contract, not she.[14]

In 1990, Madonna starred as Breathless Mahoney in a film adaptation of the popular comic book series Dick Tracy.[27] To accompany the launching of the film, in May 1990 she released I'm Breathless, which included songs from and inspired by the film's 1930s setting. It featured the #1 house music anthem "Vogue"[citation needed] (which was an homage to the Hollywood stars), the Gershwin-esque "Something to Remember", and three songs by Stephen Sondheim, including "Sooner or Later", which won an Academy Award for 'Best Original Song',[28] I'm Breathless was a success in Europe, Australia and the United States, and sold 5 million copies worldwide (2x platinum in the U.S.).[10]

From April until August 1990, Madonna toured Japan, North America, and Europe on her highly successful Blond Ambition World Tour[citation needed], which the singer likened to musical theatre. Featuring religious and sexual themes and symbolism, the tour drew controversy from Madonna's performance of "Like a Virgin", during which she allowed two male dancers to caress her body before she simulated masturbation.[22] Despite the controversy, however, the tour is now considered to have changed the look and feel of concert tours, and remains one of the singer's most popular tours amongst her fans.[citation needed]

In November 1990, Madonna released her first greatest hits compilation album, The Immaculate Collection, which included two new songs: "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me." "Rescue Me," became the highest-debuting single by a female artist in U.S. chart history, entering the charts at number 15.[9] The music video for "Justify My Love," again directed by Mondino, showed Madonna at the Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris, in suggestive scenes with her then-lover, model/actor Tony Ward, as well as scenes of S&M, bondage with gay and lesbian characters,[29] and brief nudity[15]. It was deemed too sexually explicit for MTV, and was subsequently banned from the station.[29] Warner Bros Records released the video as a video single ?- the first of its kind?-and it became the highest-selling video single of all time.[citation needed] The album went on to sell over 22 million copies worldwide.[10]

In 1991, Madonna starred in her first documentary film, Truth or Dare (also known as In Bed with Madonna outside North America), which chronicled her successful 1990 Blond Ambition Tour, as well as her personal life. The following year, she appeared in the baseball film A League of Their Own with a mostly critically praised (one of her few film honors) portrayal of Italian American Mae Mordabito[30] and recorded the film's theme song, "This Used to Be My Playground", which became her tenth #1 single in the United States.


1992-1997: "Sex" controversy and "Evita"

The controversial music video for "Erotica" (1992) was aired only three times on MTV due to its highly charged sexual content.Erotica, produced primarily with Shep Pettibone, was labeled a "porn" album, many assuming that all of the album's tracks contained sexual themes,[citation needed] though in reality the album only featured three (out of fourteen) overtly sexual songs: "Erotica", "Where Life Begins", and "Did You Do It?". The album peaked at number two in the U.S.[31] and produced six singles,[citation needed] with its most successful being its title track "Erotica," which became the highest-debuting (number two) single in the history of the U.S. Hot 100 Airplay chart.[citation needed] The controversial music video that accompanied the song only aired three times on MTV due to its highly charged sexual content.[citation needed]The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993 was Madonna's most explicit and controversial concert tour to date[citation needed] and featured Madonna dressed as a whip-cracking dominatrix, surrounded by topless dancers, including Luca Tommassini and Carrie Ann Inaba. The controversy caused by the tour followed Madonna when she caused uproar in Puerto Rico by rubbing the island's flag between her legs on stage,[22] while Orthodox Jews protested against her first-ever show in Israel.[22] Madonna would later comment that this period of her life was designed to give the world every single morsel of what they seemed to be demanding in their invasion of her private life. She hoped that once it was all out in the open, people could settle down and focus on her work.


Credited as one of Madonna's most experimental videos, "Bedtime Story" (1995) directed by Mark Romanek featured images inspired by paintings by artists Frida Kahlo and Remedios Varo.Madonna later released her sixth studio album, Bedtime Stories, co-produced by Nellee Hooper and Dallas Austin. Madonna at the time was inspired by R&B/rock singer Joi's debut album Pendulum Vibe, and was so in love with it that she recruited producer Dallas Austin to help with her project. The album features Madonna turning to a more R&B-flavored sound. It was a success in Europe, Australia, and the United States, where it peaked at number three[10] and was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Vocal Album category.[citation needed] With its title track partially written by Björk, the album gave a hint of what would come musically a few years later. It produced four singles, including "Take a Bow", co-written and produced with Babyface. The song was a success on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching number one for seven consecutive weeks,[32] but became the first Madonna song not to chart in the UK Top 10,[citation needed] charting at number 16.[citation needed] The Michael Haussman Spanish-themed video, meanwhile, would later help her win the lead role in Evita.

On 7 November 1995, Madonna released Something to Remember, a collection of her best ballads, which featured three new tracks, including a cover of the Marvin Gaye classic "I Want You," which she recorded with British band Massive Attack, and the top ten hit "You'll See." The album just missed the top five on the U.S. charts;[10] it has since been certified triple platinum.[10]

In 1996, Madonna's most critically successful film, Evita, was released.[citation needed] The film's soundtrack became her twelfth platinum album[citation needed] and produced two hit singles, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "You Must Love Me", the latter of which was written specifically for the film. "You Must Love Me" won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song From a Motion Picture the following year. Madonna herself also won a Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy but failed to receive an Academy Award nomination.


1998-2002: Return to prominence

Madonna's seventh studio album, 1998's Ray of Light, blended personal and introspective lyrics with Eastern sounds, down-tempo, electronic instrumentation, strings by Craig Armstrong and a strong rave flavor. The album reached number two on the U.S. albums chart[10] and since its release has been certified 4x platinum.[10] It earned Madonna the strongest reviews of her career since Like a Prayer and has been widely considered by critics to be one of her greatest artistic achievements.[citation needed] Madonna's pronunciation, in her recital of Sanskrit shlokas taken from the opening hymn of yoga taravali for her album Ray of Light, had been declared incorrect by Sanskrit pandits of Benares and, the material girl learnt the basics of the correct pronunciation of Sanskrit words from an eminent scholar, Dr B P T Vagish Shastri through telephonic chats arranged by the BBC, London.[33][34]
Amazon.com described the album as "her richest, most accomplished record yet",[35] while Rolling Stone credited Madonna and her co-producer William Orbit for "creating the first mainstream pop album that successfully embraces techno", stating that musically Ray of Light is her "most adventurous record" yet.[36] Ray of Light produced five singles, including the European number one "Frozen" .[citation needed] The album won three awards at the 1999 Grammy Awards[37] and has been ranked #363 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[citation needed] Microsoft used the Ray of Light title track in its 2001 advertising campaign to introduce Windows XP.[38]

In 1998, Madonna was signed to play the role of violin teacher Roberta Guaspari Demetras in the film Music of the Heart, but left the project before filming began, citing "creative differences" with director Wes Craven. She has already studied for many months to play the violin.[39] The children of Opus 118 - Harlem School of Music, led by Roberta Guaspari, performed with Madonna twice in 1998: "Frozen" at the Annual Rain Forest Benefit at Carnegie Hall, New York and at the 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards performing "The Power of Good-Bye". [40]

Madonna followed the success of Ray of Light with the top-twenty single "Beautiful Stranger",[10] a late 60s psyche-pop song she wrote with William Orbit and recorded for the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack (1999).

In 2000, Madonna released her follow-up film to Evita. The Next Best Thing was a disappointment at the box office and was panned by critics.[citation needed] Madonna contributed two songs to the film's soundtrack, namely "Time Stood Still" and European number one "American Pie", a dance cover version of the 1970s Don McLean single.

Music, her eighth studio album, had Madonna slightly step away from the exploration of spirituality and fame to get back to the "party" spirit of dance, pop, and house music. However, she retained the introspective poignancy of Ray of Light in songs such as "Paradise (Not for Me)" and introduced guitars for a more folk-like note, notably in "Don't Tell Me" or ballads such as "Gone." Music debuted at number one on the U.S. albums chart [citation needed] and became her first number one album release since her 1989 Like a Prayer.[citation needed] Mainly co-written and produced with French house musician Mirwais Ahmadzai, the album produced three singles, including the worldwide number one "Music".[citation needed] The album's third single, "What It Feels Like for a Girl," featured a controversial music video, directed by Madonna's husband, Guy Ritchie, and was banned by MTV and VH1 after just one airing due to its graphic violence.[citation needed]

In 2001, Madonna embarked on the Drowned World Tour, her first tour in eight years. The concert tour was successful,[citation needed] was the subject of a television special in the US, and was released on DVD in November 2001 to coincide with the release of her second greatest hits album, GHV2. Unlike her previous compilation, GHV2 did not include any new songs, although clubs did receive multiple mega-mixes for promotional play only.[citation needed] In 2002, she wrote and performed the theme song to the James Bond film Die Another Day. The song reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100[10] and was nominated for both a Golden Globe for Best Original Song[41] and a Golden Raspberry for Worst Song.[42]


2003-present: Commercial ups and downs

The original video for "American Life" (2003) was widely seen as controversial and was revoked on the day of its release due to its graphic images and antiwar message.Madonna's ninth studio album, American Life, in which her lyrics were themed on the aspects of the American dream, fame, fortune and society, received mixed reviews.[43] Arguably her most daring and musically extreme album, American Life presented a darker and more serious side of the singer.[citation needed]

The music video for the first single, "American Life", caused controversy in the U.S., as it contained visceral scenes depicting war, explosions, and blood.[citation needed] The day before the video was to air on European television, Madonna pulled it and released instead an edited version,[citation needed] which showed her singing in front of flags from around the world. The song failed to perform well on the U.S. singles chart, peaking at thirty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100.[26] In the United Kingdom, it reached number two on the charts.[10]

Having sold five million copies,[10] American Life became the lowest selling album of her career.[citation needed] The album produced three more singles, all failing to chart in the U.S.,[citation needed] but enjoying Top 10 success in various European countries.[citation needed]

Later that year, Madonna performed the song "Hollywood" with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott at the MTV Video Music Awards. Madonna kissed Spears and Aguilera during the performance, resulting in tabloid press frenzy. That fall, Madonna provided guest vocals on Spears's single "Me Against the Music".

During the Christmas season of 2003, Madonna released Remixed & Revisited, a remix EP that included rock versions of songs from American Life, as well as "Your Honesty", a left-over from 1994's Bedtime Stories album. The collection failed to chart in the Billboard top 100.[10]

In 2004, Madonna embarked on The Re-Invention World Tour, which featured fifty-six dates in the U.S., Canada, and Europe and became the highest-grossing tour of 2004, earning $125 million.[44] She made a documentary about the tour named I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, which debuted on MTV and was directed by Jonas Akerlund. Also in 2004, Madonna was involved in a brief legal battle with Warner Music Group, with whom she co-owned record label Maverick. The legal dispute ended with Warner Music Group buying Madonna's shares in the record label.[45] In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked her #36 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[46]

In January 2005, Madonna performed a cover version of the John Lennon song "Imagine" on the televised U.S. aid concert "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope", which raised money for the tsunami victims in Asia.[citation needed]

Madonna's tenth studio album, the Grammy-winning Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005) which sold more than 8 million copies,[47] was built as a continuous mix of dance songs, with musical elements borrowed from the '70s, and current dance music. The album received the most positive reviews since 1998's Ray of Light[48] and was considered a return to form after the negative reception to American Life. It has produced four singles: "Hung Up", became one of the most successful singles of all time [citation needed], reaching number one in a record breaking 41 countries.[49] Madonna opened the 2006 Grammy Awards with "Hung Up", alongside the nominated computer-generated band, Gorillaz. "Sorry" then became Madonna's twelfth number one in the UK,[50] making her the female artist with the most Number One singles in the UK charts.[51] A third single, "Get Together", reached the UK Top 10 and became her thirty-sixth number one dance hit in the U.S. (the most for any artist in Billboard history),[citation needed] but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.[26] The fourth and final single was "Jump", charting at number nine in the UK.[52]

In the summer of 2006, Madonna signed on to become the worldwide face of H&M.[53] Included in the deal was a specially designed track suit, created by Madonna. The next year M by Madonna, launched in the United States, and internationally.[54] In its first week, the line took in $15 million dollars. It became so successful that the company has ordered a second and third line for late 2007.[55]

Madonna's Confessions Tour kicked off in late May 2006. The tour grossed a reported $260.1 million and was one of the top-grossing tours ever by a female artist in history, with a global audience of 1.2 million.[56] The tour sparked controversy when she used religious symbols such as the crucifix and crown of thorns in her performance of "Live to Tell". The tour ended its 60-date run on September 21, 2006, in Tokyo. A CD+DVD of "The Confessions Tour - Live from London" special was released on January 29, 2007 internationally and January 30, 2007 in the US.

In October 2006, Madonna flew to Malawi to help build an orphanage, which she also funded, as part of the Raising Malawi initiative. While there, she adopted a baby boy, named David.[citation needed]

On 16 May, 2007, a song was released by Madonna called "Hey You", released in anticipation for Live Earth.[57] Madonna is currently directing her first film, Filth and Wisdom and has started production on her next album, which is expected to be released by November 2007. A box set containing three CDs and two DVDs marking the 25th anniversary, is said to be released sometime in October 2007.[58] Madonna is also working on a documentary on the problems and difficulties faced by people in Malawi.[59] Madonna performed 'Hey You' amongst other songs at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London on July 7, 2007.[60]





Religion, Ethnicity and Family

Madonna has cited her Catholic and Italian background are major influences in her life and career. She has also noted on various occasions that her mother's premature death left a lasting emotional burden throughout her adolescence and adulthood. As an entertainer, Madonna has occasionally touched on these subjects in her song lyrics and visual presentation.

Madonna's Catholic background and relationship with her parents were reflected in the 1989 album Like a Prayer, which featured songs about her parents and Catholic upbringing. The video for the title track contained Catholic symbolism, such as the stigmata. Madonna used the crucifix as a notable religious accessory in the church setting of the video, and was also included in the stage design of her "Confessions" tour. "Promise to Try" told of her sadness at the memory of her mother, while "Oh Father" told of a strict father who elicited fear in his child. In the The Virgin Tour, she wore the rosary around her neck. In the music video for "La Isla Bonita", she prays the rosary.

She has described the name as being "very Italian", despite the fact that she was named after her French Canadian mother. The name "Madonna" is Catholic and references The Virgin Mary, who, in the Roman Catholic Church, is often referred to as "The Madonna" and juxtaposes the two Italian words "ma", a variation on the Italian "mia" (the contextual form for the adjective "my"), and "donna", which literally translates to "my lady".[61]

Madonna's Italian heritage has also been referenced in her work. The video for Like a Virgin, filmed in Venice, Italy, features her in Venetian settings. The "Open Your Heart" sees her boss yelling at her in Italian. In the "Papa Don't Preach" video, Madonna wears a shirt with the slogan, "Italians Do It Better".[62] The video release of her Who's That Girl Tour, titled Ciao, Italia! - Live From Italy, was filmed mainly in Turin, Italy.[63] In it, Madonna performs the song Papa Don't Preach while a portrait of the Pope appears on the screen behind her. "Papa" is the Italian word for "Pope".[64]) In her 2005 documentary I'm Going To Tell You a Secret, she jokingly states that she has "big, fat, Italian thighs."


Musical influences

In 1985, Madonna commented that the first song to ever make a strong impression on her was "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra and that it summed up her take-charge attitude.[65] As a young woman, she attempted to broaden her taste in literature, art, and music, and during this time became interested in classical music. She noted that her favorite style was baroque, and loved Chopin because she liked his "feminine quality". She has also acknowledged the impact of Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde saying they "paved the way" for her. In an interview with the Observer on October 29, 2006, Madonna professed a love for fellow Detroit natives The Raconteurs and The White Stripes, as well as New York band "The Jett Set". Madonna has also commented that she enjoys Frank Sinatra, and especially likes to sing, "My Way" in the shower.


Film stars

During her childhood, Madonna became fascinated by films and film stars, later saying, "I loved Carole Lombard and Judy Holliday and Marilyn Monroe. They were all incredibly funny...and I saw myself in them...my girlishness, my knowingness and my innocence".[66] Her "Material Girl" music video recreated Monroe's "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" number from the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and she later studied the screwball comedies of the 1930s, particularly those of Lombard, in preparation for the Who's That Girl? film. The video for "Express Yourself" placed a femme fatale character alongside an androgynous figure in male attire, which was compared to Marlene Dietrich and was inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis movie. The video for "Vogue" recreated the style of Hollywood glamour photographers, in particular Horst P. Horst, and imitated the poses of Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard and Rita Hayworth, while the lyrics referenced many of the stars who had inspired her.[67] Among those mentioned was Bette Davis, described by Madonna in a Rolling Stone interview as an idol, along with Louise Brooks and Dita Parlo.[68]


Personal life

Relationships and family

Early relationships and first marriage

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Madonna dated Dan Gilroy, with whom she formed the band Breakfast Club. In the early 1980s, she also dated musician Stephen Bray, who later co-produced songs such as "Into the Groove" and "Express Yourself", artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, DJ and record producer Mark Kamins, and musician Jellybean Benitez, who produced tracks and remixed her debut album Madonna.

While filming the music video for "Material Girl" in 1985, Madonna began dating actor Sean Penn. The two were married later that year on Madonna's twenty-seventh birthday. Their relationship was marred by Penn's frequent outbursts against the press, leading the couple to be dubbed the "Poison Penns." After filing and withdrawing divorce papers in December 1987, Madonna and Penn separated on New Year's Eve of 1988 after allegations of abuse on Penn's part, and were officially divorced in September 1989. Of her marriage to Penn, Madonna later told Tatler, "I was completely obsessed with my career and not ready to be generous in any shape or form."[69]


Post-divorce relationships, motherhood, and remarriage

After the divorce from Penn was made official in 1989, Madonna began a highly-publicized relationship with Warren Beatty while working on the film Dick Tracy early in 1989. Despite rumors that the two had become engaged in May 1990, the couple's relationship seemed to have ended by the summer. In a 1991 interview with Vanity Fair, Madonna said, "I'd go, 'Warren, did you really chase that girl for a year?!?' And he'd say, 'Nah, it's all lies.' I should have known better. I was unrealistic, but then, you always think you're going to be the one."[70]

In late 1990, Madonna dated Tony Ward,[71] a young bisexual model and porn star who starred in her music videos for "Cherish" (1989) and "Justify My Love" (1990). Their relationship ended by early 1991,[70] and Madonna later began an eight-month relationship with rapper Vanilla Ice,[71] who appeared later in her Sex book.[71]

In 1992; Madonna dated actor John Enos, her bodyguard James Albright, and in 1994 went out with basketball player Dennis Rodman for four months.[72]

In September 1994, while walking in Central Park, Madonna met fitness trainer Carlos Leon who became her personal trainer and lover. On October 14, 1996, Madonna gave birth to the couple's child, Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon in Los Angeles, California.[73] The couple ended their relationship in 1997.[74] Madonna then began dating Andy Bird, who sold his story to the newspapers in a tell-all about their eighteen-month relationship in late 2000/early 2001.[75]

On August 11, 2000, Madonna gave birth to a son, Rocco John Ritchie in Los Angeles, California, with Guy Ritchie, whom she had met in 1999 through mutual friends Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler.[76] On December 22, 2000, Madonna and Ritchie were married in Scotland. As of 2007, Madonna resides in Marylebone, London and her country estate in Wiltshire, with Ritchie and their children.[77]

In March, 2007 Crown Publishing canceled a tell-all book deal, thought to be worth 5 million dollars, with Madonna and Ritchie's former nanny Melissa Dumas. The book claims that Madonna and Ritchie have a cold and distant relationship and that they are both fixated on money and restrictive dietary habits.


David Banda adoption

On October 10, 2006, Madonna filed adoption papers for a Malawian baby boy named David Banda, whom her family renamed David Banda Mwale Ciccone Ritchie,[78] born September 24, 2005,[79] during her trip to an orphanage in Malawi.[80]

After a passport and visa were issued for the child, Banda was flown out of Malawi on October 16.[81] The adoption raised public controversy about whether special treatment was given to Madonna considering the fact that Malawian law normally requires one year of residence for potential adoptive parents.[82]

Madonna appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 25, 2006, to refute the allegations. During the half-hour interview, the singer claimed that there are no written adoption laws in Malawi that regulate foreign adoption and that she had been planning to adopt for two years. She also claimed that Banda had been in critical condition and was suffering from pneumonia after surviving malaria and tuberculosis when she had found him in the orphanage. In addition, Madonna blamed the media for "doing a great disservice to all the orphans of Africa, period, not just the orphans of Malawi", by discouraging people from adopting children from African nations. She stated, "I wanted to go into a Third World country?-I wasn't sure where?-and give a life to a child who might not otherwise have had one."[83]

On October 22, 2006, it was reported that Yohane Banda, David Banda's birth father, did not understand what "adoption" meant and that he had not realized that he was giving up his son "for good." He had assumed that this arrangement was more like a fostering agreement. A few days later, after the Winfrey interview, he said, "These so-called human rights activists are harassing me every day, threatening me that I am not aware of what I am doing." He was also reported to say, "They want me to support their court case, a thing I cannot do for I know what I agreed with Madonna and her husband."[84] On November 1, 2006, Madonna responded to Banda's comments on an Dateline NBC interview with Meredith Vieira by saying that Yohane Banda had known what he was doing, having refused to accept her offer to financially support him and the child without adopting the child.

Because of Malawi laws, Madonna and Guy Ritchie remain David Banda's foster parents for the required eighteen-month period.


Kabbalah Center

Since the late-1990s, Madonna has become a devotee of the Kabbalah Centre and a disciple of its controversial head Rabbi Philip Berg and his wife Karen. Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie attend Kabbalah classes and have been reported to have adopted a number of aspects of the movement associated with Judaism. The media has reported that Madonna has taken on the Biblical name of Esther and has donated millions of dollars to Kabbalah Centres in London, New York, and Los Angeles. She no longer performs on Friday nights because this is the time when the Jewish Sabbath begins. Madonna wears a red string and has visited Israel with members of the Kabbalah Centre to celebrate some of the Jewish holidays. She also studies personally with her own private-tutor, Rabbi Eitan Yardeni, whose wife Sarah Yardeni runs Madonna's favorite charitable project, "Spirituality for Kids", a subsidiary of the Kabbalah Centre.[85] Madonna reportedly donated $21 million towards a new Kabbalah school for children.[86]

Controversy erupted again well before the release of her most recent album, Confessions on a Dance Floor. Many Israeli rabbis condemned Madonna and the forthcoming song "Isaac" (tenth on its track listing) because they believed the song to be a tribute to Rabbi Isaac Luria, also known as Yitzhak Luria (1534-1572), one of the greatest Kabbalists of all time, and claimed that Jewish law forbids using a holy rabbi's name for profit. In interviews, Madonna had called this song: "The Binding of Isaac" and rumors spread that it was based on the major episode in the life of the Hebrew patriarch Isaac. Despite continued accusations that the song is about Isaac Luria, Madonna has repeatedly denied such accusations, claiming she could not think of a title for the song and, therefore, named it after Yitzhak (Isaac) Sinwani. In the song, Madonna sings with Sinwani, an Israeli singer, who is chanting a Yemenite Jewish song. Said Madonna: "The album isn't even out, so how could Jewish scholars in Israel know what my song is about? I don't know enough about Isaac Luria to write a song, though I've learned a bit in my studies."[87]

Madonna has openly defended her Kabbalah studies by stating, for example:

" I wouldn't say studying Kabbalah for eight years goes under the category or falls under the category of being a fad or a trend. Now there might be people who are interested in it because they think it's trendy, but I can assure you that studying Kabbalah is actually a very challenging thing to do. It requires a lot of work, a lot of reading, a lot of time, a lot of commitment and a lot of discipline.[88] "

Furthermore, Madonna said in a BBC interview that she believes Christianity is intolerant of questioning, whereas Kabbalah is not. Madonna has also defended Kabbalah against detractors who claim it is a cult designed to extort money from followers.


Political views

Madonna does not support United States President George W. Bush. She endorsed Wesley Clark's Democratic nomination for the 2004 United States presidential election in an impassioned letter to her fans, saying at the time that "the future I wish for my children is at risk."[89] In the autumn of 2006, she expressed her support for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 election.[90] Most recently, she stated that she would be behind Al Gore if he decided to run for the 2008 elections after seeing his documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. She also urged her fans to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11.[91]


Criticism

Despite her career achievements,[92] Madonna has been the target of criticism since the beginning of her career. Reviews about her body of work have generally been mixed and many music critics have put her artistry in doubt, while some have proclaimed her the "Queen of Pop". Madonna's lyrics have also been panned as simple or even dull by some,[93] though several critics view Madonna as a talented vocalist and songwriter.[94][95]

A common criticism against Madonna regards her singing voice and vocal range, which some consider to be weak, limited and mannered. She has also been criticized for egocentrism, publicity stunts and a tendency to generate controversy. Joni Mitchell once declared, "She has knocked the importance of talent out of the arena. She's manufactured. She's made a lot of money and become the biggest star in the world by hiring the right people".[96] Other popular entertainers like Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey[citation needed] have expressed disapproval of her artistic abilities, disdain, or criticism against her image and work.

Moments of her career in which Madonna has been heavily criticized include her 1989 music video for "Like a Prayer", the publication of the book Sex and album Erotica in 1992, her 2006 performance of "Live to Tell" during the Confessions Tour, and her adoption of Malawian infant David Banda in 2006.

Much of her career has seen rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church, which has generated criticism in the past. In 1990, when Madonna toured Italy with the Blond Ambition Tour, the Pope encouraged citizens not to attend the concert.[97] The Pope accused Madonna of blasphemy against the Catholic Church (a crime in Italy). A private association of devout Roman Catholics, called Famiglia Domani, also boycotted the show for many of the same displays of sexual innuendos and eroticism the Pope had denounced.[98]

In response, in a 1990 press conference in Italy, Madonna declared, "I am Italian American and proud of it." In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Madonna said that the Pope's reaction hurt, "because I'm Italian, you know", but in another interview the same year stated that she had ceased to practice Catholicism because the Church "completely frowns on sex... except for procreation".[99] In the summer of 2006, Madonna drew criticism from Vatican officials when she took her Confessions Tour to Rome. Vatican officials claimed that Madonna's performance while hanging off a cross and wearing a crown of thorns was an open attack on Catholicism and should not be performed in the same city as the pope's residence.[100]

In the documentary Italians in America - Our Contribution, author Gay Talese relates Madonna's rebellion against the Catholic Church to her Italian ancestry. Talese claims that Madonna's paternal ancestors come from a region of Southern Italy with a long tradition of rebellion against the Catholic Church.[101] Despite her alleged rebellion, Madonna had both of her biological children baptized in a Roman Catholic Church.

Madonna has received criticism from animal rights groups for wearing fur coats[102][103] and in the past, was criticized for renting out her house for hunting parties.[104]




Impact on science

In 2006 a new water bear species (Latin: Tardigrada), Echiniscus madonnae Michalczyk & Kaczmarek, 2006[105] was named after Madonna. It is the first and the only (so far) species named in honour of the artist. The paper with the description of E. madonnae was published in the international journal of animal taxonomy Zootaxa in March 2006 (Vol. 1154, pages: 1-36). The authors' justification for the name of the new species was: "We take great pleasure in dedicating this species to one of the most significant artists of our times, Madonna Louise Veronica Ritchie". The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) number of the species is 711164.[106]

Timothy Hutton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born August 16, 1960 (1960-08-16)
Malibu, California
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Supporting Actor
1980 Ordinary People
Golden Globe Awards
Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1981 Ordinary People

Timothy T. Hutton[1] (born August 16, 1960) is an American Academy Award-winning actor ?- the youngest ever to win the award for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 20. Hutton received the award for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People (1980), the Oscar-winning directorial debut of Robert Redford.



Biography

Early life

Hutton was born in Malibu, California. His mother, Maryline Adams (née Poole), was a teacher and ran a small publishing company, while his father was actor Jim Hutton (star of NBC TV's Ellery Queen). Hutton attended Fairfax High School and made his acting debut in 1965, playing a small role in the film Never Too Late, which starred his father.


Career

Since winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1980 for Ordinary People, Hutton has gone on to numerous popular roles in feature films and television. He starred as detective Archie Goodwin in the A&E TV series A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001-2002), and also served as an executive producer and directed several episodes of the critically acclaimed series. His other directing credits include the family film Digging to China (1998). He acted in the TV miniseries WW3 (2001), and in 2006 he had a lead role in the NBC series Kidnapped, playing Conrad Cain, the wealthy father of a kidnapped teenager.

One of the owners of the venerable New York City restaurant and bar P. J. Clarke's, Timothy Hutton became president of the prestigious Players Club in 2003.


Personal life

Hutton has married twice. His first marriage (1986-1990) was to actress Debra Winger; they have a son, Noah. In 2000, he married illustrator Aurore Giscard d'Estaing; their son Milo was born in Paris on September 11, 2001

The Husband Store

A store that sells new husbands has just opened in New York City, where a
woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is
a description of how the store operates:

You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the value of
the products increase as the shopper ascends the flights.

The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to
go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the
building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor
the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 - These men Have Jobs.

The second floor sign reads:

Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.

The third floor sign reads:

Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are Extremely Good Looking.

"Wow,"& nbsp; she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and
Help With Housework.

"Oh, mercy me!" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!"

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help
with Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign
reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on
this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to
please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store!

To avoid gender bias charges, the store's owner opens a New Wives store
just across the street.

The first floor has wives th at love sex.

The second floor has wives that love sex and have money.

The third floor has wives that love sex, have money and own a brewery.

The fourth through sixth floors have never been visited.

Good afternoon, hawkman. You have given us many wonderful backgrounds on the celebs today, and I think we know most of them. Ah, the female and male of the species are never much of a surprise, are they, Bio Bob. Perhaps we all should just window shop, buddy. Liked the idea, however.

Now, folks, I am not going to take the chance of having our puppy vanish in a pink cloud today, so I will most definitely await her photo contribution before commenting further. because I want her to explain that synchronicity.

Until then, let's hear this familiar one by Al.

"Unchained Melody"

Oh, My love, my darling,
I hunger for your touch,
A long. Lonely time.
And time goes by, so slowly,
And time can do so much,
Are you still mine?
I need your love.
I need your love.
God speed your love to me.

Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea,
To the open arms of the sea.
Lonely rivers sigh, wait for me, wait for me,
I'll be coming home, wait for me.

Oh, My love, my darling,
I hunger, hunger!, for your love,
For love. Lonely time.
And time goes by, so slowly,
And time can do so much,
Are you still mine?
I need your love.
I need your love.
God speed your love to me.

Good afternoon, WA2K.

Faces to match some of Bob's bios: Fess Parker; Ann Blyth; Robert Culp; Lesley Ann Warren; Angela Bassett; Timothy Hutton and Madonna

Oh, the synchro. I, too, read and saw the movie, "Something of Value" and thought it was mighty scary. A young Sidney Poitier played Rock Hudson's childhood friend in the movie. I didn't recall Wendy Hiller, either, but I do remember her as Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion" and in "Separate Tables".

And, I had just seen "Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle" in which Lili Taylor appeared, dressed in masculine attire as Edna Ferber, yesterday's BD celeb, and had googled to see what Ms. Ferber looked like before Bob posted his bios.

i like this song by Eydie Gorme & Los Panchos

Sabor A Mi

Tanto tiempo disfrutamos de este amor
Nuestras almas se acercaron tanto asi
Que yo guardo tu sabor pero tu llevas tambien
Sabor a mi.

Sin negaras mi presencia en tu vivir
Bastaria con abrazarte y conversar.
Tanta vida yo te di que por fuerza tienes ya
Sabor a mi.

No pretendo ser tu dueno.
No soy nada, yo no tengo vanidad.
De mi vida, doy lo bueno
Soy tan pobre que otra cosa puedo dar?

Pasaran mas de mil anos, muchos mas.
Yo no se si tenga amor la eternidad.
Pero alla tal como aqui, en la boca llevaras
Sabor a mi.

So much time we have enjoyed this love
Our souls got so close
that I feel your essence
but you also carry my essence

If you were to deny my presence in your life
I would only need to hug you and talk
I gave you so much life
that you can't help to carry my essence

I do not pretend to be in control
I am nobody. I am not vain.
From my life, I give the best things.
I am so poor, what else can I give?

More than a thousand years will pass by.. many more
I don't know if eternity has love
but there, just like here
in your mouth you'll have my essence

Well, Raggedy, I guessed as much, PA. Great photo's today puppy, and for once we got the animals altogether in one place.

I noticed, folks, that Sarah Brightman did this one, but I have heard it by Madonna, so let's listen.

Don´t Cry For Me Argentina

It won't be easy, you'll think it strange
When I try to explain how I feel
That I still need your love after all that I've done
You won't believe me
All you will see is a girl you once knew
Although she's dressed up to the nines
At sixes and sevens with you

I had to let it happen, I had to change
Couldn't stay all my life down at heel
Looking out of the window, staying out of the sun
So I chose freedom
Running around, trying everything new
But nothing impressed me at all
I never expected it to


Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance


And as for fortune, and as for fame
I never invited them in
Though it seems to the world they were all I desired
They are illusions
They're not the solutions they promised to be
The answer was here all the time
I love you and hope you love me


Don't cry for me Argentina


Don't cry for me Argentina
The truth is I never left you
All through my wild days
My mad existence
I kept my promise
Don't keep your distance


Have I said too much?
There's nothing more I can think of to say to you
But all you have to do is look at me
To know that every word is true


Don't cry for me Argentina

I'm going to have to start calling our island man an eagle, folks.



He flew in here so rapidly that I missed him. Thanks, honu, for the song, especially the translation. It's lovely.

I like this one by her as well.

I'll take romance,
While my heart is young and eager to fly,
I'll give my heart a try - I'll take romance.

I'll take romance,
While my arms are strong and eager for you,
I'll give my arms their cue - I'll take romance.

(Bridge:)
So when you want me, call me,
In the hush of the evening;
When you call me in the hush of the
Evening I'll rush to my

First real romance,
While my heart is young and eager and gay,
I'll give my heart away - I'll take romance.

Her phrasing was great on that one, listeners.

Just found out that Max Roach died today. Wow! He, Clifford Brown, along with Richie and Bud Powell were a wonderful jazz group.


A.B. SPELLMAN, National Endowment for the Arts: "Parisian Thoroughfare" was written by the great pianist Bud Powell, who is the older brother of the pianist on this date, Richie Powell. Richie Powell was a very talented young man who happened to die along with the great Clifford Brown in a tragic accident in June 1956.

Now, Clifford Brown is one of the very great jazz trumpeters, though he only had about three years of notoriety. And in those three years, fortunately, he did a lot of recording, so we've got a good sampling of him. It's idle to speculate on what he might have done, but what he did do changed trumpet playing drastically in his time.

Sorry that I cannot find the lyrics to Parisian Thoroughfare, but this is a lovely jazz ballad done by the group.

I should care, I should go around weeping
I should care, I should go without sleeping

Strangely enough, I sleep well
'cept for a dream or two
But then I count my sheep well
Funny how sheep can lull you to sleep


So I should care, I should let it upset me
I should care but it just doesn't get me
Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you
But I should care and I do

brief instrumental interlude

I should care but it just doesn't get me
Maybe I won't find someone as lovely as you
But I should care and I do

And I do

The local University radio station devoted 2 hours to Max Roach this morning.